Emma's 2021 Portfolio

Emma’s 2021 Portfolio

BE FEARLESS IN THE PUSUIT OF WHAT SET YOUR SOUL ON FIRE

Essay #1 This year started off rough, but the paper continued to update the community, connect us, and somehow put us at ease for a few moments. In these strange times, I still learned new skills and techniques that helped me conduct an effective virtual interview. Since we were stuck at home, and people are still hesitant about in-person interviews. So instead of doing basic email interviews, I’d set up a Zoom meeting or Face-Time to “physically” talk to my interviewee. It helped because I could ask follow-up questions or get clarification on something interesting they had said.

Even though deadlines are essential and slightly overwhelming, editors pushed for everything to be done. Still, it seemed that we were finishing articles, photos, or polls on production day without fail.

Once I get an article, I immediately research credible sites and start writing the article. I then get quotes and move or add more information around the quotes. For me, it’s the easiest and fastest way to get a piece done so that I’m not rushing to finish it at the last moment.

I’m delighted to have excellent editors in chief while also having other editors behind me on our print issues, especially since I’m still not a master of InDesign. My computer seems to be cursed every time I open it. The program is touchy and difficult to understand. Luckily I had friends like Micheal and Ryan, who have a bit more experience than me, to show me the ropes and give me their honest feedback about my page’s overall design, even if it hurt me.

Ethics in journalism is everything. When people read a paper or news article, they expect to be given the truth, not something a writer either made up or copy and pasted from another author. If you take all this time to plagiarize rather than merely putting in the time and effort to write it, you’re not smart, just lazy.

I’ve been dedicated to this paper ever since I joined and tried to pull my weight at every turn. I take articles when others won’t volunteer for them, ask other editors if there’s anything I can do to help, and above all, get my articles in on time so that my fellow editors have one less thing to worry about.

On production days, I try to stay late or until the very end, if I don’t have work, to give as much as possible to the team.

Except for the multiple obvious problems that COVID came and smacked everyone across the face with, I didn’t encounter many difficulties. I started on articles early, didn’t half-ass anything, and maneuvered my way through designing my multiple pages. All that aside, I still have difficulty with spelling and grammar due to dyslexia, but I’m working around that. I’ve got Grammarly to correct my writing and the staff members who write for my page.

Essay #2 The best piece I’ve written for the physical paper was my front piece on Police shootings. At the same time, it was the hardest to write.

Firstly, being a part of a law enforcement family gave me a different but highly unliked perspective on the situation. Yet, it drove me while writing this piece because I wanted officers’ voices to be heard while also acknowledging the suffering of African Americans in this country.

Research was essential for this. There was no way I could possibly go about this article with only three sources, so I got around 6 or 7 different credible sources. By using The Washington Post, New York Times, ABC15, and so many others, not only did it make my article sound more credible, but I was also able to add in the much needed numbers of the situation.

Then came the most challenging part of all, interviews. How do I ask an officer about Defund the Police without bluntly disrespecting them or a Black Lives Matter supporter about the riots and thousands of dollars in damage they’ve created without getting into a heated argument?

Respectfully I decided to keep those questions out of the interview and only focused on why a student would support Black Lives Matter, what they intend to do within the support group, and how others can help.

Interviewing an officer was rough. My father has many connections, but not all of them would take the time to be interviewed, which is understandable. They’re very busy and have more important things to deal with. But after some negotiation, Detective Larry Biffen, who’s been involved in two police-involved shootings, agreed to be interviewed. I did have to conduct his interview over email, but I dealt with it. I was just happy he agreed.

Biffen had flawless responses and helped make my article very well rounded. But in the end, I went nearly 500 words over word count. I thought Micheal was going to kill me. Everything did work out, though. After Hart was able to look at it, rearrange, and take out some extra words, it got down to roughly 1300 words, which fit perfectly. Especially after adding in a pull quote of one of Biffen’s responses.

After this challenging of an article, I think I’m prepared for any other controversial topic that comes my way. I simply need to present the facts and other’s opinions before letting the reader decide.

Essay #3 I’m proud of my news article on the surge of increasing gun sales. It was an excellent topic for me, considering I’m a part of an avid gun family, knew a lot about the topic plus others that I could interview, and was something that I could easily research. It was a surprise to see that Illinois had beat Texas in the most gun sales in the last month, but I believe it came out informative and unbiased.

Another piece I’m happy with is the story about COVID tracing at the school. It was fascinating getting to hear about the process and getting the extensive run down from Mrs. Umbarger. But it was challenging to transfer her numerous tracking sheets into words.

School tries to trace contacts

The last thing I’m pleased with is my opinion piece about the COVID relief bills. Before writing this story, I didn’t have an opinion on the matter because it wasn’t something that affected me. But after some much need research and a decision with my parents to see their point of view, along with others who had been affected by it, I drew my own conclusion and wrote a well-rounded piece.

Gun ownership increases by 80%

New bill fails to relieve struggling citizens

Sidebar that was turned into story

Tear Sheets Febuary

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Recipe + QR code for sceond recipe

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Tear Sheets April THE CSPRESS

Foodie

Tear Sheets May

APRIL16, 2021 ● 13

16 ● MAY 14, 2021

Janey’s Coffee House, Local Joney’s and Black Root Coffee Bar iced coffee, which is better?

style editor

With many great coffee shops and cafes in Cave Creek that have a good selection of drinks to choose from, these are just a few of the best places to get an iced coffee in town.

Janey’s Coffee House is in downtown Cave Creek and is a familiar spot for students to grab a drink, study, or do homework. Janey’s menu consists of many iced or hot beverages, ranging from herbal teas to hot chocolate. They have many coffee options such as lattes, cold brew, javacchinos, cappuccinos, and dirty chais.

From Janey’s, I got a simple iced caramel latte with almond milk. It had a sweet caramel flavor with a great taste of rich espresso. This coffee house only has one drink size option, 24 ounces, which is probably the shop’s only downfall. The syrup flavor list is pervasive, which allows people to make any flavor creation they please. The flavored coffee’s price was $5.25, with an extra .50¢ charge for the alternative milk. I rate Janey’s coffee a

9/10.

Local Johnny’s is also in downtown Cave Creek, not even a mile up the road from Janey’s. Local Johnny’s is a popular breakfast and brunch place for students on the weekends. Their “espresso bar” menu consists of a decent amount of coffee

JUST A SNACK, Crumbl Cookie

bakes fresh cookies everyday, turn homemade ice cream every morning, and change their cookie menu every week with new flavors to keep customers coming back. 4 Miah Thirion

drinks. They have all of the essential coffee drinks like mochas, espressos, lattes, and drip coffee. The three drink size options are different for hot and cold beverages.

They have 8, 12, and 16 ounces for hot drink options, while for iced drinks have, 12, 16, and 24 ounces are available.

From Local Jonny’s, I stuck with the same drink, a simple iced caramel latte with almond milk. Their price for a 24-ounce latte was only $4.25, but the charge for flavor was .75¢, and the alternative milk was an extra .60¢, making the drink only a few cents cheaper than Janey’s flavored latte. Their latte had a little less of a caramel flavor than Janey’s but the same espresso taste because they used the same beans. This shop had fewer flavor options, making drink options limited. Overall, I give Local Johnny’s coffee an 8/10.

Black Rock Coffee Bar is a new addition to the town. It is located a little farther down Tatum road, past Desert Ridge. A longer drive, but it is worth it. This newly opened coffee bar has a good coffee menu that includes specialty drinks crafted from their flavors. These drinks have fun names like Caramel Truffle, Blackout, Mexican Mocha, and Jackhammer, just to name a few. This concept is a neat addition to the shop, which gives it extra points in its rating. Their size options were just listed under small, medium, large, and extra-

large.

Continuing with the same drink at Black Rock, a medium iced caramel latte with almond milk. They had the most extensive range of alternative milk and syrup flavors, accommodating to all customers. The medium coffee was priced at $3.50 with an additional .60¢ for the alternative milk and .35¢ for syrup, making it the cheapest coffee out of the three. The drink itself tasted like a good basic caramel latte. If I were to get a more exciting drink like one of the specialty options, I would have enjoyed the drink more. In the end, I rate

Black Rock’s coffee an 8.5/10.

The Cave Creek iced coffee smackdown results in the winner being Janey’s Coffee House, with the other two coffee shops not being too far behind.

QUICK SIP, Janey’s Coffee House, first picture, is located in downtown Cave Creek.

Local Johnny’s, secound picture, is also in downtown Cave Creek. While Black Root Coffee Bar, last picture, is a new coffee shop located in down Tatum Rd. past Desert Ridge. 4Miah Thirion and Mikki Warriner

Crumbl Cookie serves up fresh new flavors

With a menu that changes weekly plus an ice cream menu, Crumbl is a new and innovative cookie company.

Philip Tate tech editor

C

RUMBL COOKIES IS a relatively new cookie joint chain that rotates its menu weekly with four different specialty cookies.

Crumbl always offers their milk chocolate chip and chilled sugar cookies while rotating through more than 120 different cookies. The cookies are served warm in a single box, four-pack, six-pack, or a party box with a dozen cookies. Download the Crumbl app or follow their Instagram @crumblcookies to view the week’s new cookies that update every Sunday.

Each store has a relatively small lobby area with the bakery completely exposed so the customer can watch them make the cookies. The cookies are made from scratch and put in a heater for warm cookies or in the freezer for chilled cookies until purchased. Therefore

waiting is not an issue. At most it’s a two minute wait.

Paying for the cookie is done on an iPad, no need for close contact interactions. While offering in-store purchasing, curbside pick up, and local delivery.

When signed up for their rewards program, each

“

Crumbl always offers their milk chocolate chip and chilled sugar cookies while rotating through more than 120 different cookies.

purchase gives customers points called Crumbl Cash. If a customer racks up enough points they win puzzles like a free cookie.

The cookies are bigger than your average cookie. It is about four inches in size and hard to eat with one hand. On top of that, the warm cookie melts in your mouth while the chilled cookies are a bit more firm but all in all I would say these cookies are amazing and worth checking out.

Crumbl also offers more than ten flavors of ice creams at some locations. The ice cream comes in single half-pints or the Cream Carrier with four half-pints. The single half-pint is $3.88, and the Cream Carrier is $12.28. The cookies are priced at $3.88 for the single box, $12.28 for the four-pack, $17.28 for the six-pack, and $32.88 for the party box.

THE CSPRESS

Light airy and decadent recipes to enjoy this summer

Local coffee shops go head to head in a smackdown Mikki Warriner

Foodie

Enjoy a succulent fruit salad and an elegant strawberry shortcake just in time for the long summer

Color box to differenciate stories

Judy Silva staff writer

Fruit Salad Ingredients:

Managed to insert two recipes

⅔ cup orange juice ⅓ cup fresh lemon juice ⅓ cup packed brown sugar ½ teaspoon grated orange zest ½ teaspoon grated lemon zest 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups cubed pineapple 2 cups sliced strawberries 3 kiwi fruit 3 bananas 2 oranges 1 cup seedless grapes 2 cups blueberries

Strawberry Shortcake Ingredients: 4 cups strawberries ½ cup sugar 4 cups flour 3 tablespoons sugar ¼ teaspoon salt 5 teaspoons baking powder 1 ¼ cups unsalted butter 3 cups whipped cream ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract PREP THE STRAWBERRIES by removing the stems and slicing them in half. Crush ¼ of the strawberries to release the juice. Once crushed, mix with remaining strawberries and the ½ cup of sugar, add more sugar if necessary. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes.

PREHEAT THE OVEN to 450°F. In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, salt, and baking powder. Add ¾ cup of soft-

START BY PREPPING your fruits. Cut and peel the kiwis, bananas, and oranges. Hull and slice the strawberries so the green leaves are completely removed.

PUT THE ORANGE juice, lemon juice, brown sugar, orange zest, and lemon zest in a saucepan and cook to a boil over medium-high heat.

ONCE BOILING, REDUCE heat to medium-low and let simmer for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla extract then set aside to cool.

LAYER FRUIT IN a glass bowl or cylinder in order, pineapple, strawberries, kiwi fruit, bananas, oranges, grapes, and then blueberries last.

Pour the cooled sauce over the fruit stack, cover, and then refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours.

ONCE COOLED IT is ready to be served.

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ened butter, and use hands to rub the butter into the dry ingredients. Once the pastry-like dough is made add 1 ¼ cup whipped cream and mix.

KNEAD THE DOUGH for 1 minute on a lightly floured surface, then roll out to ½ inch thickness. Use a 3-inch biscuit cutter and cut an even number of rounds.

USING SOME OF the leftover butter to grease a baking sheet. Place half the rounds on it and melt the remaining butter. Brush the melted butter onto the rounds and place the remaining rounds on top. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown.

ONCE COOKED REMOVE from the oven, and pull the shortcakes apart. Beat remaining cream until it thickens. Add vanilla and beat again keeping the thickness. When serving, place the bottom half of a shortcake on each plate.

Top with a generous spoonful of berries. Cover with a top half, add a few more berries and top with whipped cream.

JUST DESSERT, freshly baked Strawberry Shortcake topped with whipped cream

4Judy Silva

Scottsdale Quarter juiceries go head to head in a smackdown Reviewing Pressed and Juby True to see which juicery rises to the challenge of best overall

Grace Carey editor in-chief

I

N RECENT YEARS, more and more juice

bars have begun to pop up around the valley. Some solely dedicated to making juice and others with juices as an addition to their already standing shop.

Places like Juby True and Pressed are perfect examples of this.

Juby True, a juicery off of True Foods makes their juices from all natural ingredients that are freshly squeezed every day.

The store offers a variety of drinks ranging from hydrators to smoothies.

“Whenever I go to True Foods I always get a smoothie from Juby True. They’re the best and are super refreshing,” said Hudson Andrus, a senior.

The juicery makes smoothies right in front

of the customers so they know it is fresh. one day and I thought it was really benefiThey also offer a juice cleanse option where cial,” said Riley Blackwell, a senior. “I got six juices and I never felt like customers are able to buy I was starving and needed seven juices for a one day to eat a big meal. I would meal supplement. Each definitely recommend day is $56 and the longest it because it’s not super duration that is able to be expensive and it makes purchased is three days. you feel a lot better afterSimilarly, at Pressed, a wards.” variety of juices are offered While Juby True does along with some sweet offer a menu dedicated to treats. The juices are food, in addition to their freshly made almost every juices, they do not have day and are also provided frozen yogurt like Pressed in the form of cleanses. At does. For only 150 calo$34 a day, this is a more ries, a frozen yogurt is affordable option for cusPRESSED, an inside look offered with toppings like tomers. at the Presed juicery at the cookie dough, peanut but“I did a juice cleanse for Scottsdale Quarter 4Max Sotelo

ter, and chocolate.

“My favorite thing about working at Pressed is the frozen yogurt. It tastes great and you don’t have to worry about taking in a lot of calories. We use milk and a protein supplement to make it because we know a lot of our customers come in looking for healthier options to everyday foods,” said Taylor Allen, an employee at Pressed.

Both stores offer equally delicious juices, it just depends what someone is in the mood for. On one hand, Juby True has smoothies and you are able to order it from the restaurant, True Foods. On the other hand, Pressed offers a similar variety of juices and a frozen yogurt option. Because the two stores have very few differences and are located right next to each other, they are each other’s best competitor.

Those who walk through the fire,

Leave sparks of light everywhere they go