#MediaMonday – Chris Casacchia

Each Monday, we are posting a blog to help our readers get to know the media just a little bit better.
With a TWIST!
No, we aren’t posting story pitch tips or media lists, but instead great stories from the media themselves about their lives, their work and other little known facts! Think of it as your first “networking” opportunity of the week!
Today’s #MediaMonday comes to us from Chris Casacchia, reporter and blogger for the Phoenix Business Journal.
So, Chris, time to share!
What do you want to tell the blogosphere about yourself today?
I’ve been with the Phoenix Business Journal for five years covering an array of beats and offbeat stories, my personal favorites. We launched our Business Blog a month ago, and I’m lovin’ that medium, which provides a more creative outlet for my writing style and gives me an avenue to write outside our paper’s comfort zone. I’ve opined on the New York Times launching a bureau here, the Coyotes saga, immigration beefs and Robert Rodriguez’s new hatchet flick “Machete.”
A little about me: born with Puerto Rican and Italian roots and raised in a working class neighborhood in Chicago, all of which I am extremely proud. Growing up there, you learn how to read people quickly and not be a sucker, which I believe has helped me tremendously in journalism. Although I grew up a few miles from Wrigley Field, I can’t stand the Cubs. Maybe it was the blown series in 1984, which made my Ma cry –– a lasting memory no doubt. I’m a huge White Sox fan and went to Game 5 in LA when they shut down the Angels for their first World Series appearance since 1959 –– a little before my time. Needless to say I love Da Bears, enough to brave a chilling November night in Frisco last November where Cutler threw five interceptions (damn him!), losing 10-6 in one of the worst football games ever played –– at any level.
After graduating from Western Illinois University in 2000, I worked for a small publisher of suburban and city newspapers, which promptly shut down in 2003 after not paying the tax man. I moved here in January 2004 to go to grad school at ASU, where I also landed a teaching job, a fantastic experience.
Love to travel and see live music, especially Phish, who’ve I seen more than 60 times, but I lost count years ago. Did catch them in Indio for their Halloween festival though, which was awesome!