In case this didn't go through...

I've been having some issues with blogspot posts showing up in my dashboard, probably due to the fact that I have a number of blogs on blogspot registered with the same gmail address.  Anyhow, just in case, here is a blog post for our class (last one!):

"Asylum bid puts scrutiny on gangs" by Pamela Constable, Washington Post

The lede on this story immediately grabbed me...

At 14, Julio Martinez was a fatherless boy in El Salvador who fell in with a neighborhood gang.

The lede leaves the reader with an unusual situation - a 14-year-old fatherless boy, let alone the fact he was in a gang at such a young and impressionable age. 

The story immediately starts out with a humanistic angle which grabs the reader's attention, and then briefly describes what his life was like in the gang including how he was beat when he sought to leave the gang.  The story then contrasts with what life is like for Martinez who is now at age 34.  The story then shifts to more of an immigration issue as Martinez is seeking asylum in the United States. 

This is a great story that grasps the reader, all the while revealing news as to how our immigration laws are being fulfilled. 

"The Art of the Interview"

Great article from The New Yorker about interviewing:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/04/07/140407fa_fact_mcphee

I find that the hardest part of interviewing someone isn't the interview itself but coming up with the right questions. It requires a great deal of foresight. You have to know, beforehand, how the interview is going to move the story forward and where the interview fits within the whole scheme of the article.

That's not to say that the act of interviewing is easy. It can be very difficult as well. Building rapport with your interviewee, guiding them in the right direction without being too pushy -- it requires both confidence and finesse.

I look forward to further developing the skill!

Cat person

I'm a cat person, so when I saw this video it made me happy that it didn't make them look like disloyal, selfish, and evil creatures.

They can be just a little mischievous, which makes them even more lovely.

Are you a cat or dog person?

Cure for Cancer at Mayo Clinic; Article with Embedded Video

I posted the article as it typifies the multi-media approach online.  One listens to a video and printed text is offered beneath the video.  Advertisements pop up  [java script pop-ups.]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/05/15/measles-vaccine-cancer-mayo-clinic/9115363/

I find the embedded videos with sound distracting. Perhaps some readers only attend to the video or only attend to the print.  http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/05/15/measles-vaccine-cancer-mayo-clinic/9115363/ Just wondered what others thought about it.  Interactive media is here and will only increase over the next few years.  How will this multimedia approach impact our ways of processing information? One feed was for advertising, another for TV coverage.

Emotional skeletons and the power of a good lede

I've never felt sorry for a skeleton before, but the Wall Street Journal managed to make  it happen. And it only took 12 words.

Researchers in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula have discovered what is believed to be the oldest "complete, genetically intact human skeleton in the New World." The bones are 12,000 years old and belong to a 15 or 16-year-old girl.

The article's title, "New World's Oldest Skeleton Is a Key Genetic Link," got the science nerd in me all excited, but the author quickly reminded me that scientific discovery should take a back seat to humanity.

I'll let you read the lede for yourself. 

I read this in yesterday's Globe, an op-ed piece by Jeff Jacoby about the push for universities to divest from fossil fuel stocks. He attempted to draw a long, rambling three paragraph analogy to botched executions. Two paragraphs into it I actually thought the paper had made a mistake and posted the wrong title. I know it's an op-ed, but wow, a three paragraph intro before you get to your main topic!

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/columns/2014/05/13/fossil-free-isn-folly-free/j9GYKqitQMT5hUHKxkvNEI/story.html

High emotions?

When I shared my story about clergy sexual abuse last week in class, the question was raised if it was difficult to write about because I am Catholic. Was I too close to it? Was I too emotionally invested in it? The answer actually was no. Naturally, as with any story, I had to take a step (or sometimes two or three) back to look at the angle of the story, the people I was talking to, the questions I was asking and the way I was writing the story. I never felt driven by anger or anxiety. I was comfortable letting the story speak for itself. I believe that is the way it is supposed to be.

I was very intrigued by this topic, and I think that could have been a bit more of a distraction than emotional turmoil. I wanted to share about the process for handling cases in this diocese. As Jeremy can attest to in viewing the first draft, I was very caught up in the details. In that sense, I may actually have been too far removed from the emotional side of the story. In subsequent revisions, I have worked to bring in the empathy and more human side to the story. One piece of that I had hoped to include was the voice of a victim. Unfortunately, at this point, my resource for finding that person has fallen through. I have reached out to child services this week as well, so hopefully that will turn up today to avoid slanting the story and appearing to have that emotional problem.

Best of luck to you all on your final drafts!