Can y'all hear me?

The story itself needs a lot of work. I'm too ashamed to post what I handed in to my magazine professor (though it appears she liked it because I got an A- in the class?--still, I know it's not as good as it can be). But here's the lede; this still needs work too, thinking about changing the first sentence altogether:

Dim lights illuminate the 307 descending seats that lead to the center of the auditorium. Christiona Hawkins walks up to read her poem. The light shines brightest on her smooth coffee-colored complexion. But her eyes, instead of looking at the audience, focus for a moment on the Webcam resting on the orange plastic-covered podium set in front of her. “Can y’all hear me?” she yells. A few seconds later, an emphatic “Yes” emanates from the speakers, the voices of a group 1,000 miles away filling the room, their own stage at the University of Minnesota projected onto the large screen that hangs behind her. She begins to read, “A Warrior Out of Us,” from her phone. Her kind voice becomes firm, urgent, unwavering as she unravels a combination of metaphors expressing her observations of the African-American experience. The frustration overflows from her voice as she alludes to the false illusions of progress that plague the black community. Don’t be fooled, she says. I’ll let you think you’re flying high, but just like kites, I have strings attached to you. Snap, snap, snap. The audience appreciates her clever prose. We will really see what a disaster our people have become. An eruption of applause and snaps follow the last line. While Hawkins walks back to her seat, the host in Minneapolis says, “Someone in the audience has a special note for the young lady who was just on stage.” “Uh-oh, uh-oh!” shout men from the audience. But the message doesn’t come with the expected flirtation—just admiration: "You are an amazing poet," the person says.

Hawkins, a sophomore international relations and policy studies major, belongs to Verbal Blend, a spoken word program at SU.

###

"I'm pulling the dirt together"

Below is a moment I witnessed during my first two hours with Verbal Blend. It was so brief but telling.

Cedric Bolton brings two poems by Joy Harjo in honor of Native American Heritage Month to the last two Verbal Blend workshops of the semester. On the first day, only four poets showed up, two volunteered to read "The Creation Story," and "Equinox," aloud. Afterwards, they take turns sharing interpretations of the poems and decide that Harjo pulls inspiration from nature and the natural to form images of important themes and feelings in her life: creation, love, ancestry, war, guilt, fear. Bolton encourages the poets to use, if they need to, Harjo's words for inspiration during the routine 15 minutes of free write.

Katherine, one of Verbal Blend's newest members--the senior joined this fall, says little during the first hour but willingly stands to share her poem. For 45 seconds, she reads from her notebook, often stumbling over the words; she twice repeats two lines. The most noticeable part of her performance are her feet, which fidget from side to side, and her body, which on occasion seeks the nearest table for support. Despite her slight discomfort, the group loves the poem. Desperation has made me crave a murder of an innocent world that was self built inside my cage's walls. "I love that last line," Michelle says. "Can you read the whole thing one more time for me?" Ruthnie adds. Ruthnie, nicknamed Rae and affectionately called 'Rae Sunshine' by the group, often presents challenges to the poets. Tonight, "I challenge you to keep both feet flat on the floor. If you force both feet to stay flat on the floor then your body will use that energy." Katherine begins to laugh; her feet jitter in her acting class, too.

For the second attempt, the words flow fluidly--save for two times, when Katherine pauses as her body pulls the strength up from her anchored feet and through her diaphragm to force the words brick and crave out of her mouth, clear and unbroken. Not once does she stutter on a word, repeat a line, or move her feet. "Damn!," Bolton says after the last line. Rae, just as, if not more, impressed the second time, breathes out an awed "Gosh!" Snap, snap, snap all around the room. "How do you feel?" Rae asks.

"I feel mad," Catherine responds. "And I feel good that it's in here," she says, lifting her notebook with her right hand. She brings her left to her chest. "Not here."

"I created a separate identity."

This audio clip took me a lot longer to edit than it probably should have, and still it needs some work. But no matter. I posted it because one of the first things I noticed when I began attending Verbal Blend workshops was the way many of the poets transformed when they took the stage. All are students of varying disciplines and before Cedric Bolton (the director of the program) begins the workshop, they talk about their schoolwork, share anecdotes, and laugh. Normal. But after a 15-minute silence period designed for free-writing, one by one, each person volunteers to share. Some sing, sway, yell, cry. And some become different people entirely.

My final story: Verbal Blend

Verbal Blend is a spoken-word/poetry program on campus and the subject of my final story for my MAG 406: Magazine Article Writing course. I absolutely love Verbal Blend. The poets teem with talent and I look forward to every interview, meeting, or event. I am continuously blown away by each person's devotion to the words, the careful ability in which they craft them to convey a message. When I'm in their presence, I'm always pleasantly surprised by the community and camaraderie that exists among them.

The story is supposed to be 1,700 words. But I could write so much more! I could write a profile on each member, I'm sure. I could write about the events that they host and have hosted. I could write about the first ever Verbal Blend learning community in Boland Hall that started this fall. I could write about the efforts Verbal Blend makes to improve the poor education system in Syracuse. I hoped to update this as I conducted each interview and attended each event this month, but, as has become the norm this semester, time slipped away. So, I'm starting now.

The above clip is of a Verbal Blend poet named Christiona performing her poem, "A Warrior Out of Us," at Verbal Blend's 'Ayo Technology' Skype Open Mic on Nov. 17. (More on that in another post). I think I'm leaning towards focusing on Verbal Blend's work off campus, educating and inspiring young students in the city of Syracuse. Christiona will probably be one of my main faces. She's a sophomore who is in the process of creating a literary magazine for high school students in the community.

"We want the high school students to think about pursuing any level of post-secondary education. We feel that publishing them in a college publication with other college writers and artists will boost their confidence in themselves and get them thinking about college in a positive aspect."

Verbal Blend is a special group, so I'm excited to post more about them in the near future.

Till next time.

Gay Talese is my hero.

Gay Talese, The Art of Nonfiction, No. 2

I'm just going to go for it, try everything, stay curious, be fearless

with my career.

I have tons to say. Will try to write soon.

30!

Oh dear. I've been really bad with this haven't I? I started school exactly one month ago and I've just been so busy since. The most exciting part of my curriculum is actually what's not on it. This year, I'm the managing editor of Medley magazine, which I will definitely update about in the future. Lots to say about that! I also just accepted a position at The Onondagan, which is the SU yearbook. I'm in charge of editing 40+ stories, holy shit! But I'm so excited. I wish I could just devote all my time to both publications.

Anyway, the reason I'm writing today is to celebrate my 30th post on CITYist.com! I meant to do this during the summer. I wasn't sure that I'd continue writing after summer's end, so I established a personal goal of 20 posts, which I accomplished by the second week of August. I love this internship because it's flexible (when I'm not assigned something, I can more or less post about whatever I want) and it's a different kind of writing. I wish I could say it was easy too, but often enough a 75-word post has taken me about three hours to write. Post topics range from fashion to art to music to events--all for a New York City audience.

I never had the slightest interest in writing about fashion, but honestly doing so has helped me develop my descriptive writing. And my favorite posts? I have to say are the ones I pitched :)

"Banksy's Back" -- I love Banksy and he made a NYC appearance the first week I started. I was so excited that Eva (my editor at the time) let me pitch and write a post just a few days after I started the internship. Unfortunately I didn't get to see his work in person before it was tagged. :(

"Sing it from the Rooftops" -- In August I went to see "Waste Land" and it was wonderful.

"Concert Review: Rooney" -- Rooney's a band that I've been trying to see since I was 14. No joke. It was an OK show--I know it would've been better if I saw them at the peak of my obsession--but I'm glad I finally went. Since I was planning to go to the concert anyway, I pitched it. Eva even used my pictures!, which was nice.

"Hipsters & Hustlers" -- This might be the one that I'm most proud of editorially. I first went to see the exhibit with a friend. It didn't impress us. But after a second (and third) look, I appreciated Leon Levinstein's ability to capture the life of the common New Yorker.

"Riot Act" -- I absolutely love this band so I'm really happy that I got them on the site!

Well, hopefully there'll be tons more to come! Plan to be here as long as they'll have me.

Rick Destito: my version

I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry when I saw that "Rebirth of A City" was published in The New York Times today.

A part of me is extremely happy that this story was written in such an esteemed publication. But the driven journalist part of me is somewhat sad. Mainly because, as many other journalists know, it's kind of important to be the first to break a story. And get credit for it. Now, I'm not a super-competitive person. Really. But still, I felt it was my story :X Is that childish?

I'm not even kidding, the next story I was going to post that was part of my Connective Corridor beat series was a profile I wrote in NEW 305 about Rick Destito. It was my favorite piece of all the ones I produced for the class for many reasons. One, I felt I discovered him. Well, one of my [Connective Corridor] contacts told me about him. But what he was doing (and currently still is, apparently) was unheard of to many people in Syracuse with the exception of his close friends and the arts community. As I was unraveling and absorbing all the information about his projects, I really felt like I stumbled upon something really unique and worth sharing. Two, I worked extremely hard on it, having interviewed at least 10 sources, some several times. Three, it was the first time that I felt like a real journalist. Considering it was a story for a class, I traveled a lot. I wasn't confined to the borders of my campus or phone interviews from my room, but I stepped out, past Armory Square, into the Near Westside, into the walls of The Gear Factory (which still, when I think about it, "blows my mind,") and into, what is now, his home (I love The New York Times' interactive before&after feature--I never saw the final product).

Here is my version of the story:

Rick Destito by Noelia de La Cruz

The Black Olive

Last week, I interned for the last time at New York Family, one of my two magazine internships this summer. Though it wasn't what I originally intended or wanted to do, the 12 weeks gave me great additional experience and many clips, one or two of which I'll post once they're published.

In the meantime, I wanted to post some of my work from the past that regrettably will probably never be published. Understandably so, seeing as how I did the work for the purpose of my Newhouse courses. Still, I put a lot into them, and think if there's anywhere I should publish them it should be here.

Even before I came to Syracuse University, I was interested in the Connective Corridor concept--the idea that through a series of creative projects and measures, a fallen city could eventually be revitalized. I then had a brief stint as the downtown Syracuse beat reporter of The Daily Orange. When it came time to take NEW 305 (News Reporting) in the Spring of '09 and each student was required to choose a beat, I was still passionate and curious enough about downtown Syracuse to keep it as my own. I then produced at least six stories about the ways in which people in Syracuse were trying to make it a better and more exciting place to live. Despite popular belief, Syracuse is not so bad. The sad part is, that it could be better and there are very limited attempts or interest in making it so.

In any case, the above is one of the last projects we worked on. We were required to use Soundslides and Audacity to produce a multimedia project that tells a story related to our beat. A few weeks before it was due I discovered that a new restaurant was opening and decided it was the perfect opportunity. The people I met at this Mediterranean restaurant, The Black Olive, were super friendly and I was able to sit and talk to the owner as well as many of the employees. I also got to go behind the scenes (into the kitchen) and taste some of the delicious food! They recently celebrated the restaurant's 1-year anniversary, which is nice.

It was my first multimedia project ever--and it looks it. But it was so fun to make and led me to decide that in addition to writing, I'd love to experience with multimedia, producing and editing--also very effective ways to tell stories.

More soon.

Analog Girl

I did not forget about this! And now that it's summer and I'm interning I'm going to try and update more frequently.

For now, a clip from A-Line Magazine's 20th Anniversary Spring issue.

Last time I spoke to Analog Girl and Christian Van Luven, they confirmed that she will be coming to Syracuse in the fall. It'll be really cool to meet her and see her perform live :)

They call him ToTs

Last week, on March 30, the latest issue of 20 Watts finally came out. To my surprise, they chose my story as the cover story! :D Mike Heagerty, above, raps about potatoes, only! It was an interesting topic and fun to write. I've received a lot of great feedback, including from friends to my magazine professor to Mike himself, so I'm really really happy.

Read it here :)

"The funniest part is he has three whole albums. I only have one full album and I've been a musician for 20 years."
- Adam Gold, member of Sophistafunk/co-owner of Funk N' Waffles/ToTs' roommate

For two weeks I worked, for what seemed, endlessly on a feature story for our music magazine on campus, 20 Watts. It's a profile on Michael Heagerty, a local Syracuse rapper. I did several interviews with him, his family members and his friends and also went to see him perform at Funk N' Waffles, a fun cozy waffle joint/concert venue near campus. I actually knew him before I decided to take on the story and it was really great talking to him and learning more about his rapping and life in general. It's been fun but also ridiculously time-consuming. I seriously did not focus on anything else these past two weeks but doing the interviews, research, making sure the words sound right... writing is such a stressful process for me sometimes, but as I've said many times before it's always worth it . I'm really excited to see it published. It's the longest piece I'll have published to date! (1,800 words) so this is huge for me and I'm really happy about it and hope everyone likes it too. I think the issue will be released towards the end of March. I'll definitely post about it when it is :)

Last Spring, I decided to do a short profile piece for A-Line Magazine on campus. The profile was on Makoto Takada, a talented fashion designer who, after graduating from the Fashion Institute of Technology and winning a competition, was determined to make a name for himself in the fashion industry. The article is here. I remember it being really awesome because I was only supposed to gather bits of information based on what I could find online but there wasn't much. So instead, I searched him on Facebook, found him and messaged him. He got back to me almost immediately, eager to do a phone interview. He was extremely nice and super talented and it was just a pleasant surprise to be able to interview him since I wasn't expecting to. A couple of months later, I sent him the issue when it came out and he seemed to genuinely like the piece, which pleased me.

Anyway, to the point. I decided to send him an e-mail a few days ago to follow up and see how he was doing. Turns out, he is now the Associate Designer for up and coming fashion label, Thakoon. (The label has been profiled a few times by major magazines; Michelle Obama wore a Thakoon dress to the Democratic National Convention in 2008). Last time I spoke to Takada he was still working as a pattern maker and trying to figure out where he wanted to go next and how he would do so - so to learn that a year later he's quickly moving forward and loving it is really inspiring. He's prepping for Fashion Week with the label's Fall '10 line. How exciting! It makes me so happy to see the transformation from dreamer to a dream come true.

Just thought I'd share. :)

Perfect timing!

I received an e-mail from my internship supervisor for The Florentine this morning informing me that my Switzerland article was published in this week's issue! I found a minor mistake, but hopefully it's fixed soon. See it here :)

And some personal photos, some of which I've posted on my travel blog, but that's okay:

Hello!

I was abroad in Florence, Italy last semester when, during my second interview with The Florentine, Giacomo (my supervisor-to-be) said "Would you like to go to Switzerland and write an article for our student issue?" I was ecstatic. OF COURSE! I jumped at the opportunity.

While in Florence, I decided that the Switzerland trip would be the beginning of the documentation of what I hope will be an exciting journalism career.

It's not just about the free travel perks. Or free anything. For the past few years, journalism has provided so many opportunities for me to meet the best people, learn new things, and go places. Literally, figuratively. I love it. Even when I think I'm not good enough to write, report, observe, DO THIS, I immediately realize that a) I am and b) I can't imagine doing anything else. I think there's so much out there not to care. And people are so interesting. We all have stories to tell.

So here's to my journey! (And hopefully some great stories).


Noelia