Dark matter article response

"Almost a Mile Below South Dakota, A Race to Find Dark Matter" from Popular Science read a lot like the Apple article in the sense that it took a topic that is difficult for laypeople to understand – namely the concept of dark matter, an unproven physical phenomenon – and successfully communicated it to people not in the field. That's exactly what Popular Science's job is, even implied in its name, so that should come as no surprise. But I always think it's neat when journalism can be used to take something technical and make it not only accessible but engaging for people who wouldn't necessarily be interested in it at face value.

Structurally, "Dark Matter" read a lot more like an extended newspaper feature than most of the articles we've read this semester. The lead is historical, but not particularly scene-setting or "cutesy," like so many of the stories we read get away with. The story then goes through and basically just tells the story of this mining town and its unusual present circumstance. There's no real scenes, and if there's sections, it's just where the writer takes time away from telling the story to provide additional science and background on dark matter. It's an interesting story, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot to say about it from a structural perspective.

Apple article response

"How Apple Got Everything Right By Doing Everything Wrong" from Wired is exactly the kind of business story I like: one that barely reads like one. For a year in high school, I subscribed to The Economist and I always flipped right to the section on entrepreneurs doing interesting things. This article takes that premise and disseminates it to an even wider audience, taking a company that most of the Wired target audience is intimately familiar with (Apple) and digging into its inner workings.

It's a borderline profile, too, though it certainly has a much wider cast of characters than a typical profile typically yields. We really get to know the way Apple CEO Steve Jobs works, namely, that he's an asshole but no one cares because he's so good at what he does and inspires so much creativity in his employees. More than being an article about Jobs, though, the piece is a rumination on the Apple business model, why it works, and why even minor disappointments lead to what it terms "post-Macworld depression."

The article isn't terribly critical of Apple, though it does bring up some complaints consumers have. It's a slightly fluffy article that has no shortage of praise for Apple. As a satisfied MacBook Pro and iPod Classic owner, it didn't bug me, but perhaps as a critical reader of magazine stories, it did a little bit. Regardless, the style of the article was all in place and made for an enjoyable, breezy read on two subjects – business and technology – that are rarely enjoyable and breezy.

Story 2 Ideas

I have two plans for my second story, both of which zero in a little bit more on my personal interests than my profile did. I'd like to write a how-to article on starting a fanzine, specifically a metal/hardcore fanzine, using people who have launched their own as sources, and taking a look at the state of the handmade, Xeroxed fanzine in the era of the Internet. The other story I'm interested in writing is about the separation of art and artist. There have been similar articles on some sites I read, usually talking about people like Roman Polanski and Michael Vick. I'd like to take a look at it from the extreme metal perspective, dealing with bands like Arghoslent who believe in genetic racial superiority or Burzum whose sole member has been convicted for murder and arson. Right now, I'm leaning toward the how-to fanzine article as I have some sources lined up already.

If I decided to do a profile instead because these two stories don't come to fruition, I have a subject for that as well: Mr. Chris Davis, my high school English and journalism teacher who also plays in bar bands. It's a fallback, though. My primary interest would lie in the fanzine piece.

Descriptive writing

It glows, but not with pure light.

It's more a half-light, merely hinted at by the beams that sneak through the plastic sheath that adorns it. It can't be fairly called white – that would be an insult to the color – nor quite yellow, as its brightness is questionable at best. It's sort of an indescribable shade between the two, and it emanates from long, fluorescent tubes whose outlines are only visible behind the thick plastic thanks to the photons they're emitting.

No, the lights in this classroom aren't the most brilliant on the planet, but they get the job done.

And right now, they're working overtime.

Mr. Lambersie mini-profile

There's a dinosaur in the New York Museum of Natural History called a lambeosaurus.

Mr. Lambersie – Lambo, for short – probably didn't discover it, but Ali Martin still emailed him after she saw it just to make sure. Given Lambo's multitude of interests, it isn't at all unlikely that he might have had a stint as an archaeologist and dug up a pile of bones that no one had seen before.

"He was learning with us," Martin said of Lambo's role as coach of the academic decathlon team at Crown Point High School in Crown Point, Ind. "Whether it was history or English or art he was really dedicated to learning it."

In title, though, Lambo is an English teacher. Martin met him during her junior year of high school when he taught her AP Literature class. That class, she says, set her on her life course.

"I credit him as the person who gave me the initiative to start writing seriously," she said.

Lambo's pedigree as a phenomenal English teacher isn't the lone trait that made him so influential on Martin's life, though. He's also "an absolute asshole" who is "so funny" and "hilarious."

As much of those revelations came from Martin's time in his class as it did from spending two hours after school with him twice a week as a part of the academic decathlon team. It was there that the two were able to forge even deeper bonds.

Still, his presence in that AP Literature classroom junior year, the hilarious asshole that he is, made his biggest mark on Martin's life.

"If I ever write a novel, I plan to dedicate it to him," she said.

Sidney Crosby profile

I'm a huge sports fan, but I've often sat on the fence about whether I'd like to become a sportswriter because my allegiance to my favorite teams is too great. I couldn't be like Mike Wilbon, who loves his Bears but can speak with great admiration for Aaron Rodgers, or Bill Simmons who concedes that Magic Johnson was better than Larry Bird despite his lifelong love affair with all things Boston. I'm concerned, I guess, that my writing might come off a bit too much like Sean Conboy's, the author of "Don't Trust Sidney Crosby With Your Car Keys" from Pittsburgh Magazine. I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume this guy doesn't think too highly of Alex Ovechkin, but I could be wrong.

That's not to say there's necessarily anything wrong with biased sports journalism. I read a Spurs blog, a Bengals blog and a Reds blog every single morning when I wake up, and none of those blogs' authors are remotely objective about the teams they cover. But when you're writing a profile piece like Conboy's, there might be at least some obligation to be even-handed. Our author feels no such responsibility.

Don't get me wrong; I like Sidney Crosby. I think he's probably the best player in the NHL today – although as a Blue Jackets fan I'd give anything for Rick Nash to be better. I just didn't find this article to be anything that needed written. I guess I felt the same way about the Megan Fox article we read during the first week. Is there some new, interesting insight on Sidney Crosby in the piece? No, we pretty much learn that he's really nice, really hardworking, and really good at hockey. Well, no shit. But wait – he's kind of a prankster! Uh, he plays professional sports. Why are you telling me this?

I guess if I was a huge Penguins fan this would be an awesome article. But I'm not. From a style perspective, it's decent, but never once is it gripping. The lead and kicker are both about as manufactured as it comes. "Whoa, this guy is a paradox, check out these opposite-sounding things that he is both of!" and "Ha, ha. Watch me quote the title of my own article!" both come off about as sincere and interesting as the liberal use of puns. This is a fluff piece written for a Pittsburgh audience that will eat it up, and no one aside from Penguins fans and people told they needed to read it for a class likely read the entire thing. Or am I somehow bitter? Go Jackets!

Medical Marijuana response

I guess I'm not entirely sure what the Time article we read for today's (canceled) class, "Medical-Marijuana Schools Grow New Industry in Michigan," was supposed to teach us. The story was definitely the most newsy thing we've read in the semester thus far, and it was certainly competent, but it failed to grab my attention. An unaccredited college that teaches kids how to grow pot could be fodder for a really juicy, interesting feature piece, but the only thought that I walked away from this article with was "Oh, that's something that exists. Huh."

From a style perspective, there's not a ton to talk about, but the journalism is quite solid. There's lots of good quotes and sources, and some of the anecdotes – like the 52-year-old student whose stash and grow lamps were stolen – were pretty interesting. I suppose this was meant to be an example of extending a news story to magazine length and adding a little bit of the analysis that a magazine can offer. Its relative objectivity was comparable to that of "The Girl Who Conned the Ivy League," but the story wasn't nearly as inherently interesting.

Furthermore, the content of the story is a little bit eye-roll-worthy, in my opinion. A whole bunch of dudes rented space across the street from a KFC to grow weed and are calling it a college? It's great that people who need medical marijuana in Michigan are able to obtain it, but this kind of seems like glorifying pot subculture and trying to put a stamp of officialdom on it, and nothing drives me up the wall quite like that. It's like if NORML could give out fake diplomas. I realize this is ancillary to the point, but it certainly didn't help my thoughts on the article.

I thought the journalism work done for this article was pretty good, but at the end of the day, I just wasn't that high on the total package. Huh-huh. I said high.