Anthony Baltierra

For those us that went to Skid Row for our field reporting trip on Wednesday, we saw and heard how the local government is greatly failing the area.

The Safer City Initiative, a government program designed to "clean up the area," has been used to jail thousands of homeless people on bogus charges, ranging from crosswalk violations, flicking cigarette ash, and significantly escalated drug charges. These arrests are made with the political justification that getting the homeless off the street will "make the neighborhood look better." Not only has the Safer City Initiative brought the injustice of unwarranted arrests, but since it was enacted, crime in the area has risen.  The crime rate is rising in spite of the fifty additional cops the Initiative added to daily patrol the area.

During his very inspiring "Annenberg Army" rant on Monday, Professor Robert Hernandez implored each and every  graduate journalism student to do one simple thing: "get out of your comfort zone."  Listening intently (throwing in a Harry Potter reference will usually get my attention), I felt empowered by the words in Professor Hernandez's speech. I want to make a difference! Sign me up for the Annenberg Army! I will leave here and tear down my comfort zone!

But as the adrenaline left my body, the truth of the words hit me: "get out your comfort zone."

Yeah, on second thought...maybe this rant wasn't as great as I originally thought.

Here is my short interview clip, shot at a bus stop right outside the Coliseum.  I asked the lady if she had a strong opinion on anything concerning the country and she said she had one about healthcare.

Here is my five shot video clip, taken my friend's place during a poker game. The video must have been good luck for him since he won.

They have a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for the fastest time to crawl a mile? Having not crawled since I learned to walk, I have to wonder why anyone would want to claim to have that record.

With that in mind, a story on a 17-year-old girl's quest to break the record for the fastest time to crawl a mile, a record which belonged to a 39-year-old man from Toronto (I'm sure bragging about that record really helps him score with the ladies), sounds completely irrelevant. To be quite frank, on the surface it sounds pretty lame.

During his speech on Tuesday night, Professor Howard Gillman admitted he could not bring himself to watch a local newscast or most of the newscasts on cable. All I could think when Gillman stated this was, "Who could blame him?"