Ampersand Ideas

Write out three "pitches" for three different Ampersand articles that you might write for this year's publication.

cool pic, huh? 

1. For pitch numero uno, I could "recycle" the internship article I wrote for Unboxed, which is titled: "Going Against the Zeitgeist." It should be fully edited and refined well before Ampersand is ready to be a book.
2. Of course, I see pitch numero uno as cheating in a way, so I could write a whole new article on internship, maybe focusing a little more on the experience of internship rather than on the process of securing an internship so that I can relate a specific experience rather than outright promote internship. The only flaw I see with this pitch is that I don't have any experiences that really stand out from the rest--no funny stories or immediately transformative, life-changing events.
3. I could re-work my mentor interview and use it as my ampersand article (it has some pretty awesome quotes in it).

Inspirational Article #3

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2011/02/16/mr_sugarmans_class/


Mr. Sugarman's class by Carlo Rotella


I liked this article because it is a good story and it has to do with writing and education--even if it is in a fourth-grade class. This reporter's opinion is that you need to have the groundwork laid--a fundamental learning basis--if you're going to be successful in higher learning. Therefore, leading to "We know that we need to improve and even out the quality of elementary and secondary education in this country."
The author uses pretty much all of the tips and the way he writes, his voice, is very reader-friendly and engaging. He doesn't throw arguments in your face, but presents his perspective and simply states that we need to improve public education because those are the formative years. Another key component was that the writing and the argument revolved around his story about his experience in Mr. Sugarman's class, not the other way around. It took on a reflective, considerate tone that said, this is what I'm considering, and encourages the reader to think and consider at the same time. It's short and sweet, but remains poignant and effective. I think that it's a good example of narrative nonfiction without being pages long like a New Yorker article. The only thing I think it misses is some solutions for public education. Rotella wants the public and policymakers to stay focused on improving schools, but he doesn't offer any suggestions himself....maybe he didn't want to. Nevertheless, the fact remains that this is a good example of literary journalism that doesn't contain breaking news, important figures, or the like, but is able to give the reader a positive experience and some good reading on a subject that might not always be in the public eye all of the time yet is nonetheless vitally important--kind of like internship.

Inspirational Article #2

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/business/economy/16leonhardt.html?hp


For Egypt, a Fresh Start, With Cities by David Leonhardt


Although this article isn't exactly narrative nonfiction in the New Yorker style, as a newspaper article it utilizes writing tips and pace elements that might normally be forgotten when a student gets caught up writing in the literary journalistic style. Tips like "Make Meaning Early," "Activate Your Verbs," "Watch Those -ings," and "the Loop" are all used in this article because the reporter has to inform us of something new, tell a story, and make a point on one subject. Also, these reporters have to keep it short and sweet. It isn't something that can drag on for pages and pages, which is a fault I've found with using New Yorker articles as writing examples--students learn to recognize good writing, but might then take liberties length-wise and not "Write to an Ending."
What I didn't like about this article was the "if you say this, you're wrong"......argument......"so I say this; I'm right:" set-up. I just don't like the voice of it or the aggressive tone, but that might be a problem with David Leonhardt, not with concise, informative, relevant reporting.

THIS IS A MUST-READ ARTICLE FOR AMPERSAND INSPIRATION!

http://www.hightechhigh.org/unboxed/issue4/ampersand_making_sense_of_internship

Ampersand: Making Sense of Internship by Randy Scherer


I think that this is a great example of a well-written, inspiring article that serves as a good role model of how to write and what to write about, since this article is about internship--Ampersand, to be exact. The beginning of this story--which is a good tip in itself: this is narrative nonfiction, not a research paper on internship--made me connect with the author, even though I've never experienced that same exact situation, because I could relate to the associated feelings of being unprepared, worried about how you will make your vision reality. After that initial "hook" by which he fished me out of life and into his article, I enjoyed the logical structuring of the article--so much, in fact, that I didn't even notice it...maybe because it's that great thing called flow. His story followed a great chronological progression, from the start of the mentor interview to the end product: a book called Ampersand. The anecdote at the beginning--with his thoughts, feelings, worries--and the great quote at the end made this article a definite Concert, not a pancake. The author also used "Make Meaning Early" and watched his -ings. Throughout the whole article, extra factoids and explanations centered around the story and fit in with certain parts, not the other way around, giving it that great flow I mentioned earlier and making it narrative nonfiction, not a research paper with 'just a story' in it.


For further reading about internship in high school education go here: http://dp.hightechhigh.org/~rscherer/gsedp/RLS_ARThesis.pdf


      

Under each link, describe the writing techniques that the author/interviewer uses to create a finished piece of writing that both accurately portrays the interview subject as well as results in a polished work that the reader can enjoy.

Consider the structure of the overall piece, what information is in the beginning and/or end, if an introduction is used, if there is additional writing throughout the piece, if there are references to any follow up questions, physical formatting, etc.

1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/7928784/Bill-Withers-interview.html
2. http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/steve-jobs-in-1994-the-rolling-stone-interview-20110117
3. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/obama-in-command-br-the-rolling-stone-interview-20100928
4. John O’Brien: The Design of the Job by Lynn L.
5. http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2010/11/29/an-interview-with-wikileaks-julian-assange/
6. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6043331.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1

1. In the Bill Withers interview, the journalist introduces the character with background information and proceeds to narrate in his own style in between quotes that give the audience a look at Withers' personality, his way of speech and thinking. Also, his questions flow with the article instead of breaking it up and making it choppy; he offers them to the reader in the present tense, as if he were asking us the same thing too. The journalist isn't afraid to intersperse his own impressions and other information that he thinks the audience needs to know, but also supports his opinion with quotes, especially the last apathetic statement by Withers.
2. Once again, the reporter provides quite a bit of background information about Jobs and the topic of the interview (which is especially helpful now since some of the info is dated), but instead of the style of the Withers interview, this journalist puts his questions in bold and supplies uninterrupted answers below once the interview begins. He also does not conclude it himself, but ends it abruptly at the end of one of Jobs' question responses.
3. This last interview with Obama is in a style similar to the Jobs interview (of course, it is from the same magazine). The reporter starts out by telling us what happened and doesn't really focus on background information or anything else, instead quickly jumping into the interview. Her questions are in bold above his responses and any additional information, like what is happening physically (e.g. laughing) is in brackets, which makes it seem rather like a screenplay or script. Even at the very end, she describes what happens in italics between brackets before his final response, which the audience is prepared for, so it wasn't abrupt and out-of-place like the interview with Steve Jobs.
4. In The Design of the Job,  Lynn provides the usual background info., description of the character in a work setting, and even some quotes from outside the interview. She tells us how long the interview lasted and once the interview starts, the speaker is designated much like a script. However, the ending is smooth as it sends the reader and O'Brien back into their lives with a look into the future and what happens next.
5. In this Forbes interview with Julian Asange, Greenberg introduces the audience to Asange and gives us all the reasons for the interview--on the Sunday before this November interview, Asange released over 250,000 classified U.S. documents on his website WikiLeaks.  In addition to background information, the interviewer references previous statements by Asange, even providing a quote from the interview itself at the end of the introduction. The interview, done in the usual 'script' format after the introduction, is self-declared as "edited" and accurately portrays the Asange and his purpose, and attempts to divulge more information that wasn't previously known to the public. There is no outro/conclusion at the end, but the interview stops at the end of a question.
6. This was an interview with Bob Dylan from a couple years back. I chose it because I noticed that it has no introduction or background information, and no conclusion (which many interviews I've seen don't have). However, the interview accurately portrays Bob Dylan and his views on, like the title says, Barack Obama, Ulysses Grant, and American Civil War Ghosts. We get a look into Dylan's personality and thought-process without any input from the reporter. It's pure.

I liked the style of the Bill Withers interview, but most enjoyed the introductions of the Obama and John O'Brien interviews, the styles of which I could utilize in my own mentor interview. 

What have you read lately (say, since last semester), that you found interesting? Why did it catch your attention?

Truthfully, I haven't really read any books between last semester and now. During winter vacation, I visited friends, slept, celebrated Christmas, slept, ate good food, forgot everything I had learned during first semester, slept, and then went to internship. At internship, however, since my mentor and coworkers knew I would have down time, provided me with fun, simple reading--scientific research papers to be exact. I had the chance to leisurely peruse through several of these papers (each of which made up a hefty stapled packet) that talked about neuropsychological studies conducted on children. Most were written or cowritten by one of the people I worked with my project on, Erik Newman, a postdoctoral fellow. From what I read, they were very intriguing and definitely really interesting stuff, but even Erik expressed that he was pained to have to read research papers, or try and write them, at times. What usually caught my attention was the Introduction, which, if you remember Brandon's class, tells you everything. After that, I usually skipped to the Results because that told me what all the other stuff in between actually meant and what purpose it might serve.

When I finally was set up to create the emotional/social test for the upcoming research study with Erik and Connor, I actually went online and tried to find some research studies on previous tests that were similar or had results that pertained to emotional/social development in children. I found a great study conducted in France and I actually read through almost the whole thing, especially since I wanted to know the Procedures because they could help out with the test we had to compose. It was, once again, very intriguing.

My reading attention (as it could be called) has been caught by psychology lately, purely because of the fact that my Internship was all about psychology. Alas, another sign that shows just how much internship messes with your life...of course, that's a good thing said with unintended negative connotations.

However, fear not! I shall READ ON!!!

semester2 blog1

What are the big ideas that you are taking from internship into the next steps in your life?

I am taking the many words of advice from my mentor to heart. This advice applies to all people and I already believed in this, but Dr. Terry Jernigan told her similar opinions in her own words:

“I think that it is important to go through life open to opportunities. What makes sense next with what you’re doing now? Being aware of the opportunities around you and how you could utilize them is more important to getting where you want to go.”

“Trust in yourself to know what you are interested in and know that it’s worth pursuing.”

“Be open. Experiment with ideas that might spark new interests. No matter what you do, take risks and pay attention to whether you’re feeling alive and engaged. Open yourself up because that’s where you’ll find that new element, that new possibility. If you don’t take that risk, how will you ever get there?

“Put yourself in novel situations so that you can see things in new ways.”

“Internship would be a positive addition to any education program. A lot of programs are too narrow and highly insular. Out there, experiences are highly variable.” 

I think that Internship showed me how I can test out what I want to do and discover new opportunities all along the way; how to not get caught up in static goals, which can make us miss the journey. This is a very big idea when you think about, and I want to be even more open-minded about my experiences and see what chances the future holds.

What are your plans for the coming semester?

I plan on continuing my honors courses and learning as much as I can from my classes and, yes this is important, getting straight As in all my classes so that I can meet my personal goals and college expectations. In addition, I want all my work to be exceptional so that I can take pride in it and inspire others. That pretty much sums up my school goals.