By Harold Goldberg

Yesterday, Chris Byrd from the Washington Post and I went up to the DreamYard Project, the Bronx school where the New York Videogame Critics Circle mentors students.

Like many of you, Chris and I were still stunned by the results of the election and we weren’t quite sure whether the kids would want to talk about our country or about games or both.

Once there, we helped them write reviews, told them about how we conduct editorial meetings, told them how to get jobs in games and in journalism, explained to them how they could become paid interns with us. This is the model we hope to bring to other schools next year.

In this case on this day, I actually felt that we ourselves didn’t give back. In fact, they gave back to us with their intelligence and their enthusiasm. They returned to us some of the hope we had lost over the last few days.

We know games are entertainments and diversions. But the bond they help to form fosters a communication that’s beyond race, beyond gender and beyond age. At its best, it’s a communication that nurtures a trust that can lead to talk about bigger things, deeper things.

Harold Goldberg is the founder of the New York Videogame Critics Circle.