Student builds byline with big story
MIDLAND, Beaver County — The pinnacle of a writer's career is the Great American Novel.
And while there's no official equivalent, the pinnacle of a journalist's career is the Great Scoop.
Writers and journalists aim high. They're always on the lookout for that one story that will make their bylines household names. For most, it's a pipe dream.
That pipe dream is close for Trinity Lule, who is a senior writing and publishing student at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School. An interview she had with the national director of The Knights Party — an incorporated group of the Ku Klux Klan — made it so.
“The KKK is like a unicorn to me,” said Trinity. “I wanted to really put a face to what I was so afraid of for so many years.”
Trinity is from Butler and is the daughter of Tiffany Crotzer. She has four siblings — three brothers and a sister — and is in her second year at Lincoln Park.
She takes classes in the writing and publishing department and works on The Siren, a monthly student publication.
Trinity joined The Siren this year. She was a graphic designer until she joked about interviewing someone in the KKK. Her inspiration was Spike Lee's movie “BlacKkKlansman.”
It was Dan LeRoy, The Siren's adviser and Lincoln Park director of writing and publishing, who suggested she give a KKK interview serious consideration.
“I've always had this unspoken relationship with them, as a black person,” Trinity said.
This is an excerpt of an article appearing in Sunday's Butler Eagle. To read more about Trinity's conversation with the head of a national KKK group, pick up Sunday's Butler Eagle or subscribe online.
