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Archive for Latino newspapers
March 3, 2010 at 12:22 pm · Filed under Latino newspapers, community reporting that matters
We journalists tell stories and the ones that often click with us are those that show life’s turns.
And when the turns land someone on the better side of things, they are usually the most compelling.
Here is the start of such a story from the latest issue of EXTRA by Stella Nichols, one of our interns. It is about a life of trouble that has turned out okay. It’s a story that has meaning for the community that EXTRA is talking to and a story that reminds us why we count on the news media to connect us with the places where we live.
For the rest of the story go to EXTRA, http://www.extranews.net
Stephen
by Stella Nichols
John Vergara grew up inChicago’s Humboldt Park community,where gangs, drug dealingand violence were simply part ofthe norm.
Although he has made it a point to forget his past and the mistakes he’s made, having his tattoos removed has been anotherstep in his new life.
“I’m still in the process of gettingthese removed. Laser surgery hurts so bad, 10 times more thanthe tattoo itself, but I have to doit,” said Vergara, as he pointed to one of the many tattoos that engulf his body. “I try not to thinkabout it. I’m not that person anymore,”Vergara said.
“Everything I do now is to prove to my son[that] I’m a good dad.”Vergara was inducted into oneof the area’s most notorious gangs when he was only 13 yearsold.“There was nothing else to do,”said Vergara, 36, who now works with community groups in aneffort to keep Latino youths away from gangs.
“It was too dangerous to play in basketball courtsand there were no recreational centers. [There were] no role models whatsoever.”Surpassing gang life and jail time Vergara’s life revolved around the gang. A typical day in his life involved liquor, girls, drug dealingand handling more money in aweek than most teenagers see in a year.
“If I knew when I was 14 what Iknow now, I’d be really rich,”Vergara said.By his early teenage years,Vergara had witnessed more strifeand pain than most people. At 15,he was shot three times by a rivalgang member, suffering injuries inhis arm, stomach and shoulder.“I couldn’t care less aboutdying. I just wanted revenge,”Vergara said. “That was the beginningof me picking up a gun.”
From then on, Vergara’s troubles only worsened.When he was 16, he was convictedof several severe crimes and was sentenced to life in prison.
November 13, 2009 at 4:50 pm · Filed under Latino newspapers, community reporting that matters, darn good writing
Every so often you come a story that makes you stop. Your eyes are stuck. You go back over the beginning and you keep reading.
You read because the words are powerful or the scenery is so strong or the message is so overwhelming.
I was scanning the stories in Extra when I came across this:
Miguel Pérez, 27, has boiled down his years as a gang member into three simple scenes.
• Act one: A conversation with a fellow gang member about his recent release from prison and the job interview his probation officer has lined up for him, his friend agrees to accompany Pérez to this interview.
• Act two: He is interviewed and denied employment based on his criminal record, lack of education and looks.
• Act three: Pérez and his friend argue about his loyalty to the gang and their neighborhood. His friend insists he should continue to sell drugs instead of looking for a way out. The confrontation escalates, a gun is pulled, Pérez gets shot, and the skit concludes with Pérez’ current reality. He was left confined to a wheelchair at age 19.
The memories are so vivid for Pérez, he leaves the room each time the play is performed and joins the cast to deliver the final message.
“You don’t have to hit rock bottom to decide to turn your life around. Take my word for it and understand the realities of gang life,” Pérez said.
The role he currently plays as Youth Family and Community Liaison for the local job readiness program Central States SER (Service, Employment, and Redevelopment) transcends the stage set by the three-act play. Pérez leads the Youth Empowered to Succeed (YES!) expansion project at SER’s South Side location in Ford City.
http://www.extranews.net/news.php?nid=5359
Isn’t that a good lede. It takes me there quickly and it also takes the reader to an issue that matters. The article was written by Adriana Gallardo.
Keeping in touch with your community is the secret power of the ethnic news media.
This Tuesday, Nov. 17 we are sponsoring a meeting with Radio Arte at the National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W.19th St., Pilsen. We will be talking about how the Latino press and Latino community organizations connect and how they can improve their links. The meeting is from 3 to 5 pm.
saludos,
Stephen
November 12, 2009 at 5:07 pm · Filed under Latino newspapers
Nelson Guadrado runs his hands over the front page. He has a new plan, a new strategy for business and he feels very proud about it. It is not just ready yet but he is sure it will do well. Like everything else has.
He feels good, indeed, about his newspaper, La Prensa.
Four years after starting the paper, its circulation is up to 15,000 and not falling.There are ads which is a miracle today. Every week he comes up with enough ads for the payroll for the two-dozen folks that La Prensa supports, and for that he is thankful.
But he is restless.
To keep the paper growing, he wants to expand so he can catch the Latino population that is moving around and is sprawled along the West and North Side. He wants to keep ads coming so he has been posting videos about restaurants and businesses and that has been bringing in money. He wants to keep people connected to the newspaper so he puts up as much as many videos as he can about community issues and Diego Giraldo, a Colombiano, boasts of having more contacts than he needs to keep the videos and stories coming. And the webpage is updated daily. The day Lou Dobbs quits, La Prensa has a picture and story of about his leaving CNN.
His website name was a brilliant snare. La Prensa US. Most of Latin America has a newspaper called La Prensa and so people have come calling on his website, bringing in as much as 1 million hits a month.
“In the beginning it was hard,” says Nelson who came here over a decade ago from Ecuador. But not today.
Stephen
June 29, 2009 at 5:24 pm · Filed under Latino newspapers, videos as salvation
You want a picture of a parade in your neighborhood? You read your local paper. You want to know what’s doing at the new restaurant? And how about at the high school? You read your local newspaper.
It makes sense and that’s what this report says. While national papers are looking at the edge of the cliff and wondering how much time they have, local newspapers are hanging on in places long forgotten by the large newspapers.
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/people/emilyhenry/200906/1754/
And that’s why I put the picture of La Prensa here. There are a lot reasons why I like this paper. But one is that they have their own videos and a neat use of updated photos. Brilliante!
We have to talk more about videos as salvation.
