Aviva Bechky

I just spent the fall reporting as a general assignment intern at Block Club Chicago, where I covered everything from city politics to art to transportation. The summer before, I worked at The Seattle Times as a features intern, writing about culture, arts, food, music, the outdoors and more. I'm majoring in journalism at Northwestern University with minors in data science and gender & sexuality studies. At The Daily Northwestern, I served as print managing editor, city editor and development & recruitment editor. During the summer of 2022, I worked as an editorial fellow at District Fray Magazine. I've freelanced for Washington City Paper and Metro Weekly, a D.C. LGBTQ+ publication, and worked as a social media aide for Northwestern’s University Archives.

Featured Stories

The Seattle Times •

Seafood sustainability a looming question for PNW sushi industry

The fish carver slides his knife into a 550-pound bluefin tuna shortly after 6 a.m. on a mid-July morning. His blade makes a sound, click-click-click, as it rattles along the fish’s bones.

Batsukh Sevjid’s efficient cuts speak to plenty of experience preparing tuna for Kent-based seafood supplier Young Ocean, Inc. Standing in a chilled room, he slices the 5-foot-long bluefin from tail to neck and back, sectioning it into long quarters of deep red, highly prized flesh. A second employee cuts tho
The Seattle Times •

Meet the diplomat in Seattle who’s become a social media star

The origami cranes pour out of Whole Foods and Metropolitan Market bags, a Hammermill crate and a Häagen-Dazs box.

More than 1,000 pile up on the table: hot pink cranes. Orange and yellow and green cranes. Cranes with stylized waves crashing along their wings, cranes patterned with wisteria and gold fans, cranes with constellations, cranes with chrysanthemums, cranes made from paper commemorating the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Hisao Inagaki, the consul general of Japan in Seattle, sits dow
The Seattle Times •

Here’s what Paul Allen’s estate just donated to MoPOP

Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture is adding these items and thousands more to its collection, thanks to a bequest, announced Wednesday, from the estate of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Allen founded the museum with his sister, Jody Allen, in 2000.

Other highlights of the gift include “Star Trek” scripts annotated by actor Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Nyota Uhura in the original show and in six movies; a hat worn by the Wicked Witch of the West from the 1939 “The Wizard of Oz” film; and a f
Washington City Paper •

Washington Gas Faces Lawsuits in D.C. and Maryland Over Alleged ‘Greenwashing’

In the lower left corner of Washington Gas’ monthly bills, some customers have received colorful illustrations of flowers and a cheery environmental message.

“Natural gas is a clean, efficient, and reliable energy,” the message reads. “Converting an all electric home to natural gas is the equivalent of planting 2.75 acres of trees or driving 26,520 fewer miles each year.”

But that claim likely assumes—without evidence—that all electricity in a home is generated by a coal-fired power plant rath
The Daily Northwestern •

Main Street Starbucks votes 12-0 to unionize

Employees of Evanston’s Starbucks at 519 Main St. voted 12-0 to unionize Thursday, making the location the first Starbucks in the city to unionize.

“Hopefully the unanimous vote is a reflection of having done a very thorough job of organizing and really coming together as a unit,” said barista Connor Brennan. “It’s a huge victory.”

Employees announced their petition to unionize in December, citing concern
The Daily Northwestern •

In Focus: Albany Care’s residents report violence and medical mistreatment. But many may have nowhere else to go

Peter Basquin moved out of one Chicago-area residential mental health care facility because of bedbugs, cockroaches and lice. He left another because it lacked the counseling structure he needed.

Basquin said he wound up at Albany Care in 2019, where another resident assaulted him.

The long-term mental health care facility, located in Evanston’s 4th Ward, is legally required to he
The Daily Northwestern •

Reading the signs: Parents advocate for District 65 dyslexia diagnosis, reading support

M., an Evanston/Skokie School District 65 parent, started seeing signs of dyslexia in her youngest child Peter in preschool. Peter struggled to identify and match sounds with letters, but his kindergarten teacher said he could catch up later.

M., who asked to use her first initial and a pseudonym for her child due to privacy concerns, said she was looking for signs because Peter’s father
District Fray Magazine •

Strand by Strand: Wig Makers Bring Theatre Characters to Life

Anne Nesmith once constructed a towering white wig with a miniature ship perched on top. Another time, she fit a little pink faux hawk on a singer whose natural hair flowed to her waist. But the wig designer’s favorites are the ones you wouldn’t glance at twice on the street.

“I’m really proud of some of my work that just looks like someone’s hair,” Nesmith says. “Because that is the goal.”
The Daily Northwestern •

‘Anyone is welcome’: Peer-led model of walk-in mental health crisis care comes to Evanston

When a guest walks into the mental health crisis center on Skokie Boulevard, they’re greeted with warm orange couches, plants and paintings of koi fish — a far cry from sterile hospitals.

Instead of a doctor, a recovery support specialist welcomes the guest. Specialists, who have lived experience with mental illness, often share personal knowledge and coping strategies.

“We want it to be a
The Daily Northwestern •

Anya Tanyavutti leaves District 65 Board of Education after six years

Anya Tanyavutti stepped down as a member of the Evanston/Skokie School District 65 Board of Education at its Monday meeting.

The board also swore in Tracy Olasimbo, Family Engagement Coordinator at Evanston Public Library. Olasimbo will replace Marquise Weatherspoon, a former board vice president who resigned in August.

Tanyavutti served on the Board of Education for six years, including two years as president and three as vice president. She has said she was likely the first Black woman to be