My first noteworthy news experience is actually linked with two different papers. The first paper was a Wis. wide satirical paper, that poked fun at real life events. The paper would often feature a story about a different town from all over the state. The time had finally arrived, my town made it's debut. The story was about a little boy named Billy. He came home every day from school to a drunk father who beat the living day lights out of him and a mother with a gambling problem. The community was appalled by the supposed satire and many citizens were convinced it was a true story. Our local news paper had to run a story explaining the meaning behind the original article so the community wouldn't go on a witch hunt for little Billy's parents.
My second noteworthy news experience is held in high admiration. In order to fully comprehend the worthiness of this article a little bit of explanation needs to go into the background of my hometown. It is a small farming town with no more than a couple hundred people living there. It is the kind of town that doesn't handle change well, but fights desperately to stay alive in today’s economy. The local school decided to have an event called Diversity Day. It featured many different speakers, but the number one attraction was a homosexual couple. The community did not want their children being exposed to this, so they protested the event. In the end the event was canceled. Despite the communities beliefs the paper printed a wonderful interview with the couple. It explained a lot of challenges the couple faced, especially in a small town. The article also did a good job of explaining the fact that all the couple wished for was tolerance, while simultaneously reminding the community about the golden rule.
My third noteworthy news experience was being able to write for our high school news paper. Our school was too small to have it's own paper, but we had a few pages in the local paper. I pitched an idea to the editor about an ongoing short story about an elderly lady reminiscing about growing up in a small town. I interviewed many people from the community and took their memorable small town events and changed them slightly to fit my character. It was great to see everyone's perspective of small town life. The overall opinion of life in a small town is always changing, it is definitely a love hate relationship. It was a great feeling to have the power to share these wonderful stories with the rest of the community.
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I was also on my high school newspaper, and I agree that it is such a great experience. I like that your newspaper was able to have a few pages in the town newspaper. We could have never done that! I also love how you were able to seek out so many different perspectives on small town life, and compare and contrast them.
ReplyDeleteI completely understand what you say about growing up in a small town that is apprehensive to change. I grew up in a small town as well, and it seemed like gossip about "uncomfortable" subjects really riled people up. I don't think my school would have allowed an event like that either! But at the same time, it probably wouldn't have been encourage for things like Christian gatherings or events either.
ReplyDeleteYour first story really made me laugh! That sounds like something good gone bad.
I like your peices for many reasons. They made me love/hate your town, and want to know more about it.
ReplyDeleteI also liked them because they actually involved the news, which makes my commenting on them that much easier.
But mostly I liked them because they were actually interesting. I sometimes read an article in my Smithsonian magazine, where the author talks about the local color of the town they call home. They walk you through the streets and let you enter into the psyche of the individuals living there. I found myself enjoying what you wrote in a similar fashion. You left me wanting to hear more.
Grade: 7/10
ReplyDeleteMistakes:
• Misuse of it's. In each case you used the word, it should have been plural as its. Only put in an apostrophe if you can interchangeably use it is.
• You abbreviated Wis. according to AP guidelines, but in this case it needed to be spelled out. Abbreviate when using the state's name with the town name.
• In two cases, you should have either divided a sentence into two, or linked it with a semicolon.
• Communities should have been possessive (community's)
• Newspaper is one word, not two