By AUDREN HEDGES DUROY, age 9
PHOTO: Declan Peterson
Declan Peterson, age 12, has been writing for IndyKids since 2014.
Audren Hedges Duroy: When did you first decide you liked to write?
Declan Peterson: I never liked to write, which is the main reason I came to IndyKids. I wanted to improve my writing skills, which it did. It also made me respect journalists and their work more because I realized how hard it was.
AHD: What is the hardest article you had to write? What made it hard?
DP: Probably my most recent article on Ebola because there was so, so much information that I had to condense down into 250 words.
AHD: What was your favorite article that you have written and why?
DP: My NSA (National Security Administration) article was the one I really loved writing the most because I love to point out government wrongdoing.
AHD: Where do you live and who do you live with? Does where you live affect the kind of writing you do, and why or why not? (For example, I live in a smaller town in Ohio, so the kinds of issues people worry about here are different than the issues people worry about in New York City.)
DP: I live on Earth (specifically in New York City) with my dad and mom, who don’t really affect my writing. But New York City kind of gives my writing a more progressive focus because I see the struggles of the working class here.
AHD: What are your hobbies?
DP: My hobbies are playing sandbox-style video games (Minecraft, Robocraft, Rust), drawing, and making digital music.
AHD: What is one thing you would like to do in your life that you have not done yet?
DP: Some things I would like to do that I have not done yet are:
- Travel around the world in my own small aircraft, stopping in cities along the way
- Skydiving
- Speed flying
- Base jumping
AHD: What are some things that make you unique?
DP: Some things that make me unique are:
- I’ve never had a cavity
- I am super awesome like no one has ever seen
- I am fluent in Spanish and English
- I know how to use multiple digital music platforms
- I also like listening to Richard Wagner, a German composer from the 1800s
