For my Profile story in Journalsim 410 I wrote about the galleries at UNC that put on a show about “Found art”
The most difficult thing about writing the story was writing it. This was my first real feature story.
The easiest part about writing this story was talking to the Art students, They love to explain the meaning and design of their art.
From my research, I found when the found art movement may have started becoming an art form.
I learned about feature stories, nut graphs and how to write the perfect feature lead.
The best thing about my story? I am really fond of my intro and conclusion paragraphs, those are usually the things that kill my writing.
What could I have done better? Taking a picture to help me with describing the artwork. I made some decent observations while in the gallery but none that were good enough to include in my story. If I had those photographs I could've gone back and added appropriate detail to the observations and added them into the story.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Journalism +1
Every now and again I'll be asked the simplest of questions pertaining to my major, "Why did you choose Journalism?"
Well, this is one question I never want to forget the answer to. I enjoy people's stories. Who doesn't? But it feels rewarding to walk away from an interview knowing more about that person. If you've done it right, you've forged a personal connection with that person. A small spark that will initiate further conversations and quite possibly gain a little respect in that other person's eyes.
I recently observed an art major at UNC for a story I'm writing in my 410 class, part of this observation was held during a drawing class taught by Dan Rios. Rios opened up his class with a brief lecture on the parallel structure of the human face and the lecture evolved into students from the class picking partners and drawing their faces.
Well, during this class, we started talking about how UNC is seemingly veering away from being a "student-oriented" school and Rios brought up the example of teaching at State University of New York. He was teaching pottery at the time and was virtually in his studio all day and night and one night around two a.m., he gets a call from one of his students. This student had gotten plastered drunk and called him about his pottery class. Rios invited the student over to see if he could help out at all and partly because he wanted to see that had a safe place to stay while she was drunk.
Once she arrived it turned out the she was pretty high as well. During the time she spent there, Rios showed her how to "throw" on a pottery wheel, the techniques, the subtle details that could make or break any piece on a wheel and somehow, amazingly, she retained all of this. She became one of his best students thanks to a stoned and drunk phone call. Apparently she also went on to win one of the purchase awards from the school's art show as well.
It's a small story, and something vaguely relating to a "student-oriented" school but that's what makes journalism appealing to me. You get small little clips into a person's life you'd otherwise not know. One more face becomes visible in the crowd of people you push through.
Well, this is one question I never want to forget the answer to. I enjoy people's stories. Who doesn't? But it feels rewarding to walk away from an interview knowing more about that person. If you've done it right, you've forged a personal connection with that person. A small spark that will initiate further conversations and quite possibly gain a little respect in that other person's eyes.
I recently observed an art major at UNC for a story I'm writing in my 410 class, part of this observation was held during a drawing class taught by Dan Rios. Rios opened up his class with a brief lecture on the parallel structure of the human face and the lecture evolved into students from the class picking partners and drawing their faces.
Well, during this class, we started talking about how UNC is seemingly veering away from being a "student-oriented" school and Rios brought up the example of teaching at State University of New York. He was teaching pottery at the time and was virtually in his studio all day and night and one night around two a.m., he gets a call from one of his students. This student had gotten plastered drunk and called him about his pottery class. Rios invited the student over to see if he could help out at all and partly because he wanted to see that had a safe place to stay while she was drunk.
Once she arrived it turned out the she was pretty high as well. During the time she spent there, Rios showed her how to "throw" on a pottery wheel, the techniques, the subtle details that could make or break any piece on a wheel and somehow, amazingly, she retained all of this. She became one of his best students thanks to a stoned and drunk phone call. Apparently she also went on to win one of the purchase awards from the school's art show as well.
It's a small story, and something vaguely relating to a "student-oriented" school but that's what makes journalism appealing to me. You get small little clips into a person's life you'd otherwise not know. One more face becomes visible in the crowd of people you push through.
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