With me on the blog today is another of my awesome VCFA classmates, the delightful Laura Byrne, who is here to talk about her news website, WordStirs, which she maintains with her son, Tim.
El Space: Four quick facts about yourself?
Laura:
• I’m a former sports editor and writer, whose athletic son had to remind her that there is more at stake in the world than the score of any given football game.
• Tim is a former finance student and current consultant, who plans to drown the world in unbiased, simple news so we can stop beating each other up at family dinners, and get back to arguing about important things, like whether or not ketchup should be refrigerated.
• We are a mother/son partnership that somehow works, despite a few notable differences. Example: Tim lives in Manhattan in an apartment the size of an elevator, with no car, and eats food the names of which most people can’t pronounce, from countries he’s never visited. I live in rural New Jersey, on 25 acres, and make my own bread, which is usually white.
• We bring two worldviews together to model how differences can be valued, and information shared through simple, unbiased articles.
El Space: What’s your process for choosing news stories? How do you keep track of trending news and still sleep and keep your sanity?
Laura: You know how some dogs will chase a ball forever? You toss one down the driveway for my Barney and he won’t stop retrieving it—a thousand throws, some day—until you take that slobbery ball away. That’s Tim and me with news. A thousand stories, and then we take Tim’s slobbery laptop from him. While retrieving all that news, we try to determine, given our readers’ limited time, what single story will help them to understand the world a little better.
Barney and Fred (yes, they are brothers)
El Space: The articles are so engaging! How did you come up the format?
Laura: How WordStirs is organized: Every article set is developed from one topic that is summarized in a paragraph or two in our News Made Simple. Then, that News Made Simple article segues into three additional articles, which continue to explain the topic:
• The Geek. Want more background on the News Made Simple topic? You can click on the Geek.
• The Debater. Want to understand two sides of the News Made Simple topic? You can check out the Debater, which is often a discussion between Tim and me.
• The Runner. In a hurry? The Runner can get you out the door with just enough information about a current event to make you feel informed.
We take a subject, say, the coronavirus relief package, and look at the Fox News perspective. Then, we consider The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal—and more. We also go to original documents, including Congressional records and World Health Organization guidelines. We look at fact-checking sites like PolitiFact, Snopes, and FactCheck.org. If we’ve done our job, somewhere in the article set you should see your perspective. But, if we’ve done our job, somewhere you’ll also discover something that makes you think, that challenges you and your prior beliefs.
El Space: How has the advent of COVID-19 affected your news coverage?
Laura: The coronavirus has dominated the news, including our coverage, and it carries with it additional concerns. For example, correct information is critically important and yet harder to get than ever as so many people are armchair-epidemiologist-ing the cures, courses of action, and predictions for the future. We’re trying to be even more critical of our sources and careful with our work.
El Space: Who inspires you?
Laura: The Secret Gardeners, my graduating class from Vermont College, are the most talented writers in the world, and their voices are always in my head, reminding me of the power of words.
El Space: Yay! What’s next for the site? What else are you working on?
Laura: Tim and I are working on a podcast. We’ve tried a few practice recordings and, so far, haven’t gotten past teasing each other. We’ll get it together, hopefully soon.
Thanks, Laura, for being my guest! Click here to access WordStirs or follow on Instagram.
Check out this video at Tim Byrne’s YouTube Channel:
The unicorn helps Henry get the point about social distancing.
P.S. The winners of the next two child Yodas are Charles and Marian. Again, I had to let them know ahead of time because of the fluctuating times we live in. I am working on yet another Yoda, so it’s not too late to put your bid in for one. 😀
Author photos and logo courtesy of Laura Byrne. Breaking news image from freepik. Washington Post logo from Wikimedia. Other logos found at various places on the internet. Other photo by L. Marie.
Reblogged this on Legends of Windemere.
Thanks for the reblog, Charles!
You’re welcome.
Hope your Yoda arrives today!
We’ll see. I might leave it in the package for when my son gets back.
Great! Look for a large padded envelope.
It arrived. Got it sitting on my son’s dresser for when he gets home in a few days.
Yay!!! So glad to hear that!
Thanks. He’s going to love it.
So glad!
If the ears are bent, just pull them out to the side. They will stay. The yarn is stiff enough.
The ears looked okay to me.
Great!
Thanks for the rebog! I look forward to checking out your site!
You’re welcome. 😀
Thanks for the great interview, L. Marie. I enjoyed meeting Laurie and Tim. I’m anxious to check out their website. Living on 25 acres sounds wonderful, Laurie! L. Marie, I love that Henry is social distancing. 🙂 Have you not given the unicorn a name?
Hi, Jill. Thanks! The unicorn has not been named. I’m open to suggestions though. 😀
Well, for a girl I was thinking Jasmin. If it’s a boy, I immediately thought he looked like a Lancelot. 🙂
The unicorn says Lancelot is the ideal name. Lancelot thanks you most sincerely. 😀
You’re welcome Sir Lancelot! 🙂
😀
If I had a Unicorn, I would name it Tippy. 😛
😀😀
Hi Jill! Living on 25 acres has been a blessing, especially now. I wish you could visit!
I wish I could too, Laura! Enjoy the weekend!
WOW this is awesome!!! You did a terrific job on the post!! Thank you so much. Laura ByrneWordStirs | Co-Founderwww.wordstirs.com
Laura, I’m so glad to feature you guys! You’re always welcome! 😀
Thank you so much for the feature, L. Marie! It’s an honor to be on your site.
Thank you for stopping by, Tim! Glad to promote you guys!
A mother-son partnership – how wonderful! If I had that set-up, I’d have instant techno help! I enjoyed the video, which echoes the helping themes, so encouraging in these grim times. Lovely to see community on balconies, what a novel idea.
Thank you, Laura and Tim – and You, L. Marie for sharing good news here!
My Yoda comes today, I believe: THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I’ll let you know when it arrives and probably do a posting on Facebook!
Always glad to share good news, Marian! Looking forward to your Facebook posting. 😀
Just posted my “thank you” with Yoda!
I saw it! You’re welcome! So glad Yoda arrived.
Thanks Marian! Tim’s technical skills far exceed mine, but I’ve got him on punctuation and sentence structure. haha.
He’s largely responsible for the video, which makes me cry every time I watch it. It’s so easy to think negatively right now and, yet, we’re actually amazingly giving, communal, and supportive. Tim and I did our own dance-on-the-balcony when we finished that post.
Thanks, Linda and Laura. So good to see your smiling face, Laura! Congrats on your news site. What an endeavor, and an important one too. Love the YouTube video!
Wasn’t it great??? 😀
Sharon! Thanks for your support! I miss you!!!
Miss you, too!
This is a great website. We may be in difficult times, but there are some bright spots out there on the web. Thanks for introducing me to it and to Laura.
It was my pleasure, Ally! It is a great site!
Ally, you are so right: our dark times are also filled with great lightness. I feel as though we can get through anything–absolutely anything–as long as we remember to sing and love each other.
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Great interview, website, and wow! Gotta love a mother/son partnership such as Laura and Tim’s. Thank you, Linda – another inspiring post and opportunity for us to look in different directions for insight and information. I will share the website with some friends and family that I’m sure will appreciate it.
I’m glad to feature them, Penny! Yay! I know they’ll appreciate the share!
Hope you’re keeping encouraged! 😀
Thank you. I am for the most part. How are you?
Hanging in there! Crafting as much as I can! 😀
I was reading an article earlier about how crafting, knitting, crocheting, etc. are all good activities especially right now. 🙂
They are very calming.
Hi Penny! Thanks for your support! I’m very blessed to be able to work with my son, and I think the difference in our ages adds balance to our articles.
A great site
A great site, bringing the news we need, particularly at this time. Great interview guys 👍
Glad to, Andy!
How are things in your neck of the woods?
We are on lockdown, but at the moment, as well as shopping for essentials, we are allowed to go out once a day for exercise. But, due to a minority not adhering to the social distancing, I think this will stop and a stricter policy brought in. Hope you are okay over the Pond.
Oh man! 😖 How sad that some mess it up for everyone. My parents talked about neighbors who decided to throw a party and eschew social distancing. Not sure what the fallout of that will be.
Sounds like a much-needed site – it’s so hard to get unbiased news and most people seem to only read or watch the news outlets they know in advance they’ll agree with, so they never get their prejudices challenged. I shall now go of and check it out… 😀
Yay! So glad to hear that, FictionFan! I know Laura and Tim will appreciate it!
Hope you’re keeping safe and stockpiled chocolate. 😀
Thanks for your interest! We try really hard to include both sides of a story. And–you’re right–readers tend to look for information that confirms their biases. Our audience is smart, balanced and open-minded. If we’re doing our job, at some point, in some article, we probably make some readers uncomfortable. But, hopefully, that discomfort can promote growth. Does that make sense?
It does indeed! Good luck with the site! 😀
Laura & Tim: Barney and Fred are adorable…and quite self-controlled. I mean, how many doggies would just lay next to that luscious bone without even looking at it, leave out with piteous eyes?
Thanks for this superb interview and bringing this site to the attention of us your followers, L.Marie.
Your band of VCFA classmates keep popping up with the most ingenious projects…
They do indeed, Laura! (I know so many Lauras! 😀)
Glad you enjoyed it! I love featuring authors with unique projects!
Yes Barney and Fred are the cutest!!
Hi Laura! You must be a dog person. Fred and Barney are super cute and sorta well-behaved–probably because they get a ton of exercise. I do my thinking while I hike, and, since the brain works more slowly each year, I do a lot of hikes before I come to any conclusions. haha.
Hiking is good- for both (wo)man and beast!
What a wonderful collaboration! And what an ambitious project … kudos to them! Thanks for interviewing them, Linda! And good luck, Laura and Tim!
Glad to feature them, Marie! They have a great website! 😀
Thanks Marie! Consider signing up for our newsletter! It’s free, no ads, none of that. We’re just trying to stay connected to people.
What a fabulous interview and what a great news source! We so need unbiased news made simple! Thanks so much Laura and Tim! It looks like you go together perfectly, just like Fred and Barney!
We do indeed!
Great point, Karen! 😄
Thanks Karen!! Miss you girl!!
Thanks for a fantastic interview, L. Marie. It sounds like a fantastic format and a great way for mother and son to work together. Another VCFA grad living creatively.
Thanks for checking us out!!
What a great project, especially now that schools are closed and students are learning remotely from home! Looking forward to checking this out and spreading the word–congratulations to Laura and Tim!
This would be a terrific resource for students in schools!
I loved this!
Thanks, Jennie! So glad! It is a great news site.
You’re welcome! 🙂