Class, your bloggery assignment is as follows:
go to your homepage (nytimes.com) and find an article that interests you. Review, news story, opinion piece, anything that's not short.
I want you to, in 1-2 pages, write a detailed summary of your article. Then you'll need to write about what interests you about the writing in the article. Grammar gymnastics? Interesting vocabulary words? Tone and voice that seem off-key? Anything. It'll be easiest to measure 1-2 pages if you write this in word first, and then copy and paste it.
So, half the post should be focused on content and summary, the other half should be focused on looking at the writing itself in a critical way.
This is a fairly unrestricted assignment, so make it easy on yourself and pick an article that appeals to you and focus on the parts of the writing that appeal to you.
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18 comments:
Claire Albano
June 20, 2009
New York Times article
A New York Times article that really caught my interest is on the revival of “The Wiz” on Broadway. The original production of this play started in 1975. It did very well the 70’s but in the next decade it did not do as well in the box office. This fun filled production stars the pop singer Ashanti. She plays Dorothy in this all black production of this “Wizard of Oz”. The director of this film is Thomas Kail and the choreographer is Andy Blankenbuehler.
When the original play was first written, in book form, it was filled with jokes that would, in today’s world, might seem not politically correct, but the music is filled with exciting pop appeal. The music was written by Charlie Smalls. The costumes, as well as music are, glittery, fun, and exciting. The amazing choreography, brilliant music and lovely costumes make this Broadway show a must see for all ages.
The choreography and music add to the message of this show as well—believe in yourself. This saying reminds us all of another Broadway show, Wicked, which is also a playoff of “The Wizard of Oz”. Wicked is a very popular show at this time, and perhaps it will even boost the ticket sales of “The Wiz”. The play should be able to stand on its own two feet, however, because of the costumes, choreography, and singing abilities. Ashanti’s voice has great quality to it but her performance may seem a little boring at times. Just at the climax of the show, where you expect it to shine, it may disappoint you a little. The show is said to be worth seeing, however, and it should be an entertaining evening from the whole family.
I thought the content of this essay was extremely informative and you could tell it was written by a professional writer. It taught me a lot about column writing and I thoroughly enjoyed the information.
http://theater2.nytimes.com/2009/06/19/theater/reviews/19wiz.html?ref=theater
This article is from June 19, 2009.
Lekorde “Trey” White
English 1001
Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: A Tale of Two Tweens
The article is about the teen pop star, Miley Cyrus, or Hannah Montana. The article goes to start exclaiming how the pop star came into the spot light. She is compared to a chaste Brittney Spears, which I do agree upon. They go on to explain how the rankings were from the beginning of the season and the impact the television show had upon the television network. It proceeds about her acting career, her early childhood, and her dad, who is also a character on the TV show. It concludes with her off stage life and her friendship with her two co-stars. I chose this story because Hannah Montana (Miley Cyrus) is a character that I am interested in a lot and its something that I enjoy reading about.
The style of is sort of this article seems like it would be some type of interview. The article itself answered many of the questions most people would ask, if they knew nothing of this awesome character. The writer also includes statistics, which allows you to understand how popular this show is. The article also includes quotes from the subject and her family and friends, which gives it the “interview” feeling.
Taylor Lionnet
N.B.A. Looks Overseas for Draft Prospects, and Doesn’t See MuchFewer international players from overseas are trying to make it to the NBA. In years passed there has been over five foreign players taken in the NBA draft. Now, not as many players overseas are in a major rush to go to the NBA. The separation in talent and competition between the NBA and international teams has diminished. Moreover, the NBA now has players leaving to go play in Italy and Greece, where they make more money. In this years draft NBA scouts are only focusing on 2 overseas players: the first being the point guard prodigy Ricky Rubio, and the second being American born, American raised Brandon Jennings, who because of his grades in high school decided to not attend college and play a year of professional ball in Italy. Another impact on the smaller amount of foreigners in this draft is solely on the statistics; Yao Ming is the only foreigner who has never played in America to become an All Star. With less and less international players being successful less are drafted and less decide to put themselves in the draft.
I like the way the writer begins the article. He lists all the different countries that a specific NBA general manager visits to scout players, which keeps you interested. I also liked how nearly half of the article was quotes from coaches and scouts, which emphasized and reiterated the points her previously stated. Grammatically the writer didn’t do anything unusual or attention grabbing except for making several different paragraphs, not for the point of creating a new idea or statement, but showing the break in a similar subject. Also, he didn’t use any great vocabulary words. The only time I have ever read a sports article would probably be when the writer is conveying sarcasm and trying to be funny, a lot of writers do this in ESPN the magazine. Moreover, the writer clearly stated the point of the international players and how there becoming less and less of them in the NBA.
Nikhil Patel
English 1001
Professor Tyler Smith
June 21, 2009
A New York Times article, rather unbelievable, than eye-catching. Let Steroids Into the Hall of Fame was the rhetorical topic and the name. This week report testified that Sammy Sosa tested positive for performance enhancing drugs in 2003 in exposure of the long list. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Mark McGwire—what others might have had?
Since the sunrise of baseball, players have being using substances which helped heal faster and perform at a higher level. As far back as 1961, when Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle were in a home run race. Mantle had a sudden slump with got him benched. A quack injected Mantle a home run brew including speed and steroids which brought him back. Hank Aaron also admitted of once taking a amphetamine tablet during a game. Willie Mays denied his accusations of keeping “red juice”, a liquid form of speed, in his locker. Sandy Koufax calmed his ailing arm being “half high” on the mound. The list kept going, with Pud Galvin ingesting monkey testosterone and Grover Cleveland Alexander pitched drunk to calm his nerves. UNBELIEVABLE!
Baseball writers for decades protected the player’s reputation. Until the Internet exposed Jose Canseco and Jim Bouton, which allowed us to see what was going behind the closed doors. The baseball writers were called duped or stooges. In anger made them drive the drug users out of the game.
The cheaters know how to use the media, but today’s superstars have lawyers, a union and lots of money. Cooperstown is the answer to their punishment. The punishment which Mark McGwire is serving and many on deck.
The writer, Zev Chafets , wrote the article in a professional manner. The writers grammar was the casual; nothing special. The article was informative and unbelievable. It was written in professional manner, though it did not have a structure. The article contained information maybe could have being unnecessary. Overall the article should be read by every baseball fan.
Cody Smith
New York Times Article
The article I chose was about the iPhone 3G S release on June 19th. The article covered the differences between this release and the other 2 releases. They said that the first iPhone to be released was miniscule when compared to the 3G’s release about a year later. The 3G S release this weekend resulted in only 500,000 units being sold. That’s only half of the 3G sales on release “day.” The article stated some of the 3G S’s features. These features included faster circuitry, faster internet browsing speed, and more apps (of course). The article also included a few interviews of people who waited outside of stores to purchase the phone at 7:00am, its official release time. The people interviews shared their opinions on the new phone saying it was a vast improvement from the past two versions of the phone. Press was shocked with the turnout for this release in the sense that there was hardly anyone there. The 3G release was packed with customers and people even handed out free Kool-Aid, but there was none to be shared on June 19th.
The article about the iPhone 3G S didn’t include many instances of fancy grammar that caught my eye. It was a decent length, but most of the text was filled up with what people camping outside the stores were saying about the phone, not a snazzy presser who was meaning to dazzle the reader with words. There was one word that I had to look up the meaning for, mum, which I thought to mean silent or uneventful. I was right. It was used like this: “The company (Apple) remained mum on the number of pre-orders it had received and how many iPhones were in stock at that location.” I don’t know why they couldn’t have just used the word “silent.”
“A New Way to Spread the Word,” gives explanation for the decline in profit from advertisement. T-mobile recently released a commercial promoting the slogan “Life is for Sharing”. T-mobile only paid for the commercial to be aired one time however over fifteen million people have seen the video through internet sources such as youtube and hulu. T-mobiles saved a great deal of money because free internet posting is as effective as or more effective than paid forms of advertisement such as television or billboards.
The light hearted commercial’s purpose was to boast the spirits of the people during this time of recession; it damped the hearts of people in the advertising industry. This commercial is a brilliant example of how businesses are saving money by posting their product on the internet resulting in the advertisement industry losing money. Advertising companies have lost between eleven to sixteen percent in profits while businesses have saved around five percent in the past year from advertising online.
The article is very interesting because it is an issue that pertains more to a younger crowd. The up and coming generation spends more time surfing the internet than watching commercials on the television.
The article was written very well keeping the reader interested. It wasn’t spitting out facts but rather explaining how companies are gaining attention from a younger crowd and saving money at the same time. There was a good use of syntax. The tone of the article was confident which made the reader feel like the author knew what they were talking about. The style of the paper was a typical well written newspaper article.
Alabama is the3 worst college in the history of colleges. In the past descade they have been on probation so many times, and recently they were caught letting their playes sell their textbooks for money. This is a major NCAA violation. I mean really , it is not that hard to keep up with your players book they just turn them in at the end of the semester that's it there is nothing hard about it.
I think that the school should be banned from playing in a bowl game for a 5 years or at least till i get out of college so i know they cant win thenational championship. If their players can get away with making money why cant we? Who know? as my final note on the subject, i hate alabama and i hopethey get in trouble again so we wont have to worry bout their arogant assholes.
Andre Domingue
English 1001
21 June 2009
“Destroying Levees in a State Usually Clamoring for Them”, by Cornelia Dean is an interesting article about levees along the Ouachita River. Two brothers, who work for different wild life organizations, want to destroy the levees along the Ouachita River. The idea may sound insane to some Louisianans, but it is to restore the natural flood plains and bring back plant life and animals that existed there over two hundred years ago when Thomas Jefferson had the land surveyed. Levees have been built for many years to protect the people who lived in the flood plains and in recent times there has been a call for stronger and better levees, but building levees has a cost. Levees destroy habitats in Louisiana and cause erosion of the coastline. After the project began, unusual rains occurred and the river became swollen flooded the flooded the flood plain. The project workers feared that newly planted trees willed be killed by the flooding, but the trees survived without problems. Some people are worried that this plan may alter the course of the water flow, but they may be some good effects as well. When the plain flooded a flood threat for Monroe dissipated. The article was written in a straight forwarded style. It gives facts about the subject and uses dialogue. The dialogue gives a slightly personal touch to the scientific article. The article gives history on the land and on the project leaders. It also shows why the idea might sound silly by giving reasons why levees have been so important. The article tells the information without taking sides.
Lenny Zichichi
“U.S. Advances in Confederations Cup” was the title of the New York Times article I chose. The article popped out in my mind, mainly due to the fact that I am an avid soccer fan and player. The United states needed a 3-0 win over Egypt and Italy had to lose 0-3 against Brazil, and the chances of that scenario actually playing out seemed highly unlikely. Instead of listening to the critics and believing that they could never advance to the semi-finals with this scenario, they just played soccer. They got a quick lead on Egypt and kept hacking away throughout the game and it paid off with a necessary 3-0 victory. Italy got exposed by a deep and talented Brazil team 0-3. The impossible was made possible and the United States advanced to the semifinals of the confederation cup. The writing seemed to be very predictable and bland. There could have been more imagination to the writing. The writer, JERÉ LONGMAN, could have implemented some imagery or maybe some sort of description of the play on the field. The writer did, although; describe the intensity and emotion levels on the field that day very well. He used his vocabulary very well, but it wasn’t necessarily fancy. He did provide some background information on the Confederation Cup tournament incase some people had not followed the rest of the tournament. I found the background information to be very useful, because if I was someone who was not following the tournament and I read this article, I would better understand what I missed up to this stage of the tournament. The article provided great quotes from the United States captain, Landon Donavon, and the head coach of the United States soccer team. The quotes gave the reader some insight of what the team’s thoughts were on the improbable events coming true. Overall the article was well written, but could have used more details, but in the end it was effective and got it’s point across.
Article: At Some Campgrounds, ‘Roughing It’ Means No Espresso
Feedback by: David
This article starts off by telling a reader about a campground named Smokey Hollow Campground in Lodi, Wisconsin. A quick description of this campground: Families splash around in the man-made “swimming pond” — a lined, sand-bottomed swim zone filled with outsized inflatable toys. Staffers in blue or white T-shirts deliver pizza to tents, RVs and air-conditioned cabins scattered across the grounds. Kids line up for face painting, temporary tattoos, Segway riding clinics and amusement-style rides while parents sip coffee and surf the Web on laptops outside the General Store, where they can also buy firewood for the requisite campfire and hot dog roast.
Basically this article (which is located under the practical traveler), illustrates the luxurious and amenities that camp ground can offer these days. The chief executive of Campgrounds of America, Jim Rogers, goes as far to say that these fancy campgrounds are like Disneyland for campers. Also, the reader is informed of the enticing business plan for these camps. It’s a very smart investment for camp owners. For example, Bud Styer, a camping consultant who owns and manages several RV parks and campsites in Wisconsin, says, “If I have 100 sites and I’m charging $10 a night, that’s $1,000. If I add an amenity, I can charge $15 more a night. The return on investment is staggering.” Fortunately for campers, a weekend at one of these campgrounds can still be more affordable than a weekend in a hotel or motel. So it seems that this type of set up is smart for both owners and buyers.
The writing style of this assignment was very informative. I think it was well written because it was very descriptive and enlightening. I liked that the writer of this article didn’t stick to his own facts; he interviewed numerous people that related directly to the topic for this article; rather than only camp owners and business people, the writer also interviewed campers as well. Grammatically it doesn’t seem to be perfect, but it isn’t too bad. There wasn’t anything challenging as far as the article is concerned. It has some mis-spelled internet words. Overall this article was fairly interesting to me. If you’re a hardcore camper you will probably not enjoy reading this, but if you are avid about traveling this is some information that might interest you.
http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/travel/21praccamp.html?hpw
I chose an LSU Baseball article by Pat Borzi. This aritcle talks about LSU at the College World Series in Omaha. Pat brought up in the article that LSU head coach Paul Mainieri's father was a role model for Paul to win a national title. Paul's dad, Dernie, won a baseball title at a smaller college division but he was still looked up upon by his son Paul. Winning a national title at LSU is way different than winning a title at a small junior college. At LSU there are so many more expectations and pressure. If you dont go to the college world series then your team is a bust that season. Tiger fans are home of the record in baseball and always want a title in return for that. So Paul's title is definatly a bigger deal than his fathers. LSU will play Texas in the championship game and hopefully with all the expectations will win! If LSU wins it will be there 6th national title! LSU versus TEXAS will be a matchup of prestigous programs in the nation. Both teams' fans expect a title. The first game starts tommorrow night at 6!! So hopefully that means no homework and just enjoy the game!
Reading sports articles is something i love reading not only because of the sports but also because of the nicknames or quotes the writer puts in from the players. This article just was interesting to me because it told me a little bit of background on Paul Mainieri's father. If i would't had read this then i would have never known his father coached baseball and won a title. So im glad i did!
Brian Septs
English 1001
Tyler Smith
20 June 2009
A Threat We Can’t Ignore by Bob Herbert is an interesting article about America’s gun policies. He explains how he thinks that America isn’t paying enough attention to the “gun crazies” out there. He states , “…I can’t help feeling as if the murders at United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the assassination of the abortion doctor and the slaying of three police officers— were just the beginning and that worse is to come.”
I think this article to be true to some degree. It is far too easy for Americans to acquire weapons. Illegal street weapons have been the blame for thousands of deaths in recent years.
He goes on to further note that the N.R.A. can be blamed for fueling the fire by “ignoring the tragic lessons of history and continuing to spray gasoline into an environment that we have seen explode time and again. Talking about how the N.R.A. wants to make more lenient laws for gun owners. These new laws will make it easier for gun owners to buy and conceal weapons and allow more public places where the weapons can be taken.
As far as the grammar goes, he has some pretty good words—nothing too hard to understand, but big enough to have that wow factor that we all look for in an article. What I don’t like is how his paragraphs are not in order. He skips around some which kinda throws the reader off.
Jonathan Fayard
I stumbled across two related articles that caught my attention. One entitled “Father Meets Son” and the other “Son Meets Father.” Each giving the viewpoint of meeting after 27 years of no seeing or speaking to each other. While on a business trip, the son turns on the television to find his father being interviewed on CNN International. After all the years, he decides to try and contact his father. They arrange a meeting at a hotel lobby both having so many things on their minds and so many questions to ask and be answered. The father afraid his son will not forgive him begins answering all the questions his son throws at him. Naturally, the son asks him why he left to begin with. The father having trouble answering tells him that tells him he had no sense of responsibility and just took off. The son held no grudges but was glad most of his questions were answered. The father says he doesn't expect to pick up the dad roles after so many years of absence, but wants to at least be friends. They each are glad that they met after all these years. The son says the reunion needs to sink in for a while before they pick back up but hopes to in the near future.
I really liked these articles and the whole story. The articles were informative and the dialogue made you want to keep reading. The writing flowed well and was easy to read.
Elizabeth Lohmann
English 1001
Tyler Smith
20 June 2009
At Meetings, It’s Mind Your BlackBerry or Mind Your Manners
This article is about how people today are using their blackberry’s during meetings and how they are basically taking over the workplace. Everywhere you look there is a blackberry or some type of PDA phone in someone’s hand. Technology is changing so fast that people are able to get anything, anytime they want right at their fingertips. The article mentions that “the phone use has become routine in the corporate and political worlds— and grating to many.” I find this particularly interesting that basically all the decisions made that affect our day to day lives and being discussed over a blackberry rather than an actual meeting. Many people, such as Lori Levine, founder of Flying television think that using a blackberry will help the environment because you can type notes on the phone rather than on paper, therefore using less paper.
I think the tone of this paper was a kind of neutral tone because the author, Alex Williams, didn’t seem to pick a side to say if he thought they were a problem in the workplace or they weren’t. He seemed to state both sides and not lean towards a specific side. Within the article I found a couple of words that I had never heard of like “gauche” but I was able to look up the word and find out what it meant. I thought the grammar was very good; the author even had used a double dash in the article. You could tell this was a very well written article by the way he stated both sides of the story. I really like how the author used detail to describe certain events that readers could picture, such as a meeting where CEO’s of companies are using the blackberry’s to either text message or play games. I thought he did a good job of showing rather than telling.
Christian Coleman
English 1001
Mr. Tyler
Mock Drafts
To many people who are very interested in sports, the mock draft may be useful to plan or know what prospective player will be drafted to what team. This is something that has been done years and solely for the entertainment of sports fans. However, to the agents and scouts who come up with the mock draft results—there in some hard research. They have to travel in and out of the country, personally speak to many of the players and agents, and compile all the information into an accurate draft. Draft experts are highly criticized for their jobs in making mock drafts. For one, critics question the accuracy of the drafts due to busts or in draft trades. Another reason why they are criticized is because their mock drafts ruin the suspense and nervousness of the real life draft. If a person is first in the mock drafts, there is pretty much a high chance of turning out first in the real draft. So no matter helpful you may find one of the mock drafts to be, just know that it was definitely hard to make and to accept. The writing style of the article is of much diction. It uses complex and accurate words to depict how it feels about mock drafts. Also, I like how the author of the article uses many quotes from variable sources to verify his account against the claim. I personally do like mock drafts because I am a big sports fan, particularly a basketball fan, and I do appreciate knowing beforehand what prospect will be projected at what sport. However, I would definitely have to agree with the other claim also saying that mock drafts due ruin the suspense of the other draft, especially if you or someone you were close to was actually in the draft.
Michael Brockers
Between the 1960-1980’s the company Hasbro came out with a series of toys. One was the G.I Joe and the other was the Transformer. They were shipped over from Japan and became the toy to have in the mid 1980’s. The company was over run and now losing money and they wanted to come out with something to make the toys a sale again. In 2007 they came out with the movie Transformers which made 700 million dollars in the world box office. A director by the name of Michael Bay thought that the theme of this movie was something to laugh at, not make a movie. Now there is going to be a second sequel called “Transformers Revenge of the falling.” The rehabilitation of these movies was lead by Mr. Bay’ Chief Executive Mr. Golden. Mr. Golden joined Hasbro in 2000, and his main focus was to create cartoons in to movies. While Mr. Golden was in control the Transformers became a big hit. On August 7, 2009 the G.I Joe movie “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra,” will come out in theaters. They think this movie is going to be a bigger hit than the new Transformers movie.
I really didn’t get a good vibe from his writing due to the fact that he was mostly talking about the old transformers connecting to the new ones. Also the fact he didn’t mention anything about how good the movie was or how people react to it. I chose this article because I thought it would explain how the movie was and what it was based on. Furthermore I wanted to know the rating of the movie and theme about it. I wanted to know why there was a sequel of the first one; when I thought the movie was done after Octimusprime killed Megatron.
Barkevious Mingo
June 23, 2009
New York Times article
"Hawaiians Shrug Off Missile Threat"
When I went onto the New York Times I saw an article that caught my attention. It was one that talked about the conflict between the U.S. and North Korea. The article talks about a North Korean threat to test a missile on the state of Hawaii. The U.S. government has several bases in the state that have stepped up its security in the event that an attack would happen. People in the area have mixed opinions. While some say they are not worried or that we should send our own missile to North Korea, others say that they are really concerned. The article caught my attention because I haven’t been watching the news lately and I was not aware of any attack.
The writer didn’t use any overly fancy words and the quotes didn’t add any depth to the writing, it just lengthen it. There are some occasions where the quotes are needed, for example, when the islanders were commenting on the incident. But other times it wasn’t.
Willie Walker
June 26, 2009
New York Times
While reading the New York Times an article that caught my attention was of a pastor urging his congregation to bring weapons to church. This article argues that it feels the pastor is breaking moral laws of conduct by allowing concealed weapons in to church. The situation arises feeling that many people have different views on how the election of President Obama will crack down on the owning of firearms in America. One worry was that a Democratic president and Congress would reinstitute the assault-weapons ban, which expired in 2004. Many have opposing views on the situation as a whole. However, recently President Obama was having said to sign a measure allowing the carrying of firearms in national parks. Since many feel President Obama will crack down on gun possession the National Rifle Association has seen a significant increase in the amount of citizens becoming registered gun owners.
The essay is very broad and has a lot of quotes from interviewers. The title is what grabs my attention because it is not very often that many hear about a pastor allowing the permission to carry guns in to a sanctuary of holy sacrifice. The grammar in the article is very basic for many readers to understand. I believe one reason the grammar is so short is because many who do not have an expanded vocabulary lose interest in articles when it gets too detailed in the use of very large vocabulary words. One very interesting vocabulary word is from a line of a conversation by an opposition going against the carrying of guns in churches and he calls this act “abhorrent”. The tone and key that sounds off is the childish manner shown by the pastor allowing this to the opposition and resistance he gets from other outraged citizens and media.
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