Assignment 2: Hard Rain, Hard News

Write a short, straight-ahead news story about how the recent heavy rain in the region has affected people around you. Keep the focus tight: Don’t try to describe the effects of the weather on the whole area, but tell the reader what happened (and perhaps is still happening) in one neighborhood, or just to the people on one block or in one household.
Use the inverted pyramid structure and write in the third-person, as per a standard hard news story.
Use at least two sources - by sources I mean people – and quote at least one of them. (The second person you can merely paraphrase.) The story should be the equivalent of 1-2 typed, double-spaced pages, and it should have a headline over it.
The content of your story doesn’t have to be earth-shattering in its newsworthiness; I’m more interested in your use of the typical newspaper writing style, the judgment you use in prioritizing the pieces of information you convey, and your overall accuracy, clarity and efficiency.

The story is due online by noon on Thursday, July 6, or in hard-copy form at the start of class that evening. Questions? E-mail me at ackerink@aol.com.

A New Name for this Blog

To be fair to all those I asked to make revisions, I've changed the name of my blog from "Introduction to Journalism" (zzzzz zzz ...) to "Bill's Broadsides."

FYI, the broadside was an early form of newspaper ... here's a site worth checking out if you're interested in the history of the written word: The Word on the Street

In case you missed it ...

In case you missed the link in my first post, here is the link to that feature story about the obituary writer Steve Miller:

Dead On

Reading this story was part of Assignment 1; I intended for you to get a sense of what a profile-style feature story looks like before you tried to write one yourself. Because so many folks seem to have missed it, I'll let it slide and consider this optional reading. I may decide to discuss it later in the course, but I'll be sure to assign it in advance if that happens.

Nicole, Lauren online

Nicole is online at http://nicoleivy.manicfish.com

Lauren is online at http://poeticprincess2001.blogspot.com/

A Newsroom Reminiscence

Back in January, when I was just starting my tour of duty as a tutor at the UAlbany writing center, center director jil hanifan asked me to write a short piece about some significant event in my development as a writer. I've since edited it after receiving some helpful feedback from jil and other Writing Center tutors. It may be of interest to journalism students ...

Learning to Write ... and Duck

My parents, teachers, editors and colleagues have all made contributions to my development as a writer. I’m grateful for the guidance I’ve received, and I hold no one but myself responsible for any bad writing habits that may have rubbed off in addition to skills and wisdom. Indeed, there will be a long list of people to thank when I accept the awards for this dazzling essay, written in a moment of inspiration after twelve hours at school, three cups of coffee and an hourlong commute on slick roads –- from Mrs. Wilson, who praised my second-grade poem about an avocado plant, to Professor Barlow, who found nice things to say last semester about a ten-page, dead-end meditation on the (almost entirely imagined) connections between the American Primitive guitar music of John Fahey and the dive bars of Oneonta.
One person who won’t make the list of writing mentors I recall fondly is Joe Smith (not his actual name; could you guess?). He was my first boss, the supervising editor at a small Upstate New York paper that hired me as a reporter fresh out of college. With Joe screaming for copy and literally breathing down my neck on deadline, I learned some critical lessons about writing in the world of daily newspaper journalism, many of which apply to writing in other contexts:

1. When you're trying to convey information to the reader, substance must always take priority over style. Simplicity and clarity will almost always serve the reader's need to be informed better than complexity and verbosity, but ...

2. Not every subject is simple, and there are often more than two sides to every story.

3. You have to know the rules of grammar and usage in order to break those rules in effective (i.e., forgivable) ways.

4. Nothing you write can be absolutely perfect or complete, whether your deadline is ten minutes or ten hours away. But that’s okay, because there’s always a chance to follow up in the next edition.

These tidbits have stayed with me over the years, but not because Joe was a positive role model or a sagacious philosopher of the craft. He hurled advice at reporters across a busy newsroom, sometimes accompanied by insults or the occasional paperweight.
Another thing that I learned from Joe was that a person should never attempt to simultaneously kick three serious addictions (booze, caffeine and cigarettes) while going through a nasty divorce, and a supervisor should never verbally abuse an employee at close range when that supervisor has recently fallen off one or more of his proverbial wagons, even with the precaution of a curiously strong breath mint.
He taught me a little about writing and a lot about how not to manage a newsroom. I brought the experience with me a few years later, when I took over the job that he had lost because of his foul temper and conduct.
So thanks for the advice, Joe, but you can kiss my ass. I’ve still got a paperweight with your name on it.

Lacey and Tavonna

Lacey has her blog up at http://laceyjrl300z.blogspot.com/ .

Tavonna's is at http://jrl300.blogspot.com/

Andrea, Paul and Zubia are online

Andrea, Paul and Zubia have joined us here in virtual journalism land. The links:

http://andj04.blogspot.com/

www.xanga.com/paul_kim84

http://zubiya.blogspot.com/

A Note on the Introductory Assignment

In case I wasn't clear enough in my written and verbal descriptions of the "introductory assignment," let me reiterate that I'd like you to cover a few basics in your short autobiographical pieces (the 1-3 paragraph). I want you to include somewhere on your blog at least the following information about yourself:

1. Your first name (last name optional).
2. Your status (UAlbany student? Visiting from another institution?), year and major.
3. A sentence or two describing what background you have, if any, as a writer/journalist. This could include interests, accomplishments, goals or hobbies that you have that somehow relate to journalism.
4. If you haven't already covered it by answering item #3, your reasons for taking this course.
5. Any suggestions, ideas or expectations you have for the course. (Optional)

This information about yourself can appear either in one of the first few posts on your blog or in a sidebar, such as the "about me" section if you're using Blogspot.

Keep in mind that I will be available for an hour before class each Thursday in my office, Humanities 362. I'm also happy to set up appointments to meet with you at other times.

Pat now online

Pat's blog is up at http://www.xanga.com/pat_chiou

Note that he is the first of us to use a host site other than Blogspot, and be sure to check out the different format of his blog over at Xanga.com.

Erin and Topher Online

Erin and Topher are now officially citizens of the blogosphere. The links:

http://erin-introductoryassignment.blogspot.com/

http://toph-topher.blogspot.com/

Amanda and Matt

Amanda and Matt have their blogs up. The links are listed on the right under "Student Blogs."

Or you can click on them here:

http://journalism-blog.blogspot.com/

http://reportermatt.blogspot.com/

(Kudos to Matt for figuring out how to insert a photo in his profile piece. We'll be talking in class about the crucial role of photos, illustrations and graphic design in journalism.)

Erwin's Blog

Erwin has his JRL300z blog up at the following address: http://erwin-itj.blogspot.com/ I'll put up permanent links to all of the student blogs in the sidebar on the right so we can keep an eye on what folks are writing.

Welcome

Welcome to my online journal for the course JRL300z, Introduction to Journalism for Non-Majors. I'll be using this blog to keep students up to date on assigned readings and projects. I will post material (e.g., links to certain readings) here as the course goes on.

The first assigned reading for the course is Paul McLeary's profile of obituary guru Steve Miller, "Dead On," which appeared in a recent issue of Columbia Journalism Review. Here is the link: Dead On

Here is a link to an upcoming assigned reading for the course, George Orwell's famous 1946 essay, "Politics and the English Language." A hard copy from another source (The Seagull Reader, Norton, 2002) will be provided in class Thursday, June 29, so you can take it to the beach and not have to worry about getting sand in your laptop. This essay will be discussed in class on Thursday, July 6.

Hard copies of the following important documents will also be provided at the first meeting of the course, but I'm posting them here for your convenience:

Course syllabus

Course calendar

Introductory Assignment: Your Blog

Assignment 1: Classmate Interview

(Thanks to Bryan Hart for correcting my mistaken dates on the assignment hand-outs. I was thinking "June" when I typed "July" ... The dates have been corrected in the above-linked versions of the documents. These two quick assignments are indeed both due Thursday, June 29.)