Journalists of the Gazette: Meet Elijah Decious

How long have you been at The Gazette?

I’ve been with The Gazette for four years, and that’s four of my seven years in journalism overall. I started over in Storm Lake at the Storm Lake Pilot-Tribune and then I was over in Fort Dodge for a couple years. I came to The Gazette in 2021.

Where did you go to school?

I went to school at Iowa State University. I majored in Political Science and Public Relations, ironically neither of which I use (often) now, but that’s OK.

What do you like about being the features reporter?

What I like about my beat is that I really have a chance to show people what makes life worth living. The human interest pieces are a really unique way of showing people why the news matters, rather than just the hard facts of the day, and how it affects them, and ... how it affects their neighbors.

What is a memorable story that you’ve written recently?

There was one story about a girl named Boshra. She was named on of the 14 under 14 kids here in Cedar Rapids schools, and she escaped the Taliban with her family several years ago. She didn’t speak any English when she came here, and within four years, she is not only native-level fluent, but she’s been correcting her dad’s English.

Her dad’s been speaking English for 20 years. He was a military translator.

I think Boshra’s story, like a lot of the other stories I tell, really hones in on a quality in somebody that they maybe don’t talk about very often and not only teaches you something about them and their resilience, but it teaches you how you can kind of apply those things in your own life and be a better person.

Share a fun fact about yourself.

I’m a “Peanuts” collector — not the kids of peanuts that you eat, but the Snoopy and Woodstock kind of “Peanuts.” I’ve been doing that for a number of years. It started with just little figurines that I’d get from my parents when I was a kid. They’d sign ‘Happy Birthday’ or ‘Merry Christmas, X year’ on the bottom. It’s expanded to figurines and other general memorabilia over the years. So it’s a pretty easy Christmas and birthday gift for anyone who is shopping for me now.

Where can we read your latest work?

You can read my latest work at thegazette.com/elijah-decious.

Comments: elijah.decious@thegazette.com