Lots going on ...
1. A good read for all of you. This NYT article talk about the economy and how it's already hitting teens. While I think the article is well written and pertaining to a great topic, what do you think of the cartoon? This is a great example of a cartoon complementing an article. Thoughts? Comments? Brilliance?
2. Another article from this weekends NYT Style Section ... this piece talks about overfeeding on news. How does the constant consumption of news effect the media? Does it make the media sharper? more focused? Or might it make the media softer and less effective because the shift is moving to smaller bits of information but at higher rates of release? Could America's obsession with things like the economy and the election be a bad thing? Could over consumption eventually turn people into apathetic blobs? Or is this the way of the future -- news briefs every second of every day, no matter the seriousness or relevancy of the issues?
3. This article from the NYT's New York section is a great example of a creative lede. While the nut graf still has all of the basic information in it, the style is more relaxed, more story-like that hard news. This is a feature and deserving of a strong lede, but what do you think of its effectiveness? Is it appropriate for the tone of the entire article?
4. This piece is from Slate Magazine and it's all about baseball and the postseason. Now, this isn't hard news and it surely isn't breaking news, but the style and structure is one The Voice can emulate. First off -- what do you think of the piece? Is it well written? Is the tone balanced enough between humor and information? Secondly -- what topic could The Voice take on with this kind of structure and format? It need not be something sports related.
5. Ok, I couldn't resist this one -- it's a great editorial by Ben Stein. What do you think of his writing? or his tone? of his ideas and how he gets them across? Is this editorial too edgy? Too severe? Maybe you think this editorial stinks. Why? or why not? What kinds of structural lessons can you learn from this piece?
12 comments:
The Frugal Teenager, Ready or Not
I really enjoyed reading this article because of its relevance in my own life. I could see eye to eye with the girl in the comic who is shopping with her mother. The comic stood well next to the meaty article. Each complemented the other nicely and really conveyed the overall point. I think the comic allowed parents to see what there kids may be feeling like. I felt the both girls emotions, just after glimpsing the comic. I appreciated that it was straight forward and colorful so that it really caught the readers eye.
Two quotes really stood out to me:
"The son of a Wall Street financier whose fortune has collapsed tauntingly tells his father he can take care of himself: he will sell more marijuana".
“It is an unbelievable shock to affluent families that their lifestyles are gone for good,” Dr. Manning said, “and their children are ill prepared for it.”
There shocking relevance in my life really hit home while reading the article. I only wish more people could see what I have.
-Amanda
I also read the frugal teenager article from the ny times. I thought the comic was a good introduction to the article. It definitely gave a good visual to one of the main points the writer was making about how today's teenagers are unaccustomed to being frugal and not getting their first options. Although I couldn't personally relate to this idea, I constantly hear my sister complain to my mom about shopping for nice clothes.
I really appreciated this article because it openly discussed a topic that most teenagers are reluctant to admit. We are very spoiled and alot of it has to do with the environment we live in. We are lucky to be living in the US, but it has spoiled us to an obvious extent. Despite the difficulties of the current financial crisis, we must still realize that we are still pretty fortunate. It is important for all teenagers to learn to be frugal and grateful for what we do have. Reading this article honestly sounded pretty sad thinking about some of the things today's teenagers are complaining about.
I can't honestly say that I am not as informed about the economic situation as I should be, but I feel very grateful for what I have and am very understanding when my parents can not buy me something I may want. At the least, maybe these times will help teenagers become more aware and understanding about the art of being frugal.
-adam
I read the NYT article on the effect that the economy is having on teenagers.
I agree a lot with Adam's post, but I also believe that the importance in having teenagers learn to accept "no" from their parents will have huge impacts in the future of the United States. Keep in mind that teenagers are the next leaders of the US, and when they grow up with everything, they will turn out to ignore the fact that some people do not get everything they want. Because these people grow up with so much, they will be unable to relate to those less fortunate. The responsibility really is on the parents though.
Although it is difficult for parents to tell their kids "no" due to the fact that they want them to have the best, it is important that they realize that maybe spoiling them so much will not be so helpful in the long run. It is undeniably nice to get that new video game, or whatever, but if it is a common practice, that is what will be expected for their entire life. Not only will this have serious implications in the relationships between individuals, but it will also be very difficult for these people to manage their money if they are used to always getting whatever they want when they want it.
Creative Lede - "Pint-Size Eco-Police, Making Parents Proud and Sometimes Crazy"
I definitely am in favor of more relaxed, creative lede writing because I think it often draws the reader in more than a "traditional" lede which only states the who, what, when, where(etc.) in a very matter of fact way.
I think that this article is a good example of a slightly more creative approach which tells just enough to be interesting, but not so much you feel that you don't need to read the rest of the story .
The tone that this lede sets for the rest of the article is effective because the topic that is being addressed is not terribly serious and has comedic elements. I can see however how a lede like this might not set the correct tone for a more serious article and in that case a more traditional lede would be much more appropriate.
- Julia
Overfeeding on Information
Excess of almost anything in our lives is unhealthy. I mean, apples are fine, but too many and all you end up with is a fibrous granny smith mess.
Between news updates on my cell phone, constant RSS feeds on my laptop, and frantic all-night cram sessions for Mary's news quizzes, there is real pressure to stay up-to-date; nobody likes looking clueless in front of others. A lot of my neurotic news checking also stems from the desire to prove people wrong. I find myself arguing with my parents a lot about political issues that we may disagree about, and I am always trying to convince them that their thinking is faulty. Since the two of them are a lot like me in their news consumption, there is a never ending cycle in my household of finding more and more evidence to make “the better case”. The news today is firing concise stories at people like me and my parents at 45903 rpm, but is not educating its viewers enough about each individual story.
A lot of us have already formed our own ideas about fundamental issues, and have already weeded out which news stations we like to watch/listen to. If we already have a bias, the brevity of today’s news stories results in an even deeper bias and an increasing blindness to the other side of the issue.
And unless we are only consuming news for purely objective data (like humidity levels or tennis scores), we are only bolstering our opinions based on someone else's ideas and not thinking for ourselves. Knowing what is happening in our world is important, but it is still our job to be media-literate. Simply trying to ingest every single petty detail about Obama’s latest campaign endeavors is just not healthy (to both our productivity and our physical being). If our ultimate goal is to become more knowledgeable about the world, then we look deeper, and use sources that exist outside of our comfort zone.
-Tiras Lin
NYT: The Effect of the Economy on Teenagers
I enjoyed reading this article because it is a very important topic at this point in everyone's lives. I thought the comic went well with the article because it may be something that many people will have to do now. What I mean by this is because of the way the economy is right now, it may cause/has caused many families to cut back on things. Like it showed in the comic, the girl was shopping at the sale rack. This was embarrassing to the girl, but it's reality.
Many families may not be able to afford the things that they could afford before. For example, in the article a mother talked about how her daughter wanted a pair of Hollister jeans, but the mom said that they could go to a thrift store to get them. However, the girl replied "that's gross, somebody else wore them." I have to say that the girl's response is not necessarily bad. The reason is she seemed to have gotten many things she wanted before the economic situation. Therefore, she is use to a certain lifestyle. So, it may be difficult to adjust to this new setback in her life. At the same time this is not justified. I think many more teenagers need to open their eyes and see the situation around us. If we (teenagers) choose not to "see" the situation, how are we as the future leaders of the country supposed to take care of the country.
I agree with Adam in saying that the comic was a great introduction because it does in fact catch people attention, and aid the aticle in catching the teenage, or younger reader.
As for the article, I thought it was new and much needed piece that is lacking in most news. Teenagers are in fact affected, although not directly, still in a great way. It was surprising to read that one kid did not that the mortgage bill is a monthly bill rather than an annual one. This goes to show that the economic meltdown is forcing teenagers to not only give up some of the the more superfluous aspects of their lives, but also become aware of the financial decisions around them.
I have also caught myself constantly checking the news as if each time I expect to find out about some earth shattering event. While I don't spend as much time checking news as some of the people in this article, I do lose a large chunk of my time. There is too much news today because most of it is not particularly newsworthy. I've had to check myself many times while reading about things that have little or no impact on my life or anyone else I know. Only a few times have I found myself truly shocked or surprised when randomly checking the news.
I would have to disagree with the author's assertion that the whole rip van winkle thing is fiction. I feel that if i somehow managed to not check the news for a significant period of time, I wouldn't miss many fundamental changes. Things would still operate the same way and I could probably be updated on anything important in a very short amount of time. Also troubling but not touched on in this article is the extreme lack of knowledge of the world most Americans even those who watch the news posses. It seems that we are addicted to fluffy news that consumes significant amounts of time but fails to truly educate the public.
I read the article about children and the environmental crisis. i agree with Julia in that I think that the relaxed style of wirting draws the reader in. For me it was much more comfortable to read and I feel that if the point of a newspaper is to keep the general public informed it is important to write articles in a way that will atract the general public. However, that being said, I also think that different subject matter merits a different writing style approach. For the most part, this article was written in a style that was in accordance with its topic, but at times I thought a more serious tone might have been a little more necessary. I thought that there was a slightly patronizing tone to the article, which I resented. The fact that kids care enough about the environment that they live into to go against their authority figures to tell them off is admirable in my opinion. I thought that the slightly comedic tone that the article took gave less importance to the issue than I thought that it actually deserved.
About those frugal teens...
I think this article was a great, creative approach to the current economic situation. This article is quite a bit more casual than than the standard article about the economy, and deals with a group that is stereotypically even more excessive and materialistic than a lot of adults have been in the past decades. I don’t think teenagers are facing a dilemma much different than their parents’. However, unlike their parents, who hopefully have experience managing money, teenagers from a lot of middle-class or affluent families are dealing with budgeting for the first time in their lives. Personally, I feel lucky that for most of my life my parents have emphasized being careful with money. That said, it’s never easy to cut back.
Pint-Size Eco-Police
I thought this was quite an enjoyable feature. I think the lede was catchy and perfectly suited to the content. It kind of begins with the effect, goes into the cause, and ends with the effect, again. Rather than jump into the relatively boring talk environmental education, the author grabbed me with this accessible snapshot of the modern environmentally-enthused child.It was a perfect balance of the harder, factual stuff and the lighter, more personable stories. It had a strong foundation, but still managed to be airy. I think eco-children are frightening and it managed to convey that without calling them green devils. Also, holla D-Ferry!
-Kareem
The Frugal Teenager
As everyone else has said, this article really resonated with me. But, at the same time it was eye-opening. There's no denying we are a consumer society, and an even more consumeristic generation. I just had no idea how drastically different some of my peers across the nation's values are. I mean, jeans over college? I'd never heard someone take it that far. While yes, I agree this is a great opportunity for America's youth to reevaluate spending and priorities, it's personally troubling when clothing and other pointless possessions are at the top of the list. Hopefully, this article was meant to point some of that out. I think it did a great job of doing so without blatantly pointing out the skewed values of the teens in the article. The cartoon was a nice prepping for the article's context, though I didn't find it particularly funny. But, it was a creative image to go with an all-around engaging article.
-Kareem
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