Monthly Archives: January 2014

One topic I am interested in covering is the underground house music scene. I can go in different directions with this topic: how local DJs are expanding and gaining enough popularity to play at after parties for huge events such as Winter Music Festival in Miami and BPM festival in Mexico, how and why house music is becoming mainstream and popular, and crimes that happen at these events and how clubs/venues try to sweep these situations under the rug.

Another topic that interests me is food. In Manhattan alone, there are over 3,500 restaurants and counting. With that said, it is obvious that it would be difficult for new restaurants to compete with the ones that already exist. I would like to write about new up and coming restaurants.

One final topic that interests me is politics. With there being talk about legalization of marijuana in New York, a new mayor, and the Chris Cristie scandal, there are plenty of stories to be covered.

Gabriela Calogero

I would like to do a story focusing on 3 different music acts that perform at Union Square. There are about 3 or 4 main areas where people choose to do performances in the station so at anytime there are multiple artists giving shows. My intention is to spend an hour or so with each of the performers and observe them doing at least 2 or three sets. Talking to them and witnessing how they interact with onlookers, MTA workers and even other artists should give an interesting profile of these artists.

It would be interesting to find totally different types of acts, that congregate in different areas and garner different types of crowd. The diversity of images and information will show the wide spectrum of entertainment that gathers to show off there skills at “The Square”. I would most likely go about doing this project by hanging around Union Square for a few hours on Friday and Saturday and talk to a few different artists. I would snap a few photos initially before meeting them, then use that as a way to strike up conversation with them after their first set. Then I would stick around for a couple more sets getting different, more intimate and detailed angles of the performer and audience. I would then pick out the best photos that fit into the image that I am trying to paint of Union Square.

So many people pass through Union Square everyday not noticing the amount of culture and entertainment that the station hosts at any given time. I think that this hub of culture deserves its story to be told.

In my endeavor to bring out my creative side and apply principles and skills learned from my international business minor and participation in the Global Student Certificate Program, I am hoping to make the most of being fortunate enough to be in one of the most dynamic cities of the world. I am interested in diversity, culture, and immigration. With these three topics, it would be easy to jump from one topic to the other as they all complement each other well.

New York City holds an immense amount of diversity and the extent of globalization is far-reaching. Although I am a native New Yorker and have grown up in a multicultural environment, I cannot help but notice immense differences in culture and environments in other states and countries. New York’s cultural richness and diverse population intrigues me, making it so unique in comparison to the rest of the world. I was in disbelief the first time I traveled outside of NYC, finding it difficult to accept that the rest of the world did not have such a diverse population and fast-paced, constantly changing lifestyle. When I traveled to India for the first time, I was in even more shock, never knowing that the world could even be so different. Now I realize how far NYC has come, carving out its own truly distinct environment from all the different people and cultures present.

While most immigrants retain their culture, or at least some of it, it undoubtedly blends in to the American culture, and here, to the “New York culture”, and becomes something unique. Many different communities have formed, in which niches of cultures can be found, with people of the same race or religion living close to each other. The elements of different communities blend, allowing for integration of customs, foods, ideologies, and traditions. After all, NYC has been and still is known the melting pot. Being so open to everyone, there couldn’t be an easier and better way to retain ones culture while being an American, than living in NYC.

Although this is a broad topic, I hope to narrow it down by project, and then tie everything together in the end in a way that is coherent and effective. I am looking forward to exploring the diversity of the city and capturing precious moments and clips that will come together to form a beautiful story.

–Shalika Mugrai

For my potential topics I would like to choose basketball and food.

Ever since I was a kid I have followed the sport of basketball and used it wherever I went. Living in the Mecca of basketball where there isn’t much space for parks and open fields, there are basketball courts everywhere. I have grown up with a passion for the sport and its surrounding media, my aspiration is to be a sports writer or work in anything related to the game. Some people may view it as a sport, but I see it as a part of me and who I am, and the game itself has taught me many things about life.

I also have a passion for cooking and food and the New York City restaurant scene. It is hard to find as much access to great chefs and as many famous, excellent restaurants in one city. I am glad that I live in a city where there are trendy, creative, and profound culinary artists all around me. I am also a student of cooking as well, although still an amateur, I believe if we are going to live another oh lets say another 50 years on this planet, why not learn how to cook great food and enjoy life through each bite. Food is more than just nutrition, it encompasses all that make us human and gives us lasting bonds and memories that nothing else in the world can replace. Food can be beautiful if given the right perspective and I wouldn’t mind using media devices and photography to show that it is more than what is on the plate, it is everything from where it came from, to who prepared it, to the passion it was cooked with, finally to the person who is eating it. With all things in life, the more love that is put into it, the better the outcome.

It is just too easy to sit on the couch and stare at the television, slowly but surely turning into a zombie. This is why I plan on engrossing myself in the arts and entertainment this semester. We are lucky enough to live in a city where there is always something to do. Many of us have lived here our whole lives and unfortunately do not take advantage of what this amazing city has to offer. In fact, I can’t recall ever going to the Empire State Building; I know, blasphemy. Nevertheless, there are also many other places not well known to us that I plan on showcasing this semester. Now, I wish I could give you examples or a roadmap of where I’m going to lead you but to be honest I have no idea, perhaps that’s the exciting part. Its always thrilling finding little gems tucked away in small little streets like bars in alphabet city, weird museums scattered around the five boroughs, or a restaurant that has the best lobster mac and cheese you’d ever taste.

With the vast amount of galleries, museums, shows, restaurants, bars, and other activities I have yet to uncover, I think this beat is one that anyone would want to cover. Perhaps I am being a little broad in my pick and might encounter some issues. For instance, how to pick something specific to cover, but for the time being I am excited to tackle the task.

I think most of us are still a little unsure as to what exactly to expect from this class. However, we can not forget that we are all in a great position to find sources, what better place to find them than in our class where stories will overflow from one beat to the next. Hopefully we’ll have fun; when we are done with our studies of course.

I remember being a little girl sitting at my desk and all I would do was write. I would make short stories and small books that made no sense what so ever, because I enjoyed it. Over time I stopped writing and reading as much. I was lost for a long time I didn’t even have a major, I was so confused on what I wanted to do and whom I wanted to become. I soon found myself coming back to writing and reading and realizing that this is such a huge part of who I am and I couldn’t understand why I didn’t realize it sooner. I believe that everyone has a passion or something that they are destined to do, some sort of path that we are all supposed to be on, but some of us just have no idea. The topic I came up with was young adults in their 20’s whom are faced with confusion/ pressure to succeed and are lost after college or even during college. From the moment I graduated high-school until now I have discovered that I am not the only one that has felt this way, a majority of my close friends have felt a sense of confusion even at 22 post college with amazing jobs. Not everyone knows what they want to do for the rest of their lives, and its possibly one of the scariest feelings ever. I have yet to decide how I am going to go about my topic, I’m still trying to figure out what will work best with it, to grasp all the emotions and feelings to make it feel real to everyone. I think this will be a great topic for me to pursue because I have been going on this journey for such a long time and would really like to make light to the fact that we don’t have to have all the answers right away. That maybe life will figure itself out in due time and we shouldn’t be so stressed over the future and what ifs. I know I still have a lot to think about but I want this to be my topic.

– Carolina Cabezas

JENNA BAGCAL

For this semester in multimedia reporting, I have two particular areas of interest. The first of these interests is music. In the future, I definitely see myself as a music journalist, attending various festivals and concerts, talking to up-and-coming musicians about their various projects, and hopefully writing for Rolling Stone. Personally, I know many young artists who are trying to pursue music as a career, so one idea that I had would be to interview some of them and write musician profiles. I would ask them about how they started getting interested in music, their musical influences, the gigs that they’ve played, and their overall experience as aspiring musicians. For this particular project, I like the idea of doing a mini magazine or possibly video profiles in order to incorporate samples of their music into the project.

Aside from music, the other facet of journalism that I am interested in is food journalism. I am a self proclaimed foodie and enjoy everything about the culinary world. Food journalism to me is very much about being visually appealing, as well as being extremely descriptive, so as to entice people to want to eat particular foods or go to a restaurant. If I were to pursue this option, I would probably do some kind of photography project about food. I am not sure how to expand on this idea, but I could possibly do some kind of project tying food and Instagram together. Food is one of the most popular topics that people post about on Instagram (myself included), so I think that would be an interesting approach to take.

For this semester, I plan to focus my writing on my personal interests.  I feel that by doing so, I will be able to generate productive material that is not only rich in quality, but rewarding for us all as a class.

Like the majority, I will base my writings on both music and sports.  These are both passions of mine that I have shared for most of my life.  I grew up in a home where music and sports were held in very high regard.  This remained to be true as I developed and formed my own sense of identity instead of relying on the likes my parents.

Currently, I have a number of resources throughout the city, such as professional recording studios and engineers, who I can use to help aide in my reporting.  I am also a songwriter and musician myself, having played piano for the past 9 years.  I play in different bands at local venues and events in the New York underground music scene.  I also plan to incorporate a few of my fellow bandmates and eclectic artists who we back for in my reporting as well.  Not only will this provide them a platform to showcase their work, but it was also help me complete my assignments with a unique and interesting touch.

My interest in journalism, specifically in the field of sports, began after many hours spent memorizing the stat lines of my favorite athletes and their respective games.  I am an avid fan of all sports and scour for the latest news and rumors.  To aide in my reporting on sports related topics for this semester, I plan on attending a number of sporting events and speaking with other fans in attendance.  I also hope to contact a particular sports blog that I frequently visit and propose a request for an interview.

All in all, I am very excited to begin realizing some of the ideas that I have conceptualized for this semester. I also hope to touch on a few current events in my local neighborhood. Although these topics are subject to change as I begin to work on my reporting, I am very optimistic about the semester.