Hello! My name is Helena and I'm a seeker & collector of stories at heart, and a writer, editor & journalist in practice.
In spring 2022, I became the Managing Editor of the relaunched Newport Life Magazine, which is an exciting life development, notably one that enables me to continue sharing stroies about my home and favorite place: Aquidneck Island and the communities of Newport County. Curious? Check out the magazine here (and consider subscribing here). Interested in writing for the magazine? Send me a note :-)
Prior to taking on this new role, I spent several years freelancing for a number of publications in and around Rhode Island, including: Art New England, Edible Rhody, Newport Life Magazine, Newport This Week, Providence Business News, South County Life Magazine and The Newport Daily News.
As a freelancer writer I reported on art & culture in the form of features & profiles, while also examining systemic inequality and shedding light on the nuances of community in places like Newport, where I live. A full archive of published work can be found on my Authory page.
In addition to my journalistic work, I sometimes write essays that are a bit more personal and which veer from the usual AP style. A recent piece, “The Ascent,” was published in the water-themed Issue No. 18 of Chautauqua Literary Journal (2021). I’m also a recent graduate of the Newport MFA, a low-residency creative writing program through Salve Regina University, where I studied all things literary nonfiction.
• • •
Some of the stories I've written lately include:
• In July 2022, I returned to the Newport Folk Festival with a press pass for the first time in five years and was in the crowd when Joni Mitchell took to the festival stage for the first time since 1969. Read about that magical moment here: “Dream Come True.”
• Just before Newport Life Magazine ended under it’s old ownership (and before it relaunched and I took on the Managing Editor role) I wrote a story about local folks who love to dip into the ocean — all year round, no matter the weather or the water temperature. Read all about those devoted swimmers & their yearlong love for saltwater here.
• For the spring 2022 edition of Edible Rhody, I met with the family behind Bintimani, a West African restaurant looking to plant new roots in Providence. Read their story here — and then go enjoy their delicious offerings in person.
• Another piece for Edible Rhody on Maha, the woman behind Ash Mart in Newport and its Lebanese fare — some of the best Middle Eastern food around. As a longtime Newport resident, I particularly love sharing stories that highlight often overlooked aspects of the city & its communities — when I sat down with Maha, in the back storeroom of Ash Mart, it was the first time anyone had asked her to share her story, which is a tale not only of food but also resilience, family and community.
• My latest story for Newport Life Magazine is about Boys Town New England in Portsmouth, R.I., especially the Rios family & household, where six teenage girls, two little boys, one married couple and a family dog all live together in a home that is both vibrant & orderly, structured & playful.
• Last spring, I drove to some of Rhode Island’s more rural and lush landscapes for a story about local farmers & food producers, and the photographers documenting their practices for a September 2021 exhibit at Wickford Art Association. The piece appears in the summer issue of Edible Rhody.
• The practice of freediving: As a lifelong swimmer and seaside dweller, I was keen to learn more about how humans can stay under water for prolonged periods of time without any external support. An excerpt: “Eerie. Magical. Another world. Surreal. These are the words people use to describe the experience of freediving off the coast of Fort Wetherill in Jamestown. ‘It kind of felt like that’s as close to being in outer space as I could possibly get,’ says Cate Brown, who free dove for the first time last summer and was struck by the expansive feeling of Narragansett Bay just below the surface.”
• How Covid-19 impacted the local food system and the ways chefs, farmers & restaurants are coping, for Edible Rhody magazine: Their Place or Yours? Chefs turn to takeout in tricky times (Winter 2020), Growing stronger, together (Summer 2020), Local farmers act fast to meet the current crisis (Spring 2020) and Newport restaurants provide a lifting tide in the City-by-the-Sea (Spring 2020).
• Table to Farm: A look into the innovative Healthy Soils Healthy Seas RI compost program, which is keeping hundreds of tons of food waste out of the state landfill, for Newport Life Magazine (Fall 2020).
• A profile of Newport’s immigrant community, with a focus on how the city & local community groups are supporting a recent influx of families & youths from Guatemala. Titled Lost in Translation, the story appeared in the July 2020 issue of Newport Life Magazine.
• A piece on the experiences of immigrants working in Rhode Island restaurants, for Edible Rhody’s winter 2019-2020 magazine. For this assignment, I spoke with three individuals who shared their personal stories, all linked by a common thread of having left their native homeland — whether in Mexico, Guatemala or El Salvador — in search of better opportunities and the ever-enticing — and equally elusive — “American Dream.” This story received a Best of Edible Award 2020, bestowed by the Edible Communities. The judges said this: “Through a series of vignettes that showcase the personal experiences of various restaurant workers and chefs, Touhey dances through a provocative political issue with beautifully written story that humanizes immigration issues, drawing sharp parallels between consumer demand for restaurant dining and the food and beverage industry’s labor gap currently filled, in large measure, by immigrant labor.”
• Two features on Newporters who organized events highlighting the local Black community while calling for police reform & spotlighting ongoing injustices. Both stories appeared in Newport This Week: Two Rogers Grads Rally for Change and Kingsmen Work for Change.
• A profile on the North End of Newport, largely a community of color and a neighborhood that is central to discussions of the city’s future, but whose community members are often missing from these conversations. I met with several residents, who shared things they love about their community, and also highlighted inequities that have plagued the neighborhood for decades. The full story appeared in the Jan/Feb issue of Newport Life Magazine: A Tale of Two Cities.
• How Heather Abbott is using her loss to help others seven years after the Boston Marathon bombings, for Newport Life Magazine (September 2020).
• I looked into the history of Newport’s arboretum for Newport Life Magazine and chatted with an area woman who inherited a green thumb for Edible Rhody, both out in Spring 2020 publications.
• In 2019, I wrote two features on the Mable Artist Residency at The Norman Bird Sanctuary, one published regionally in Art New England and another locally in Newport This Week.
• And in the summer of 2019, I featured five people who are “Cultivating Culture” in my favorite City-by-the-Sea, produced for Newport Life Magazine.
Of note:
In September 2019, I was selected to participate in a HEFAT safety & security training organized by the International Women’s Media Foundation, and am now HEFAT certified.
In March 2019, I attended a Solutions Journalism 101 Workshop in New York City, where I learned more about applying a solutions lens to my reporting; in Spring 2020 I attended a virtual Solutions Journalism 102 workshop. These trainings were led by the Solutions Journalism Network, of which I am a member, and my story “Local Farmers Act Fast to Meet the Current Crisis” is now included in the Solutions Story Tracker.
• • •
In May of 2018, I left my home and newsroom of seven years in Newport, Rhode Island, to learn more about myself and the world through travel and exploration. I started in Dakar, Senegal, then spent six weeks in Israel/Palestine, including a jaunt to Jordan. From there, I traveled to Cyprus; Beirut, Lebanon; Istanbul, Turkey; drove around Romania, through the Transylvanian mountains to the Black Sea coast and back to Bucharest; stopped in Sofia, Bulgaria; and then arrived in Greece, traveling from Thessaloniki to Athens and Crete, and back north to Thessaloniki. From there I flew to Palermo, Sicily, where I spent a week on another ancient and storied island, and then moved on to Essaouira, Morocco, where I attended the Muslim Jewish Interfaith Coalition’s inaugural forum. I returned home to Newport in early September, and continue to plot my path forward. I’m still sorting through the stories I collected over the course of four-and-a-half months, and often share musings and moments on Instagram, where you’re welcome to follow along.
Some of the thoughts on my mind as I traveled: I found myself in several divided cities, thinking a lot about how no conflict has merely “two sides” but rather many sides; how word choice is political; how one person's terrorist can be another person’s human rights advocate; how it’s better to acknowledge bias and work with it and learn from it, rather than claim objectivity when such a thing is nearly impossible; how the most divided countries/territories seem to have the most in common, culturally speaking; how the stories I read about online are often lacking much of the nuance I experience in person; how so many people see the world as black and white, when it’s really made of infinite shades of grey (and how the grit of humanity — all of the character and charm — exists within these grey areas); how we’re all just human, with more similarities than differences, and how much can be gained and exchanged through simple conversation and/or the act of breaking bread together.
*these musings are dated Summer 2018, and continue to resonate in Winter 2022
• • •
For three years (June 2015-April 2018), I was the Features Editor for the Arts & Living section of The Independent newspaper, a weekly in South County, Rhode Island. And for seven years (March 2011-April 2018) I was a copy editor, page designer and staff writer for The Newport Daily News, at the time a sister publication to The Independent.
I also covered the Newport Folk Festival for five summers (2013-2017) for The Newport Daily News, an opportunity that combined my love of capturing and sharing stories with my love of live music. Some articles I've written about the festival include: Folks get together; REVIEW: Newport Folk Festival goes out with a bang; Behind the scenes; A blast from the past; 'A music-lovers festival'; Artists share the stage; It's a family affair; and These folks love Newport.
• • •
In addition to my work as a journalist, I am a founding board member of Newport Art House, serving as secretary for three years (June 2015-April 2018) and helping to build up the nonprofit while supporting its goal of nurturing, showcasing and promoting the contemporary arts in Newport County. I helped plan and host the inaugural (Anti) Gala — a bacchanal-themed fundraiser held Aug. 23, 2019.
I’m a member of the REALITY alumni community, an initiative of the Schusterman Foundation. I was part of the 2017 REALITY Storytellers journey to Israel, a truly incredible trip that connected me with an amazing group of global change-makers and thought-leaders.
• • •
These days, I’m adjusting to a new schedule and remembering how fun it is to have weekends free.
Have questions? Or a project to collaborate on? Send me a note via: helena [dot] touhey [at] gmail [dot] com