FIND A PROFILE ONLINE, POST A LINK TO IT, AND EXPLAIN WHAT ABOUT IT YOU LIKE.
Do you like it because of the writer's style, use of language, etc? Or is it more about the subject? Pick one graph or section you really admire and analyze it. How did the writer do it? What strategies and techniques did he/she use?
I am asking you guys to search for a profile on your own to confirm that you understand what a profile is and how it differs from other kinds of journalistic/feature writing. Some places you may want to start looking are Pulitzer.org, Newyorker.org, NYTimes.com, Stranger.com, Time.com, local newspapers, etc.
I picked this article because i was drawn in instantly. The writers used so many different techniques which was most likely due to them all writing several parts. I really loved how they brought Kant's work on beauty into the article. It was perceptive and helped the reader understand the nature of why Joshua Bell was going unnoticed in the Metro. My favorite section was when the instrument was being described in detail. The words were so poetically driven that it began to get you lost in the instrument. Just like the music, i suppose. You should watch the video attached with the piece. This social experiment was like a tornado, you can get uprooted from your seat if you get to close, so i guess that is why most people picked to avoid confrontation.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html
This Pulitzer Prize winner caught my eyes and emotions within seconds, literally seconds. It is a piece from the New Jersey Star Ledger. It is about a fishing boat called the "Lady Mary" sinking in the Atlantic ocean in 2009 and one story: the lone survivor, Jose Arias. What I really loved about this piece was how the author focused on the fishing industry, a rarely discussed, underpaid and dangerous profession. The second part of the story, "See you when I get back", really did it for me. The author briefly follows the lives of the other six fishermen who lost their lives in the wreck. I became emotional reading about the men's relationships, families and lovers as well as what their jobs entailed. The author really delved into the personal, as well as the technical. She uses a lot of description about the boat, the fishing industry and the men involved. She also uses dialogue from the day of the wreck, some in Spanish, the native language of a few fishermen. I really like her style of storytelling. She writes as if she were there on the boat with the men as it was sinking. She leaves an impression on our hearts and memories of these brave men who lost their lives. The ending is even more heartfelt. She concludes with a simple sentence, "And dawn is still another hour away." She ends her story with Arias' challenging and lonesome journey of survival out in the sea.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pulitzer.org/archives/9151
I failed to add that this is the first chapter of 5 that the author wrote on this.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading through a few profiles on the new yorker, I surprisingly found the piece on Paul Ryan to be most interesting. Firstly, I'd like to disclaim that I am not Paul Ryan supporter, I liked this article based of the content it supplies about him. The article gave readers a run-through of Paul Ryan's history in politics, and his master plan of re-establishing credibility within republican community. I feel like for most people, Paul Ryan kind of came out of no where talking about banning abortions even in the instance of rape and incest. I obviously can't speak for everyone, but that was my very first impression of him, and this article helped shed light on the candidate as a whole, and some of his intentions. I still don't agree with his claims or intended plans, but the profile did give me a better insight of what he as striving to do for the republican party.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/08/06/120806fa_fact_lizza
After browsing through the recommended sites, i chose the New Yorker. While browsing through the site, i came across an interesting article on Jon Gruden, America's Football Coach. The first picture that showed up with the article i found to be very humerous. It displays Jon Gruden in bed with his wife. In bed, he has his headpiece microphone on and a football play layout on his lap, while his wife laying in bed next to him covers her ears. I found this article to be very interesting because the writer, Kaleefa Sanneh, greatly worded the article and explained his past and what makes him the victorious coach that he is.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/12/12/111212fa_fact_sanneh
I chose The New Yorker's profile on Alec Baldwin called, "Why Me?." The profile is really interesting and drew my attention from the first paragraph. I always have trouble writing the first paragraph of any article I attempt to write, especially profiles, but while reading the beginning of "Why Me?" I found myself laughing and smiling to myself while reading. From that point on it was impossible to put it down. The author, Ian Parker, uses the first paragraph to describe Alex Baldwin and paint a picture for the audience. Though he thrusts a large amount of information at you in this first paragraph, you don't feel overwhelmed, the straightforward tone of the article makes it feel like you are being let in on a secret, that you are learning the ins and outs of an actor who many of us grew up watching in films and most recently on TV. My favorite line from the article is actually the first line in the article. It immediately lets you know what kind of man Alec Baldwin is, and how complicated he is.
ReplyDeleteI think the writer was brilliant in making you feel after reading the article like you finally understand Baldwin. You are told intimate details of his life and nothing is held back. I also greatly loved the huge amount of quotes used in the profile, most from Baldwin himself. In the end you realize that Baldwin is not so different from any other person in the world, and I think that's a powerful thing to achieve in a single profile piece.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/09/08/080908fa_fact_parker?currentPage=1
I chose the article "Teen Titan" about the manager of Justin Bieber. I was looking through The New Yorker and the articles title caught my eye without me knowing what it was about. When I first started reading the article and saw it had something to do with Justin Bieber I instantly almost exited out of the site. I decided to give into my poor judgment and boredom and I kept reading. It was actually pretty interesting to me how this guy became who he is today and how the writer talked about him and told his story. I really liked the authors language and how they described Scooter Braun. The first paragraph really caught my eye because the author described Braun's favortie super hero and how he wanted to play basketball like Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. Braun says that Bieber was born with Superman's powers and that he wasn't, so he had to become a different type of super hero. I thought it was pretty cool how he helped someone else sort of make his dream come true for them.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/09/03/120903fa_fact_widdicombe
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/03/05/120305fa_fact_schmidle
ReplyDeleteThe strength of this article is in its vastness. Although it's not particularly concise, the ability to summate such a complex individual's professional and personal life into ten short pages is pretty remarkable. It's not particularly flowery, however, but that does little to detract from its value: it would be hard to write a profile on the man that wasn't interesting, so enticing is his story. From the backwaters of the Baltics to Africa, this profile is as far-reaching as the man it attempts to illustrate, and therein is its strength.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/fashion/25Snooki.html?pagewanted=all
ReplyDeleteThis article, "Snooki's Time" caught my attention because I realized that I honestly do not know a lot about her. I do not watch Jersery Shore and I have never understood why she has become so famous, just as her own father states in the article. I enjoy the writer's style because it was very honest and blunt. She did not use confusing words to explain who Snooki is because to be honest, Snooki herself probably wouldn't have been able to understand it. She is described like this:
"But trying to hold a conversation with Snooki is a little like getting down on your hands and knees with a child. You have to come down to her level, and sometimes you almost think you need to bribe her with a piece of candy to coax her to be more responsive. She is really only responsive to her own immediate needs and desires. She is not self-centered, but she is used to acting out and getting away with it."
The way that the author depicts her as a child seems to be true. The way that Snooki craves attention and better yet, always receives it, is made evident in this profile piece; which in my opinion makes Snooki so interesting to read about.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/09/20/100920fa_fact_vargas
ReplyDeleteThis article from The New Yorker, profiles Mark Zuckerberg. I found it interesting because although it didn't go into vivid detail about his mannerisms or subtle nuances, it still captured the kind of person he is. When looking for a profile piece, I originally thought I wanted something with vivid detail because of the profiles we studied and practiced writing in class, but I'm okay with one that isn't as detailed as long as it captures the person it's profiling.
There were several graphs that I really enjoyed, but this one stood out the most to me because it described Zuckerberg in the context everyone knows him: Facebook. It described him using his Facebook profile, making him seem like just another member of the social network:
According to his Facebook profile, Zuckerberg has three sisters (Randi, Donna, and Arielle), all of whom he’s friends with. He’s friends with his parents, Karen and Edward Zuckerberg. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy and attended Harvard University. He’s a fan of the comedian Andy Samberg and counts among his favorite musicians Green Day, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, and Shakira. He is twenty-six years old.
Zuckerberg cites “Minimalism,” “Revolutions,” and “Eliminating Desire” as interests. He likes “Ender’s Game,” a coming-of-age science-fiction saga by Orson Scott Card, which tells the story of Andrew (Ender) Wiggin, a gifted child who masters computer war games and later realizes that he’s involved in a real war. He lists no other books on his profile.
Zuckerberg’s Facebook friends have access to his e-mail address and his cell-phone number. They can browse his photograph albums, like one titled “The Great Goat Roast of 2009,” a record of an event held in his back yard. They know that, in early July, upon returning from the annual Allen & Company retreat for Hollywood moguls, Wall Street tycoons, and tech titans, he became Facebook friends with Barry Diller. Soon afterward, Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page, “Is there a site that streams the World Cup final online? (I don’t own a TV.)”
Although the author didn't use vivid detail, he made Zuckerberg seem like just another Facebook user, which I think captures the essence that he really is just another Facebook user. Even though he created the site and reaped billions for it, he's just another awkward, intelligent computer hacker who hates the limelight. I think his essence was well captured in this profile piece, and that's what I hope to do in all the profile pieces I write.
-Suzy Berkowitz
I chose this article about Mark Zuckerberg, because I found it interesting in the language they used to describe him. He is know for finding and creating facebook as a college student at Harvard University. The article originally caught my interest because a lot of my classes right now are involved with social media, so the fact that it was about Facebook caught my interest.
ReplyDelete"According to his Facebook profile, Zuckerberg has three sisters (Randi, Donna, and Arielle), all of whom he’s friends with. He’s friends with his parents, Karen and Edward Zuckerberg. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy and attended Harvard University. He’s a fan of the comedian Andy Samberg and counts among his favorite musicians Green Day, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, and Shakira. He is twenty-six years old."
This graph from the article was interesting to me, because it used Facebook lingo and information from Zuckerberg's profile, to connect to readers and describe him. I liked that the author did this, because they used what this person is known and famous for and used it to created the writing style, find out information and present it to readers. There are also many other graphs very similar to this and I thought it was unique since it would not be as catchy to do that for a person who did not invent facebook. The irony in how so much information is exposed on facebook, and the author getting the information about Zuckerberg on there to write this was what made this article stand out.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/09/20/100920fa_fact_vargas
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/09/08/080908fa_fact_parker?currentPage=1
ReplyDeleteI chose the profile on Alec Baldwin called "Why Me? by Ian Parker for the New Yorker. I chose this piece because I sometimes watch the show 30 Rock on NBC and think Baldwin's character on the show can be hilarious at times. In the profile, I thought the language was superb. Parker says Baldwin has, "the the unbending, straight-armed gait of someone trying to prevent clothes from rubbing against sunburned skin." This descriptive sentence tells us a lot of Baldwin. It sounds as if he is a high strung proper person.
The paragraph that caught my attention was on the third page of the article. It begins with, "Forever Lulu," Baldwin's first film in 1987, was bad." Parker then goes on to list six other films that baldwin was in. He says that Baldwin "had a precise, self contained style: his performances suggested that although he might accept an audience's attention, he cared little for its approval." Parker summed up Baldwin's attitude in one sentence. The reader also gets an idea of Baldwin's characters from this paragraph. Parker writes, "one can survey Baldwin's twenty-odd-year film career without finding a fully persuasive rendering of happiness. One has to be satisfied with flared nostrils and a dangerous flash of teeth." Parker's writing gives us a glimpse of who Baldwin is and in this paragraph, ends almost as he were describing a shark.
I picked this profile on James Cameron because I google-searched a bunch and I was immediately intrigued by the vulgarity of James Cameron. As you read the article you get this kind of image of a know-it-all hot-headed director and YET I respect him. The author of the piece, Dana Goodyear, isn't the most fluid writer in the world but she encompasses many aspects essential to Cameron's character. He's an opinionated determined guy who worked hard for what he has. She touches on his childhood, his young adult years and what inspired him to be the film-maker that he is. While the piece emphasizes the making of Avatar, you get a real feel for Cameron's directorial styles (which is very hands-on) and his satisfaction with an end product. When fans asked about what comes next while he was making Avator, Cameron asked fans if they would ask a mother about her next child while she was crowning. He has this very gritty way about him that Goodyear captures with her various vulgar quotes and great info from close sources. Her investigation into his past (especially scuba diving) really illuminates the sci-fi world that is James Cameron. Her first paragraph leaves the reader a little shocked with its hard description of Cameron that almost turns you off to his character, but it makes the rest worth reading.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/26/091026fa_fact_goodyear
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/09/08/080908fa_fact_parker
ReplyDeleteAs I was looking through my classmates responses, I noticed a lot of them chose to cover Alec Baldwin's profile piece in the New Yorker. I actually had this story forwarded to me by a close friend who knows how much I enjoy Baldwin's character Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock. She thought I would find the article interesting, which I did indeed.
What I love about this piece is how the author shows Baldwin in a completely different light then the world around him sees him. I particularly like this description of his state of being:
"He is fifty years old, divorced, and lives alone in an old white farmhouse in the Hamptons and an apartment on Central Park West—feeling thwarted, if not quite persecuted."
It paints such a raw image of Baldwin's life. The article really gets real with Baldwin and uncovers his insecurities, his dreams and desires, and his fears. When most people imagine a television star, they assume they live a life full of happiness, money, and fame. Ian Parker goes deeper then the surface to find out who the real Alec Baldwin really is.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/sports/hockey/derek-boogaard-a-boy-learns-to-brawl.html?pagewanted=all
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/04/sports/hockey/in-hockey-enforcers-descent-a-flood-of-prescription-drugs.html?pagewanted=all
The New York Times did a series of stories, profiling the life of Derek Boogaard, NHL player who died last year at 28 after an overdose of pain medications. What i like most about the articles, was the amount of detail that Branch was able to put into these stories. The final one, much of it read as if it were a hard news story, because of the amount of information that it packed.
I thought that these stories were different from a lot of other profiles, especially those we've reviewed in class, because it contains far less of the person's (Boogaard) voice. Because it was impossible to follow Derek around all day, Branch had a difficult task of trying to get a sense of who he was, from childhood on, by only talking to those around him. I think that's important to see him portrayed in the story from the perspective of others. We touched on this in class; the fact that readers likely want to what others think of the person you are profiling, rather than what the subject think of him or herself.
Also, what seemed strategic was the lack of Boogaards voice. Not just because it was impossible to talk with him, but because of the way Branch was illustrating Boogaard, as a soft spoken person, who was taken advantage of. This was the personal fault.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_widdicombe?currentPage=8
ReplyDeleteThis is a profile piece about Taylor Swift. Although I'm not as big of a fan of Taylor Swift as I was several years ago, I was still curious to read the piece about her. I liked the article because the author wrote in an easy to read way. She made it simple and easy to read and understand. She didn't use big words and make it all complicated. One part that stuck out to me was on page 8 in the middle there is a short paragraph beginning with "A Taylor Swift concert begins...". In this paragraph the author describes the concert as "...hours before showtime, of little girls outside the concert venue—the Hajj at Mecca, if it were sponsored by My Little Pony." The author's choice of words is what makes the piece, and this is a prime example of that. Personally, I think Swift is an easy-going kind of person, and so I think the author was trying to portray that in the piece by making it easy to read.