News

El Reflejo gains readers among CSULB students

The staff members of El Reflejo, an alternative media outlet at Cal State Long Beach, work to call attention to issues and bring together the ideas and art of the community.

The mission of El Reflejo is to cover news, politics, culture and the arts of the community and to provide a space for CSULB students to engage in dialogue. The publication was spawned in a joint effort that came together as a single newsletter.

El Reflejo came out of the “Latin@ Dialogues” in fall 2005 to help create a sense of inclusion for Chicanos/Latinos at CSULB.

Julio Salgado, a senior journalism student and a staff writer and artist for El Reflejo, said the El Reflejo staff approached him to do artwork for the newsletter. He described how the publication evolved from the early “zines” that were distributed on campus, and through their drive to get their work published the newsletter has become what it is today.

“We’re all passionate about reading and literature, it’s a way of training our writing skills and an outlet for our opinions,” Salgado said of the staff. “It’s an outlet not just for Latinos but to everyone who wants to write.”

Fernando Romero, also a senior journalism major, said he sees the mission of El Reflejo is to work to create social change. “It means activism. It means establishing something where we can discuss issues,” he said. “As a journalism student I’ve always understood the power of the press.”

Romero began writing for El Reflejo in spring 2008. Unfortunately there were difficulties publishing the newsletter that semester. “We were new; it hadn’t taken off yet. Not that many people knew about it.”

Staff members distribute the now monthly publication on campus. The staff prints on average about 150 copies of each edition. With the most recent edition, which has a cover caricature of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, the staff printed and distributed 300 copies.

Now that the newsletter has caught the attention of the campus community and has gained some popularity, the staff hopes to keep putting one out each month.

“I didn’t think it would get this big,” Romero says. “People are hungry for it.”

The newsletter has branched out beyond print and is gaining readership on the Web. Each edition of El Reflejo has been posted on the publication’s MySpace page at www.myspace.com/elreflejo_csulb and blog at http://elreflejo2005.blogspot.com/ since November 2008.

All members of El Reflejo’s staff are staff writers. It’s “not hierarchial,” said Yadira Arroyo, a senior Chicano/Latino studies major. “Everybody can find their strength and do whatever they can.”

The staff also works together to do the layout for each issue and appreciates and encourages those who submit to the publication to give their input on the design. “That’s what’s so beautiful about this [publication],” Arroyo said.

Arroyo also said that those who want to submit to El Reflejo don’t have to be students to submit poetry, news articles, opinion pieces, photography or other art.

“Bring us your ideas and if its cool we’ll do it,” she said.

Maria Ventura, a sociology major who graduated in fall 2008, is a staff writer for El Reflejo and said, “Students have the opportunity to express themselves without being censored because we’re [an] independent [publication].”

Jocelyn Gomez, a senior journalism and Spanish double major, started writing for El Reflejo after seeing articles and poems written in both English and Spanish. She was impressed and motivated by the publication and started out submitting articles in Spanish.

“I can express myself in different languages in different ways,” she said.

Gomez said that Chicano/Latino students, as well as other students and members of the CSULB community, can relate to the articles in El Reflejo because they are written by their peers. “If they’re frustrated students or if their family is far away [they can relate to the topics covered],” she said.

Romero, who will be graduating this spring, said, “When I’m gone, El Reflejo is something I will look back on and be proud of.”

If you would like to submit or donate funds to the El Reflejo, e-mail: [email protected].

3 Comments

  1. Avatar
    reader (a non-Latina)

    Addendum: “… in due time, [El Reflejo might] perhaps be the best paper of its kind on campus.” I wish them the best of luck. Viva La Raza!

  2. Avatar

    To “Read Union Weekly”: in due time, perhaps the best paper of its kind on campus. Less self-indulgent than one other I can think of, and whose staff I suspect will actually keep to the standard fundamentals of journalism, without compromising their “edge.” Don’t get me wrong. The Union Weekly has its own flavor, and the more diverse publications on campus, the better. It simply would be an improvement to read an alternative publication that has some marginally professional cred to go with its self-professed style.

  3. Avatar
    read union weekly

    The second best paper on campus. Guess which is the best.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published.

Daily 49er newsletter

Instagram