MY STORIES: 

• James Jackson III and ACCEL help black-owned businesses in Salt Lake City
• Ogden resident Stanley Ellington enjoys helping the community
• Black Student Union at the University of Utah helps students connect

MY BLOG:

Intermediate reporting was not what I was expecting; students are expected to work in a real-world environment. This class pushed me to work more on my writing skills because I thought I knew how to write. But it taught me how to be more conscious on articles I wrote. Writing is an art like the title of the book says for this class and like most arts people have to practice at it. At the beginning of the semester I was a little nervous because it had been a while since I wrote an article. I learned that I can handle pressure and deadlines and this class showed me that I can really pull this off.

My beat was the African-American community and I learned a lot from the people I interviewed and in some cases I related to them. Stanley Ellington was one of our guest speakers for the class and while he was introducing himself he said something I related to. He said whenever he talked on the phone people would think he was from California, that he was from the ghetto, when in reality he’s from Alabama.

When people ask me where I’m from I answer I’m from Los Angeles and people assume that I come from the worst part of the city. I learned just to be patient and just explain to those people where I come from and not get mad or upset. Also what I learned from my beat is that it doesn’t matter if one is or belongs to a minority group you can still succeed in life regardless of your ethnicity.

ABOUT ME:

My name is Gustabo Rodriguez. I’m from Los Angeles and I moved to Salt Lake when I was 15 years old. I graduated from Granger High School in West Valley City. I lived there throughout my sophomore and junior years, but moved to Kearns in my senior year. In high school I knew what I wanted to study in college and that was communication.

When I enrolled at Salt Lake Community College that was my choice and here I am today. So right after high school in 2008 I attended SLCC (the Taylorsville campus) and graduated in the spring of 2011. I transferred to the University of Utah that fall.

I like watching and playing sports — basketball, soccer, baseball and football. Being from Los Angeles, I’m a big Lakers fan. My baseball team is the Angels. I don’t really follow the MLS but I follow the Mexican soccer league where my team is at and they are called Monarcas Morelia. Football I would have to go with the San Diego Chargers because Los Angeles doesn’t have a team.

I like any kind of music as long as it’s catchy I don’t have any favorite type of song, genre, or artist. That is one of the ways I could relax after a long day or even a long week. Action and comedy movies for me are the best and I always enjoy them.

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