Jim Stebinger, Cassy Cohen Muronaka and Dave McNary
This photo was taken in early 1974 by Daily Bruin photographer Terry Colvin ’73. Jim Stebinger ’77, Cassy Cohen Muronaka ’74 and I are on top of an elephant7named Spot at Cal Worthington's car dealership in Huntington Park. Cassy had become fascinated by Cal's relentless advertising on local TV, which would always begin with "Here's Cal Worthington and his dog Spot" and end with "Go see Cal, go see Cal, go see Cal." Spot was never a dog. So Cassy, who was the managing editor, arranged for an interview and the four of us went there.
I went because it sounded incredibly interesting, if a bit offbeat. Cassy's news instincts turned out to be excellent. Cal, who was in his trademark suit and cowboy hat, explained very politely how he needed to make himself stand out by being outrageous and freewheeling, professed to love Spot, and seemed genuinely puzzled why UCLA students would care about him. The story ran with photos of Cal on the phone and posing atop Spot.
I think it says a lot about the value of the Daily Bruin that we had the freedom to occasionally do a strange story. The postscript to all this was that Cassy told the campus events people about Cal and a couple of weeks later, Cal brought Spot to Bruin Walk and they were greeted warmly.
Dave McNary ’74,
On behalf of the Daily Bruin Alumni Network Board
Mentoring
Our alumni board is happy to introduce a new mentoring committee to support Daily Bruin staffers on skill and career development. Maryia Krivoruchko ’11 leads our committee of mentors that includes Rick Penn-Kraus ’84, Laureen Lazarovici ’89, Alice Short ’77, Victoria Gomelsky ’95 and Sara Randazzo ’08.
Rick began our workshop series earlier this month with a creative training session for student illustrators at the Bruin. Next month, Maryia will host a career workshop for résumé building and skill marketing to aid students in their job search. If you are interested in volunteering on our committee, please email maryia.krivoruchko@greendot.org.
Join the DBAN Group on UCLA ONE
We created a new space on UCLA ONE, the University’s networking and mentoring platform, exclusively for Daily Bruin alumni and staffers. The site makes it easy for alumni to connect with students to provide mentorship, informational interviews, industry advice and other professional development opportunities. Sign up at www.uclaone.comand join the group “Daily Bruin Alumni Network.”
Critique the Daily Bruin
Sign up to provide feedback to the current student-staffers on what you liked and what they can do better.
Around the World for the Daily Bruin
Daily Bruin staffers Teddy Rosenbluth ’20, Keshav Tadimeti ’19 and Liz Ketcham ’21 traveled to India this summer to report on a controversial move by UCLA to protect the patent on a prostate-cancer drug, which could make the drug unaffordable to those who need it most. Their travel was made possible by the Bridget O’Brien Travel Grant, named for a Daily Bruin photojournalist who died in 2007. The results of their reporting ran as stories and a podcast at the Daily Bruin and in Los Angeles Magazine.
Teddy shared this about their travels:
After months of meeting with doctors and advocacy groups, we boarded a plane and flew halfway across the globe to try to figure out how this patent war was affecting real people.
During the day, we visited countless pharmacies, begged doctors and even stood outside a hospital in 100-degree heat to find patients willing to talk. At night we brainstormed questions and transcribed interviews until jet lag set in and we collapsed into bed. We were drained but also determined to find our story.
Over 10 days, we realized reporting in India involved challenges we didn’t experience in the States. When we interviewed sources, they seemed more skeptical of journalists. One man shook his head vehemently in disapproval when I took out my recorder. Another made me swear I would check every fact with him before we published.
Some aspects of reporting, however, felt familiar: the doctors were earnest, the patients were worried. Rupam Borah agreed to speak to us on the day before we flew home. His father was taking the medication we were reporting on, so we drove to a small cafe on the outskirts of Delhi.
“What will you do if the price of the medicine increases?” I asked him over the clay cups of chai he insisted on giving us. “We will have to live by the reality that he will have to pass away sooner,” he said.
Fundraising
Thanks to the generosity of so many alumni and friends of The Daily Bruin, we met our goal of raising $20,000 during this centennial year. We awarded our inaugural Daily Bruin Scholarships of $2,500 each to four stellar student-staffers at the 2019 DBAN alumni reunion dinner in October. This quarter, we are working with the staff to further put that money to work on newsroom upgrades.
Our thanks once more to Matt Stevens ’11 and Kelly Rayburn ’04 for their contributions to our fundraising efforts. If you would like to join the DBAN Scholarship Committee, please contact Lawrence Ma ’95. To help us jump-start the campaign for this year’s scholarship, why not contribute today with a tax-deductible gift?
Welcome to our newest board member, Cuauhtemoc Ortega ’03. Ortega studied political science while at UCLA and was editor-in-chief of the Bruin in 2002-2003. He earned a law degree from Columbia Law School and is now a supervising federal public defender at the Central District Court of California, based in Los Angeles.
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Have recent work or personal success to brag about? Email Sara Randazzo to be included in future newsletters.
