Category Archives: Opinion

I never believed I was meant to be a journalist. I am 5 feet 2 inches tall and hardly have a commanding figure. I spent 12 years in Catholic school and was often taught to be kind but somewhat deferential to others. It wasn’t easy for the 17-year-old, shy and awkward girl I was – […]

I’ve never liked reading newspapers. I find them uncomfortably large when opened, and I’ve never been able to turn their pages without them trying to fall all over the place. They’re supposed to be effective conduits of important information but have the navigation scheme of a “Choose Your Own Adventure” novel. I start at the […]

I fell in love with photography in a high school darkroom. More specifically, I fell in love with the process. The flow of dipping prints from one chemical into another to the constant beat of a ticking clock was mesmerizing. For a high school senior with few real outlets for creativity, I found myself captivated […]

Some people live in the same house, on the same street, in the same town for most of their lives before they pack up and leave for college. Not me. I was already living on my own in an apartment in San Diego – my 13th home – three days after graduating high school. Growing […]

The best advice I received this year came from a high school senior. Toward the end of a high school journalism club meeting, as the students were putting the finishing touches on the Weekly Cobra layout, we talked about the uncertain future of journalism and my uncertain future within that uncertain future. “It doesn’t matter […]

I didn’t think it would be hard to write this column. Maybe that’s odd. Writing something that accurately captures what I’ve learned during my time writing for the Daily Bruin – that explains what it feels like to be here, right now, standing with one foot inside Kerckhoff 118 and the other out – probably […]

Over the course of three years, I have oftentimes found myself looking down at my phone at a particular set of words: “Hey Jose, can you take a shoot?” Despite the fact that I had received the same message time and time again, from multiple editors, it never failed to evoke the feeling of déjà […]