List three possible subjects for your profile piece. They have to be people that are accessible to you
(people you can talk to and observe in person.) For your most favorable choice, explain why you think
they would make a good subject (i.e. what makes them interesting, unique, socially relevent, etc).
Three possible profiles i would be interested in doing would be my grandpa(Carmelo), a friend of mine who is a costume designer in the Fine Arts department and/or a musician friend of mine, James. All of these people have passion for what they do or where they have been. When talking to any one of these people it is clear that their interests bring out the best in them and are not afraid to show it. I am more leaning towards the costume designer because she just signed on for providing attire for the up coming play on campus. It would be inspiring to see where her visions will take the play.
ReplyDeleteBelow, I have listed the three people I would like to profile.
ReplyDelete1. Richard De Gaetano (my father)
2. Jillian Landu (a friend of mine from a previous class)
3. Daren Morris (my boyfriend)
All three of these people have overcome difficulties and hardships to make their lives what it is today. The three have passions which despite facing certain situations, maintained level heads while pursuing their dreams.
I would love to profile all three people because they have fascinating stories, but I realize we must only choose one. I am going with writing about my dad. His story is one of courage, suffering and success. His business is going through some positive changes, so it would be really interesting to tell others his back story and where he has come from. It is partly why he is where he is today.
While so many people come to mind when considering whom to interview, I managed to narrow it down to three.
ReplyDelete1. Ann Healy (My mother)
2. Everett Prince (Best friend from home)
3. Chalisa Oottamakorn (One of my sorority sisters)
The three people chosen made the cut for both similar and different reasons. Most importantly, they all make me laugh, and regardless of what I'm writing about, I like to add a bit of humor, so that was the sole requirement I had in picking. I picked my mother because she has the best stories, and such a unique way of sharing them. Although my best friend and I are similar in so many ways, college has led us in completely different walks of life, so we always have new things to talk about- as well as embarrassing stories from high school of course. I picked Chalisa for a few reasons, she is just as random as me, so there is never a shortage of discussion, and she is incredibly outgoing and quirky. As one of my sorority sisters, Chalisa would be a good choice if I wanted to angle my profile on sorority life and all that it entails. Although all of my candidates are great choices, I think I am going to choose my best friend Everett. I think interviewing her would not only be enjoyable for me, but would also provide me with great material to produce a really interesting profile.
There are many people in my life that i find worthy of interviewing, but if i had to narrow it down to three options, it would be
ReplyDelete1.) Scott Collins (my father)
2.) Kyle McEvoy (my best friend from back home)
3.) Maggie Trapani (my girlfriend)
I chose these people because they play a huge role in my life and i have a bond with each one of them like no other.
I would love to write a profiling piece on all of them, but i realize that i must choose one, so im leaning towards doing it on my father, Scott Collins. The way that he grew up from a kid to the man that he is today is an amazing, fascinating story that would make a great profiling piece. My father, like most other fathers, has raised me to be the person i am today and is the reason i am who i am and helped me be where i am in life. If i could do a piece on him, that would be great, but doing any other piece on either of the other two people i listed would be fine as well.
1) Sean Murphy (my best friend from home)
ReplyDelete2) Matt Griffiths (my baseball coach)
3) John Kaldon (my dad)
Out of these three people I would have to pick my best friend from home Sean Murphy. All of the people I chose are interesting and unique in their own way, but I think for this topic my friend Sean is the best choice. He is a year older than me and recently graduated from Siena last spring. I think he would make a great choice because he is in the real world now and has a career. I think he is a really good choice because we grew up together, went through life experiences together, and went through college together. I think it would make an interesting piece because I could hear how his transformation from college student to professional is going and how different life is without school.
For my possible subjects to profile for this class I am leaning towards,
ReplyDeleteA. Rebecca Smith (My Sister)
B. Stephany Kim (One of my best friends)
C. Andreas Büth (My boyfriend)
Unlike my peers who have already commented on this page, I am having a lot of difficulty picking my final choice for who to profile. I think I am leaning the most between my friend Stephany and my boyfriend. I think they both have interesting stories that other people could relate to and be interested in. I'll explain a little about each of them. For Stephany, I think she is amazing and has a lot to look forward to in her future. She has always been quite reserved and quiet but has recently been coming a bit out of her shell. She has also overcome a lot, growing up with her single mom and helping to pay for her own college experience because she doesn't want her mother to sacrifice too much for her. And on top of that she has an amazingly positive way of looking at life and is always smiling and encouraging others. On the other hand, I think my boyfriend would also be an interesting subject. He is German (We met almost 4 years ago when he was studying abroad in the United States during my senior year in high school) and is now living back in Germany and going to University in Köln, Germany. What I think would make him an interesting subject for a profile piece is that he is very much torn between two countries. His own family jokes that he was born in the wrong country and that he almost seems happier when he is in the United States. I think it would be interesting to talk to him about being so in love with two very different places and how it effects his outlook on life and how he overcomes hardships, like our very long distance relationship.
Perhaps all of you could tell me who you would be the most interested to read about? I am really having difficulty deciding which would be the best one to profile.
Thanks!
Sorry, I just realized I worded my explanation kind of badly. I didn't mean to sound like others who have already posted are not having any difficulty making their final choice for who to write about. I'm sure for everyone it was difficult to make that decision. I only mean that I am having more difficulty making my absolute final decision.
ReplyDeleteThe three most interesting people in my life that I would consider doing a profile piece on would be:
ReplyDelete1. Svitlana Nedilsky (my grandmother)
2. Lara Chelak (my best friend & CEO of Blog What? Design Inc.)
3.Eugene Bodrov (my boyfriend)
All three of these individuals have amazing stories to tell, but I think the most interesting subject would be my boyfriend, Eugene “Jenya” Bodrov. His story is so fascinating and inspiring that I think it will make a great profile piece. Jenya permanently moved from his native country Ukraine to Canada three weeks ago to attend Graduate school. It would be awesome to hear what made him make this drastic life decision, what emotions he is experiencing moving to North America, and how he is adapting to a western lifestyle.
Hey everyone,
ReplyDeleteA big thanks to those of you who posted already--two thumbs up.
It is quite clear that there is a trend of picking people who you are close with (family member, friend, partner, etc). I expected that for sure. It's easier right? You already have material to work with, you feel comfortable with them which makes the awkwardness of asking if you can follow them around a lot less awkward, etc. The reason I am supportive of this, then, is because it makes it possible for you to concentrate on *writing.* However! I will be super super impressed and will be willing to work with closer with those of you who want to profile someone you don't know. For those of you who choose to do that, the learning focus will be on the interviewing and the gathering of material. So it is up to you, whatever is more beneficial for your own practice. I highly encourage you to do that which is least comfortable for you. Remember, writing is a progress.
We will talk more about this tomorrow, but lets move away from "I am profiling them because I am close with them." That is great for you, but remember, you write for readers and readers don't care how close or not the writer is to the subject. In fact, as journalists, readers prefer that the writers are distanced from the subject, right? So we will brainstorm tomorrow as to how to pitch these profiles in such a way that your subjects will be interesting to a greater public as well as socially relevant.
Till tomorrow,
K
1) Brandon Potter (My Brother)
ReplyDelete2) Dylan Wood (Friend from home)
3) Ashley Rahm (Best Friend)
All of these people play a huge role in my life and are definitely my favorite people in the whole world. They all have hilarious personalities but are also so different from one another.
My brother, Brandon was recently diagnosed with Type I diabetes. At the time, he was 13 years old which is a lot for a person of his age to deal with. I think that taking a look at what he goes through on a daily basis could be really interesting.
My friend Dylan aspires to be a NYPD Police Officer and is currently going through the steps to get into the police academy in January. His passion for the job is inspiring. I find it so fascinating that he is so set on where he wants his life to go.
My best friend, Ashley, moved from Long Island to Utah right before her Senior year of high school. She was forced to give up her family and friends and move across the country due to her father's job transfer. Taking a look at how she has and still is coping with the move could be interesting.
I am honestly not sure of which to pick!
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ReplyDeleteIt's difficult for me to choose three people to profile. I'm finding it difficult because I feel like a profile is more about the little nuances about a person and less about their life as a whole. I know that sounds funny but it's puzzling to me because when you look at people through the little details, they're all on the same level. I find observing people to be fascinating because I think the little things people do are fascinating. So I guess I'm choosing three people to profile whom I know on a large scale but whom I've never actually paid much attention to the details of.
ReplyDeleteBeverly Berkowitz (my mom)
Julie Mansmann (former Managing Editor of The New Paltz Oracle and recent New Paltz graduate)
Rochelle Spitzer (my aunt)
This is Suzy, btw. I made this account a long time ago and just figured I'd post from here... (hi)
ReplyDelete1. Sarah DePalo (my grandmother)
ReplyDelete2. Tayo Oni (friend)
3. Marissa Gurka (friend)
I think my grandmother would be an interesting person to do a profile story on, because she came to America to live alone from Canada. As a child she was born in Canada and lived in an orphanage for a good part of her childhood with her sister, without their brother. When she was older she moved to the U.S and married my grandfather who is from Italy. I think it would be interesting because I don't even know her whole story so I would get to learn more about her, as well as see a different type of childhood from that which I and most of the people I know were raised in. Tayo would be interesting as well, because she has been exposed to so many different cultures. One of the things I really would like to do is travel, and Tayo has been to Nigeria and England to visit family, and has been a part of so many different lifestyles. Marissa my best friend from home would be interesting as well, because she has had an unusual college experience. She started off going to school in Hawaii and then transferring to Chicago. Now she is home and working full time while taking classes at night, something most college students don't do as they typically just go away to school, or to a community college and then transfer. She has to multi task and deal with a very busy schedule of going to school and working. She has also had a lot to go through in her life with the passing of her brother from disease, and is a strong and motivated person.
1) Brian Schimansky (SUNY New Paltz Student)
ReplyDelete2)Youko Yamamoto (local business owner/ previous employer)
3)Nina Melahn (my mother)
Out of these three people I have chosen to do a profile on Brian. I met him through my job in town but he has had a very interesting life. He joined the U.S. Navy soon after graduating high school and traveled all over the world. I also wanted to pick somebody that I don't know 100 percent and can get a completely fresh story from. Though my other choices could have worked, I worried that a story on my mom would be too close to home and a story on my previous employer would be boring.
1) Darrian Amaker (suny new palt student)
ReplyDelete2) Chucho Perez (friend from mexico city I met this summer)
3) Chanel Ward (RD of Bouton Hall)
All three of these people are wonderfully interesting and I wish I had an easier time picking between the three of them. The two I know the least about are Chanel and Darrian and Darrian I probably understand the least. So I'm leaning towards Darrian. She's someone most people know on campus, but many know nothing about. She's also misunderstood for her intense empathy and enthusiasm for life. I know that there's some sort of story behind her character and I think a lot of people might find it interesting.
However this is SO difficult for me because I find Chanel to be one of the most interesting people in the world. She's older and has more experiences under her belt and I only know her from brief conversation and passed along stories.
Chucho is super intriguing. He's one for thinking outside the box and doing things that no one else will. He just signed up to be a bone marrow transplant. He's 21. He wants to donate a lung. He's working on finishing his circus act (what) and he refuses to carry around the most simple and accessible form of identification in Mexico as his way of sticking it to the goverment...
So choosing is hard...and I'd love some advice!
One possibility for a profile is my father. I would love to do a piece about him because he came from Poland alone nearly 30 years ago and started his life here with nothing and now he has a successful business. But my dad is kind of awkward/anti-social (lol) so I'm not sure how he would feel about this. A second possibility would be my friend Francesca and the third option would be my older sister, Aga, who came from Poland with my mother 10 years after my father, and she knew zero English when she went to school, and had to make new friends and start a new life in America with my parents.
ReplyDelete1) Misha Savage - a junior here at np. He is the music director at the school's radio station and i have worked with him in the music department for a year now. I think it would be an interesting person to profile because of his position and responsiblities.
ReplyDelete2) Kevin Rutty - a senior student at np. I met him a few years ago. He's originally from France, but moved to America during grade school. I know he became close with a number of French and other international student this past school year. I think it would be interesting to pick his brain, and find out what he makes of the experiences he's had and how he views America, both as a citizen and at the same time an outsider.
3) Not entirely sure about a third subject, but i was thinking about someone who owns a store here in new paltz and has for a long time. Someone who has seen the student body evolve over time.
Josh Simpson, president of the New Paltz Student Association
ReplyDeleteMatthew Mueller, someone who I'm working on for a Digital Storytelling radio assignment, who was hit by a subway train and had to spend a year recovering from extensive brain injury; an accompanying feature article would make my life easier than profiling two people at once via different means
Third option discussed in class.