Mr. Watters

I had just finished Ethan Watters' book and I must say I was impressed with how he reinforced his arguments using different a couple different countries as models for his book. Although some parts sort of dragged a little, but I thought he did a fantastic job in terms of how he conducted his interviews and background information he used for his book. Psychology isn't exactly my cup of tea, but the fact that he was comparing Western psych methods with other cultures made his book all the more interesting.

Before attending Ethan Watters' talk I was a little weary about going to the event because I was completely exhausted from all the work I had to do for other classes and I was afraid of falling asleep in the middle of Watters' talk. Thankfully I stayed awake through the whole thing, writing down any relevant information for the "Crazy Like US" assignment.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Mr. Watters was just as impressive in real life as he is in the book. He had done a great job answering most our questions and was able to eloquently explain some of the psychological terms he used in his book. My favorite part of the event was when he told us about the "Top 10 things you need to know before going on the Daily show" (obviously he was on the Daily Show), which I thought was hilarious.

I'm not sure if everyone realized this, but we literally have two or three weeks of school left, wasn't it just yesterday we were working on our "HOOD1" assignment? Is it just me or has time gone by a little too fast?

Ethan Watters

Hi students, stuck in Richmond on my way to NYC. I'm happy to have heard from Rachele how well prepared & engaged you all were. Thank you!

Yvonne

Ethan Watters

Sir E. Watt

Yeah, I just saw all of the other posts and I thought I'd mix it up with the title.

ETHAN WATTERS WAS SO INSPIRING. I was so impressed with how well he handled all of the questions and how thorough he was at explaining himself.

One thing he made me think about was how we handle sources. In general, it seems, reporters don't really like sharing. That seems to be a lonely choice. Knowing how hard it is to collect the right sources for the story at hand (I guess that depends on the subject), I feel like it should be a no-brainer.

Anyway, those who were there (I think it was everybody- INCLUDING LUPE I HAVE THE PICTURES TO PROVE IT) know that he invited anyone who was interested to come hang out and have lunch at his fancy San Francisco Writer's Grotto. I think we should plan a day to go as a class. and YES THAT MEANS WE NEED TO START A DIALOGUE.

So maybe we should wait til a class day to talk about this? Or you could just write on this post?

I think the most valuable thing I learned from his talk was that a community is really important. Having a separate space to collaborate on content and people you trust to give you feedback is really important, and I hope that I can have that somehow when I get out of school and start my professional life.

By the way,
You guys are the best.

(And I'm sorry for using caps so much)

Crime Map for North Beach.

View Crimes in North Beach (94133, CA) in a larger map

Ethan Watters comes to SFSU

I will be honest...this was not one of the easiest readings I've ever had. In fact it was really hard and I kept zoning out BUT I did finish it.

I love having an author come to school to chat with us. I like hearing about their past experiences and all the various projects they have been involved in. Like Ethan Watters wrote for GQ and New York Magazine! Its so amazing to here about all of his accomplishments. This may sound corny but it gives me some much needed inspiration.


Anyways he discussed his book and the audience asked questions. It was cool hearing about his travels and what he thought of psychiatry today.

Thanks to my little recording device I can listen to the whole meeting when I write this paper. Its an hour of audio but I'm definitely grateful I recorded the whole thing.

I think Nelson had the most fun, he was very excited!

Ethan Watters

The obvious choice, yet again, to blog on, but oh well. Y'all can enjoy my thoughts anyway.

First off, I want to take the opportunity to clarify that I really enjoyed the book. I thought it was absolutely fascinating and I like that he kind of kicked the western world off its high and mighty perch a bit, too. On the other hand, it could have been way shorter, but I somehow survived.

I'd never met the author of a book after I'd read the book before, so that was kind of a cool experience. Not that I hung on to every word, but I did take pretty copious notes. I liked that he went into detail about why he chose the topic that he did and why it interests him. I also really liked that he gave us all little nuggets of journalistic wisdom from his experience to guide us all, nuggets which I find highly valuable, actually.

I feel like at this point in our careers, everything spells DOOM. It's like journalism is shifting to the point that we professionally-trained may not even have a great place to mold our craft to be something valuable for society to partake in.

Watters didn't really console much on that, which I really liked, because I'm tired of hearing those consolations. Everything is changing, yeah, but you don't know what the future holds any more than I do, so why try to predict it? Let it be.

He instead chose to tell us HOW to pick what we want to do, which is amazing to hear since everyone keeps saying that to be a journalist these days you kind of have to be a jack of all trades, so to speak, and I'd rather not do that. I've already found those specific little niches that fascinate me in the world and have every intention of following through with discovering everything I can about those, which is exactly what Watters said to do.

I also thought that it was awesome that he told us about treating people nicely to get information out of them and then making them look bad (something I have some recent experience with, unfortunately). I really never want to do that again, and I enjoyed that he said that he wasn't okay with doing it either. I felt like I could effectively identify with that.

I liked the anecdotes. I liked the advice. I liked the 10 tips for being on the Daily Show. I liked hearing the story from the man himself. I liked attending the talk. I feel like I actually learned something, like a great little supplement to reading the book.

Ethan Watters

Pre-lecture questions

Getting excited for the lecture!!

Best. Class. Ever.

Well... If you look at the pictures above, it really is Crazy Like Us!

Ethan Watters drinking his diet coke before the hour and four minute lecture

I attended the Ethan Watters "lecture" yesterday. I didn't feel like it was a lecture, but rather an explanation of how he came to write Crazy Like Us. It was interesting, engaging and I think very few people were zoning out and falling asleep.

What interested me the most about Ethan Watters' discussion, was when he talked about his freelance work and how he got to where he is now. The Writer's Grotto is an office space where over 30 writers can come and write their articles and have it reviewed by other members of The Writer's Grotto.

After reading Crazy Like Us and hearing Mr. Watters' writing process and research process, I am intrigued to read his other books and articles in the New York Times Magazine, as well as checking out The Writer's Grotto.

Oh, and he also told us 10 Things Not To Do Before Going on The Daily Show. That was funny.

The famous piano incident at the Condor Club.

The Condor Club was the FIRST ever topless club that opened in the United States. After talking to quite a few bouncers at the clubs for my crime story, I've noticed that the bouncers at strip clubs are usually the friendliest and most eager to talk to me.

I met a bouncer who works at the Condor Club by the name of Ben, and he told me about an interesting incident that happened in 1983 which made headlines:

A bouncer,  Jimmy Ferrozzo, was having sexual intercourse with his girlfriend on top of a piano when suddenly the piano lift was accidentally activated and crushed Ferrozzo to his death. His girlfriend survived was found in the morning pinned underneath Ferrozzo.

The club has a specialty drink named after the incident called Sex on the Piano.

Ben told me to come check the club out, he claims it is haunted. Spooky!

Hang in there, comrades.

With my debatable skills at multitasking and general impatience with my surroundings, I think I may be on my way to really 'getting' how to do this.

I'm aware that I can become overly invested in my stories, and that the shock of certain truths can catch me by surprise, but I've noticed that the more I do this, the easier it is to jump between subjects.

The easier it is to disconnect from unpleasantness.

Or at least that's what I'm claiming.

I'm at school waiting for the presentation from Ethan Watters. I've been flipping through 'Crazy Like Me' like a mad woman trying to squeeze every ounce of his excellent research and calculated preparation into my own psyche.

I'll let y'all know if it works.

See you guys in about half an hour.

Story dilemma (Blog 11)

Last Tuesday was probably one of the longest days of my life. It wasn’t that the Chauncey Bailey trial was boring it was all the bureaucratic garbage being spilled in the courtroom. Obviously I didn’t go into the courtroom thinking it was going to be like Law & Order: SVU (one of my favorite shows) in which I would understand everything that is going on. Everything that was discussed in the courtroom such as the evidence and key witness testimonies sounded like Japanese, I couldn’t understand 50 percent of it. Although I jotted down copious amounts of notes, I should have gotten more background information before going to the trial, but to my dismay I had tons of work from other classes that I couldn’t ignore.

Fortunately I had received contact information from Melissa Krum (prosecutor) and Gary Sirbu (Mackey’s lawyer); I was amazed with how helpful they were. After talking to the lawyers and diving into a whole mess of research I was able to connect with what went on in the trial to Chauncey Bailey’s murder and presto story complete. I had no idea how complicated the case was going to be, who would have thought so much crime would come from a small little bakery of all places. The case is so complex if someone were to make a movie out of it, they would have to turn it into a mini-series just to get it right.

I’m not sure how our professor would feel about my article since it was my first time covering a trial, but at least I completed my story on time with the format she asked for. All I can do is hope for the best at this point.

As for my final story it seems that all arrows points at nude people in the Castro. I’ve done a little bit of research on the subject while I was working on my crime story and it seems like too many people have written about nudists in San Francisco. Some of them were positive others were negative, either way I have to go with a different angle. I would like to write a profile piece on one of the nudists I spoke with a couple weeks ago I don’t think anyone has used that angle yet (at least not to my knowledge).

I may consider writing about the Castro’s night life because I heard it can get a little wild after a certain, especially in the bars. But if you guys have any story ideas I could use please feel free to send some my way, I would really appreciate it.

Drug and Alcohol Related Arrests 1/1/2011-4/25/2011

Total 108 Drug and Alcohol Related Crimes Plotted.


View Drugs/Alcohol related crimes in a larger map

Data from http://www.crimemapping.com/map/ca/sanfrancisco
and the San Francisco Police Department Website

Drugs and SROs in the TL

I started some of the groundwork for my final piece and thus far here is what I'm thinking.

My final is going to be an examination of the issue of drugs in the Tenderloin. According to crime statistics its still the #1 crime in the Tenderloin. But I want to try to go deeper.

According to a social worker at the St.Anthony's foundation, the root cause of crime in the Tenderloin is poverty. This includes crime related to drugs. 

What I am trying to understand is why is it so prevelant in the Tenderloin? Why not anywhere else? Other places have poverty so why is drug related crimes so high in the TL?

A couple of theories:

- Drug sale and use is more permissible in the TL. People in the TL have less means to report drug activity.

- There is a high demand for drugs from people living in the TL and coming to from outside the TL to find drugs.

- There is a high supply of drugs in the Tenderloin giving easy access to people that are vulnerable.

-Police are slow to react to drug calls in the TL.

There may be a link not only between poverty and drugs, but also between drugs and inadequate housing. Many people that live in single room occupancy in the Tenderloin are at risk for addiction. However, the only place they can find housing is in SROs. She said that SROs can become a hub for drug avtivity making it difficult for someone to recover. 

Also, sellers of drugs may do so as a way to survive.

Any feedback woukd be greatly appreciated.

Chauncey Bailey: Video editing

I went to the Chauncey Bailey trial on Tuesday... Boring. Most what was talked about seemed relevant and important but it wasn't exciting. The day began with finishing testimony of Joshua Bey, an associate of the Your Black Muslim Bakery and half brother of Yusef Bey IV. The judge presidig was Thomas Reardon. Reardon was strict on the rules especially no electronic devices. Also, his baliffs seemed either bored or doing their jobs extremely well as they glared at anyone that made any movements or noise. 

There were only a few people there. Two of the people there were journalist the other was a law student. The law student asked ME of all people to help him catch up and better understand the trial. I was actually surprised myself with how much I knew about it.

Also I  briefly met the prosecutor Melissa Krum. She seemed very pleased that students were taking interest in the case. 

On the other hand, Gary Sirbu, Antoine Mackey's attorney seemed disappointed after the trial because so much of the video was left in. He said, "the judge gets to decide what goes into the box and what doesn't."

Reardon said he woukd order the jury to consider the video only as to how Bey IV controlled
Mackey and others to do his bidding. The jury would be ordered not to think of Mackey as a "bad person" based on the video.

By the end of the day we had seen two witnesses testify for the prosecution and omissions to the "secret video".

Reardon allowed most of the video to be shown to jurors only some to be ommited. One of the parts ommited was a conversation about cheese and food.  

Ingleside Area Crime Map

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Crime Map - How To Post on Blogger

So you finished your Crime Map on Google Maps and now you want to embed it in Blogger.

Here's what you do.

1. Finish and Save your map.

2. Go to the "LINK" button in the top right hand corner of your map.

3. Click on the "LINK" button, and this menu should come down.

4. Click on "CUSTOMIZE AND PREVIEW EMBEDDED MAP".

5. Change your size to Medium, and then go to the bottom of this window.

Select this text, and paste into a blog entry. Tada! You're done!

Noe Valley Crime Map

There aren't many crimes that occure in Noe Valley. Although the crimes that do occure there are assult/battery, citizen arrests and vandalism.


View Noe Valley Crime Map in a larger map


Did it work....??

Dear students,

I hope you have had a fine weekend and are enjoying the various religious and seasonal events. I'm in southern Florida, fabulous weather and good book events. I've been reading your crime posts with great interest. Sounds like those of you who went to Chauncey Bailey's murder trial have gotten a lot out of it. Hope the rest of you are having good luck.

Here are some instructions on your assignment on how to write a response paper to the book we all read:

Crazy Like Us, Ethan Watters,

Please ask Ethan Watters questions about how he conducted his reporting, how many of the actual people affected by these various situations he talked to, especially the tsunami victims. I'm also curious about whether he heard from Amatruda after he published the book and what she thought of his conclusions. You, of course, will also have specific questions arising from reading the material. Remember to get some biographical information about him: age, education, where worked, why this story?

Your essay:

An opening paragraph that could do some or all of the following:

summarizes the main point of the book and the fact that Watters came to San Francisco State University's journalism department to talk to students about the book;

summarize Watters' research process and the reaction -- example: Journalist Ethan Watters spent five years researching his book, "Crazy Like Us, the Globalization of the American Psyche," but says his goal to raise issues about how Americans export both mental illnesses and their treatment protocols have had little impact. (I'm making this up; write what he actually says.)

It was while he was covering the tsunami in Sri Lanka and wondering about the hordes of mental health volunteers he kept running into that journalist Ethan Watters first decided to research how American culture, attitudes and treatments were affecting people in foreign lands. (I made that up too but something like that may prove to be true.

Nut graph(s) possibility: In a meeting with San Francisco State University's journalism students, Watters discussed his book Tuesday and said …. most important things he said. Which you can develop in a few subsequent paragraphs.

Background section: Summarize the book in less than a page, using examples (quotes) from the book to back up your main points, and using journalistic attribution combined with page numbers. For example:

Watters reported that much of the response to the Sri Lanka tsunami by Western therapists was disorganized and that the therapists sometimes competed with one another, "sometimes caus(ing) bad confusion and bad feelings among the survivors." (P. 78) He concluded that this caused not only confusion but also widewspread distribution of pharmaceuticals without adequate record-keeping or medical justification. "According to World Health Organization observers," Watters wrote, "fewer than half of the trauma counseling groups that flooded the country bothered to register with the government. Fewer still worked to coordinate their efforts with each other. 'There was no checking,' John Mahoney, the director of the World Health Organization's mental health initiative in Sri Lanka, told a reporter. 'We found one organization just handing out anti-depressants to people.'" (P. 81)

Your response to the book section (should be about a page and a half or a bit longer: Address the following questions, using examples as shown above, to support your reaction:

How does Watters do his reporting:

Example: Watters talked to many psycho-therapists and other mental health counselors who traveled to Sri Lanka after the tsunami that killed more than a quarter-million people on Christmas Day 2004, but often reached different conclusions about the validity of their work than they had. Watters tried to get one therapist, Kate Amatruda, nicknamed Kate Chaos because of her proclivity to respond to world disasters, to address what particular practices or ideas she had brought with her to Sri Lanka. Rather than detail what help she brought to the people there or what training techniques she had taught to native people, Watters reported that Amatruda declined to be specific. As he wrote, "It almost doesn't matter what you do," she insisted. "So much of it is showing up. It matters that you're there and that you're really there and you're able to witness the pain and the horror. You're there to witness and receive." (p. 95)

However, in this section he does not seem to have interviewed any of the clinicians that Amatruda trained or the survivors with whom she worked. (If I were there, I would ask him if he talked to many of the survivors in Sri Lanka who had contact with the mental health workers from America and other countries.)

This is only one example. Please analyze whether you thought he stepped into the story -- was he objective or trying to make a point? Did he do enough research to disprove his thesis?

Did you feel that he got both sides of each argument he made?

What was your personal reaction to the book?

It may be useful to respond to each chapter or some small anecdote from a few chapters.

I hope this is useful.

See you in a week and a day.

Yvonne

Thanks for your hard work, students.

Crime Map

View The Fillmore District Crime Map in a larger map

Sorry this took so long! There were way too many dots at first, so I had to downsize!

Crime in the Upper Haight

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Sorry this is so late.... It literally just took me 20 minutes to figure out how to post this. :/ Don't worry: I'm taking Digital News Gathering next semester, so there's hope for me yet!

Witnesses and Their Elaborate Stories

A lot of the witnesses I've interviewed in the past couple of days have told the most exaggerated, laughingly false accounts.

You can see their faces swell, being questioned, on-the-spot, and so come up with useless, but often entertaining versions of truth.

I like hearing how people tell stories.

For example: "The escalator ate him up."

But also, how an accurate witness tells the story, is a way I want to follow.

Bayview Crime Map

View Bayview Crime Map in a larger map

Lake Merrit station, not Fruitvale

I went to the Chauncey Bailey trail but, unfortunately, only was inside the courtroom room for a short time. I first got off on the wrong BART station, arriving to the courthouse after the trial started. I DID NOT KONW YOU CANNOT WALK IN OR OUT OF THE COURTROOM WHILE COURT IS IN SESSION! So I had to wait until they went to recess. When they returned, they only continued on for short while longer before they were dismissed. I DID NOT KNOW THAT THEY WERE TAKING A HALF-DAY TODAY!

I was only able to witness one cross-examination. Yusef Bey's ex-girlfriend, Sheavon Williams, was testifying. I was surprised by the way she was participating in the trail; she was all sluggish, slouching on her chair, and not really giving a damn. For a moment, I wondered if she knew she was testifying in a murder case. And she must have known there was going to be no cameras in the courtroom because she looked like wtf. I mean, she is an attractive girl, but she was wearing a sweatsuit! Who the hell wears a sweatsuit and sneakers to a murder trail?! I even wore a nice vest and combed my hair!

Then, her testimony was pretty much, "I don't know. I don't remember." She apparently couldn't remember about testimonies she had previously given. She was reminded with transcripts, but still then said she couldn't remember.

Since this was my first time coming to the trial, I don't know if she was helping or hurting Bey's defense. It could be viewed that she is not cooperating because she just doesn't want anything to do with the trial, or that she is covering up for him.

It sucks that today was a half-day, apparently for the holiday weekend, because I feel I got little for a crime story. Now I am going to have to spend my weekend looking for crime in my neighborhood! Wish me luck and happy holidays!

Update...

So it's been rough times with the profile and the crime story, but I finally got a break and I'm very excited about it! Thanks to connections I finally got an in for my crime story. I was feeling pretty down about it since going to 850 Bryant was a total bust. I pulled out everything I could think of and made sure to be friendly with the male cops. It worked out in the beginning, they were super helpful and told me where to go and helped me get around, but once I got to the Admins that was completely over. The admins would not give me any information and insisted that I needed to go to the Legal Dept. to get a subpoena for records. I kept insisting that I should be allowed to check out some reports, but she kept pushing the "legal" card. I went to the Bayview Police Station hoping for some kind of miracle, but that was just another bust. They were even worse than 850 Bryant. Luckily my connections came to the rescue and I should be set for the crime story. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Guide to Surviving a Court Encounter With a Murderer

1. Do not make eye contact. The accused MAY smile at you creepily.
2. Sit in the back of the court room.
3. Do not wait around after while the accused changes back into his orange jumpsuit.
4. Do not agree to look at the autopsy pictures of the victim/s.
5. Do not attend the trial.

Unfortunately if you follow this list, you are a terrible journalist and you don't have the 'stuff ' required to write a detailed story.



Seriously a life-changing experience. The District Attorney, Melissa Krum, was incredibly warm and helpful and eagerly answered all of my questions. Woman had some serious spunk. She talked about how she often has problems at restaurants because she discusses trials with autopsy pictures on the table.


By the way, the autopsy pictures of Chauncy Bailey.. chilling. Krum pointed at the entrance and exit wounds that the bullet made. Krum was walking me through it because I told her I had a morbid fascination, "This is where the bullet fragmented his skull, which is why it's concave. The soft tissue and brain matter just..." Yeah you get the idea.

She did decline to make a statement, which I do understand.

I was glad that I went with Katherine, Kealan, and Nelson -- if anything we are excellent at sitting awkwardly in the hallway of a courthouse and making funny noises.

We are obviously serious journalists.


And here are some more pictures:

SoMa Crime Map

There are about 40-60 crimes daily in the South of Market area, which lies between Embarcadero to Eleventh Street and Market to Townsend.  Many of the crimes occur in the same areas.  This crime map shows where reported crime happened in SoMa on Sunday, April 17, 2011.  Its very similar to the CrimeMapping.com map, only that if you click on the little orange guy on top of the zoom bar, you can see the street view.


View SoMa Crime Map in a larger map


There is no significance about the crime on this day, only that it was the most recent available.

Chauncey Bailey Case and the Haunting Smile

So- Lisa, Katherine and I went to Oakland today to attend the third day of the Chauncey Bailey case. Today was a great day to attend, but I'm still figuring out how I feel about it.

A lot happened today, and I wish I could put my life on hold for the rest of this trial because I am so intrigued. Firstly, Joseph Bey testified, which made for an interesting dynamic, as his brother Yusuf Bey was one of the two defendants. The second witness was an Oakland police officer who found the kidnapping hide out used by (supposedly) the Bey brothers. His testimony was somewhat graphic, and already I found myself having a hard time detaching from the story. The last witness whose testimony got cut short was the ex-girlfriend of Yusuf Bey who witnessed his gun being used at a San Francisco night club.

The three of us were quick to chat up the prosecuting attorney, the defense lawyers, and other spectators. All in all, it was a great day, incredibly interesting and exciting.

My dilemma? I briefly mentioned my innate inability to detach from the victims as testimonies were told. As the prosecuting attorney showed pictures of Bailey after he was shot, my heart sank. It was truly a surreal experience sitting just feet away from men I believe to be involved in such cruelty. I couldn't help asking myself: "Where's the humanity?"

It was even hard to keep my temper down. Especially when one of the defendants, Antoine Mackey, smiled at me as he was led out of the courtroom--chills, people, chills. And not the good kind. I couldn't shake the image the whole way home.

I know journalism is the right move for me. I just hope I can learn to detach without becoming cold to compassion.

Crime Map for South Beach

This area is typically pretty quite, but I was surprised to see how many car "boosts and/or strips" and how many frauds had been reported. I don't even know what fraud can constitute as, but that is definitely the leading crime in my beat. Also, just south of my beat is 6th Street, which would be absolutely covered in icons, however (as my previous rant implies) this is technically SOMA. But South Beach wasn't as quiet as I thought. Who knew?

View Crime Map of South Beach in a larger map

Blood Spills and Stains

The last two days have been gruesome along Mid-Market. First, following up on the stabbing by Hell's Angels, a shop-keeper took me out to the corner of Market and Sixth, and showed me a trail of blood spots.

Going back the next day to talk to bouncers at the Warfield, I was instead pulled down to Powell station. A man had just died after falling down the escalator, getting his hair and clothes caught in the bottom, in what witnesses said resulted in a scalping. This is not officially what happened, but the cops refused to give word, but several people in the immediate area heard the same.

By the time I got there, the body had been removed from the heavily-populated area, but Crime Scene Investigators were wiping up what must've been gnarly.

Anyway, heading back to 850 Bryant for official word, then to Cypress Hill concert so I can get the bouncer's view of the Hell's Angels incident.

Hi students

Dear students,

After a day from hell, the flight to New York, a six-hour delay in JFK, and the flight to West Palm Beach, I'm finally here in warm and sultry southern Florida. I wanted to thank you all for the discussion Monday, which gave me hope for the future of journalism. Good luck with your crime and court stories. I'll post a new message later today or tomorrow here and on ilearn with instructions on your book story and your final story. And I'll be checking your blogs over the course of the next few days.

See you May 2.

Yvonne

The Castro Crime Map

This is the crime map for my neighborhood beat. The Castro has generally been a safe neighborhood for 30 years.In fact most of the crimes that occurs in the neighborhood range from disturbances, vandalism and assaults. The Castro is still probably one of the best areas to raise a family.

PS: Click on the map or drag it down to get a better view of where I placed the thumb tacks.


View The Castro Crime Map in a larger map

My time at Chauncey Bailey

OAKLAND- -After a plan to cross examine three suspects at the San Leandro Prison failed, the Oakland police created a plan to “conveniently” have a flat tire on their way back to Alameda Prison. The three men they detained were then placed in a room where they were secretly videotaped discussing their involvement in the Chauncey Bailey murder.

This was the juiciest thing that I got out of the Monday trial. I hate that it started 45minutes late but hey I can't complain, I signed up for this.

Anyways like I said in class I kind of freaked out when Joshua Bey looked at me. I know I shouldn't have been scared but seeing him on the video tape, then in person in his stripped jumpsuit and him looking toward me was weird. I just kept thinking, "I know you're a bad person and you're in jail for kidnapping and torture." SKETCH.

I had fun learning about the case and writing my story. I can't wait to turn it in and see what I got! Fingers crossed I didn't just jinx myself...whoops.

Crime & Ze Mission Ce Soir

Alors, je vais au...

Oops. Guess I'll keep that. I work at a Swiss bakery and my boss speaks French to me and sometimes it sticks. Take 2.

So, I'm going to the Mission tonight to see my friend perform at the Sub-Mission art space. Fun times. Drinks and dancing. Really odd, strange, dancing.

As we've discussed in class, I'm covering the Chauncy Bailey trial on Wednesday and I plan to get to the court house de bonne heure- early - to save seats for Katherine and Kealan (did I spell it right?)

I'll traipse around in the Mission to see if I witness any crimes, but mostly just check in.

I'll take lots of pictures, see what I can see.

Bonne chance mes amies!

(good luck)

ZERO police in South Beach

If you have ever been to 6th Street, you may know how crazy it is. A few blocks from Market this area of town is somewhat similar to the Tenderloin, although not quite as crazy.

In the CrimeMap at SFPD, 6th Street is covered with arrests, public disturbances, assaults (violent and sexual), and even a few scattered attempted stabbings in the last two months.

Ideal spot for crime, right? WRONG!

Luckily for me, this area falls right outside my limitations into SOMA, NOT South Beach. I hate to be all "woe is me" but it is seriously unfortunate, because I have yet to see a single policeman in my neighborhood, except at Giants games.

Not many crimes go down in South Beach, and there isn't a single police station in South Beach. The biggest crime I have yet to even read about in South Beach is a series of vandalized cars in a five block radius.

I'm glad I'm going with the Bailey case. Not only am I super interested, but it seems to be set in stone.

If I was to go with South Beach, the car story is decent, or I've seen some underage drinking going on in a few bars on 3rd Street. I'm not afraid of hard work or to dig deeper. But I'm glad we have to option of this case.

From the Mission back to the Castro (Blog10)

Today, before going to the Castro, I had gone to the Mission because I had an appointment with Mission Local’s editor, Lydia Chavez. Obviously I wasn’t supposed to be in that neighborhood since the Mission is technically Lisa’s territory (sorry Lisa). However, I wasn’t there to get story ideas so I figured it would be okay to be there just this once. My mother used to live around the Mission area and she wasn’t too thrilled about me being there. She told me it can be very dangerous, especially at night. Luckily my appointment was in the morning so I didn’t think there would be much to worry about.

When I got to the Mission it felt as though I was back in my old neighborhood, Richmond (Contra Costa County). Like Richmond some of the buildings were nearly covered with graffiti and there were Mexican shops in every other corner. I felt that the Mission and the Castro were like night and day, complete polar opposites. Not to bash the Mission, but the Castro is definitely cleaner and a little more intimidating to walk on. However, I loved the Hispanic culture of the neighborhood; it made me feel right at home. When I got to Mission Local’s front door I saw Lydia walk by with her dog on a leash. Before I was able to shake the editor’s hand her dog jumped on me trying to lick my face. The dog was so adorable with its curly light brown fur covering its eyes and friendly personality I didn’t mind it being all over me.

I was a little nervous at first because it was an interview for a summer internship at the paper. When we went inside my mind felt at ease, the paper didn’t seem at all intimidating. The news room was small with only four or five computers and several cameras on a table, which wasn’t quite what I imagined. Mission Local’s news room was casual but still had that professional newspaper aura. After my interview was over the editor said she would love to have me this summer. Lydia also told me I would be getting paid for the work I would be doing for Mission Local. Although the pay wouldn’t be that great I wasn’t too concerned about the money aspect of the internship, in fact I would have done the work free just to have my work published at a professional publication before I graduate from SF State (need to build up my resume).

When I left the Mission I went to the Park police station to see if my sources were available for an interview. Unfortunately the arresting officers were out patrolling their beat, but the lady at the front desk said my sources would probably be back after four. I left the station and went to kill some time at the Castro. I’ve spoken dozens of shop owners, residents, and even dog walkers to see if I can find more story ideas for my final paper. Their suggestions seemed to have led me to the Jane Warner Plaza, Duboce Triangle, and nudists. I may consider writing about nudists in the Castro or the Duboce Triangle, since both topics had come up on several occasions during my visits in my beat. When I went back to the police station, to my avail the arresting officers still weren’t available for an interview. As irritating and frustrating as it was all I could do was dig deeper and hope for the best.

Big Picture on South Beach

I'm struggling to connect dots for my final paper.

I have done the majority of work on this America's Cup coming to South Beach next year and I did my Profile on the effects this event will have on one particular restaurant.

So. I was thinking of doing my final paper on the overall effect of this event on South Beach, specifically the residents who I have neglected to really bring in to many of my stories (due to the fact they are so unattainable- out of all my sources only a handful are residents.)

The real angle is the fact that this event will be happening during baseball season. The number of fans that rush to the area seeking AT&T Park is already overwhelming, and I seriously wonder how South Beach (and overall, the city) expect to accommodate such a large number of people. (As I have mentioned in a story there is an expected 2 million people to come from outside San Francisco to view the America's Cup.

Other ideas. I'm wondering if I should branch out. Although South Beach is a little slow, I know there are other compelling stories out there other than the America's Cup. I have encountered a number of growing business, mostly restaurants, who have specifically moved to South Beach to achieve a certain clientele and atmosphere. In addition the mayor has recently worked with Supervisor Jane Kim of South Beach to persuade corporations such as Twitter and Microsoft to move and stay in South Beach. I think there is a story here. Something like the future of South Beach.

Thoughts are appreciated.

Press Conference for Chauncey Bailey Case

Sorry to get your hopes up folks! I can't seem to locate that link I stumbled across last week. I revisited the site, googled it, and searched news articles...nothing. If someone else also saw it maybe you can help in the search. I'm baffled. Hopefully we all get enough from the trials!!

Banksy hits North Beach.

                                            Courtesy of http://www.missionmission.org/2010/05/02/banksy-fever-continues/ Can be see on

On Columbus and Broadway, across the street from The Condor Club.