Periodismo

In my study abroad program, there is one Journalism (Periodismo) class available (and I am in it, of course). In the class, the students write and produce a magazine called Más + Menos. Each semester the magazine has a different cohesive theme such as education, health care, or fútbol, which is the topic for this semester. Every student picks a more focused subject for their article to contribute to the magazine. Each student is also paired up with a Spanish student from the University to help them with their story. They research and interview subjects for the article and then write it in English. At that point, the Spanish students (most of whom study languages and translation) translate the article into Spanish. Both versions in the two languages are then published in the magazine. (My Spanish student partner is Pedro. He is cute and nice. Apparently I have very good luck with these sorts of things.)

When I first learned of the magazine's theme for this semester, I was not too thrilled. Although I understand the great significance fútbol (soccer) has in Spain (I mean, they just won the World Cup for goodness sake!), and I do enjoy watching the sport, I just did not feel excited to write about it. However, my professor helped me find a subject that I think I will really enjoy.

The subject of my article is "Educar en la Calle," which means "Educate in the street." It refers to an organization founded in 1985 in order to help combat situations of poverty and social marginalization. The program Educar en la Calle aims to positively affect the lives of minorities and young people in under- developed and marginalized neighborhoods through education, using fútbol as a fundamental tool.

Within the next couple of weeks, I will visit one of their locations in Sevilla (hopefully with Pedro!) to interview the director of the program, Jorge Morillo, and other people involved. I will also observe how the program operates and get a glimpse of how it helps the marginalized communities. Surely this will be a rewarding experience, and I look forward to getting started on my piece.

On another note, yesterday, instead of having our regular Journalism class, we instead when to the office of el Diario de Sevilla (Sevilla Daily Newspaper) for a charlar (chat/talk) with Francisco Correal, a noted journalist in Sevilla. He has written many pieces (including a book) about fútbol, and during our talk he shared some of his experiences with us. He is a really nice guy and seemed excited about our project.

So excited, in fact, that he wrote about us in el Diario de Sevilla! Check it out! And for those who do not read Spanish, the article just talks about our magazine project and gives a little background on the students and their individual topics.

The photo quality isn't very good, but I am all the way on the left with the purple scarf.
We are standing in the newsroom of el Diario de Sevilla. 

I haven't been here 2 months and I am already famous in Sevilla! Sweet. =)