JenniferPrex

"I'll tell you a plan for gaining wealth,
Better than banking, trading or leases--
Take a bank note and fold it up,
And then you will find your money in creases!"
~lines 1-4 of Edgar Allen Poe's "Epigram for Wall Street"

This poem was certainly interesting. I liked the play on words it used--"in creases" instead of "increases." I looked up the word epigram using the Encarta feature in microsoft word. It means "a concise witty, witty, and often paradoxical remark or saying; a short poem, often expressing a single idea, that is usually satirical and has a witty ending." I also used an online translator to find the meaning of jeux d'esprit. It is French for "mind games." I'll admit that part of why I chose to blog on this poem was because it is one of the few I actually managed to understand after reading it only a few times. It is a good play on words and a very bad pun.

"'Other friends have flown before -- On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.'"
~lines 58-59 of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven"

"I never spoke with God,
Nor visited in heaven;
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the chart were given."
~lines 5-8 of Emily Dickinson's "I never saw a moor"

"And neigh like Boanerges;
Then, punctual as a star,
Stop -- docile and omnipotent --
At its own stable door."
~lines 13-16 of Emily Dickinson's "The Railway Train"

"So when writers baptize a character, they mean death, rebirth, new identity?"
~page 159 of Thomas C. Foster's How to Read Literature Like a Professor

Both of the stories I chose to follow were in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The first breaking news story I chose to follow was "Man wounded in Hill District shooting." This article was short, probably not even 100 words long. There are also limited details. Nothing was mentioned about a suspect and the only name mentioned in the article was a police commander's. This seems like a good example of a rushed breaking news story that is released so fast that the reporter can't really include many details.

The second breaking news story I chose to follow was "Senate leaders boycott state budget talks, promise new proposal." This article was much longer. Many names were given. I think the difference comes down to two main points: this article involves public figures and it is not dealing with a crime or injury of any kind. It seems as if this author had more time to gather information or at least had an easier time doing so since it is longer. The article indicates that there will be at least one follow up story. Some of the information was not available to the reporters at that time.

Other Students' News Cycle Activity Blogs

Ok. Let's try this again. Thankfully I had a few other possible articles in mind yesterday than just the ones I blogged about. I know the first article didn't have a follow-up. I think there may have been a follow-up for the second article, but I wasn't sure. Anyways, here's a third article from yesterday that did have a follow-up today. This first article was relatively short. It just gave the basics on the operation and gave the "alleged" details. No suspect names were given.

Here's the follow-up article. This second article was much longer. The lead summarized the basic background information of what happened yesterday. Some information was repeated--like a quote on why this undercover operation took place. That aside, the names and addresses of all the suspects were given. I also found it interesting that, while the author was still careful not to say that any suspect was guilty at this point, this article did not use the word "alleged" at all. I just found this interesting in comparison to the first article that used it quite a bit. I wonder if that is pretty standard for ongoing stories like this.

Other Students' News Cycle Blogs

There have no new updates by the Tribune Review on the undercover drug operation since day two, but I've found other papers that have printed articles on this story through google news, though most were on TV news websites. Here are the links to other articles that were published on Oct. 5 on this same topic:

ThePittsburghChannel.com published Indiana County Police Nab Dozens of Drug Suspects
WPXI.com published Police Arrest Alleged Drug Dealers In Indiana County
wjactv.com published State Police Arrest 21 On Drug Charges

Just as a side note on the above articles, it's interesting that most of the articles are short just like the newspaper article. Only one was long: ThePittsburghChannel.com, aka Channel 4 Action News. After what we talked about in class, especially since it was related to this news station, I just that was ironic. Anyways . . . .

One newspaper, the Indiana Gazette, also published two articles on this topic. The first was published in the paper on Oct. 5 but wasn't published online until Oct. 6; the second was published in the paper on Oct. 6 but wasn't published online until Oct. 7. Once again, the lead for the follow-up article in this paper basically summarized what had happened previously and the first part of the article to review what happened before and then continue on with the new information. The Indiana Gazette follow-up article seemed to focus more on telling the story of what was going on, why the investigation took place, and giving more information direct from the police through quotes; the Tribune Review did include this information, but it used much of the space to list names of suspects that had been apprehended.

Other Students' News Cycle Blogs

This is my ninth blogging portfolio--my second portfolio for journalism. This is basically a list of all the blog entries I've written for this class since the last portfolio.

"There warn't no color in his face, where his face showed; it was white; not like another man's white, but a white to make a body sick, a white to make a body's flesh crawl--a tree-toad white, a fish-belly white."
~page 85 of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

"Gorgeous clouds, tinted with sunlight. Eva, robed in white, is discovered on the
back of a milk-white dove, with expanded wings, as if just soaring upward. Her
hands are extended in benediction over St. Clare and Uncle Tom who are kneeling
and gazing up to her."
~Act VI, scene 7, page 133 of George Aiken's Uncle Tom's Cabin

"Now, go figure out Harry Potter's scar."
~page 200 of Thomas C. Foster's How to Read Literature Like a Professor

What can I say? Foster gave a challenge. I decided to try and meet that challenge. So, those of us who have read all of the books know the reason J. K. Rowling gave us in the final book and those who have at least seen the movies at least have some idea about the importance of Harry's scar, but there may very well be more meaning behind it than just that. We know Harry got the scar when he was a baby and Voldemort tried to kill him. We also know that it appears to be a connection with Voldemort, more so than just through its origins. Finally, we know from the fifth book/movie that Harry was prophesied to be the only one who could defeat Voldemort. So, what does the scar mean exactly? Harry is so connected to Voldemort that he couldn't run from his destiny even if he wanted to and tried to. He was branded with the lightening bolt scar on his forehead, or anointed with it as the placement suggests. The shape could very well signify the power that caused it as well as the power Harry himself has. Lightening bolts are pretty powerful in nature. They can cause a lot of destruction. Voldemort, the one who caused the scar, is very destructive in nature. Those who have read the fifth book know that Harry can be pretty destructive as well when he is mad and not in control of his power. These are just some ideas. I'm not sure how well this holds up to Foster's challenge, but anyways . . .

Does anyone else have any ideas about the meaning?

It seems as if the persuasive editorials are basically persuasive essays except for a few main differences. Editorials, it seems, can't just rely on impersonal research. Editorial authors still need to interview people from both sides of an issue just as they would need to for any other news article. Editorials are also much shorter and, therefore, more concise than persuasive essays would be. Also, while one still needs to be careful that all facts are accurate and nothing is misrepresented in a persuasive essay, one has to be even more careful about this with an editorial. Otherwise, people will get offended. The entire paper could look bad rather than just the one author.

Other Thoughts on Editorials

"Then he jumped up in the air three times and cracked his heels together every time."
~page 144 of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

"In passages such as these, the polar opposition between the River and the Shore, between freedom and bondage, is restated as a division within Huck's own mind. The intuitive self, the spontaneous impulse from the deepest levels of the personality, is placed in opposition to the acquired conscience, the overlayer of prejudice and false valuation imposed upon all members of society in the name of religion, morality, law, and culture."
~page 333 of Henry Nash Smith's "INTRODUCTION to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"

"Some journalists might be tempted to dismiss these concerns as evidence that many people are naive or unsophisticated about the news media; that they simply don't understand; that they don't have the basic technical vocabulary of media criticism to articulate concerns intelligently.

"We believe this would be a grave mistake."

~page 6 of Haiman's Best Practices for Newspaper Journalists

This is my tenth blogging portfolio--my eighth for literature courses. I've noticed that I've done more research this time around than I've done in the past. This is basically a list of the blogs I have posted since the last portfolio.

"It might answer for you to dig Jim out with a pick, without any letting-on, because you don't know no better; but it wouldn't for me, because I do know better. Gimme a case-knife." - Tom Saywer
~page 283 of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

"Every publisher of the vile sensational papers for boys is shaping the career of the youth of our country. They glorify crime; the hero of each story is a boy who has escaped the restraints of home and entered on a life of crime."
~Anthony Comstock qtd. in Steven Mailloux's "The Bad-Boy Boom," page 44

"Aside from being the pump that keeps us alive, the heart is also, and has been since ancient times, the symbolic repository of emotion."
~page 208 of Thomas C. Foster's How to Read Literature Like a Professor

"There are times when a person may be allowed to withdraw a comment. This applies, for example to naive subjects who may realize, upon hearing their words, that they have said something that could them fired, divorced, sued or whatever. We do not afford this opportunity, however, to sources or subjects who are experienced at dealing with the press."
~page 28 of Robert J. Haiman's Best Practices for Newspaper Journalists