Coming to an end....

I learned a lot from Multi Ethnic reporting. I felt that the
conversations we had in class we meaningful and allowed each of us to
learn a little more about different cultures. I've learned to be a
little more sensitive to people different from me and to be a little
more conscious of stereotypes I may have used in the past.
I found our listening posts to be a very important component to how we
learned throughout this semester. I had a preconceived notion that
people at the flea market had uninteresting lives or didn't have much
to offer. When in fact, the person I met wasn't much older than me and
actually had a lot in common with me. Many of us had different
experiences at our listening posts. I learned that fear is only in my
head. I was so uncomfortable going to a flea market alone. Everyone
was so nice and wanted to talk. People want to tell their story, and
as journalists we really need to listen.

Overall, I thought this course was a valuable learning experience. Our
class conversations and sharing of our experiences helped me to feel a
bit more at ease at my post.

I didn't feel as though anything should be done differently with the
course for future semesters.

Thank you for a allowing us to learn in a more unconventional way.

Michael Leyva

Michael Leyva grew up at the Opa Locka Flea Market, what he refers to as his “second home”, helping his parents run the family business.

Leyva’s childhood was spent running through the isles of the flea market with his friends and riding bike around the perimeter of the flea market.

“I remember coming here everyday after school to hang out with my friends whose parents also had flea market businesses. We’d help our parents stock up the shelves and then play around here until it was time to go home.”

The flea market, Leyva’s second home, is a place where he can turn to for comfort. He can’t describe his childhood without talking about the flea market. His parents, Carmen and Luis, have owned Michael’s Discount since the flea market opened in 1984.

Leyva is a high school graduate who never attended college. He was not expected to get a degree, but was expected to help put food on the table for his family. His childhood dreams of becoming an artist and going to college were no longer a priority after he learned of his father’s disability.

“I love to paint. I have always enjoyed it since I was a kid, but when my dad suffered his hip injury, my mom could not run the business alone and turned to me to help make our store survive.”

Leyva has been an active member in his community volunteering within his church and helping refugees like his parents find jobs.

He has been around the flea market his whole life and knows many families that have been working there for years, so it is easy for him to find open positions for people looking for jobs.

Juan Echevarria, a Cuban refugee, has been working for Leyva and his family for 10 months.

“Thanks to Michael, I have been able to support my family and make enough money to survive.”
After graduating from high school, Leyva took on the full-time job at the flea market working 7 days a week from open to close.

Leyva wanted to open an art supply store of his own, but that has proven to be unsuccessful because of the amount of time he has to put in to the family business.

“I had different plans in mind for my future, but this has turned out okay for me and my family. I try to look at things positively and whatever I do, I give it my best.”

Scott Miller, the owner of the flea market, has seen Leyva grow up. Miller has known Leyva and his family since 1984 when the flea market opened.

“Michael and his family are hard workers. I remember when Michael used to run around here and get into all sorts of trouble and come to me to get out of trouble. I’ve known him since he was born. He’s a good kid who looks out for his family and he’s like a son to me.”

Leyva does not have plans of leaving the flea market like he used to. His focus now is making sure their business continues to make money and survive during this economic recession.

Leyva continues to help refugees find jobs at the flea market and is an active community volunteer.

Ethnic Media The Danger of Losing It

Ethnic media, as we talked about it very important to different communities. These ethnic newspapers, like the ones we saw in class are what these communities read to keep updated on what's going on.

We saw that they touch on current topics in our country, but some were written from different points of views than others. These newspapers cater to these specific communities. Should they be more neutral and cater to all people?

I came across an article from the Boston Globe about the The Danger of Losing Ethnic Media.


http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/03/05/the_danger_of_losing_the_ethnic_media/

Ethnic media sees their role as giving a voice to certain communities, whichever they represent. It's very interesting and a quick read. It talks about ethnic media steering the mainstream media and so on.

Heart to Heart

Michael invited me to lunch last Thursday. He said it was going to be slow and to meet him at the Flea Market to talk. I let him do most of the talking. He opened up a little more about his family and how they have been able to manage through all these years. His dad is recently disabled and cannot work as much as he used to. Michael has had to put in a lot more work recently because of that.

I asked Michael of his future plans. He told me he graduated from High School and never went to college. He talked as though he really did not have anywhere else to go and he referred to this place as his second home. I asked him if he planned on taking over and his response was, "How could I not?"

Michael's dad still goes to the store everyday with his wife to try and help out but does minimal work. He opened up about his childhood and every important event in his life happened around the Flea Market. The Flea Market has become a "safe place" for him. He invited me to come back this week on Saturday or Sunday to hang out.

So I'll be back there this weekend as I'm writing my profile on Michael.

Back to the Flea Market

I went to the Flea Market on yesterday (Tuesday) The place wasn't too too packed. I went to speak to the owner again, Scott. He showed me around his office and was really interested in having me learn about what he does and what goes on there. I was able to see pictures of the Flea Market year-to-year and all the cameras they have installed.

Scott walked around with me for a little while and talked about some families that live here. I spoke with another Haitian family. The father ran the business and his kids helped him out. They have been there for 5 years and have trouble making enough to support their family.

I re-visited Michael and his parents for a little while. They were pretty busy, but Michael was happy to see me. He did most of the talking today. He told me about how hard work has been these past couple of days. They haven't been too busy and rely solely on their business to survive. His older sister moved to Orlando and is trying to finish school. I walked around with him too. He introduced me to his friend, who was from Columbia. His name is Juan and he's an illegal immigrant. When Michael told him I was a journalist and was there to learn more about what goes on in a Flea Market, Juan ran away. Apparently he thought I had the authority to deport him. It was an interesting day. I'll be back there Saturday. I plan to try and meet one more family.

What's The Point Of Journalism School, Anyway?

After reading this article, it made me think about all the time people asked ME why I wanted to study journalism. My neighbor is a journalist and used to tell me all the time, make sure you get a second job. I would laugh at him and tell him not to worry because I'd make it. He is an older generation journalist who has had to learn all the new types of media emerging over the past few years. It gets me think about what I am going to look forward to when my career starts rolling, if it ever will.

Journalists have a very important job, and it's to inform the people of this country of what's going on and to present it honestly and accurately. Unfortantely to many, the journalism field is slowly going away. I am not going to sit here and think that I spent my four years at a university studying journalism to find that I won't get a job or that this field will go away.

News As American As America and Diversity in the Newsroom

It was interesting to read this article. It talked about a small town preparing for their Fourth of July parade, when including flags of other nations would be a problem. Of course it angered some residents because, well America is the best right? Well, no. Our country is struggling with the demographic change that is occurring and has always been occurring. It is the job of journalists to maintain ethics policies and "seek truth and report it" as the states.

The article that focuses on Diversity in the Newsroom was interesting because it showed how a lot of top newspaper companies have extremely low percentages of non-whites working at the publications. Do I think they should hire people of different backgrounds JUST to say that they are diverse? No, but they should look to hire qualified individuals from all backgrounds that can do the job. I think a diverse newsroom is a great thing for a publication because individuals can learn so much with all the different opinions and cultures that are all put together.

The Q&A with Frank Harris, an assistant professor at Southern Connecticut State University, focused on journalism and facing racism. He went into detail about how important it is to discuss racism in journalism because how can one report fairly if they're racist thoughts play a role. He talked about when is race relevant to a story and when is it not. We each judge naturally based on how wew ere brought up. It's natural and almost impossible to avoid, but when writing a story journalists need to set that aside and write the truth.

Know Your Sources, Leave Your Opinions At The Door

Today was an interesting class. Lauren pretty much opened the conversation for today. It was interesting to hear what she had to say about the man she met. We are all very judgemental by nature. We do it because of what we know and how we were raised. As journalists, it's our job to tell the story and not take sides. It's important when visiting our listening posts to listen to what people have to say. Whatever thoughts we may have should be left at the door. Getting to know our sources at our listening posts is the most important thing we can do.

Listening Post Change

Okay, so about that nice guy that welcomed me back? Not so much. I re-visited the place, but I have not fished out too much information, or at least as much as I want to know. Over the weekend, I went to the Opa Locka Flea Market. (Somewhere my parents have told me not to go because there's no reason for me to go there) Anyways, they were out of town and I decided to make a run for it.

When I pulled up to the Flea Market, parking was only $1. I haven't paid that parking..ever. As I pulled in some vendors (Mexican, I believe) were pointing me into the direction of a garage. I realized they wanted to change my tires and they weren't pointing me into the direction of the parking lot.

I eventually found the parking lot and walked towards the center of the market. To be honest, the place looked like a poor country. There wasn't a roof on the place, it looked more like tarps. There was a big mix of people and I began to walk, looking down the whole time. I saw a sign that said "Office This Way", and I was surprised to find they actually had an office and SOMEBODY ran that place. I spoke to a gentleman and told him why I was there and he told me he was glad I was there for those purposes and that I would be safe during the day. Umm..what the hell does that mean? Run out before the sun sets?? I don't know, but I definitely left before 2:00 pm.

Anyways, I found a Haitian older man who was selling shoes. He had a lot of trouble speaking English, and I had a lot of trouble speaking Haitian Creole. So anyways, I asked him where he was from and how he ended up in Hialeah-Opa Locka. He explained me that he had been in the US for 20 years and he had been selling shoes at the Flea Market for 6 years now. He was very reserved and told me he wanted to go back to Haiti because it was too expensive here. The rent at the Flea Market is $400 per WEEK!! That's insanely expensive.

I told him I would come back and he didn't really care too, so I continued on. I found an older lady who spoke spanish. Her name is Carmen Leyva. She was a little hesitant to talk to me, but I explained to her that I had never been to a Flea Market and that I was a student trying to learn a little more about where she works. I found out she had been working in this Flea Market for almost 30 years and her son, Michael pretty much grew up there. She told me her son would be there soon, and I could talk to him a little more.

I learned so much from this family. At first, Michael didn't want to talk much. He was nervous and didn't like it when I told him I was a journalism student, but he opened up a little more after about...TWO HOURS. (took him long enough)

He just started talking about how dangerous the place is at night, and how his family was robbed and, at that point, I just wanted to get the hell out of there. Nothing else he was telling me was filtrating through my head. Oh, by the way, he smoke about 9 cigarettes while we talked and the lovely fan next to him was blowing my way. Sorry, my ADD is kicking in. Anyways, we talked about other families that had been there so long and how they are all very close. He talked about some of the benefits his family has since they have been there so long. (they are allowed to have an AC unit and others can't) I was really uneasy having to walk out of there alone, and only if Professor Reisner suggests I go at night, well then, I will.

Michael gave me his cell number and told me to text him if I needed anything. I plan to return next week.

I'll keep you all posted on my adventure at the Flea Market. I might consider a night-time visit.

Botanica Ashe

My listening post is a Santeria Botanica. It is called Botanica Ashe and it is located at 760 West 27 Street in Hialeah. Before visiting my listening post, I sat down with my grandmother, who was a little uneasy at the thought of me going. (but then again so was I) I talked to her a little about what I had researched and learned about Santeria. My grandmother was born in Cuba and lived there for most of her life. She was never comfortable with the Santeria culture and that is where my negative views on it came from.

When I called the Botanica I spoke to the godson of the man who runs the botanica. I spoke to him several times over the phone and introduced myself as a student from Florida International University who was interested in learning a little more about a culture I'm not to familiar with or comfortable with. I spoke to him in spanish at first, because I stereotyped and figured since his botanica was in Hialeah, that he only spoke spanish. (Shame on me) He began speaking to me in English and the conversation flowed a lot easier. He instructed me to call him back at another time when his godfather was available to give me a date and time for when to visit.

I was able to go on Saturday morning, even though the owner was not there. The shop had a couple customers inside when I got there. I felt a little uneasy walking in, hoping I didn't stick out like a sore thumb.

I approached a man who was stacking the shelves with candles that had pictures of saints on them. I introduced myself to him, and he was very welcoming. (it was the owner's godson) He asked me exactly what I wanted to get out of this. I explained to him the purpose of my visit. He was very hesitant to talk about the religion on the first visit, but he told me a little about himself and a brief overview about the religion, like where it came from and some of the basic terms, like an orisha, which are the spirits in the religiong.

I asked him a couple questions like, why are people scared of the religion and he told me that the media has given it a very negative view. He did not talk about any sacrficing, but just said that they have "ritualistic ceremonies", which I want to find out more about next time.

I was there for about a half hour, watching customers come in and out. Several of them purchased those candles I was talking about that had pictures of saints on them and others that were just plain and in different colors. He told me that each candle has its own meaning and how it burns and what the flame looks like tells you something different.

He cut the visit a little shorter than I wanted because he had to step out, but he invited me to come back. (which was a relief) I was not as uneasy as I was when I walked in, but I'm still a little weirded about because I still have a lot to learn about the religion.

I look forward to visiting again on Thursday.

Listening Post- Santeria

I have decided to choose a Santeria Botanica as my listening post. I grew up in a very strict Cuban household and always heard about Santeria and "evil" things about it. I am extremely skeptical about going, but I am mentally preparing myself to be as open as possible. I am currently calling places to see which one of them will welcome me in.

The Santeria religion and its people is not one that makes me feel comfortable. I had a neighbor who was a santero and I just feel uneasy around them. I don't mean to sound like they are another kind of people, but I have a very negative connotation towards the beliefs of that culture. I know the purpose of this listening post, and I really hope that I change my mind about the religion. I want to be able to talk to my grandmother about it and not have her throw holy water all over me.

It's interesting in class to see some people who think they are comfortable anywhere, but when you really dig deep, there are hundreds of places where one can feel uneasy.

I am looking forward to this experience and I look forward to coming out with a completely different view on the Santeria religion.

Stereotyping in the Media

The most interesting article that we were given to look over was the NPR one on Ramadan and the football player. The story gave a sense of normalcy to the player and the story altogether. It was interesting to see that people DO write holiday stories without talking about food.

We've looked at stereotyping within ourselves and now we were able to see it in the world. After reading the article from Liberty City, it was eye-opening to see that things like that actually get published. It was clear that the reporter went in there with his story and with his mind set.

After reading Zai's blog, I felt more comfortable with the purpose and meaning of the listening post. She wrote so well and expressed herself well. She painted a picture for readers of what she did and what her experiences were like.

We have established that it is in each of us to automatically stereotype because we look for people that look similar to us right away. So how are we supposed to fix this? I don't think we can. Where we come from and how we were all brought up has a lot to do, if not everything to do, with how we think. So, what? Is everyone supposed to take multi-ethnic or is everyone supposed to take the stereotyping/racist test created by Harvard. No.

I went to help my mom out at work the other day and we always go through bad neighborhoods. How do I know that? Well, because that's what my mom says and because she never likes going through there. I talked to her about what we've talked about in class and how the stereotyping is such a big issue. She told me that her father always told her that black people were all up to no good. I was not at all shocked to hear that, and although my parents don't think like that to that extreme, I know they still don't feel the same around white or hispanic people compared to blacks.

This is a big problem, especially for journalists and we need to be able to set the stereotypes aside and be able to report in any city with people from anywhere.

Put Your Biases Aside

So now that we have all taken that test that tells us about the feeling and biases we weren't aware of..what do we do? Well, we shall embrace the responses we got from the test and move on. Yes, move on. What we do and think when we are around others we don't do purposely. Our past experiences and the way we were all brought up plays a huge role in the way we react around people who aren't "one of us". We need to be able to recognize what we do and how we look at people that don't look like us and just put it all aside.

Mosque near WTC

I wanted to respond to Lorenzo's E-mail about the multi-million dollar mosque being built in the surrounding area of the World Trade Center. I think it's ignorant if people are going to take offense to building a mosque in the surrounding area of the WTC. I asked a friend what he thought about the issue and at first, without him knowing why I asked, he blew up at me and said, "Why the hell would they do that? They don't deserve that." Then he stopped and said he didn't know why he said that, but it angered him at the fact that they were going to give them a place of worship after so many lives were lost to people "of their kind". I think a building is a building and it doesn't matter much if they built a mosque or a catholic church or a synagogue.

I completely understand that to be a journalist I have to be able to feel comfortable in any place with any person from any race, but I still find it hard to be believe that if I walked into certain neighborhoods, people would be willing to talk.

First Take at Blogging

I've always been a little hesitant to write a blog, but I don't know why. I guess I'm scared to know what people might think or might not think.

So, here I go with my first real blog. Hopefully this will run smoothly and I'll get used to posting my thoughts for all you to read.

This is my last first week of school as an undergrad. (That felt really good to say) It has been a interesting couple classes that I've been to. It feels good to be able to talk about race and ethnicity so freely in a class with people of so many different races.

I took an interesting "test" today about my racial preferences. The results said I associated Europeans Americans with positive words more than I associate black people with positive words. It stated I have a "strong" preference to European Americans over African Americans.

I could easily say it was the way I was brought up, but I'll try not to take that easy way out.

I come from a very conservative Catholic, Cuban household where my grandparents and parents have told me not marrying a Cuban would be a disappointment, or marrying a black person was definitely out of the question. But why? Well, because I always told so.

I thought the test was interesting to do because out loud, I probably would say the results don't say much about me, but I wouldn't completely disagree with it.

I'll leave it at that for now. I look forward to blogging some more.