While attending USC, I served as a reporter for Neon Tommy, the school’s news website. Here is a collection of some of my published work as a student, as well as other writing projects I’ve produced.
Santa Monica Strives for Zero Waste with New App
Recycling can sometimes be intimidating. Do you include the take-out food container and plastic dry cleaning cover, or are they garbage? Luckily, the City of Santa Monica has a solution. The mobile app, “My Waste,” tells residents which items are recyclable. It also links to a network of users who share and borrow goods, which makes the city more sustainable. The app is part of a plan to divert 95 percent of waste away from landfills by 2030.
Native American Task Force Aims To Keep Children In Tribes
(Photo credit: Kenny Ramos)
California, like other states, suffers from a lack of Native American foster families. At the same time, the number of Native American children in the foster care system is disproportionately high. This means many Native American adoptees and foster kids grow up without ties to their culture in non-native homes. A social worker from the Sac & Fox tribe formed a task force encouraging Native Americans to open their homes to children. This story won a National Native Media Award from the Native American Journalists Association in the summer of 2015. It finished first place in the Online News, Student category.
Jesus Vargas, 17, helped design a website that encouraged young people to get more involved in politics. (Photograph by Anne Artley)
Nonprofit Teaches South L.A. Boys Technology and Business Skills
Male underperformance in high school is a trend in California and across the United States, but former technology consultant Oscar Menjivar aims to correct that. A few years ago, he started URBAN TxT, a nonprofit to help teenage boys learn technology skills like computer programming and web development. The boys compete against each other to create the best website by the end of the summer session, and everybody has the opportunity to pitch their projects to investors.
Environmental Initiatives Give Port of Los Angeles An Economic Boost
Thanks to the efforts of some dedicated community members who lived near the waterfront, the Port of Los Angeles was forced to clean up its act regarding air pollution. Though stricter environmental regulations usually hurt businesses, in this case, they resulted in economic gains.
“Maria,” is a graduate student in architecture and an undocumented immigrant. Her family entered the United States illegally, but she was so young she did not remember the trip. Under the “Dream Act,” a bill proposed in 2010, Maria would have been allowed to stay in the United States. This piece appeared in the Alibi, an alternative newspaper in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Victorian Voyage: A Deaf Woman’s Education in Romance
In 1882, Jeanie Lippett Weeden, a daughter of former Rhode Island governor Henry Lippett, takes a trip to Europe. On the boat, she meets and shares a brief flirtation with the ship’s captain. This story was taken from her travelogue as part of a Narrating History class at Brown University in 2010. It is featured on Chronicles of Brunonia, the Brown University Library Center of Digital Scholarship.