Canto CDLV: Alex Magaña Reports!

Gentle cabrones:

I get queries from aspiring and/or young journalists to talk about our profession more often than not. One of them is Alex Magaña.

Freshman at Cal State Northridge. 18. Writer for the Daily Sundial, their student newspaper. One of his parents is from Jerez because OF COURSE they are.

At the beginning of the academic year, Alex tuned into my weekly Instagram Live free-for-all and asked what advice could I give to a young reporter like him. I said I wouldn’t answer him then and there in the middle of my rants because I’d rather tell him one-on-one for a good while, so I asked him to send me a DM.

It’s something I ask people to do all the time if they want to talk journalism. I’m more than happy to give them some pointers and make myself available for more in-depth conversations — but they gotta seek me out. Following through is an important part of our profession, of LYFE.

Few follow through. Alex did.

Once he told me he was out in the San Fernando Valley, I said I’d take him out to lunch instead of a Zoom chat — but I warned that it would be a while. See, I’m kinda busy.

Months passed and the fall semester ended. It was time. I suggested we meet at my favorite Mexican restaurant in the San Fernando Valley – Chabelita’s in Pacoima, whose amazing corn tortillas won the last #TortillaTournament that I held back in 2024.

We met in January (I’m writing our encounter now because I’m kinda busy). Alex’s dad dropped him off. He’s of average height, with his hair combed forward but not in a full Edgar cut. White t-shirt, khaki Dickies, black-framed glasses with a gold rim on the bottom — hell, he looked and dressed like a more cherubic version of me at that age, except his persona was chill and mine was (is?) more like Jack Lemmon.

We greeted each other and placed our orders – he chose green chilaquiles, I went with my usual chile relleno plate.

“I want to be ready for journalism and I kinda hate waiting,” Alex said as we munched on tortilla chips in Chabelita’s small dining room. “I want to jump in right now.”

I asked him why he cared about journalism. “There’s something so personal about it— you can get into the nitty-gritty,” Alex replied. “It kind of feels natural to me. Besides, I’m a sucker for data and polls. And talking to people is fun.”

He said he wanted to cover under-represented communities and injustice 

“I was taught that in democracy we all had a voice. I was sad to find out that it’s not true.”

Man, when I was 18 and in my first semester of Orange Coast College, I was busy watching The Simpsons every Sunday night.

Alex told me that he first heard about me a year earlier, when I had spoken at his high school, Northridge Academy. I remembered that gig well — an English teacher invited me to speak to his class, so I was surprised when the venue was a mini-auditorium and there were at least 200 students. When you get invited to speak, you prepare your remarks for a certain amount of people — disrupt that, and you have to retool right then and there.

It happens. I pivoted and distinctly remember quieting the young bucks in the back once I started talking about political corruption.

You never know who you reach when you talk — but at least I knew I reached Alex.

He got into journalism at Northridge Academy, but the paper was “underfunded and under everything.” He also joined something called the Senior Council, whose adviser wasn’t the best.

“It was a good idea, but the reception was poor because people‘s ideas weren’t heard.”

What did you do about it, I asked.

“I did a story about it. I don’t think they were happy with it.”

First time reading this newsletter? Subscribe here for more merriment! Feedback, thoughts, commentary, rants? Send them to [email protected]

Some Mark Wahlberg war movie was silently playing above us. Chabelita‘s owner sat nearby – he seemed to want to say what’s up to me, but also seemed to know that Alex and I were deep in conversation so watched the Wahlberg movie (“Lone Survivor,” I blurted out at some point).

Alex enjoyed his lunch, but didn’t touch the beans. Not a fan. I admitted that I didn’t like avocado. We both laughed at our Mexican heresies.

The article he did on the Senior Council fiasco made Alex dream of “what you could do on a much larger scale” with journalism.

I congratulated him for already being way ahead of where I was, telling him I didn’t get it in my mind to become a reporter until my senior year in college. I told him that I did exactly what he did – reach out to established reporters and ask them to tell me everything they knew, so keep doing that. I also told him that the only reporters who actually responded were Ruben Martinez, and Sam Quinones – the latter told my Fookin’ Ingrate Book Club recently about how I went to meet him at the late great Espresso Mi Cultura in East Hollywood in 2002, and we sat on a bus bench for an hour after his book signing talking journalism.

And that’s why I was meeting with Alex – I’ve been trying to pay it forward ever since. Sam didn’t have to be so gracious to me back in the day, and I didn’t have to be so gracious to Alex now. But we did it because we care about the next generation and it’s the right thing to do.

One day, Alex would be in the same place as me, I told him. But it would take WERK to get there.

I told them that he had to write regularly. I mentioned how stories are everywhere if only you’re paying attention – specifically, I told Alex about the columna I did about a burnt out RV that was next to a children’s nonprofit in Pico Union for two weeks until I called the city about it. I told him to buy old anthologies of Sports Illustrated because sports writing is some of the best writing and it was my own journalism school (Canto CLXXI)

Suddenly, we both looked up. Sirens were wailing outside.

“Hopefully it’s not ICE,” Alex said.

He asked about what should he do next. I suggested he apply for internships and even think about starting his own thing because coverage of the San Fernando Valley is insultingly sparse — myself included. By focusing on his neighborhood, he could become the authority on it and market himself to bigger publications. And I also said I’d be there for him in whatever way I could for as long as he wanted to.

He told me next time we’d see each other, he’d take me to a tea place. I said I always have the tab between us.

“Buy a sports anthology,” I have in my notebook as the last thing I told him. “Buy it for me — for you.”

A few months later, Alex sent me his latest columna and I gave him my thoughts. A few weeks ago, he did the same. He’s only doing opinion right now, but I’m liking the diversity of topics in his writings (I also like that he’s going by Alejandro, but hey: tell your editors to put a pinche tilde over your last name!)

There was four journalists from Jerez just a few years ago at the Los Angeles Times (three from El Cargadero!). May Alejandro Magaña beat us all.

One more thing, young buck: Don’t get beat (Canto XXXV).

**

Enough rambling. This was the semana that was:

IMAGE OF THE WEEK: Not-bad photo of AMAZING red pozole by the mother of SanTana councilmember Benjamin Vazquez (Canto ???) at his reelection campaign kickoff last weekend.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Every culture has its southerners, peole who work as little as they can, preferring to dance, drink, sing, brawl, kill their unfaithful spouses” — Susan Sontag

LISTENING: “Lloraras,” Oscar D’Leon. Salsa smash by a salsa master. Heard it this week as part of a salsa soundtrack at the Anepalco’s in Orange kitty korner from UCI Medical Center. Saw El Faraón once at the late, great JC Fandango (Canto XXVIII) — as electric on stage as on tape or stream or however you listen to music now. Hence included in Gustavo Arellano’s Weekly Radiola of Randomness YouTube songlist, where I’ve included every song I’ve ever featured in a canto — give it a spin!

READING: “Adult bathhouses were a part of Minneapolis nightlife. Then police and panic pushed them out”: A great example of how history informs the present, and why reporters who get this can do better work than those who can’t. Well-written, fabulously researched, even if slightly biased.

Gustavo Events  

May 14, 3 p.m.: I’m going to be on KCRW FUNdrive status with my Greek compa Steve Chiotakis (hola, Steve!). Here’s the link to donate — but don’t donate until I’m on that Thursday for three hours!

May 23, 6:30 p.m.: I’m going to be participating with other local authors at a read-a-thon for Arvida Book Co., 115 W Main St., Tustin. Entry is FREE, books BARATO — support your locally owned bookstore!

Gustavo in the News

“He wears many hats at one of California’s tiniest schools, including hero bus driver”: A Los Angeles Times newsletter you should subscribe to plugs a columna of mine.

“A Good Summary in the Times of the Debate”: AltaPolicyWonk offers myself and two of my co-columnistas a plug for our work.

“#046 - Amateur Roller Hockey, Microenterprise Home Kitchens, and an Unlikely Gubernatorial Candidate“: A good newsletter about the San Fernando Valley gives a shoutout to the Northridge BBQ festival where I appeared and you didn’t go.

“Thurmond won’t attend next debate despite ‘polished’ performance”: My summation of last week’s California gubernatorial debate gets a mention.

“Letters to the Editor: Climate change is a fact, not a fairy tale. Don’t frame it as one”: Los Angeles Times readers tee off on me.

Gustavo Stories 

“Grítale a Guti”: Latest edition of my Tuesday night IG Live free-for-all.

“How the late Sen. John Seymour impacted Orange County”: My latest KCRW “Orange County Line” commentary talks about California’s last Republican U.S. Senator.

“California governor candidates talk over one another in rapid-fire debate”: I participated in our live blog with insights about who needed to make the biggest move (Katie Porter), who did the best (Tony Thurmond), and why Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco is so darn angry.

“A cheat sheet for the California governor debate: Here’s what to watch for”: My latest L.A. Times co-columna pre-gamed the subject in question along with fellow columnists Anita Chabria and Mark Z. Barabak. KEY QUOTE: “But then I hear Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton mewl, and I’m suddenly hoping alongside Anita that someone vanquishes their foes with an unassailable vision.”

“John Seymour, Anaheim mayor and U.S. senator, dies at 88”: My latest L.A. Times obituary covers the life of California’s last Republican U.S senator. KEY QUOTE: “John Seymour was the rare politician who didn’t mind harming his career if it meant doing right by his constituents.”

“Here’s who (we think) won the chaotic California gubernatorial debate”: My next latest L.A. Times co-columna post-gamed the subject in question along with fellow columnists Anita Chabria and Mark Z. Barabak KEY QUOTE: “As California’s Black population keeps shrinking, it would’ve been wonderful to see Thurmond do better than he has.”

“The future of Latino politics just played out in Whittier”: My latest L.A. Times columna talks about one of my favorite pieces of music EVER. KEY QUOTE: “But what drove the voters I talked to wasn’t a chance to right demographic wrongs.”

You made it this far down? Gracias! Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram while you’re down here by clicking on their logos down below. Don’t forget to forward this newsletter to your compadres y comadres! You can’t get me tacos anymore, but you sure as hell can give them — and more — to the O.C. Catholic Worker!