Wednesday, October 27, 2010

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.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

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.

Monday, October 18, 2010

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.

Monday, October 11, 2010

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.