News Decoder has been a return to roots for me — a startup with slim financial returns that belie both its social worth and the joy of working with youth. The author is the founder of News Decoder. This month he is turning over management of the educational nonprofit...
It’s the serenity and commotion that I love about Spain. I must seize the day because I will never again be 17 running around a Spanish city I love. Zaragoza (Photo by Asher Lefkoff) This article, by high school student Asher Lefkoff, was produced out of News...
When the language of instruction in Rwanda shifted from French to English, I stumbled academically. My father taught me to ask for help when in a jam. The author with her father in Kigali, Rwanda, in 2008. “That was my first time in Kigali. My father had...
Writing poetry helps 14-year-old Jaeda Liddell handle pent-up emotions. She gives voice to the anxieties and concerns of an entire generation. This article, by high school student Jaeda Liddell, was produced out of News Decoder’s school partnership program. Jaeda is...
Coffee is more than a beverage in the Italian city of Trieste. Over centuries, the commodity enriched the port, where cafés are ‘places of the soul.’ Examining coffee beans at Caffè San Marco in Trieste, Italy (photo by Tira Shubart) Grabbing a coffee is...
I have always wondered why my Mom gave me a merciless beating over a piece of meat. But that meal changed my life for the better. The author with his mother and elder sister Isata in 2009 This story won second prize in News Decoder’s 11th Storytelling Contest....
We studied together ahead of exams. What I learned about friendship and adversity at study camp in West Africa will serve me for life. At study camp in 2019 in Kpelleh Town Community, Jacob Town, Painesville, Liberia. From left to right, Teddy Jallah, Varlee Fofana,...
My grandmother has spent her entire life in Georgia. The Soviet Union was not all bad, she said, but Georgia’s dawning independence was beautiful. My grandfather and grandmother, Ellen Bagdasarian Davidova, getting married in 1967 “My name is Ellen Davidova,...
Part of a rocket from a Chinese mission will crash onto the moon this week, adding to debris from humans that is accumulating on the lunar surface. The moon, seen from Berlin, Germany, 11 January 2022 (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File) Tomorrow, a crater on the far side of...
Our family used to gather in joy around my grandfather’s couch. He and his sofa are now gone, and I wonder if home will ever be the same. Taken in Shenzhen, China in 2013. The author is hiding behind a cousin, second from right. (All photos courtesy of Li Keira...
