Sirin photographed by Alice Zoo.
Sirin Kale
Sirin is a journalist and reporter working mainly at The Guardian, recently becoming the Guardian Angel where she is “making nice things happen for nice people.” Over the pandemic, she covered Covid-19 related stories including, Lost To The Virus, a series of long-form profiles of the people who died from the virus that was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize.
How are you feeling about things in general at the minute?
In my personal life, I’ve never been happier. I truly love my work and take immense satisfaction from it. I’m in a great relationship, have amazing friends, two cats that I love an unreasonable amount, and I’ve finally come to understand the importance of boundaries and mostly saying no to a ton of stuff I used to do. (Like many introverts, I used to flagellate myself into socialising on weeknights even though it wore me out a tonne. Now I’ve implemented a new rule, which is that I don't do more than two social events a week, and it's brilliant and I'm much happier.)
Of course, I feel incredibly bleak about many things in our society: the callousness and incompetence of our government, inequality, the corruption I see becoming increasingly normalised in the UK. But I try not to let the consciousness of those issues affect my mental well-being and happiness because ultimately, that doesn’t help anyone.
Over the last 18 months, you seem to have worked very solidly, and you covered some incredible covid related features that told the human stories behind the daily statistics we were being given. How did you deal with this at the time when you were also living through a very difficult period?
In 2020 and 2021, I wrote a series of long-form profiles about the lives lost to COVID, which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. This was incredibly hard work emotionally - I would often find myself crying on the phone with the families - but I felt that the best way to honour the memories of those taken before their time was to try and accurately reflect what happened to them, and in particular, the systemic failures that contributed to their deaths, in the hope that it will form part of the historical record and in a small way contribute to a process of accountability and justice.
It’s not helpful for me as a journalist to take their pain—which is not my pain—and internalise it. My job is to be a dispassionate but empathetic—always empathetic—observer who can write something truthful. So the honest answer to this question is that my mental well-being is fine, and I’ve always been able to put up an emotional firewall between my life and my work, and I think that’s really healthy.
If I try to let all my other emotions drift away, there’s one I consciously cultivate: anger. I feel angry that these people weren’t protected, and that’s the emotion I sit with more than anything else and the one that fuels me.
“I felt that the best way to honour the memories of those taken before their time was to try and accurately reflect what happened to them.”
Have you received any really good life/work/spiritual guidance lately or guidance you’ve always lived by?
I’m Turkish-Cypriot, and we’re big believers in the Evil Eye, which basically means being humble, never getting above yourself, and never expecting that things will go well for you no matter what—resisting hubris or complacency. I abide by that.
How do you deal with life online as a journalist?
I try to behave to other people how I’d like to be treated: I don’t quote tweet/dunk on small accounts. If I read a piece I think is bad, I think, huh, that’s a bad piece, instead of angrily tweeting the author and ruining their day. (Not everyone has to like everything!).
How has the last 18 months influenced your outlook on life moving forward
Life is short. We could all die tomorrow. So be thankful for what you’ve got and if you’re unhappy with your life, do something to change it.
What is your cultural balm for when you're feeling overwhelmed?
Anything with Tom Cruise running or Bruce Willis jumping out of a helicopter (don’t cancel me for liking Tom Cruise, the man can make an action film).
“Life is short. We could all die tomorrow. So be thankful for what you’ve got and if you’re unhappy with your life, do something to change it.”
Is there a food dish you always turn to when you need comfort?
Salt and vinegar kettle chips and pub white wine.
What gives you hope?
Gen Z are one million times smarter than us, although they need to stop dressing in 2000s throwbacks, this is a hate crime.
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