MY STORIES:

• Connecting people with education: the Glendale Community Learning Center is driven by community
• Mestizo Coffeehouse provides spaces for community projects
• Hip & Humble, keeping business and positivity during a shelter in place

MY BLOG:

I definitely felt like an outsider during this whole process. Normally I feel like an outsider to Salt Lake City as a whole because I live farther north and don’t have much time to explore. Not knowing the culture of the city as well as the places viewed as important. I can see the slight rift between east and west Salt Lake City, and not even being part of the city, I feel even more of an outsider. Despite this I kept going and working to understand life and motivations of those I was talking to.

This feeling didn’t affect my reporting at all because I was already accustomed to the feeling and was able to find ways to overcome it.

During one of my interviews I had a source ask me to keep things “off the record” though the information I was being told was a history of the business. I didn’t agree to keep anything off the record but did comply with his wish for me to not write anything down. The whole situation after he asked about things off the record made me nervous. I expected something a lot more serious than just the history. In the end, I didn’t end up using any of the major information given to me then in my story. I did use a few general facts that would appear to be common knowledge.

I did find it a little hard to remain objective when writing the Mestizo piece. The coffeehouse had so much character to it all I wanted to do was describe every inch of the place and how it made me feel. Especially the chai lattes, which I was not lied to when Prof. Mangun told me they were the best. Being there was an experience all on its own. It’s hard to effectively get across to readers and I encourage anyone who has the opportunity to visit Mestizo Coffeehouse for themselves.

ABOUT ME:

I will admit, I am a nerd. While I love anything to do with video games, I also enjoy Marvel superheroes and transformers. I believe my love for these things comes from the deep universes their originators have created. Creating these deep vast universes is why I started to write. When I found journalism in high school, I realized there was a universe around me ready to be explored and documented. After becoming a journalism major at the University of Utah, I needed to find a beat. I wanted to cover something positive and fascinating, and gaming was the perfect fit.

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