Journal Entry 1

The following is the first in a series of reposted journal entries made for a reporting class I am taking right now. They aren't particularly edited, or necessarily even interesting (though hopefully they are), but they do a pretty good job of expressing what I am doing right now. And, of course, they are pre-made content. Reader beware.

Journal Entry 1: Neighborhood Meetings

In following the neighborhood coverage, I have travelled all over the Cal Young Neighborhood in an attempt at finding out what made the neighborhood tick. I went from Coburg to the VRC, North to the tip of Eugene, and East – deep into what I consider Springfield but is part of the neighborhood. But in addition to my exploration, I made contact with the neighborhood association in an attempt to find out more about the concerns of neighborhood members. The association president invited me to a couple of their meetings, which I gladly accepted.

As I drove into the heart of Cal Young, I could not help but make comparisons between the neighborhood and that of my home town of Corvallis. The populations are very similar demographically, with a predominate white, liberal, upper-middle class. They are educated, many professionally, and are willing to get motivated for causes they believe in (often local issues). Corvallis has many of the same little streets leading to big houses, with few big roads but lots of cul-de-sacs surrounded by two-story houses with front yards. The houses are neither old, nor young, and tend to be guarded by children’s toys instead of iron bars. It is very different from my expectations of a divided-class neighborhood.