-Lead, describing some aspect of my subject's (Jackie Matava) first scene onstage in Faust
-Transition into "where it all began" – spend some time on her childhood
-Fast forward to high school/college applications, shifting focus
-Spend some time on her undergrad at Vassar
-Spend a good deal of time on her semester in England, where she (finally) had the revelation that she wanted to sing for a living
-Grad school application process
-Her time at IU thus far
-Kicker back at the opera, presumably with closing scene
**Also going to try to intersperse scenes from the opera into the narrative of the story, hopefully going so far as to hint at parallels between Jackie and her character. Need to see the opera first.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Interview questions
I kind of envision my interviews for my profile to be free-flowing conversations that lend insight on the character who I'm profiling. However, here's a few of the questions I hope to walk away with decent answers to:
-How did you get involved in opera? Was it parental pressure, or did you take enough of a liking to it independently to want to do it for your life?
-When you were an undergrad what level of participation were you able to have in performances?
-What is it about opera that makes you love it enough to center your life around it?
- What's the daily routine of someone in graduate school for opera?
-What is your favorite aria/character, and what part would you most like to sing someday in your career? (generic questions like this can get people talking, anyway)
-What's the relationship of a singer in an opera to the musicians, the director, the conductor, and everyone else involved in the huge production?
-Why IU?
-How do you balance performing in operas with the coursework inherent in graduate school?
There will undoubtedly be more, but some of it will come right out of the conversation. I'm hoping to get more about her childhood, since deciding to be an opera singer seems like a weird thing for anyone under about 18 to do. I'm also going to try to play up some of the "high pressure life" angles, and hopefully she'll be receptive. I've sort of got to let the story breathe and let her guide me, but I think this is a good starting point.
-How did you get involved in opera? Was it parental pressure, or did you take enough of a liking to it independently to want to do it for your life?
-When you were an undergrad what level of participation were you able to have in performances?
-What is it about opera that makes you love it enough to center your life around it?
- What's the daily routine of someone in graduate school for opera?
-What is your favorite aria/character, and what part would you most like to sing someday in your career? (generic questions like this can get people talking, anyway)
-What's the relationship of a singer in an opera to the musicians, the director, the conductor, and everyone else involved in the huge production?
-Why IU?
-How do you balance performing in operas with the coursework inherent in graduate school?
There will undoubtedly be more, but some of it will come right out of the conversation. I'm hoping to get more about her childhood, since deciding to be an opera singer seems like a weird thing for anyone under about 18 to do. I'm also going to try to play up some of the "high pressure life" angles, and hopefully she'll be receptive. I've sort of got to let the story breathe and let her guide me, but I think this is a good starting point.
Mister Rogers profile response
It's tough to put into words how good the Mister Rogers profile we read for class really was. It's difficult to imagine a better magazine article than this one. It takes Mister Rogers, a symbol of the simple and uncomplicated and beloved, and fleshes him out more fully while doing nothing to dispel the idea of his simplicity. He's as great a person as we all imagined he is, but not necessarily any more complicated. He does the same thing every day, he loves everyone, he prays for everyone, he asks for prayers, and he's generally just one of the best people ever, if this profile is to be believed.
Structurally, the article was definitely the most modernist, stylized piece we've read. It's almost stream-of-consciousness at times, and there's a handful of brief vignettes about people whose lives were touched by Mister Rogers in some way interspersed throughout the article at seemingly random times. They aren't random, though. They're crucial to the story, and they serve only to flesh it out and make it a better piece. All of them brilliantly show another side of Mister Rogers' seemingly endless kindness and generosity, and they make his story more complete.
I thought the lead was pretty interesting. The writer doesn't insert himself into the story as a character so much, but he decided to lead with a memory from his own childhood in an article figuring heavily on childhood and memory. We don't get introduced to Mister Rogers until after the first formal break in the story. The lead reads a bit like a vague, half-remembered fever dream, but to the writer, it's special, and that's what the entire article means to communicate: what's special to different people, and how Mister Rogers is tied so indelibly to so many of those people.
Still, it's not an overly effusive, panegyric article. It's real, it just happens that the real Mister Rogers is a great person.
Structurally, the article was definitely the most modernist, stylized piece we've read. It's almost stream-of-consciousness at times, and there's a handful of brief vignettes about people whose lives were touched by Mister Rogers in some way interspersed throughout the article at seemingly random times. They aren't random, though. They're crucial to the story, and they serve only to flesh it out and make it a better piece. All of them brilliantly show another side of Mister Rogers' seemingly endless kindness and generosity, and they make his story more complete.
I thought the lead was pretty interesting. The writer doesn't insert himself into the story as a character so much, but he decided to lead with a memory from his own childhood in an article figuring heavily on childhood and memory. We don't get introduced to Mister Rogers until after the first formal break in the story. The lead reads a bit like a vague, half-remembered fever dream, but to the writer, it's special, and that's what the entire article means to communicate: what's special to different people, and how Mister Rogers is tied so indelibly to so many of those people.
Still, it's not an overly effusive, panegyric article. It's real, it just happens that the real Mister Rogers is a great person.
Monday, January 24, 2011
The Peekaboo Paradox response
Gene Weingarten's "The Peekaboo Paradox" is undoubtedly my favorite thing we've read so far this semester. Over eighteen printed pages, it consistently reinvents itself, sets up tantalizing cliffhangers then aptly rewards its audience's patience, and gives a privileged look into a somewhat tragic and inherently relatable story. "The Great Zucchini," as protagonist Eric Knauss (whose real name isn't revealed until halfway down the third printed page – a technique I quite liked) calls himself when hosting kids' parties, is a complex character whose bizarre life is fleshed out extremely well in the piece.
I won't recount plot details since that seems a bit superfluous, but I do want to call attention to the three completely separate phases that I was able to break the article into as I was reading. First, we meet the Great Zucchini, a do-no-wrong child entertainer whose simple, effective act has made him the toast of Washington, D.C. This section is as heartwarming as it is anything else, and serves to provide context for the life that we eventually get introduced to. The second phase shows the shambles of the real Eric Knauss' life. He lives in an empty apartment, he owes huge gambling debts, he doesn't know what he owes the IRS but he knows he isn't square with them, he's had his license suspended for forgetting to pay parking tickets – in a nutshell, he most certainly does not have his shit together. The third and final phase tries to find a reason for the ruins of his life. His mother is interviewed and speculates about her divorce from his father and an episode in which their neighbors were shot to death while he was home, but it's unclear what really made Eric the way he is, and he either doesn't know or isn't telling. Perhaps the final mini-chapter or postscript throws us back into the world of the Great Zucchini, and in a fashion fairly typical of these "unanswered questions" articles, opines that it doesn't really matter why his life is the way it is as long as he can keep doing his job so well.
Breaking the article up into those parts communicated the story as effectively I could imagine it being communicated, and the cliffhanger moments, such as when the writer tells us that Eric's mother told him what happened across the hall then waited several paragraphs to tell the readers what that was, only add to the piece's page-turning quality. The structure only serves to strengthen the already-great story, which is what any magazine article should do.
I won't recount plot details since that seems a bit superfluous, but I do want to call attention to the three completely separate phases that I was able to break the article into as I was reading. First, we meet the Great Zucchini, a do-no-wrong child entertainer whose simple, effective act has made him the toast of Washington, D.C. This section is as heartwarming as it is anything else, and serves to provide context for the life that we eventually get introduced to. The second phase shows the shambles of the real Eric Knauss' life. He lives in an empty apartment, he owes huge gambling debts, he doesn't know what he owes the IRS but he knows he isn't square with them, he's had his license suspended for forgetting to pay parking tickets – in a nutshell, he most certainly does not have his shit together. The third and final phase tries to find a reason for the ruins of his life. His mother is interviewed and speculates about her divorce from his father and an episode in which their neighbors were shot to death while he was home, but it's unclear what really made Eric the way he is, and he either doesn't know or isn't telling. Perhaps the final mini-chapter or postscript throws us back into the world of the Great Zucchini, and in a fashion fairly typical of these "unanswered questions" articles, opines that it doesn't really matter why his life is the way it is as long as he can keep doing his job so well.
Breaking the article up into those parts communicated the story as effectively I could imagine it being communicated, and the cliffhanger moments, such as when the writer tells us that Eric's mother told him what happened across the hall then waited several paragraphs to tell the readers what that was, only add to the piece's page-turning quality. The structure only serves to strengthen the already-great story, which is what any magazine article should do.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Sources for profile
Jacquelyn Matava, subject of the profile
Mary Ann Hart, Matava's mentor and a professor in the Jacobs School
David Effron, conductor for Faust
Tomer Zvulun, stage director for Faust
C. David Higgins, costume designer for Faust (maybe)
Mary Ann Hart, Matava's mentor and a professor in the Jacobs School
David Effron, conductor for Faust
Tomer Zvulun, stage director for Faust
C. David Higgins, costume designer for Faust (maybe)
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
The Girl Who Conned the Ivy League response
Sabrina Rubin Erdely's profile piece on Esther Reed (and her many other identities) was a poignant, tragic that took the story of someone currently in prison and implicit in a number of identity theft and fraud-related crimes and made it completely sympathetic. The lengthiest article we've read thus far for this course by far, "The Girl Who Conned the Ivy League" manages to stay wholly engrossing throughout its duration, and its even-handed tone while dealing with myriad controversial issues takes it to the next level into being a really fantastic article.
The lead is interesting because it doesn't take place chronologically near the beginning of the story, nor does it take place at the end. After the first part of the story, we're taken back in time, and from there, we move forward and eventually well beyond the point in time expressed in the opening. It takes us through some uncomfortable territory but always in a fascinating way.
I was especially moved by a bit near the ending: "To look around Brooke's hometown today — a once-proud textile town haunted by unemployment, methamphetamine
and teen pregnancy — is to glimpse what her future might have held, had she not vanished." It reminded me very much of the fantastic 2010 film Winter's Bone, which indeed had been flashing through my mind quite often while I read the article. The story doesn't end on a positive note, or a necessarily negative one – it just kind of hangs there. One girl is missing, one is found but in prison. Life goes on.
The lead is interesting because it doesn't take place chronologically near the beginning of the story, nor does it take place at the end. After the first part of the story, we're taken back in time, and from there, we move forward and eventually well beyond the point in time expressed in the opening. It takes us through some uncomfortable territory but always in a fascinating way.
I was especially moved by a bit near the ending: "To look around Brooke's hometown today — a once-proud textile town haunted by unemployment, methamphetamine
and teen pregnancy — is to glimpse what her future might have held, had she not vanished." It reminded me very much of the fantastic 2010 film Winter's Bone, which indeed had been flashing through my mind quite often while I read the article. The story doesn't end on a positive note, or a necessarily negative one – it just kind of hangs there. One girl is missing, one is found but in prison. Life goes on.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Arthur Kade profile response
Dan P. Lee, the Philadelphia Magazine writer responsible for today's profile of Arthur Kade, had a tall task before him when he set out to write that piece. He had to humanize one of the most despised "unmitigated douchebags" in America and make a lengthy profile on him more than just an excuse to trash the guy. He rips the self-aggrandizing wannabe actor a new one when it's necessary, but he also paints a picture that shows that having the balls to do what he did is a two way street. It requires great hubris, but also great courage. Lee's profile does a good job of illustrating that duality while supplying plenty of head-scratching moments and laughs along the way.
One strategy Lee uses to keep readers from dismissing Kade despite his misogynistic female rating system and completely delusional belief that he'll one day win an Oscar is to garner sympathy for him. The most effective way he does that is by showing some of the comments from Kade's website, which range from incredulous pleas that he's just kidding, to profanity-laced namecalling, to death threats/suicide requests. It's hard to imagine being so annoyed with someone's Web presence and misplaced confidence that you'd go that far, and Lee exploits that.
He also tries to diffuse some of Kade's hubris by showing that he had a tough childhood. Unfortunately, Kade ruins this by being completely aware of his desire to be the center of attention. If you can diagnose yourself with being psychologically inclined toward egotism and still choose to behave the way that Kade does, some of the sympathy that comes with that dissolves.
The reporting technique of following Kade around to his two major stomping grounds (besides the Internet) – nightclubs and auditions – worked tremendously well. It gave insight into his live that at the same time suggested that he's an insufferable prick and an alright, misunderstood guy, without doing much to judge or conclude either way. His closing is elegant and almost melodramatic as he hopes the best for Kade and the other "actors" from his audition, and in turn, we do, too. It's a nice closing for one of the best "defending the indefensible"-type profiles I've ever read.
One strategy Lee uses to keep readers from dismissing Kade despite his misogynistic female rating system and completely delusional belief that he'll one day win an Oscar is to garner sympathy for him. The most effective way he does that is by showing some of the comments from Kade's website, which range from incredulous pleas that he's just kidding, to profanity-laced namecalling, to death threats/suicide requests. It's hard to imagine being so annoyed with someone's Web presence and misplaced confidence that you'd go that far, and Lee exploits that.
He also tries to diffuse some of Kade's hubris by showing that he had a tough childhood. Unfortunately, Kade ruins this by being completely aware of his desire to be the center of attention. If you can diagnose yourself with being psychologically inclined toward egotism and still choose to behave the way that Kade does, some of the sympathy that comes with that dissolves.
The reporting technique of following Kade around to his two major stomping grounds (besides the Internet) – nightclubs and auditions – worked tremendously well. It gave insight into his live that at the same time suggested that he's an insufferable prick and an alright, misunderstood guy, without doing much to judge or conclude either way. His closing is elegant and almost melodramatic as he hopes the best for Kade and the other "actors" from his audition, and in turn, we do, too. It's a nice closing for one of the best "defending the indefensible"-type profiles I've ever read.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
"Good Morning, Megan Fox" response
My first reaction when I sat down to read Esquire's "Good Morning, Megan Fox" story, written by Greg Williams, was "Wow, I can't possibly take this publication seriously with all the links to 'sexy Megan Fox video' and 'Megan Fox Thong Naked Pic' cluttering the page." So admittedly, I went in with a little bit of a bias.
The lead – "Megan Fox won't kick her horse" – did little to assuage my skepticism. It reads like your standard-issue vague opening designed to force you to read on, but it was too vague, and I just didn't care. Upon reading the rest of the article, I wasn't exactly blown away. Yes, it was generally well-written for its intended audience – men who want to look at Megan Fox naked, no doubt – and did a good enough job of humanizing her and demystifying her sex symbol status in a reasonably persuasive manner, but that intangible thing that would have pushed it into being a great article, in my opinion, was missing.
For one, no one is interviewed except for Ms. Fox herself. We get an image of the actress that is completely created and perpetuated by her. I'm not calling it inaccurate, but it's far from fully fleshed out. The sole quote from the horse tour guide Michael hardly has anything to do with the story, aside from providing a little more background color for the setting of the interview. A sentence from an old flame, a family member, or a costar could have improved the article tenfold. As it stands, it reads as hugely egotistical, even while it takes great pains to demonstrate that it isn't.
Second, even though the writer lets Ms. Fox tell her side of being thought of as a sex symbol, between the quotes, he's still incredibly flippant and plays up her sexuality endlessly. Between lines like "She's not licking her fork seductively, or smearing barbecue sauce all over her face, or dripping mashed potatoes down her chest" as though he half-expected her to do those things and the interruptive links to "Esquire's exclusive sexy Megan Fox video!" the agenda is evident. Maybe that's fair, maybe that's what the audience wants, but I didn't care much for it.
As it stands, I found this article to be a fairly well-written but pandering profile of an inexplicably iconic figure of a vapid culture. Some women are sexy and interesting, but Esquire didn't choose to go that route with this article.
The lead – "Megan Fox won't kick her horse" – did little to assuage my skepticism. It reads like your standard-issue vague opening designed to force you to read on, but it was too vague, and I just didn't care. Upon reading the rest of the article, I wasn't exactly blown away. Yes, it was generally well-written for its intended audience – men who want to look at Megan Fox naked, no doubt – and did a good enough job of humanizing her and demystifying her sex symbol status in a reasonably persuasive manner, but that intangible thing that would have pushed it into being a great article, in my opinion, was missing.
For one, no one is interviewed except for Ms. Fox herself. We get an image of the actress that is completely created and perpetuated by her. I'm not calling it inaccurate, but it's far from fully fleshed out. The sole quote from the horse tour guide Michael hardly has anything to do with the story, aside from providing a little more background color for the setting of the interview. A sentence from an old flame, a family member, or a costar could have improved the article tenfold. As it stands, it reads as hugely egotistical, even while it takes great pains to demonstrate that it isn't.
Second, even though the writer lets Ms. Fox tell her side of being thought of as a sex symbol, between the quotes, he's still incredibly flippant and plays up her sexuality endlessly. Between lines like "She's not licking her fork seductively, or smearing barbecue sauce all over her face, or dripping mashed potatoes down her chest" as though he half-expected her to do those things and the interruptive links to "Esquire's exclusive sexy Megan Fox video!" the agenda is evident. Maybe that's fair, maybe that's what the audience wants, but I didn't care much for it.
As it stands, I found this article to be a fairly well-written but pandering profile of an inexplicably iconic figure of a vapid culture. Some women are sexy and interesting, but Esquire didn't choose to go that route with this article.
Story Ideas
Ten story ideas:
1. Profile of a semi-local boxer
2. Profile of an ex-IU basketball player who still lives in Bloomington, preferably elderly and curmudgeonly
3. Story on the "real Pawn Stars" of southern Indiana interviewing local pawnbrokers
4. Trend story on international graduate students at IU who did undergrad back home
5. Story on the advent of the IU Cinema
6. Story on the independent coffee shops in town, with a focus on competing with the hugely popular Starbucks locations on Indiana Ave. and in the Union
7. Piece on the decline of record stores and the ones in Bloomington that have managed to stay in business and how their business models have changed
8. Profile of an ballet student
9. Profile of an opera student
10. Profile of Tom Crean
1. Profile of a semi-local boxer
2. Profile of an ex-IU basketball player who still lives in Bloomington, preferably elderly and curmudgeonly
3. Story on the "real Pawn Stars" of southern Indiana interviewing local pawnbrokers
4. Trend story on international graduate students at IU who did undergrad back home
5. Story on the advent of the IU Cinema
6. Story on the independent coffee shops in town, with a focus on competing with the hugely popular Starbucks locations on Indiana Ave. and in the Union
7. Piece on the decline of record stores and the ones in Bloomington that have managed to stay in business and how their business models have changed
8. Profile of an ballet student
9. Profile of an opera student
10. Profile of Tom Crean
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