Trial by Fire

The word “overqualified” never enters the conversation around here, mainly because Indy staffers have to be jacks-of-all-trades to ensure all the readership platforms get fed words and pictures. But we struck gold with Athena Tan. Our new copy editor comes from five years with the journal Camera Obscura, which covers film and media — she holds a PhD in the same — and has self-published since she was a kid. Her first endeavor was a newsletter for her classmates, followed by a zine about the teenage world in Manila. Her first week here threw her into our Whittier Fire coverage. Athena’s love of music, poetry, and thrift-store finds, combined with a strong feeling for social justice, puts all our copy in the best of hands.