My goal is to make it to the front page. So far I have written a variety of stories and I hope to get a good story and make it a front-page. I don’t know about that farm-workers story I pitch in a story and a few days later another reporter did a story on it, I felt cheated but that’s OK there are more stories out there that I can do and hopefully I can make a really nice feature about something else. I’m still thinking about which one.

Argenis Villa - 02 March 2008 04:17 PM

At the midpoint of my internship, the main goal I have is still properly telling my grandma’s story. I have tons of historical information and a lot of personal accounts from several family members to add the human element to the story. Like Martha’s story, my story is probably considered taboo because it’s a part of American history that several people around here would like to gloss over with a “that was in the past” or a “get over it.” Even though, there’s nothing about the braceros in the museums around here. You would think my grandma’s history never existed.

Argenis let me tell you that here in California there has been an interest to talk about braceros and put them in the museums. It is a project done by California State University Channel Islands, they just join the Smithsonian to do a Bracero Oral History project, for the Braceros who worked here at Ventura County you might want to talk to them and see if another university is doing something like that. So far, they just started collecting their stories and the exhibit is being develop by the National Museum of Ameican History and Smithsonian Institution. I hope this info is helpful for you and your story.
If you need a contact person let me know.

Ana Cubias - 03 March 2008 04:37 PM

Last but not least, there is an agency in L.A. that promotes AIDS awareness in the Latino community and the name is The Wall Las Memorias. If you need more info let me know…

Ana—this is GREAT ADVICE!! MARTHA-- be sure to follow up on this… really strong background info for your story!

Ana Cubias - 03 March 2008 04:37 PM

M
another reporter did a story on it, I felt cheated but that’s OK there are more stories out there that I can do and hopefully I can make a really nice feature about something else. I’m still thinking about which one.

Guys—there are a million stories in the naked city .... maybe farmworkers will work out, maybe not, keep thinking of possible ANGLES (different from the one done… be sure to look up, to see what others have done in the clips) ... keep the ideas coming!

Ana Cubias - 03 March 2008 04:49 PM

here in California there has been an interest to talk about braceros and put them in the museums. It is a project done by California State University Channel Islands, they just join the Smithsonian to do a Bracero Oral History project,

Ana, you are an absolute font of good info! Thanks! Argenis—this is great material for you to look into, no?????

I think that at this point my goal is to write a story I’m very proud of. I’ve been writing lots of features and crime stories but nothing that so far made me think “This is why I am a journalist.” I’m the idealistic type of journalists. I still think I can make changes by writing about the voiceless or powerless. (Martha’s AIDS story is a great example).
Sometimes I feel like I’m entertaining the reader and not informing him/her. The other day I wrote a story about a man who died while trying to rescue a cat from a tree. He fell. So far, it is my story with the most comments on the Web site (80) and it was the fourth most read story of the day on the Web. My editor was super happy.... yet I felt bad about it.
I know readers love pet stories and crime/death stories, so combine that and you get a hit…
While working on the story I really felt how editors strive to please advertisers and it made me very upset.

I have five weeks to find that one story that will make it all worth it. I’ll keep you posted.

Maria Chercoles - 05 March 2008 11:07 AM

I
The other day I wrote a story about a man who died while trying to rescue a cat from a tree. He fell. So far, it is my story with the most comments on the Web site (80) and it was the fourth most read story of the day on the Web.
While working on the story I really felt how editors strive to please advertisers and it made me very upset.

Maria—explain what you mean by “striving to please advertisers?” I’, not seeing the connection between “advertisers” and cats in a tree....Also, even small stories (a cat in a tree, particularly a cat in a tree that causes the death of a Good Samaritan) c an be “an important” story.... “Important” doesn’t have to mean lengthy or complex… It can be small, gem-like, meaning, what we sometimes call “a water-cooler story,” because it makes people talk. Please please keep us posted about possible stories coming up that become “water-cooler stories.” It’s not the scope of the story, but the reporter’s framing the story that makes an impact.....

Oops ... I said Martha and I meant Maria it’s all about the M word, one of my personal faves.... 

Well, what happened was that I finished my story, spoke with relatives of the guy and neighbors, but no one could tell me the whereabouts of the cat. We posted the story on the Web and then I was told to go back and find out whether the cat was alive or not and what had happened to it because “readers love animals and they’ll want to know what happen to it.” I felt bad walking around the neighborhood asking the neighbors for a cat when a human being had died trying to rescue it. For some reason I was very upset by having to please the readers with something that felt just wrong to me. I felt that my editors just wanted more hits on the Web. It took me a couple of hours but I found the cat at the county’s animal control office and we added that to the story.