The Meeting at the UN
Past the Photo Op
Going to the United Nations and having a photo shoot at the United Nations with Teen Magazine was a big deal. The flags, the building, the steps — it looked like power. Anyone could do that. Lots of people get the picture for the resume. Smile, snap, post it. Done.
But I went further. I wasn’t there for the picture. I was there for the story. I got an exclusive interview inside the United Nations by going inside and getting an opportunity to interview Mr. Anthony Fouracre, the worldwide postal chief of the United Nations.
I didn’t have a connection. I didn’t have a VIP pass. I had a press badge, a notebook, and the nerve to ask. While other teens were posing, I was watching the staff doors. I asked questions. I told them I was with the Global Teen Club International newsletter, that I followed the rules of journalism, that I wanted to understand how mail moved in a building that represented the whole world. One person said no. Another pointed me down a hall. The third opened a door.
Mr. Anthony Fouracre didn’t have to talk to me. He ran the United Nations Postal Administration — the stamps, the post office, the mail that carried peace treaties and resolutions and letters from kids to presidents. He was busy. But he sat down with a teenager and gave me time. He explained how UN stamps are valid only from UN headquarters in New York, Geneva, and Vienna. He showed me first-day covers. He told me why a letter mattered in diplomacy — because sometimes paper is safer than a phone call, and a postmark is proof you were there.
I came away with UN items and this awesome interview with a man that was something that money could not buy. I had my notes, my quotes, a UN tote bag, and a handshake that meant more than any posed photo on the steps. I published that interview in our newsletter. Not on a blog. Not in a caption. In print, with his title spelled right and every fact checked twice. Kids in 40 countries read what the worldwide postal chief said because I walked past the photo op and went through the door.
That’s the difference. Anyone can stand outside the United Nations. Not everyone walks in and comes out with a story. I learned that access isn’t given, it’s earned — by showing up prepared, by respecting the rules, by asking the question everyone else is too shy or too cool to ask.
The photo shoot faded. The interview didn’t. I still have those notes. I still remember how he looked me in the eye and answered like I was a real journalist, not a kid playing one. Because I was.
Money could not buy that moment. Guts did. And that’s what I took home from the UN.
