Hello friends and colleagues, as this calendar year comes to a close I’d like to take the time to share some of my accomplishments from the past few months that I’ve been too busy doing to stop and write about.
Graduated UC Santa Cruz
After almost five years of study (I took an almost one-year leave of absence at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic) I graduated from UCSC with a B.A. in Latin American and Latinx Studies. My grades must have been good because I graduated cum laude.
I was honored to be asked to speak at the LALS end-of-year celebration and speak to my experience in the department, like being a researcher in the Human Rights Investigations Lab or studying abroad at UNAM in Mexico City for a semester.
LALS is a truly special department, and it has my heart, siempre.
Volunteering, internships and freelancing
Last fall I started applying to journalism internships and wasn’t having a lot of luck — turns out journalism is quite competitive, though I’m not entirely sure why (see: low pay, long hours, high stress). The widespread layoffs and general instability in the industry probably wasn’t helping, either.
But, just as I was finishing my last weeks of schoolwork in March, I managed to land an editorial internship with digital news startup California Local. I worked with managing editor Sharan Street curating the daily news digests for Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. I also wrote about the role of community groups after the devastating flood in Pajaro on March 11.
At the same time I had the incredible opportunity to volunteer for the Covid In-Custody Project. It was a data journalism initiative that used hundreds of public records requests to create an extensive data repository on the effects of Covid-19 in California’s county jails. I joined the project near the end of its run and in addition to gathering data and creating data visualizations, I also worked on archiving the data and public records requests on DocumentCloud.
In June, the project’s founder, another volunteer, and I were awarded funding to attend a data journalism conference in Zurich. Called the Joint Computation + Journalism / European Data & Computational Journalism Conference 2023, or concisely C+J DataJ Conference 23, it brought together journalists and researchers advancing what’s possible in their fields. The focus this year was AI in the media industry. One memorable work presented was a project called Suspicion Machines, a years-long investigation into the secretive algorithms used by the city of Rotterdam to guess who’s most likely to commit welfare fraud.
For a few months I also wrote some articles for Metro Silicon Valley’s A&E section. Most recently I previewed a play about school shootings and interviewed Smuin Ballet’s artistic director before her last dance season.
KQED News and Santa Cruz Local
Hard work pays off, eventually. In July I started as a newscast intern for KQED in San Francisco. After many months of applying to journalism internships across the country, and dozens of rejections, I managed to land a really awesome one right here in the Bay Area. Two days a week I report daily and breaking news for radio and write some digital stories, like one published just this week about two unhoused seniors who fought the city of Berkeley over the accessibility of shelter options.
As an intern I also get to pitch and work on longer, more in-depth digital and radio projects. I made a “superspot” (90-second radio segment) about Oakland’s civilian response team and have a digital story on that subject forthcoming. I was offered and accepted a second six-month term and will be working with KQED until June.
Also in July, I landed a great job with Santa Cruz Local, a nonprofit news organization that produces in-depth and high quality journalism that’s free for all. For the last six months I’ve been copy editing and fact checking every article, newsletter, and Spanish-language podcast that Santa Cruz Local — and Noticias Watsonville, the Spanish-language division — has published. I also write briefs for the weekly newsletter. Next year I will also take on the role of audio engineer for Noticias Watsonville.
Happy New Year and Free Palestine
All in all it’s been an incredibly busy and difficult year, full of anticipated and unanticipated transitions. I graduated university, moved to Oakland, started two new jobs and inherited a dog. I lost a dear friend and marked the one-year anniversary of my mom’s passing. Through it all, my community has held me and for that I am so grateful.
In the depths of my own grief I’ve also reflected on the unimaginable scale of pain that is unfolding in Gaza. As the war against Palestine rages on, I struggle to comprehend the depth and breadth of loss. I struggle sometimes to comprehend even my own grief. There is a line from a Rumi poem: Grief can be the garden of compassion.
Wishing whoever reads this if nothing else, greater clarity in the new year.
