Our Bridge of Wills

An Origin Story

By Daniel Nuñez | Photography courtesy of Bridge of Wills

Elections nowadays are associated with partisan fighting and media coverage with their own biases and agendas that serve to divide us further. This division is something that’s weighed heavily on my mind: at home, my dad laments how extremes have been allowed to seep into our politics. In the mill of elections that keeps churning, where one campaign ends and another begins, one conversation spurred me to action. In this particularly passionate conversation during the 2022 midterm cycle, shortly after Roe v. Wade was overturned and division reached a fever pitch, Dad commented that America needed a “bridge of wills” to help unite the nation. That line was the fuse that ignited the whole Bridge of Wills project.

The Bridge of Wills project began with a line and grew into the idea of how I could practice my passion—writing—while helping unite America in a singular space. I thought carefully about that and, looking around the landscape, felt that writing of this kind was sorely lacking, so I began. My dad helped me set up a website, we commissioned our first logo through Fiverr, and I got to work.

I look at my first article, a dissection of the 2020 election results, with mixed pride: pride that it was my first, mixed with my brain now seeing a million ways I could do it better. That’s how I continued through three website redesigns and more articles I wrote whenever I felt passionate about something in the news cycle. Initially covering only news in politics, I worked to compile a variety of sources to create a balanced worldview, but my writing soon extended to historical elements.

Including history in the project felt like a natural extension of current politics. The crowning jewel of that effort was my “Nixon Resigns” article, which detailed the events of the resignation of President Nixon. It is my favorite article in our first two-year output, although I was still a one-man show then; the “our” came into play soon after it was published.

Our Team

About two and a half years of publishing Bridge of Wills alone revealed that I needed help structuring myself: an article would, on average, take about five hours to write, including combining sources and reading through them to a standard that would make me proud. Articles would cycle through draft after draft because I like to handwrite everything first, which is a staple of my process. With writing, editing, and revising, I would often pass that five-hour base mark. I knew having a team would keep me accountable and improve the quality of my work.

I hope to grow Bridge of Wills into a national platform where we publish notable public figures from all facets of the political spectrum to inform the American people and examine all sides of an issue.

I brought together my closest peers and friends; now, our lineup comprises a team I feel proud to work with. You can learn more about it through our “Why United?” article. I owe a lot to Alyssa, Lya, Micheal, and Felix. Our team of two publicists and three writers has produced a prolific forty articles since we got together in May 2024, and delegating the work among us was key: Lya Quintana Nuñez, who has been the lead on media and article design as chief publicist, helped organize our Instagram @bridgeofwills to include colorful designs and graphics. Micheal Jimenez, a fellow senior at my school, helps Lya design colorful graphics. Alyssa Leon, who I met through volunteering and who has grown into a close friend, is my vice editor, who revises my articles and with whom I work to write joint articles like our “Presidential Debate” piece. Felix Puig Seppalainen helps write and edit his own articles; I met Felix through a leadership conference. Felix is from New Jersey, and we bonded over a shared love of politics. He’s become a deep and cherished friend. Our team assembled just in time for the 2024 election and soon embarked on our biggest project.

Lya Quintana Nuñez, chief publicist

Election coverage within traditional media is based upon the “horse race,” where the “topline” (the top number you see in polling) is reported, and very little else is covered. Our BOW team endeavored to change that: with “State of the Race,” we wrote every Monday or Tuesday about the happenings of the race across the country. “State of the Race” wasn’t just about the presidential race; it extended to the House, Senate, and governor positions. Looking at polling, averages, trends, and early voting data, we made our trend reports according to the results from across the country. Lya and Micheal helped create the media and covers. Felix, who’s tuned into politics, advised me on the ratings, and when he felt bias was too far, Alyssa edited the “State of the Race” series and helped with the reports.

Creating and working on Bridge of Wills has been one of the most gratifying experiences of my life. As I progress through the final stage of high school into college and beyond, I want to continue the mission of uniting America. I hope to grow Bridge of Wills into a national platform where we publish notable public figures from all facets of the political spectrum to inform the American people and examine all sides of an issue. Even though I’m about to turn eighteen and still in high school, I hope Bridge of Wills grows and that we reach as many people with our message as possible.

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Visit BridgeofWills.blog to learn about the project and read more articles.