John Klopotowski
John Klopotowski, an Oakland native, is a recent graduate from USC with a double major in Middle East Studies and Political Science. He speaks Arabic and Turkish. For his thesis at USC, John read the archives of Farah Antun, an early 20th century Syrian author and journalist, examining Antun’s role in a 20th century literary and cultural movement called al-nahda (“The Arab Renaissance). This helped to solidify John’s interest in journalism, especially regarding the presence it has in civil society.
While at Berkeley, John has enjoyed covering economics and current events in Oakland. He has had a number of articles published in Oaklandside. He has also done freelance translation work from Arabic and Turkish into English—these jobs were, respectively, to aid academic research at Berkeley and an upcoming podcast at NPR. Moving forward, he is particularly interested in writing long-form pieces that cover today’s political and economic trends, especially re the Middle East and engagement with the US.
John has been featured in publications at USC, and served as the Edition in Chief of Ilios, the Undergraduate Journal of Political Science. The edition he edited can be seen here. In his free time, he’s either spending time with loved ones, going for a hike, doing a crossword puzzle, or brining grape leaves for his next batch of dolma.