La Mexicana Process Writing

 I think it is fitting that this is the last piece that I write for this narrative journalism class. I do not say this because I think it is the best first draft that I have ever written; I say it because I feel I was able to put all of the skills that we learned in this class into action when I was working on reporting for this project.

Unlike my first profile, I knew right off the bat that I wanted to do a wide array of reporting and that I was going to have to start early if I wanted to get it all done. A couple of weeks ago, my friend lent me her car to run a few errands and I decided to seize the moment and stop by the Edison Neighborhood Association to see what was going on in the community. I already knew about the fire at La Mexicana, but it was them who tipped me off about the benefit and many other things that were going to be happening soon. Unsure of what direction to proceed in, I attended the Bell's benefit on a Saturday morning and I got to talk to a lot of amazing people. Originally, I did not think that I was going to write about the Vargas family, but something told me to go to the event anyways. I am so happy I did, because in talking to Carmen and her son Javier, I knew that there was a story to be told about their journey to the United States and all of the things that they have been able to accomplish.

After that day, I set up in-depth interviews with both Javier and Carmen. In addition, I collected information from Judy Sarkozy, Noel Corwin, and Laura Bell at the event itself. I am looking forward to putting together a more cohesive and organized final draft and I am interested to know everyone's thoughts during workshop. I am happy with the reporting I did, but I want to turn that reporting into a good piece of writing.