Meet Forest Gaines Jr., a Spring 2021 Lede New Orleans Fellow
Forest Gaines Jr. will be doing community reporting work in New Orleans this spring as part of the Lede New Orleans fellowship program.
By Nikka Troy
What do you want to be when you grow up? As children and teenagers, we hear this question a thousand times over and most of us have no clue how to respond. Then there’s people like Forest Gaines Jr.
Gaines knew he wanted to write for a living the day his mother gave him his first journal. He was 7 years old and in the 2nd grade. His family had evacuated just a month or so earlier from New Orleans to Houston after Hurricane Katrina and the levee breaks destroyed his hometown. Gaines recalled his mother telling him to “write whatever is going on in your brain.”
“It just came to me so naturally,” Gaines said. “I fell in love with writing.”
Gaines, 23, a senior at St. John’s University in Queens, New York, is completing his journalism degree remotely amid COVID-19. He aims to work as a journalist after graduation. As a Spring 2021 Lede New Orleans Fellows, Gaines is interested in learning more about what makes a story newsworthy and elevating the voices of Black women in his community.
You trace your love of writing to a journal your mom gave you as a child. Do you remember what you thought when she gave it to you?
At first I just thought she was giving me more schoolwork or something. I didn’t really like it. But once I got the hang of it I realized she didn’t tell me a single thing to do with it other than write whatever was on my mind. Whatever I had in my mind, I’d literally write it down… I remember the first thing I wrote was that I had a crush on this girl and the next day I was gonna go to school with some type of candy and give it to her and try to make her my girlfriend.
What sparked your interest in journalism?
I was in honors high school classes for English. We would always have a ton of papers to write and everybody else would not want to write them or would wait until the last night to write it. But I was turning them in the day after they were assigned. My teacher saw that I had a natural flow for writing and she said, “You should really consider journalism as your college major.” Before that, I had never even thought about it.
What inspires your writing?
I just want to get people’s messages out. I think that’s the biggest reason why I write: To help people be able to tell their story if they’re not able to say it or if they do not vocalize it. I want to be that medium to get people’s stories out.
What stories interest you?
I want to write a story about the Black woman. I heard my aunt saying one time that she’s a double minority. I said, “Oh, what are you mixed with?” And she said, “I’m a black woman.” Women, in general, go through a lot, but Black women go through so much. I don’t think the entire story of women in general, but specifically Black women, is being told properly or in the right way.
Who are the Black women who influenced you?
I was raised by a single mother, though my dad was (and still is) in my life. But I lived during the week with my mom. My mom has a sister, who I see all the time. She’s single. I just see the things they do day in and day out, whether it’s for me or it’s for themselves or for other people. Like, I couldn’t do it. I have visual evidence of two strong, independent women doing it for themselves. I’ve always wanted to let the world know that these women are out here working, no matter what. I don’t think their stories are being told enough.
What’s next for you?
I really want to bring my talents and my writing skills to whatever company or organization that may be. I just want to write. That’s it.
Nikka Troy is a Lede New Orleans Senior Fellow. She is a writer, filmmaker and producer from New Orleans. She studied film at the University of New Orleans.
