Tuesday, May 31...review material for the year-end assessment

 Your year-end assessment is tomorrow in class. If you are absent, plan on coming in after school on Thursday to room 176. 
   The assessment  will consist of 20 multiple choice questions and one essay, which will require you to analyze an editorial for rhetorical devices.

Topics to review for the assessment.

First Amendment
Parts of a news article
What is an inverted pyramid
What makes a story newsworthy
The use of quotations 
The different writing jobs within a newspaper
Types of journalism: yellow, tabloid, penny press
What is an editorial
How to conduct an interview / types of questions
What is satire?
What is the purpose of a critique?
What makes an effective photojournalist shot?
Persuasive techniques in advertising 
    logos, ethos and pathosThe relationship between journalism and public relations.*

*Please note:  we did not get to the public relations project. Read this below and you'll know how to respond to the multiple choice question.

What is Public Relations? It seems difficult to believe in the 21st century that there exists a major discipline with so many diverse, partial, incomplete and limited interpretations of its mission. Here is just a sampling of professional opinion on what public relations is all about:

1. talking to the media on behalf of a client.
2. selling a product, service or idea.
3. reputation management.
4. engineering of perception
5. attracting credit to an organization for doing good.
6. limiting the downside when it goes bad.

By definition, public relations is the art and science of establishing relationships between an organization and its key audiences. Public relations plays a key role in helping business industries create strong relationships with customers.

Brief History of PR

Public relations arrived with the development of mass media. At the turn of the 20th century, "muckraking" journalists were stirring up public dissent against the powerful monopolies and wealthy industrialists who ruled the day. Early public relations firms combated the bad press by placing positive stories about their clients in newspapers.

Former journalists, such as Ivy Lee, used the first press releases to feed newspapers "the facts" about his misunderstood clients, namely the railroad and tobacco industries, and J.D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil.
Lee and company became so good at whitewashing even the darkest corporate sins that PR professionals earned a reputation as "spin doctors."

Much time has passed since the days of Ivy Lee, and to label today's PR professionals as dishonest would be to ignore how pervasive and important their work has become to people and organizations of all shapes and sizes -- small businesses, authors, activists, universities, and non-profit organizations -- not just big business and big government. 

There are different types of public relations; some companies call it investor relations and yet others will call it financial public relations, but what some companies do not realize is the fact that public relations is an extremely essential and integral marketing tool.
Essentially, the general idea of public relations is advertising, branding and marketing. Anything that involves the media is the responsibility of the public relations officer. He encourages magazines, newspapers, radio and TV to print or air good things about the services and the products. This promotion will reach their targeted customers; therefore generating an increase in sales and patronage.
People act on their perception of the facts; those perceptions lead to certain behaviors; and something can be done about those perceptions and behaviors that leads to achieving an organization’s objectives.

That leads us directly to the core strength of public relations.

Wednesday / Thursday May 25 / 26 Blog 2

Andrew Solomon is a writer and lecturer on psychology, politics, and the arts; winner of the National Book Award; and an activist in LGBT rights, mental health, and the arts.

Please watch the Ted Talk below, entitled Love, No Matter What with Andrew Solomon. This link has subtitles. Note that the video is 21 minutes long. 

Please follow the same procedure as Monday and Tuesday:

today listen and write a minimum 150 word response and post to the blog. (due by midnight) and on Thursday, respond on the blog to any two people.  Make sure to identify yourself, so as you receive credit.

Andrew Solomon Ted Talk

Monday Tuesday May 23 24 blogging week

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

  WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1 IS THE DISTRICT ASSESSMENT FOR JOURNALISM

  On Tuesday, May 31 we will review the material throughout the year that we covered. 

On Thursday, June 9, you will take the world countries' assessment. I will pass out the study maps on Thursday, June 2. You will have class time to prepare. 

This week we are blogging.  Note: if you are uncomfortable with this topic, there is a substitute. The John Oliver's Late Night is a mature presentation. You need ear buds.

1. Read the following background information.

Blogging emerged in the late 1990s, coinciding with the advent of web publishing tools that facilitated the posting of content by non-technical users.Blogs are usually the work of a single individual, occasionally of a small group, and often are themed on a single subject. (Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.) 

Although not a must, most good quality blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other on the blogs; it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites. In that sense, blogging can be seen as a form of social networking. Indeed, bloggers do not only produce content to post on their blogs but also build social relations with their readers and other bloggers. 

MECHANICS 

This unit will consist of responding to two discussion points. What this will entail is that on Monday and Wednesday this week you will listen / watch a   prompt to which you will respond. These responses should be subjective, much as one would write an editorial; however, they should not be diatribes, but insightful, reflective observations. At the same time, again like an editorial, there will be some controversy. Not everyone will have the same reaction. 
Your initial response should be a minimum of 150 words. You should make reference to particular statements you have heard or read, make comments, pose questions and bring up tangential information. All responses are on the blog for everyone to read. Lead off your response with (blank says). These must be posted by midnight that day, in order for you to get credit. (You will easily be able to complete these in class.) The following day, you will scan the many observations, choose two and respond to them in a minimum of 100 words each. Again both must be posted by midnight for credit. Note, you may comment on anyone's blog from either journalism class.  Make sure that your identity is clear!

 SUMMARY
1. Monday: watch the John Oliver clip (16 minutes) 
2. Respond and post your position / observation / reflection. (You might want to check your information.) Your initial response should be no fewer than 150 words. While the tone may be more conversational, you should adhere to correct standards of grammar, punctuation and spelling. This gives much more credence to what you say. As well, it will be noted in the grading. 
3. Tuesday: Now read some of your classmates' responses and respond to at least two of these in a minimum of 100 words each.  Make sure to identify yourself and to whom you are addressing. ( ie. dmpalond in response to Michael) Again, these are not attacks, but thoughtful reflections and observations. Also, you may want to do a little background reading to support your position. 

4. Grading: For each article- and the two responses of a minimum of 100 words- you will potentially receive 95 points. A new article with be posted on Wednesday, at which point the responses for Monday's is closed. Again, make sure that you have identified yourself clearly on the blog, so that you receive the appropriate credit. As this is on line, you won't have any difficulties completing this whether you are in class. 

5. Last item: as there are between  80 and 160  responses everyday that I must check, NO LATE WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED. As well, it is imperative that you identify yourself clearly, so that you receive credit for your work. 

Monday's blog: Transgender people in the military? bathrooms? And yes, this is coming to SOTA. Your thoughts?

Transgender Rights

Tuesday's blog: if I did not receive your post, you have a zero. You may write yesterday's post for 50 points. (The exception, of course, will be made for legal absences)

Today: please comment, expand, question two of the posts on the blog. Make sure to identify yourself. As with yesterday, these must be done by midnight in order to get credit. I cannot go back
"fishing" for your responses.

Thursday / Friday May 19 and 20 personal ekphrasistic writing

Marchal Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase and X.J. Kennedy's poem, which follows, by the same title is to illustrate how ekphrasis is used in poetry.

Nude Descending a Staircase

Toe upon toe, a snowing flesh,
A gold of lemon, root and rind,
She sifts in sunlight down the stairs
With nothing on. Nor on her mind.

We spy beneath the banister
A constant thresh of thigh on thigh--
Her lips imprint the swinging air
That parts to let her parts go by.

One-woman waterfall, she wears
Her slow descent like a long cape
And pausing, on the final stair
Collects her motions into shape.

As stated previously ekphrasis, which was created by the ancient Greeks, uses one art form to respond to another, so as to envision the thing described as if it were physically present. In some cases, the subject never really existed, making the ekphrastic description a demonstration of both the creative imagination and the skill of the writer.  

 Murray's The Stranger in the Photo  was the exemplar for how you would write your own response to the photo you were asked to bring into class.  If you did not complete the assignment, please check it out, so you know what is expected in the following assignment. (Any not received have a zero; so at least get it in for 50 points)

YOUR ASSIGNMENT: Everyone needs a picture of him or herself that is at least five-years old.  (This is the homework assignment from Monday. You will receive either 100 or 0 points.)

Using the essay by Donald Murray as a general model, look at your photo. Take time to study facial expression, the body position and gestures. What is the context? Project yourself back to that moment. Where were in your life? What were your expectations- for the moment?  for the long run? Maybe your long run was only a month away. Compare this to where you are now. This is not a goal oriented essay, as in what would I like to be when I grow up. Ask yourself honestly, who you were then? To make it interesting, use vivid imagery and other figurative language devices such as metaphors or similes. Make the reader connect with this photo, much as Murray did. Careful with the tone. Murray offers no regrets, rather he creates a world into which the reader may step. This should be about 500 words. Grading:  language conventions / sense / beautifully and articulately expressed. Make this a masterpiece.  This is the last major writing assignment.

This is due by Friday, May 20 at midnight, after which it is late.

Tuesday / Wednesday May 17/ 18 ekphrastic writing: Donald Murray example

REMINDER: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A PHOTO OF YOURSELF THAT WAS TAKEN AT LEAST FIVE YEARS AGO TO WORK WITH ON THURSDAY. THAT MEANS BETWEEN AGES 0-13. THIS MUST BE A PHYSICAL COPY. THE PICTURE MAY INCLUDE OTHER PEOPLE.
        IMPORTANT: THIS IS A HOMEWORK GRADE- A SIMPLE 0 OR 100. NO EXCEPTIONS. Learning targets:
 I can cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
I can analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text.
I can determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text.
I can analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear, convincing, and engaging.
I can establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which  I am writing.
Please read this essay by Donald Murray and respond to the following based upon the reading; send along as usual. Your responses should be fully, fleshed-out, complete sentences that weave in textual evidence. They should demonstrate a level of sophistication that one associates with college level writing. This is due by midnight tomorrow, after which the assignment is worth only 50 points.  

Read the questions before the essay.

1. What textual and contextual elements indicate this column's particular audience?


2. Identify what you believe to be Murray's central argument.

3. How does Murray's comment on our "ability to stop time in the way" mesh with the inclusion of the photograph? How does the comment deepen our understanding of his argument?

4. Examine the photograph. How does the presence of the photograph itself contribute to Murray's effort to communicate? How, if at all, would the absence of the photograph change the essay's argument?

5. Speculate how would the absence of a caption alter your reading of or response to the essay?

6. Respond: how would replacing the existing caption with each of the following captions affect your reading?
a. "Paratrooper Donald M. Murray, 1944"
b. "The Stranger in England, 1944"
c. "A soldier in rakish disregard..."

The Stranger in the Photo Is Me by Donald M. Murray

I was never one to make a big deal over snapshots; I never spent long evenings with the family photograph album. Let’s get on with the living. To heck with yesterday, what are we going to do tomorrow? But with the accumulation of yesterdays and the possibility of shrinking tomorrows, I find myself returning, as I suspect many over 60s do, for a second glance and a third at family photos that
snatch a moment from time.

In looking at mine, I become aware that it is so recent in the stretch of man’s history that we have been able to stop time in this way and hold still for reflection. Vermeer is one of my favorite painters because of that sense of suspended time, with both clock and calendar held so wonderfully, so terribly
still.

The people in the snapshots are all strangers. My parents young, caught before I arrived or as they were when I saw them as towering grown-ups. They seemed so old then and so young now. And I am,to me, the strangest of all.

There is a photograph of me on a tricycle before the duplex on Grand View Avenue in Wollaston I hardly remember; in another I am dressed in a seersucker sailor suit when I was 5 and lived in a Cincinnati hotel. I cannot remember the suit but even now, studying the snapshot, I am drunk on the memory of its peculiar odor and time is erased.

In the snapshots I pass from chubby to skinny and, unfortunately, ended up a chub. Looking at the grown-ups in the snapshots I should have known. In other snapshots, I am cowboy, pilot, Indian chief; I loved to dress up to become what I was not, and suspect I still am a wearer of masks and costumes.

It would be socially appropriate to report on this day that I contemplate all those who are gone, but the truth is that my eyes are drawn back to pictures of my stranger self.And the picture that haunts me the most is one not in costume but in the uniform I proudly earned in World War II. I believe it was taken in England from the design of the barracks behind me. I have taken off the ugly steel-framed GI glasses, a touch of dishonesty for the girl who waited at home.
My overseas cap with its airborne insignia is tugged down over my right eye, my right shoulder in the jump jacket is lower because I have my left hand in my pocket in rakish disregard for the regulation that a soldier in that war could never, ever stick a hand in a pocket.

The pockets that are empty in the photograph will soon bulge with hand grenades, extra ammunition,food, and many of the gross of condoms we were issued before a combat jump. This GI item was more a matter of industrial merchandising than soldierly dreaming—or frontline reality.The soldier smiles as if he knew his innocence and is both eager for its loss and nostalgic for those few years of naiveté behind him.

I try once more to enter the photograph and become what I was that day when autumn sunlight dappled the barracks wall and I was so eager to experience the combat my father wanted so much for me. He had never made it to the trenches over there in his war. When that photograph was taken, my father still had dreams of merchandising glory, of a store with an awning that read Murray & Son. I had not yet become the person who had to nod yes at MGh when my father asked if he had cancer, to make the decision against extraordinary means after his last heart attack. When this photo was taken, he had not yet grown old, his collars large, his step hesitant, his shoes unshined.

Mother was still alive, and her mother who really raised me had not died as I was to learn in a letter I received at the front. The girl who wrote every day and for whom the photo was taken had not yet become my wife, and we had not yet been the first in our families to divorce two years later.I had not yet seen my first dead soldier, had not yet felt the earth beneath me become a trampoline as the shells of a rolling barrage marched across our position.

I had no idea my life would become as wonderful or as terrible as it has been; that I would remarry,have three daughters and outlive one. I could not have imagined that I actually would be able to become a writer and eat—even overeat. I simply cannot re-create my snapshot innocence.I had not had an easy or happy childhood, I had done well at work but not at school; I was not Mr. Pollyanna, but life has been worse and far better than I could have imagined.

Over 60 we are fascinated by the mystery of our life, why roads were taken and not taken, and our children encourage this as they develop a sense of family history. A daughter discovers a letter from the soldier in the photograph in England and another written less than a year later, on V-E day. She is surprised at how much I have aged. I am not.I would not wish for a child or grandchild of mine to undergo the blood test of war my father so hoped I would face as he had not. In photos taken not so many years later I have a streak of white hair. It is probably genetic but I imagine it is the shadow of a bullet that barely passed me by, and I find I cannot enter the snapshot of the smiling soldier who is still stranger to me, still innocent of the heroic harm man can deliver to man.

—The Boston Globe

Monday May 16 finishing presentations

Finishing up presentations.

For this Thursday you will need a picture of yourself that is at least five-years old. It may have been taken anywhere and include other people than yourself.  

I will not be keeping the photos, but you must absolutely have a photo to complete the assignment.  You may give it to me before Thursday, and I will return it to you then.

Of note: I'll count this as a homework assignment of 100 points. Real simple: one hundred points if you have it on Thursday at the start of class and zero points, if you do not.

Monday / Tuesday May 9 and 10 assembling your projects and writing

Monday and Tuesday is your time to organize and analyze your personal photo project.

Please add in a title slide that includes your theme and name.*

The graphic organizer is on the blog for Thursday, April 28.
 Once again, everyone must turn in the organizer this Wednesday. (Make sure you have made a copy for yourself, in case you need it as a reference in your presentation.) Please note that on your organizer, you must identify the type of shot and state two techniques (list on the original directions from April 28) that you focused on. Do not simply say "horizon line" or "texture", but explain exactly how you used or focused on these within your image. There will be no computers.  We will begin sharing on Wednesday, starting with volunteers.

If you are making a Power Point, put it on your thumb drive.

Paper Part

Not everyone can present on Wednesday, May 11,  but everyone must turn in the following graphic organizer. Be mindful that there is writing component  of the organizer. (class handout or adapt from below) Don't forget the reflection piece at the end.  Note that you will have class time on Monday and Tuesday, May 9 and 10 to assemble the writing component and Prezi / Power Points. Make sure to have your photos with you. There will be no class time on the 11th; I'll just collect your paperwork. If you wish you may put a copy of your photo onto the graphic organizer. 

Do not forget the 250 word minimum reflection piece. Please print out two copies, one for you and one for me.  Do not send me material!

Photojournalism Project                    Name_________________________________________________

Photo project objective statement:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

      

        

                                                                                                                            

                 

1	setting/ time	brief description of image	type of shot/ technical goals demonstrated
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6
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9
10

                               

                                                In approximately 250 words, describe your process of taking the photos, including any pleasures, frustrations and obstacles you encountered. 

Thursday / Friday May 5 / 6 Breaking Bread Everywhere

Reminder: Everyone's written component of the personal photo project is due next Wednesday, May 11.
   The graphic organizer is on the blog for Thursday, April 28.

  Note: you will have class time on Monday and Tuesday to assemble and write up the projects. Don't forget to bring your pictures.

Where We Eat photo assignment

1) Read the short essay.

Breaking Bread Everywhere, Plentifully or Pitifully
     Imagine gathering all the food you plan to eat today. Now take a picture of it.
In an unusual project, Peter Menzel and Faith D’Alusio, a photographer and writer, traveled the world collecting photos and stories about what people eat in a day. They documented the meager meals of a Masai goat herder during a drought, the fast-food diet of an American long-haul trucker and a veritable feast of lamb kebabs and other foods set out by an Iranian bread baker.
The photos, first compiled in the book “What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets,” have been selected for an unusual exhibit at the Museum of Science in Boston. The result is an anthropological exploration of the culture of eating that is by turns mouthwatering, repulsive and surprising.
     A mountain farmer in Ecuador offers tantalizing cheese empanadas along with roasted potatoes, barley soup and plantains. Meanwhile, a 21-year-old Mall of America worker in Minnesota is photographed with chicken fries from Burger King, tacos from Taco Bell and large cups of Dr Pepper and Mountain Dew.
Flanked by a herd of sheep, a fit-looking Spanish shepherd poses with his dog near a table filled with cans of beer, which he drinks with breakfast and dinner, as well as lamb, cured pork belly, fish and fruit. Several bottles of water and Gatorade dominate the photograph of a 20-year-old American soldier headed to Iraq.
“It isn’t so much to point out problems as it is to open eyes,” Ms. D’Alusio said. “We’ve been focused on food for a while because everybody has to eat. It’s a common denominator.”
     David Rabkin, director of current science and technology at the Museum of Science, said the photo exhibit had been a hit with visitors and would continue at least through early next year.
     “Food is a hot topic — people are interested in it and its many dimensions, from its health impact, to the experience of great food, to the bigger picture of our global food system and issues of social justice,” Mr. Rabkin said in an e-mail. “Food is personal. It’s a great topic for our museum because it’s so compelling to so many of our visitors and so rich in terms of the educational directions in which we can go with them.”
     Each photograph is accompanied by a calorie count of the food displayed, but the authors warn that it’s not necessarily representative of the person’s average daily consumption. Still, the pictures do give a glimpse into how both hunger and excess coexist on the planet. The listed calories range from 800 to 12,300, beginning with a gaunt Kenyan herder and ending with an overweight British woman who claims to regularly binge on junk food.
     Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, who wrote the book’s foreword, said the photographs were only a snapshot of how individuals from different cultures choose to eat. As a result, she notes, the reader can’t draw broad conclusions about the diet of the individual or culture pictured, but the photographs are still revealing.
“In some places the food looks extremely familiar, and other places it doesn’t,” Dr. Nestle said. “Clearly, everybody does not eat like us. There’s a college student in China eating Kentucky Fried Chicken, and there she is looking quite proud about it. It does make you worry about the influx of American fast food into these cultures, yet there seems to be much holding on to the traditional foods.”
     Mr. Menzel and Ms. D’Alusio had documented food habits in two previous books. “Hungry Planet: What the World Eats” is made up of photographs of the weekly food purchases of families around the world. “Man Eating Bugs” documents entomophagy, the eating of insects, still common in parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
    Another project, “Material World,” has photographs of families with all of their belongings, highlighting their most precious possession. “We present information to people rather than drawing conclusions,” Mr. Menzel said. “We’re trying to educate readers by show and tell.”

2) Your class assignment: 
Objective: to understand what ordinary details of our daily lives say about who we are, where we’re from and what we care about?

Send along, as usual.

a) On a word document list 10 things you remember eating yesterday.

b) Next, respond to the following in a well-written, thoughtful manner.
1) What do you think these lists say about who you are, where you live and what you care about? 2) If, one hundred years from now, a historian or anthropologist was to come upon your lists, what might he or she conclude about you, your life and where you’re from? What questions might he or she have?

c) Now write out a personal response to the following. Again, these should be well-constructed, well-thought out ideas. Please send along when you have completed the assignment. This is due on Friday by midnight.  Thank you.

1. What photographs interested or surprised you most? Why?
2. What questions did those photos raise for you?
3. What can these photos tell you about the lives of the people pictured?
4. What do you think they can’t tell you?
5. What does the photographer for the food series, Peter Menzel, mean when he says, “We present information to people rather than drawing conclusions … we’re trying to educate readers by show and tell”? How does this apply to these photos

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