A Chico Journalism Superstar
California State University, Chico is a school known for business, but that is not all this university brings you. In this case, they bring you professors like Stephen D. Caldes (Steve).
Steve is a widely loved and respected journalist who thrives in almost every area of writing. Respect aside, the multiple awards he has won in his career does the talking for itself.
“My writing has been honored more than a few times,” Steve said. “I’ve won the Frank Wilson prize for fiction writing and the Joe Somoza prize for poetry to name a couple.”
With as many awards as he has under his belt, Steve started leaning a different way in his career path; teaching students how to interview people like him in the near future. A journalist turned professor that has worked extremely hard to get where he is today and teaching is his way of showing up and coming journalists what is needed to start their careers in the right direction.
“Teaching journalism takes up most of my time,” Steve said. “I do publish about six or so articles a year in local magazines and newspapers, but teaching is my focus now. Getting students on the right track gives me the same feeling as writing stories does, I love it.”
To this day, with teaching being a major clog in his time schedule, Steve still has the time to work for two local food magazines. “I write for two local food magazines, both under the Edible masthead; one is Edible Shasta-Butte, the other is Edible East Bay,” Steve said.
Yes, he teaches, writes and cooks a lot.
Steve has a bright and eventful career, and at the ripe age of 41, has no intentions of slowing down.
Obviously there could be a million different reasons as to why Steve believes teaching the art of journalism is more important than ever before, but grammar, editing and truthfulness are the three most important in his eyes.
“Grammar and editing are important for SO many reasons,” Steve said. “For starters, if readers cannot access your ideas, your writing is worthless. Grammar is also a sign of respect, showing that you care enough about the reader to put in the time and effort to make your work as clear and as error-free as possible. Also, good writing/editing is directly attached to author/journalist’s ethos. If we can’t trust you to know the proper rules of ‘Standard Written English,’ how can we trust your reporting?”
This is something he tries to embed in his students every single day. With so many questions arising in the world on the credibility of journalists and what is ‘Fake News’ and what isn’t, telling his students the importance of it all is a trait professors everywhere should instill in theirs.
Obviously, this isn’t everything that Steve teaches. He also assures students that they acquire some tips and tricks from his time in the journalism industry. He ended this interview with one last tip: “Write every day. Yes. Every. Single. Day. Also, get comfortable talking to people — on the record!”
Seems small, but take it with a grain of salt. The journalism industry is an entirely different world.