Handwritten "Arete Journal" phrase, with an accent above the letter "A" drawn to look like an at symbol
Text saying "by Angelica Ruzanova"

In the eye of the beholder: a collection of essays & stories from my digital self.@

Handwritten notes

My name is Angelica (Анжелика) and this is a digital archive of my projects.

I am a senior Journalism student pursuing a minor in Global Sustainability Business, working as a Science Communications Intern for a National Wildlife Refuge non-profit. My other jobs include working as an AI Fellow at the UT Austin School of Journalism and Media and as a Legal Student Associate for Ouro, a financial technology company.

I have written features for The Daily Texan newspaper and have a great interest in philosophy and data. Culture inspires me, nature humbles me. Welcome to the habitat of my work.

Handwritten notes
Handwritten notes
Handwritten notes
Handwritten notes

Proof of existence!

Inspired by nature and travel
A study of Olympic Forest, WA
A study of Olympic Forest, WA

Madison Falls glowed with an iridescent blend of two transparencies: light and water. It stood on the edge of an old-growth forest characterized by 200-year-old trees, with the upper river originating in Mount Olympus.

Flying men of Mexico City
Flying men of Mexico City

Streets named after assassinated Aztec emperors inspire a sense of doom for a once-collapsed society, and the exposed electrical wires hanging from the buildings seem to agree.

Cheap philosophy, rubber shoes in Buenos Aires
Cheap philosophy, rubber shoes in Buenos Aires

Charly García’s “Filosofía Barata y Zapatos de Goma” captured my image of the city: impulsive, sporadic and spellbinding, like a muse of its own heartbreak.

Nuevo Leon thermals
Nuevo Leon thermals

Being at the hands of the wind makes you realize how much power it has over you. There is as much underneath me as there is above, and we follow birds to find thermals that will only increase the distance between the earth and our bodies.

A father’s flan recipe
A father’s flan recipe

It started at a tailgate; two friends, buzzed under the Texan heat dome, and a conversation about starting a business together. It would take almost a decade for the aromas of their Napoletano flan and pork-fat tortillas to imbue local markets with the familiar-to-many scent of home cooked food, their business realized.

The Putumayo way
The Putumayo way

A kaleidoscope of beads lights Juan Riaño’s table. He lays out his handcrafts one by one: the tricolor macaw birds, the threaded bracelets and chest laces, the traditional wooden masks.

Pomegranate, fig, and almond trees
Pomegranate, fig, and almond trees

My Uzbek roots gravitate to land. The living clay, the quilted kurpacha, the plowed soil. The love for earth disciplined and arranged my people’s way of life. It took and it gave, nourished and destroyed.

Outside our time
Outside our time

“The hallmark of the modern mind is that it loves to wander from its subject.” This fatal flaw of “wandering,” the human desire to play hide and seek with our own ideas, is not one of fiction.

To weave a rock: Daniel Johnston’s exhibition review
To weave a rock: Daniel Johnston’s exhibition review

Truth, deep-seated within each one of us, finds its own way of expressing itself. For the late Austin artist and musician Daniel Johnston, it manifested through personified ideas in his imaginary – and perhaps very real – scattered world.

Digital storytelling

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Inspired by nature and travel
West Campus open journals
West Campus open journals

On a West Campus lamp post facing 24th St. hangs a scan of a diary entry. Some bypassers walk past it, not noticing it above another poster looking for a band drummer. But others stop to read it, and the anonymous writer is heard.

Inspired by nature and travel
Mourning Flora
Mourning Flora

Earlier this semester, Austinites celebrated the life, and mourned the removal, of Flo- a tree that once dangled over Barton Springs Pool. The Daily Texan spoke with community members to learn more. Produced by Lucia Llano.

The future of fashion is trash
The future of fashion is trash

Students at the University of Texas at Austin sift through mounds of clothing items previously left in trash bags. The Campus Environmental Center encourages others to reuse and thrift new clothes at their Trash2Treasure event. Produced by Angelica Ruzanova.

Statistics are powerful when complemented with traditional reporting methods, especially for analyzing evidence of the footprint we leave on our planet. I believe in journalism that is impactful and dedicated to the public good, and data makes it possible for us to ground it in units of accountability.

DATA JOURNALISM

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Archive
Environmental violations in the Lone Star State
Environmental violations in the Lone Star State

Texas, the second-largest state in the U.S., has experienced rapid population growth in recent years, furthering its position as a global energy hub to sustain cities. With energy production playing a significant role in public health and environmental concerns, a key question emerges: how have trends in environmental violations and its responsible entities shifted over the past decade?