Blog Post- November 24, 2025
These past few weeks I have been working a lot on my infographic and my survey to gather data. I have really enjoyed making my survey and getting all the feedback and responses I did. Tattoos are a very interesting subject to me, so even though I was gathering responses for a project, I also found it fun to read what people think about tattoos. I have found talking to tattoo artists and seeing their work to be very fulfilling and exciting. The tattoo artists who I have gotten to talk to have all been very kind and more than willing to talk about their experiences and their lives. This has made the interview process pretty smooth and easy. I have had some struggles connecting with an artist and actually making the interview happen though. Coordinating schedules, waiting for replies from people, and trying to catch them during their busy workdays has been a little frustrating sometimes. However I have enjoyed seeing the variety of opinions, experiences, and personal stories people shared made me even more curious about the how tattoos are perceived in society.
I am excited to see the final story put together at the end. I think I have gotten some interesting feedback and stories to share. I am also eager to put everything together and see the product. I am hoping this story will be something I can take with me and put in my portfolio as I value a lot of the work I do in my classes. I am looking forward to learning more digital journalism techniques if we are going to implement any more into class.
Blog Post - Muslim Matchmaker Screening Circle - Nov 12, 2025
There were a lot of things that stood out to me in the muslim matchmaker series and clips. In the show and in the interview clip with Yasmin Elhady, I found the framing of “finding a partner” and “matchmaker” to represent the deep compatibility within the Muslim community. She emphasizes the importance of staying true to yourself and remaining intentional in the way you date. She also talks about the “Rules of Three” which is implemented in the show. Three dates, three months and 300 questions, which allows people to go deep and truly connect with people.
I feel like a lot of dating shows are often dramatized and we don’t see the people truly get deep with each other. It is emphasized a lot within watching the clips how participants and the matchmakers navigate the dating world and modern dating norms. Muslim people come from all different backgrounds, faith practices, ambitions, personal wishes and more. There is a lot of diversity and I like how the show represents this. I think this resonance matters in a university setting like SDSU, as students come from all different kinds of backgrounds, cultures, and religion. This also can be connected to other forms of dating reality tv shows and how different cultures and marginalized communities are represented in the media.
In main mainstream media representations of Muslim people, Muslims have been portrayed in negative ways that reinforce stereotypes. Many of the framing of Muslims can be connected to violence and terrorism. There have been times when I have gone online or on social media, I have seen comments associating Islam with crisis and conflict based news rather than community and joy. I have never viewed the Muslim community as a monolith, the same with any other marginalized group, so for me it is very easy to not associate Muslims the way some may on social media sites. The Muslim community is a diverse group of people in ethnicity, belief, practice, politics, and personality traits and watching the clips of the show only emphasized this for me.
I think there are many ways Muslim identity and culture could be represented in the news. It is important to show Muslim identity outside of crisis or political conflict. When the news and media sites move beyond stereotypes, coverage of Muslim relationships, family, faith, and community have more room to shine. This is important in covering all types of cultures and religions. I also think journalists should focus on collaboration directly with Muslim people and Muslim journalists even. It is important to center Muslim voices and give power to their stories. News coverage needs to do a better job of highlighting the diversity within the Muslim community rather than treating the Muslim community as a monolith. I think the Muslim Matchmaker show was a great way to show Muslim relationships and how they navigate love the way everyone else does.
Blog Post - November 3, 2025
After the first draft of my story project was due, it was good to see some progress being made and I enjoyed doing my interview with the tattoo artist. I found the interview to be very light hearted and easy, as it was easy and a fun story to talk about. I also find whenever I am interviewing someone on their passion, it makes for a more meaningful and easy conversation. It was a little difficult to capture photos, as there was no one being tattooed at the moment and there wasn't much available in the shop to be photographed. I do have to think a little more about what exactly I want to do with my social media post.
It has been interesting to learn about the technical/data side of journalism these past couple weeks. Using google sheets to create charts and examine data has been both helpful and a different side to journalism than I used to learning about. It also allows me to see how data and percentages can help add a different layer to the story, and create visualizations. I am working on gathering responses for my survey right now, and it has been a fun and easy start to my infographic. I also enjoy seeing the results about what people around me have to say about tattoos, as I find it to be an interesting topic of conversation. I want to combine personal stories about self-expression and analyze trends surrounding tattoos and style. Overall, I am enjoying the story process and seeing my story come together with everything we are learning in class.
Google Map
Sample Chart
Blog Post - October 6, 2025
As we enter week 7, I have been making progress on my story and website, exploring the potential interview options, and how I will go about ensuring my interviews happen. I have been researching local tattoo shops and artists I can find on social media, and I plan to reach out to a few once I have finished compiling my list. I have enjoyed learning about the different visual, audio, and social media techniques and platforms and how I can incorporate these into my story. I want to use TikTok as my primary social storytelling platform to use in my story to showcase individuals' different style choices and tattoos they have. I am constantly seeing TikTok's of people's "outfits of the day", or what I'm wearing today TikTok's, so I think TikTok would be a very helpful and relevant use of social media. This is my second time using Adobe Portfolio for a Journalism class as I made a portfolio last semester for PhotoJournalism. I am enjoying getting to use this website again, however I do find the website to be a little confusing at times to navigate.
In class so far, I have enjoyed learning about interviewing techniques, media ethics, and different multimedia techniques. I have really liked watching the different short-form media videos/reels, and listening to the short radio sections to see what elements they incorporate into their media forms. This has been interesting and fun, and has allowed me to see how different elements such as visuals, voice changes (pitch), sound, speed of videos, humor, etc. all play a role in making a video. This has given me some ideas of what to use in my story as well, as to how I can make my story more engaging to viewers. I plan on using this week to get ahead on my story and start doing some research.
