Letters from the Newsroom
11.03.03
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| Adrienne Aguirre |
Note: The following letter was written Oct. 27, 2003, at the height of wildfires in Southern California.
Dear Diversity Institute,
San Diego is on fire. We are covering it and we are covered in ashes.
Phone lines are down. We are out in full gear wearing face masks. It’s hard to breathe. The fire is not far behind our office. The flames are visible. The sky is
dark. It’s like a noisy ghost town.
We are worrying about our homes and our families while trying to cover all this. Desiree (my 15-year-old daughter) has asthma, my mom has emphysema and none of
us have air conditioners to purify the air. Where are my “how to cover disasters” handouts from the Diversity Institute?
Many of our reporters can’t get here because most freeways are closed, so the rest of us are working around the clock. Almost everyone has been told by local officials not to go to work or leave their homes unless they are being evacuated. All schools are closed. The people who have to work are cops, firefighters and reporters.
It’s an exciting time to be a reporter but please stop and pray for us and for San Diego as a whole.
Adrienne Aguirre, a reporter at the North County Times in San Diego, Calif, is a graduate of the third Diversity Institute class.
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