About Fern Shen

SHEN, FERN is a freelancer and longtime journalist who left The Washington Post last year after 17 years on the Metro and Style staffs. A Baltimore resident, she reported on government, schools and crime in several Maryland counties and covered state government and the legislature in Annapolis. She also helped create and wrote for “KidsPost,” the paper’s unique page of daily news and features for young people. Before coming to The Post, she wrote for The Evening Sun (Baltimore), The Hartford Courant and The Portland Oregonian. Lately, using a grant from a local foundation, she and her collaborators (reporters, photographers, broadcasters, New Media experts) have been creating a Baltimore-based website they envision as a multi-media-infused blend of “place-blogging,” reader-generated content and fresh staff reporting. When she’s not reinventing-media-as-we-know-it, she’s trying to learn Mandarin Chinese, wrangling her 13-year-old son and husband or hiding out in a nearby basement, practicing with her neighborhood blues band.