My refrigerator piece about how to successfully keep one's faith while navigating the tricky and discouraging waters of college was a bit confused a first. My initial piece was a bit disorganized, but had good quotes and intent. When I reorganized it and split the paragraphs into steps on how to keep one's faith; to get involved in a church immediately, to question the knowledge of church leaders, etc. I wish I could've talked to some students about their religious experiences in colleges, maybe some alumni, and I could, still, but it would take some more planning and seeking out the right people to interview. This is a sensitive subject for many and would pay out in the end if I could get some first-hand testimonials with students talking about losing and/or keeping their religion through college.
I also think more could've been done concerning being intrinsically or extrinsically religious, which was a really interesting concept to me.
Overall, it was an okay piece and I am extremely passionate about the subject matter and I hope that is able to be seen.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
"Writing Tools" point summarizations
1.) Order tools for emphasis. I love this technique in writing. The reader is perusing a seemingly 'normal' sentence, when BAM!, the ending just blows them out of the water. Clark writes that, "Putting strong stuff at the beginning and end helps writers hide weaker stuff in the middle." (Pg. 16). And he's totally right. He's also right about converting passive and 'to be' verbs into the active- it makes the story that much more cohesive and the sentence itself more interesting.
2.) Watch those adverbs. Sage advice Clark gives about adverbs- use them sparingly. When used correctly, adverbs are great and only emphasize an already mediocre/good verb or adjective. However, when used incorrectly or too often, they get redundant and annoying and take away from the description and flow of the story.
3.) Take it easy on the -ings. I never even thought of this, which makes it easy to say that I've probably committed this error far too often. Clark writes that the reason -ings become commonplace is "...in the history of English as an inflected language." (Pg. 31). The progressive sense of the action makes it seem as though it's constantly ongoing. It's confusing to the reader and gives no timeline or context to the story.
4.) Fear not the long sentence. God bless Clark for this piece of wisdom. I always got in troupble in reporting for writing ridiculously run-on sentences, I just love them. Clark also gives quite possibly the best advice in this passage, "Write what you fear." (Pg. 36). He also says to let form follow function with long sentences, which rhythmically makes sense. Journalists shy away from them because they prefer clarity and consistency, but sometimes a good, long sentence just carries the story and describes a setting like nothing else can.
5.) Know when to back off and when to show off. Absolutely critical. Clark advocates both understatement and overstatement, as there exists a time and place for both. I agree with him when he writes, "When the topic is most serious, understate; when least serious, exaggerate." (Pg. 103). The topic and tone of the story is vital to knowing how in-depth to elaborate or whether you're better off letting the story simply tell itself. Ultimately, Clark reveals he prefers the Spartan style of writing, but in some of the examples he provides and, as is the beauty of writing, the writer of the story is granted his own freedom.
2.) Watch those adverbs. Sage advice Clark gives about adverbs- use them sparingly. When used correctly, adverbs are great and only emphasize an already mediocre/good verb or adjective. However, when used incorrectly or too often, they get redundant and annoying and take away from the description and flow of the story.
3.) Take it easy on the -ings. I never even thought of this, which makes it easy to say that I've probably committed this error far too often. Clark writes that the reason -ings become commonplace is "...in the history of English as an inflected language." (Pg. 31). The progressive sense of the action makes it seem as though it's constantly ongoing. It's confusing to the reader and gives no timeline or context to the story.
4.) Fear not the long sentence. God bless Clark for this piece of wisdom. I always got in troupble in reporting for writing ridiculously run-on sentences, I just love them. Clark also gives quite possibly the best advice in this passage, "Write what you fear." (Pg. 36). He also says to let form follow function with long sentences, which rhythmically makes sense. Journalists shy away from them because they prefer clarity and consistency, but sometimes a good, long sentence just carries the story and describes a setting like nothing else can.
5.) Know when to back off and when to show off. Absolutely critical. Clark advocates both understatement and overstatement, as there exists a time and place for both. I agree with him when he writes, "When the topic is most serious, understate; when least serious, exaggerate." (Pg. 103). The topic and tone of the story is vital to knowing how in-depth to elaborate or whether you're better off letting the story simply tell itself. Ultimately, Clark reveals he prefers the Spartan style of writing, but in some of the examples he provides and, as is the beauty of writing, the writer of the story is granted his own freedom.
"Coffee Shop Rock Star" Analysis
I really loved doing this piece about Chris- a seemingly ordinary, run of the mill kind of guy who is normally overlooked and underappreciated, especially in his kind of work- turn out to be this humanitarian/teacher/rocker dude. He was an awesome subject to interview. I loved the interview I got from Tony, who just was the funniest guy and obviously Chris' biggest fan and friend. Their, especially Tony's, vernacular was hilarious and makes for some colorful reading. After more intensive reading of the piece, I wish I'd made it longer. My interviews with Chris were very long and I felt like I had so much, too much, material to choose from and while trying to whittle the story down to the meaty bits, I think I lost some in the process. It could've easily been 10 pages instead of four. I also wish I would've done more description in this piece. I relied heavily on metaphors and they're great, but they can only take the reader so far. I would've liked to have done more "show, don't tell" type of descriptions, in hindsight.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Beasley Hall Happenings
#1: Sister Helen Prejean, Nobel Peace Prize nominee and author of Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness of The Death Penalty, will speak at Brite Divinity School’s Fifth Roman Catholic Lecture on Tuesday, March 2, at 7 p.m. in Ed Landreth Auditorium. Topic is “The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions.”
#2:This course will explore the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4 from different critical perspectives, ranging from the Lord’s Prayer’s earliest version, history on how the Prayer came about, and its literary background to the more contemporary perspectives relating to social justice and liberation reflected in it. Happens 2/27 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:45 p.m.
New Profile- Dr. Andria Timmer, Anthropologist/ Personal Profile Analysis
Ultimately, I had a rather difficult time of identifying a unifying theme for this profile on Dr. Timmer. She was very interesting and very accommodating and nice to interview. I hope I wasn't too corny or cliche coming up with her being a humanitarian because, although it sounds overdone and elementary- it really it who she is.
I tried multiple times to contact her former colleague and career inspiration Dr. John Hartigan, an anthropology professor at UT, but he never responded to my attempts. It's a shame, really, because I have no doubt he would've been a great source and very informative.
Dr. Timmer was rather guarded on some details concerning her family and she effectively sidestepped a few of my questions, which greatly piqued my interest, but I didn't want to lose the interview or control over it, so I kind of let her go. In hindsight, I guess I wish I would've pressed her a bit harder for the answers to those personal questions. I would've loved to have heard more about her young son and about the chance meeting between she and her husband.
Overall, I felt I was very true to Timmer and her personality and describing her love for her profession.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Bookstore Trip
I discovered so many previously unknown things on my bookstore trip, it's embarrassing.
While flipping through the "sell to" bible, a.k.a, the 2009 Writer's Market, I probably wrote down 15 magazines I was interested in sending content to.
Just a few:
'Broken Pencil Magazine': an alternative, "conformity-challenging," angsty little zine,
'Briarpatch': a social justice/peace-centered zine,
'Ignite Your Faith': a Christian magazine geared toward high school kids looking for Christian colleges,
'Hope for Women': a Christian zine concerning personal inspirational features and stories,
'Skirt': an alternative women's fashion/feminist-leaning zine.
And many of them have more than "$" by their titles, denoting the fact that they pay well. YAY!
I also encountered a few books about writing that I'd honestly love to own and added to my 'buy' list.
1.) "On Writing Well," by Zinsser
2.) "Make a Scene," by Rosenfeld
3.) "Artful Editor," by Bell
4.) "Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life," by Lamott
5.) "On Writing," by Stephen King (Stephen King- is it scary?! Haha, yeah I know...)
6.) "The Interviewer's Handbook: A Guerilla Guide: Techniques & Tactics for Reporters and Writers," by Brady
7.) "International Journalist: Issues and Dangers of Global Reporting," by Herbert
8.) "Writing Narrative Journalism : Inside the Writer's Mind," by Bloom
9.) "The Journalist's Craft : A Guide to Writing Better Stories," by Jackson
10.) "How to Write for Magazines: Consumers, Trade and Web," by Harrison
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)