Seeing the city from another perspective

When I first applied to Columbia’s Journalism, MA program, the first question I asked myself was, “Why now?”

My parents, friends, coworkers, even neighbors had asked me for the better part of two years what I had planned for my future. Working in retail right out of college, everyone, including me, knew that I wasting time. But, as stubborn as I am, I couldn’t move forward until I was ready.

That time came while I was living in Los Angeles.

Caught in traffic on the freeway, trying to get past all of the pre-Oscars road closures, I had an epiphany. I realized that I didn’t want to be surrounded by celebrity culture, like I always thought I wanted. I knew I wanted to be back in my hometown, reporting on the issues that mattered.

It sounds clichéd, but I wanted to “give a voice to the voiceless.”

One of the subjects of my piece, We Are Chicago

That mantra was what inspired me when coming up with the idea for my Digital Journalism final project this semester.

With all the negative press that Chicago has had recently, especially with the newest Spike Lee film Chi-Raq, I wanted to make something that highlighted the beauty of the city and the people that make it great.

I decided to use the “Humans of New York” project on Facebook as a model and went throughout the city, interviewing people from as far north as Rogers Park to as far south as Jackson Park. Hearing their stories gave me a new appreciation for how amazing this city truly is, and I realized how much I took it for granted.

Willa Cather once said, “The world is little, people are little, human life is little. There is only one big thing — desire.” The desire to be bigger than ourselves. The hope that we can leave the world better than when we arrived. That drive is what pushes us to succeed.

This assignment became a passion project for me and I hope to expand on it in the future. Check it out below:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK8PeHlDFBg[/youtube]