Today was a good day

I had a very interesting interview today with the presiding judge of South Tucson. South Tucson is a square mile city south of Downtown Tucson. It has its own police and fire departments and it’s own city council and mayor. The city is notorious for crime and poverty. I sat down with the judge today to discuss how crime and poverty are intertwined and to see what the city’s strategies are to curb quality of life crimes. He told me about 95 percent of crimes in South Tucson are committed out of desperation, such as people stealing food or hygiene items, sleeping out in public, trespassing or traffic stops related to broken tail light and lack of registration. I plan on turning the interview into a story for El Independiente, South Tucson’s student-run newspaper however I don’t know how to turn it into a news story. It’s not as cut and dry as stories I’m used to writing and I feel like the subject is common sense. I’m going to conduct some more interviews this week and see what develops. I also think I’m going to apply the subject to my “common place” essay due next week. I’ve found the concept of “common places” to be very interesting and I think there’s a connection to my story, though I don’t see it at the moment.

Anyhow, I’m very excited hockey is back. It is by far my favorite sport and I’m excited for this season. I’m spending way too much time on fantasy hockey online though, much to my girlfriend’s dismay. I even got to watch some hockey this morning before I headed out for the day. Good day.

I have been working for a reporter in Washington to help him cover a trial that’s happening in Tucson. After a month of checking in with the court clerk once a week, it was time for me to turn in my first invoice today. I have always felt awkward discussing money with people but I know it’s something I need to get over to become a professional, especially for someone who will be a freelancer. Before I started the gig, the guy I’m working for said he would like to pay me $20 per trip to the courthouse. Only one trip in the past month required me to spend more than ten minutes there and I decided that he was overpaying me. I sent the invoice in with a lesser amount than we agreed upon and I’m proud of myself for it. I think honor and my reputation is something way more important then money in the bank. I think that’s going to be the common place I write about, about how money in this country is considered success. I disagree with it and I think that common place should be questioned.