Asarco smokestacks in El Paso demolished, VIDEO
April 13, 2013
Video by Rudy Gutierrez for the El Paso Times.
Since I am no longer in El Paso, I had to watch this online. I must admit that despite my worry and concern regarding the possibility a few years back that Asarco might have reopen for business, I liked the smokestacks being a part of our skyline. Something will definitely be missing the next time I go home.
It’s interesting to get some of the former Asarco employees’ takes as Rudy captured at the end of the video. I wrote a paper on Asarco my freshman year in college and for that I interviewed one of the former employees. It was an intense conversation where the brainwashing Asarco did was pretty obvious. The man I interviewed had been treated for lead poisoning twice during the time he worked for Asarco, and yet still, he said, had the plant reopened, he would have lined back up to get his job back.
Adios, Asarco, you did more harm than good.
For this article I secured an interview with a Latino business owner who none of the business writers were previously able to obtain because of my Spanish-speaking ability.
The story behind this restaurant is really great and an example of what the cliched “American Dream” is really about. It is a story that may have gone untold and is probably one that will be overlooked but in the end it is one I’m happy I was able to tell. Also there are some great photos to go along with this story (that I didn’t shoot)!!
The Gazette: Cedar Rapids eatery pairs Mexican restaurant, bakery
By Denisse Rauda
One easily can find family-owned Mexican restaurants in any given section of the Corridor. But what about a family-owned Mexican restaurant and bakery?
The concept is not new to other parts of the country and is common in Mexico. And in Cedar Rapids, customers of El Super Burrito and Lupita’s Bakery are greeted by a wooden and glass pastry case as soon as they walk in the door — just like those they would see in the bakeries of Mexico, its shelves filled with pink and yellow, cinnamon sugar-dusted traditional Mexican sweets such as conchas and empanadas and cakes such as tres leches and flan.
Podcast for The Gazette: ClusterFlunk founders ‘always knew’ they wanted to start a business
April 13, 2013
For this podcast, the managing editors gave me a lot of freedom and trusted me with allowing to use my first stab at making an audio recording here. Originally this was an assignment for a multimedia class I’ve been participating in with a couple of the reporters in the newsroom, but they liked it and let me use it!
I chose this startup as my subjects because it’s a relatively new one and also, probably the most important part, this is a student startup. The two students A.J. Nelson and Joe Dallago had an idea and went for it. These guys are pretty bold and ambitious. Think “The Network” but without the twins, socks and sandals combo, and also less drama (i hope).
Business 380 podcast: ClusterFlunk founders ‘always knew’ they wanted to start a business
By Denisse Rauda
University of Iowa students A.J. Nelson and Joe Dallago said they always knew they wanted to start a business together.
After mulling around different ideas, the two decided that, with Dallago’s knowledge of websites and Nelson’s knack for business, a tech start-up would be a good fit.
I’m in the business of business
April 13, 2013
Since as of the last…oohhhhh… 3 years or so my blog has become more of an occasional update, touch base for no one but myself, I plan on continuing the trend. Well, at least for today.
I’m going to try and make this as quick and painless as possible because I know no one but me is reading. Maybe some 20 or 30 years from now my descendants will find this of some interest or it will make someone’s life easier when they’re trying to map out a family tree.
In the past year since the last time I filed an update a few things have occurred. I left my position as a web editor with the El Paso Times in September of last year when I accepted a new position as a digital editor (pretty much the same job, different name) for The Gazette a newspaper in Iowa.
I never imagined I would ever get to leave El Paso no matter how hard I tried, but I did! AND never, ever would I have imagined I would wind up in the Midwest, definitely not in Iowa, but here I am!
I’ve been here about 6 months now and it’s been pretty weird. I don’t know what to make of it all yet. Life goes by pretty smoothly here and drastically slow during the winter months. Snow is not really my favorite meteorological phenomena, but enough of that.
The job.
What about the job? My superiors trust me and that’s nice. So far I’ve made a podcast and written a small feature. My job is primarily about the business section, which I knew a little about, but it’s been pretty cool to challenge myself to grasp the concepts and stories that come across my desk plus figuring out who the audience is online and how they want to absorb our content. I’ll post the podcast and article in the following posts.
Everything’s different and has changed but I’ve met some interesting people. And if I considered myself “independent” before, year-ago-me had no idea all the things I would have to learn! It was a tough decision to make to up and leave but I made it and I’m pretty glad because I wasn’t very happy in El Paso anymore.
Counting down. 