Blog Post III part II

I was initially drawn to a Black Swan movie review because I have been wanting to see it since it was released. I was drawn to this specific article because the deck presents a mediocre opinion of the film, and I have only heard great things about it. Because of this, I was immediately interested and continued reading. I was also drawn to this review because of the intense, action photos used to break up the text. Strengths of the writing include the acknowledgement of the film’s positive areas, as well as its faults. Solid reasoning is given to backup each opinion, and the most important factors of a review are covered, including information on the plot, music, casting, and director. Technical aspects, including lighting design, that are often overlooked, are also mentioned in this review. Negative aspects include lengthy paragraphs as well as slightly informal and wordy language. Excessive use of first person also weakens the review. The writer fails to mention details about the film’s rating, running time, and cost, leaving some questions unanswered at the review’s end.

Blog Post III part I

Although it was an interesting topic, I encountered many obstacles when writing my amazing race article. I faced a substantial obstacle early on, having three failed attempts before finally conducting a successful interview with one of my sources. I then overlooked the fact that the history department had completed a trial run of the amazing race, and I failed to notice it until after the article was written. This proved to be my greatest obstacle. I backtracked to include this important information, but then struggled to fit it into its proper place in the article. I also had trouble condensing all of the information I collected into an article that did not exceed its word count limit.
On a positive note, all of my interviews went well once I was able to meet with the interviewees; and although my abundance of information clashed with the restricting word count, I never worried about having to fill up space. I received and interesting response to the question of where the idea for the amazing race came from. According to Daniel Jewett, the concept was inspired by a similar activity done by college freshman at Boston University. To improve this piece, I would plan my interviews as well as my writing more carefully before starting.

November Blog II

For the most part, the process of writing my Spirit Week/Pep Rally article went well. I got in touch with Ms. Deluca early in the week which was beneficial, because we had conflicting schedules, and it took a few days to find a time to meet that worked for both of us. I wrote this article before class which eliminated stress and helped get me home in me to finish other work. I received a lot of usable information from my interviews, but because of my article’s word count limit, I was not able to use it all. However, this acted as an obstacle anyway, and because of the double topic aspect of my article, I wound up writing too much and had to cut some of what I had written. A more general obstacle for me was writing headline options. Headlines are one of my points of weakness, and have been a reoccurring difficulty and annoyance. To produce a more productive piece, I could have interviewed Ms. Porcaro to get a better angle on the pep rally. I also could have planned out my article before writing it, which may have eliminated the need to cut it down.

November Blog I

From gloucestertimes.com, I found the article Manchester-Essex a capella group performs tonight. The headline, stating the main point, is what first caught my eye. I was immediately drawn to this article because I saw the headline and realized it is about something I am involved in it. This article has an affect on me and my friends and family, because I am mentioned in it. As a SoundWave, I was intrigued when I saw my name in an article I did not know existed. However, reading the article was horrifying. It is littered with errors and clearly was not proofread. Kendra Noyes needs to learn to use her first draft checklist. The problems begin with the headline. Noyes spells a cappella wrong, dropping the second “p” and continues to misspell it throughout the article. Noyes also states that the group will perform tonight. The article was posted today, November 19th, but the performance is actually tomorrow, the 20th. The article goes on to misspell the name of our group, adding an unnecessary space in between SoundWaves. It also claims that the SoundWaves are “one of 16 singing groups performing.” This information is plain wrong, as we are actually one of 8 groups performing. On a positive note, the article includes important details of the performance such as time and cost. It also ends with a strong quote from assistant principal Paul Murphy, but overall, it is painful to read.

http://www.gloucestertimes.com/local/x117337735/Manchester-Essex-a-capella-group-performs-tonight

September Blog Assignment part II

While writing an opinion article about the fire drill, I encountered obstacles that could easily have been avoided. I immediately assumed that because the article was based on my opinion, it was unnecessary to interview anyone before writing it. However, I realized I had based my opinion on personal observation, and was ignoring the facts and reasoning behind the system. My eventual interview with Mr. Lee went well, and I received answers explaining the parts of the drill I was skeptical about. This was a huge benefit, because his responses caused my original opinion to change. Another obstacle arose when it came time to write the article. Although I had cleared up my questions, I had never actually seen the drill in action, so my article was centered around a rough practice run and an interview with Mr. Lee. This was especially frustrating, because the drill was run the day after I handed in my article. Frustration aside, my final article turned out better than expected, and after fully running the drill my view has not changed. To make this piece more effective, I could have saved time by immediately speaking to Mr. Lee and getting all of the facts before formulating an opinion. It also would have been beneficial to put off writing the article until after the drill had been run.

September Blog Assignment part I

An article in a recent issue of The Manchester Cricket explains the plan of 17 Manchester-Essex students to travel plan to Ecuador in the summer of 2011. I was drawn to this article because the topic is familiar to me. When I noticed MERHS in the headline, I was immediately curious. A photo above the article includes classmates and peers that I quickly recognize. The fact that the article is about my school and includes people I may know automatically steals my attention. Because this topic is somewhat familiar to me, it might cause me to put more focus into reading the article or even cause me to become involved with the task and group being discussed. The article thoroughly covers the topic while remaining relatively short. It covers all aspects of the Ecuador trip and leaves few to no questions unanswered. However, every paragraph and most sentences run long, causing the article to drag. The writing could be more concise, and a few sentences are written awkwardly. The article ends on a strong note providing a name, email address, and phone number to contact with any further interest or questions.