Not breaking, but still interesting
"He said he had been two years with Victor Herbert in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra." pg 282
With this one litte fact, Berger shows us why this story about a homeless old man is worth hearing: it is the story of a still great muscian, having lived in a flophouse and been taken to a charity hospital. Through all the hardships the man had suffered through in hs later years (going blind, for one), he had never lost his musical abilities: they remain intact, and came out when he picked up a violin for the first time in 30 years. This is why the story is interesting: Laurence Stroetz is not an ordinary old man.
The subject for my next article, first semester freshman, is not hard news: it is sort of a features/human interest piece, like the homeless musician story. Berger found an angle that made his story unusual, which is what I have to do. Instead of focusing on what the freshmen did or didn't like about their first semester in college, I am going to focus on the unusual: instead of getting the "we just didn't get along" answer about roomate compatibility, I am going to focus on the whys and particulars. My sister, for one, had an interesting incident with a fire next to her dorm bed. Somestudents have already decided to transfer: I want to know why: what did they not like about Seton Hill that soured them? why is their new school going to be any different. The little unusual details I will include, instead of the "college is harder than I thought it was", "my roomaye is weird", "I changed my major", etc. There are reasonings behind those thoughts, and I intend to find them.
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Not breaking, but still interesting.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://blogs.setonhill.edu/mt/mt_tb-awoisdlkfj.cgi/11070
5 Comments
Leave a comment
Recent Comments
Chelsea Oliver on Not breaking, but still interesting: First of all, I love your arti
Jackie Johns on Not breaking, but still interesting: Getting at the unusual is very
Jeremy Barrick on Not breaking, but still interesting: Behind the scenes. I like that
Jeremy Barrick on Not breaking, but still interesting: Behind the scenes. I like that
Behind the scenes. I like that angle. Instead of approaching your article in a normal fashion, you took a side approach to it. Making it interesting and worth reading. I like uniqueness. I am one of those.
Behind the scenes. I like that angle. Instead of approaching your article in a normal fashion, you took a side approach to it. Making it interesting and worth reading. I like uniqueness. I am one of those.
Getting at the unusual is very important. My article is about holiday stress in (mainly) students, and if I don't also focus on the unusual I fear my article could turn into something scarily similar to a research paper. Just as you must focus on the unique stories of first year freshman, I think it's important for me and for most of our classmates to focus on the unique and personal stories behind their subjects and interviewees.
First of all, I love your article idea. If I wasn't a freshie, I'd be writing this article because you can find the inner details so easily by just sitting and observing conversations in the lobbies. I like that you're actually digging into the angle too, not just touching the surface, I'm sure everyone in the class should be doing that. I think it'll be a great article, good luck.
Well, that's interesting. I'd almost forgotten that we should make our stories newsworthy by focusing on the unusual things. This is a great example to share with the class