Day 2 (Monday, June 12)

Ahhhh. It feels good to be back in Ft. Lauderdale.

The fact that I already know the area is going to help out a lot this week. It was the same way last year during the 2005 NAHJ Conference in Fort Worth because I had interned in the area a year before. The fact that I knew something about the area proved to be key right at the beginning this morning when we met for our first Latino Reporter Digital staff meeting. A story about the Ft. Lauderdale beaches was pitched during the meeting and I was able to give some insight into what are some of the hot spots.

After the meeting we got started with the work load. Nadia (Puerto Rico), Omar (San Francisco State) and I headed out with our online mentor Enrique Gonzalez to cover the beach story. I suggested going to Pompano Beach because it's a good place to get some locals. I also suggested going to Ft. Lauderdale Beach, which is the place where all the tourists go.

Pompano Beach was cool because I was able to meet up with a Mexico family from Oaxaca. The family recently came to South Florida looking for work. Previously, they had been working in Louisiana.

I was looking to get photos of something different and when I saw that this was a fishing day for the Cruz family I figured it would be cool to follow them. The baby dropped his bottle and his older brother was playing with bate. So it made for a cool image.

Hanging out in Pompano was pretty cool. It reminded me of my fall internship here. I tried hanging out at the beach as much as possible during my days off. Being at the beach today made me realize I had missed this place so much. But I just didn't notice it.

Currently the first tropical storm of the hurricane season is making its way north toward the Florida panhandle. The storm has created some cool waves and surfers were all over the beach. I was able to get a cool photo of a sufer from the pier.

I was looking for a little more things away from the beach. So when I saw the cool lighting situation at the pier's entrance I figured it would make a nice image.

Next we went down to Ft. Lauderdale Beach. This made me think a lot about last fall when I spent a lot of time at FLB. I did my jogging and swimming in that beach. Man, I missed Flori-duh (as I called it).

Looking across the street I was able to see a little girl w/ a lot of character. When she started running around I went w/ the flow and got some cool photos of her having a good time.

Later, I found another family enjoying the music on the street.

The low light situation was cool and it made for some cool images.

As we were heading home I came across something really cool. The new name for a street that was under construction got a cool name. Cortez Street.I like the sign of that. I guess they missed me so much after I left in December that they had to name a street after me. Ha!

Across the street the beach also got the name Cortez. So I had Omar Vega (San Francisco State) shoot a portarit of me.

Cool shot. Thanks O-Man.

We finished working pretty late and it was almost midnight by the time we got back to the hotel. I decided to stay in and do a little editing instead of going out.

I am not sure if I am getting old. But last year I went out and hung out with the interns alsmost every night after work. Today I was pretty tired and the week's just begun. I guess it's better to pace myself.

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