On this episode of The Journalism Salute, we're joined by Anita Pinto and Aron Dervishaj. Anita is a speech therapist the advisor to the student newspaper at Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology in Manhattan at which she started a journalism club. Aron is a student who will be entering 11th grade in the fall (he's wearing a hockey jersey in our cover photo for a reason!). He's been writing for the student newspaper, The Gateway Times.

If you are a regular listener, you've hopefully heard our previous interview with Anita and her monthly updates.

In this interview, we recapped the school year with Anita and got Aron's perspective on what it's like to be a student journalist with no prior journalism experience. We went through two of Aron's stories and discussed how he got them. We also got some thoughts from Anita on ideas for next year, which will be the third year of the newspaper club.

Thanks to Press Pass NYC, a wonderful organization helping advisors start student newspapers in New York City high schools, for connecting us with Anita.

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On this episode Mark Simon was joined by Dr. Ken Schneck. Ken is the founding editor of The Buckeye Flame, Ohio's LGBTQ+ newsroom. He's written for many prominent publications, including The Huffington Post and The Advocate. He also was a tenured professor at Baldwin-Wallace, a book author, a public speaker, and a former syndicated radio show host. And he's a board member for NLGJA- the association of LGBTQ journalists. I hope that covers everything.

He's a 1999 grad of NYU with a masters there and a doctorate from Fordham and was formerly a college administrator. And we should have interviewed him a long time ago.

Ken talked about why The Buckeye Flame exists and what its purpose is. He shared examples of some of the things that he's written about, talked about his approach to teaching, explained how he managed his mental health, and much more.

Ken's salute: Queer Kentucky

Article Examples

Taking a call from his high school bully

https://thebuckeyeflame.com/2020/07/06/my-high-school-bully-just-called-me-25-years-later/

School board defeats anti-LGBTQ+ legislation

https://thebuckeyeflame.com/2023/03/24/ohio-school-board-defeats-anti-lgbtq-resolution/

The 2026 Pride Guide

https://thebuckeyeflame.com/2026/06/04/2026-ohio-lgbtq-pride-guide/

Subscribe to our newsletter here

You can find all our episode guides for teachers and professors here,

Please support your local public radio station: adoptastation.org

Visit our website: thejournalismsalute.org

Mark Simon’s website MarkSimonmedia.com

Mark Simon's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-simon-92355124/

Thank you for listening. You can e-mail me at journalismsalute@gmail.com

On this episode Mark Simon was joined by José Ralat. José is the taco editor, yes, the taco editor, for Texas Monthly magazine. He is the author of American Tacos: A History & Guide. Ralat is a two-time winning editor of a James Beard Award, which is foodwriting's most prestigious honor.

He is a graduate of St. Andrews Presbyterian College.

José explained what he does as a taco editor and why it's important that the magazine has one. He shared how he covers food and stories related to it by traveling across the entire state of Texas. He talked about how covering this beat also means covering immigration-related stories and detailed his own experiences with ICE. He also discussed how he manages his epilepsy and his mental health in what is a difficult time in his state.

Jose's salutes: National Association of Hispanic Journalists and Javier Cabral of L.A. Taco.

José's website

https://joseralat.net/

José's story on the Missions

https://www.texasmonthly.com/travel/forgotten-old-missions-texas-history/

José's story on the Smashburger Taco

https://www.texasmonthly.com/food/smash-burger-taco-history/

José's Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/tacotrailofficial/

Subscribe to our newsletter here

You can find all our episode guides for teachers and professors here,

Please support your local public radio station: adoptastation.org

Thank you for listening. You can e-mail me at journalismsalute@gmail.com

Visit our website: thejournalismsalute.org

Mark Simon’s website MarkSimonmedia.com

Mark Simon's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-simon-92355124/