September 2005 Archives
This is the portfolio for my EL 250 weblogs. Drama as Literature is an interesting class in which I learn a lot of information. I've read many plays already just for this class and I am enjoying it very much. These readings help me think deeper than I normally would about the text. Drama as Lit. is also helping me become a better writer in the context of learning how to express what I really feel quickly and honestly. I hope that these weblogs can help others as much as they helped me.
This is my weblog portfolio for Newswriting. Blogging is a great way to interact with your peers. This is a new experience for me so I know that this portfolio is a little rough around the edges. However, I do see the importance now of blogging and in the future I will use it more than I already have.
In chapter eight of Elements of Journalism there’s a sentence that says, “Story telling and information are not contradictory. (149)” It talks about the comparison between a comforting story and raw data. I think news writing is finding a common ground between interesting story-telling and boring information. Through many of the exercises I’ve learned that it is easier said than done.
I’ve read newspapers my entire life and never before realized how precise you have to be. The AP Stylebook is a great source to find technicalities. Sometimes it seems like a pain to have to look up every little detail, however now I realize how important it is to rely on the AP Stylebook.
The Reporter’s notebook is very useful to me. Actually, one of the things that I used first in that class was the Story Ideas Bank. I thought it was so cool. I often draw mind blanks and this gave me a great spark to bring up some ideas. The only thing was that they were geared towards a younger audience.
Well, for one of our assignments we had to come up with some of our ideas that may apply to an older generation. I have used some of these ideas later.
I had the opportunity to write a story on the honor’s convocation. It was a great experience for me because I realized how much goes on when the average person isn’t paying attention. It was an awesome experience and I learned a lot. There was an article in the Setonian about the convocation. Our articles contained mostly the same information however mine had a different focus than that of the Setonian.
My article was written with the focus of the freshman’s reaction to the convocation. David Denninger’s, reporter for the Setonian, gave more of a coverage of the convocation. For example, he talked about who spoke and who won awards. In my article, I interviewed people who had ideas about what freshman thought about it. For instance, Pres. Boyle talked about how different this year’s freshman class is from others in the past.
Overall it was a great experience and I’m glad that I got the opportunity to talk to some of the faculty and talk to some interesting freshmen.
I had an “interesting” time trying to find a story that appeared in the newspaper, on the website, and on television. However, I found a story about a diver that drowned in a river. The comparison was interesting because with the television broadcast was not as informative as the newspaper article.
Another interesting point is that the online story, surprisingly didn’t have as much information as the newspaper. I didn’t think that the newspaper article would have had as much information as it did. However it was very informative and it gave the best background, I feel.
It was pretty cool learning how different the three media’s are. I take the television for granted so much, but now that I realized the difference, I’m going to try to pay more attention to the newspaper.
The 2005-2006 football season for the Pittsburgh Steelers looks extremely promising. The team has great leaders in veterans like Hines Ward and Jerome Bettis. Also, great young talent is obvious in players such as Big Ben. I hope this season turns out as great as it looks on paper. Go Steelers!
