Blog Post 4- April 27, 2026
My final story that I have been working on is about SDSU’s cost of attendance. As research for this project, I have also looked into the cost of living in San Diego, as that cost affects every part of living in San Diego, including going to school here. Time and time again, I am absolutely appalled at how expensive it is to live in this city. We pay about three times the national average for electricity, and about four times the national average for water. And that is before the proposed water rate increase that will raise water rates 90% over the next six years.
In my research on these subjects, I found that there is a lot of data on this, but very few articles have been published about these issues. These issues affect everyone because when a water or electricity rate increase goes through, everyone must pay more. We have to pay so much for the basics in San Diego, which has one of the largest economies in the U.S. In the U.S., which is the richest country in the world. I realized that there has to be more coverage on these topics.
Blog Post 3- April 6, 2026
Within the past couple of weeks, I have really enjoyed the data assignments that we have been doing in class. I specifically enjoyed learning how to make the different graphs and maps. I found that making graphs, pie charts and maps is a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I’ve found these charts show information and data in a digestible way to readers, and will be a great thing to include in my articles going forward, even outside of this class.
I also really liked doing the digital assignment for Documenters. It was a lot of fun, and great to work together with a partner. I have always really liked watching journalistic videos that are similar to “video essays,” and I think the product that I made was like that. It gave me insight into a different type of job I could have with my journalism degree, specifically in the digital world. I want to get better at editing these types of videos and adding more flair and animations to make it more engaging for readers.
Map
Sample Chart- 2026
Blog Post 2- March 16, 2026
The JMS Screening Circle presentation was one that really resonated with me. Something that really resonated with me was a quote used in the “preface” of “Sweeps Kills”. Washington state policy director Tedd Kelleher told “Seattle Times” that “We know how to bring people inside. People can argue about whether they want to do that or not, but they can’t say that we don’t know how.” This was absolutely heartbreaking, and absolutely true. While this was a Washington official, I see this every day in San Diego. We have one of the highest homeless rates in the country, and yet there are 3 houses for every homeless person. Nationally, this trend is also reflected. According to a top Trump administration advisor, the first two weeks of the war in Iran have cost the U.S. $12 billion. Conservative estimates put ending homelessness in America at $11 billion a year. Our policymakers allowing homelessness to run rampant like this will always be a choice– we live in the richest country in the world.
Typically, unhoused people are portrayed as “crazy” or shifty and shady. Our media tends to focus on the narrative that being on the streets is a result of individual moral failing, like addiction, financial illiteracy, mental illness or laziness. This creates attitudes of indifference, apathy and even annoyance towards these people. They will often get blamed for their suffering, even though this issue is very systemic.
Works like “Sweeps Kill” get the conversation started about how to move forward with the current homelessness crisis in the U.S. It can raise awareness of conditions that people experience when they are unhoused, as well as the systemic hostility people have towards these people. In addition, works like this can highlight the fact that due to the cost of living, a lot of us are closer to that than to being rich. While I think that consciousness raising may partially affect public policy, I don’t hold out hope for it. In that, I am a very material person, and I know that change doesn’t just come from knowing about an issue; it comes from acting on it.
I think that journalists should cover homelessness and the unhoused population with empathy. Very often in stories, I notice that homelessness is portrayed as a personal failing, whether implicit or explicit. I think that it is important to also highlight the systemic nature of homelessness, and how there are a lot of factors that go into losing your place to live. Instead of focusing on this issue as a result of a personal failing, focus on the policies that keep people poor and drive them to homelessness, policies surrounding actually being homeless, etc.
Blog Post 1- March 2, 2026
The first check-in of the semester! I have been thoroughly enjoying this class so far, and the different topics we have been touching on. Learning how to produce a website has been challenging, but exciting. I have used other types of website creators before, predominantly Adobe Portfolio, but none as involved as WordPress. Because I haven’t used this type of process before, I have been running into roadblocks. Overcoming these roadblocks, however, have been very mentally stimulating (something that cannot be said of all the classes I have taken before).
One lecture I found really useful was the lecture on digital security. It was a good refresher on how to keep yourself and your work safe in the new digital world. The stories about newspapers, websites and applications, like Twitter/X, being attacked and held for ransom put the urgency into perspective. I also found the resources from Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Pen America to be extremely helpful when combating harassment online.