It has finally arrived and it's time to close out the year with some awesome posts. Hope you enjoy! I have loved reading your posts more than anything else we've done in class. You all have been insightful, reflective, and responsive to each other in ways I never imagined. Thanks for making this work and thanks for partaking in this part of the class.
1. Here is an amazing story about a school that has a segregated prom. This piece appeared in the NYTimes Magazine this weekend. The topic is what intrigued me the most, but the writing is pretty solid as well.
2. An interesting piece from the radio show On The Media. This particular piece digs into the health care issues facing America, but more precisely, the misinformation that killed the last attempt to change our system. Is the media to blame? Why didn't the media do more to find out the truth in 1994? How can we learn some investigative tips from this piece? How could this inform the depth we go to (or don't go to) in our own work?
6 comments:
I read the piece about holding a segregated prom, and I was utterly shocked. When I first read the thread, I assumed it meant segregated by gender or some other means, but I was horrified to see segregation in the South is still rearing its ugly head. I would agree the piece was well written; I read through it quickly and thoroughly without losing interest. I think we as writers should try to emulate the structure of covering the main issue but also providing snapshots of the moments and people involved. Hopefully more stories like this one will saturate the news - obviously American society still needs a wake up call.
I read this piece at home as well and was surprised, though not completely unaware, that racism still existed on this level. My first thought was that this type of segregation would be illegal, but because the event was not school sponsored, that was not the issue.
In a community so undivided by race, it is hard to imagine that even within the country there are people who still have to live in fear because of their skin color. Most of the resistance to a non-segregated prom came from the parents. It is good to see that some students are stepping away from some of the misgivings about blacks. To sway what people believe is a task that won't come from living in segregation.
If more people of the younger generation, such as the boyfriend of the white girl from the article, would make a point of attending "white prom," the distinction between white and black would slowly fade.
I love that the paper is covering issues like these and exposing the inequalities that still exist in AMerica. If people don't know what is going on, there can be no action. The graphics in the article were simple; black and white. They got the point across and drew me in. If we can talk about controversial issues like this, we will attract more readers.
This is absolutely ridiculous! I am of course referring to the segregated prom piece. I am we aware that Montgomery Alabama is and always has been a a city filled with racial tension, and following the integration of schools, black and whites still felt some tension between the two groups. What I didnt know was that there were still aspects of the school that were segregated. Downright, blatant segregation. I didnt know that the tension was anything more than animosity and uneasiness.
What I dont understand is why isnt this a bigger issue. While the nation is celbrating our pogressive ways by electing the first African American president, we ignore the racism that is happening in our own backyard. Not only is it hypocritical, and ironic, but it is unacceptable. This needs more attention in the media, and can no longer be overlooked.
Segregated prom
It was very interesting because i had read the same piece in a seventeen magazine. When i read it in the magazine i was so shocked, my jaw literally dropped. However, in the article found in the magazine the quotes were anynomous because the students feared they would get in trouble. I found this very interesting because the people who were fearful were white men or women, who were friends with black men or women. Since they are friends, i would think that they would be willing to stand up for each another.
Just like Hossain talked about, i do not understand why this is not a bigger issue. I was so shocked about this. I don't understand why it is not in the news.It leds me to wonder if this segargation is done in other states specifically in the south? I thought our country was moving in the right direction by electing an african american president. I thought segargation was a thing of the past, but apparently it is not.
Just like everyone else, I was extremely surprised by the segregated prom article. The piece is very interesting because it treads a very difficult line for a writer, and in thinking about it, there is no way I would be able to write a feature article on such an issue. I commend the writer for doing so, but reading the piece was extremely difficult and frustrating because of its attempted neutrality. To me, there are no two valid sides to this issue. There is only one valid side, and that is that whoever is trying to put on these segregated proms, regardless of tradition or otherwise, is completely backwards and ridiculous.
Thus, I really commend the writer for being somewhat neutral. But at the same time, I think that something like this would play as well, if not a lot better, as an editorial. I was constantly waiting for the piece to make the obvious point, which is that this is completely unacceptable, but it simply never went there.
The piece on healthcare was kind of depressing. It shows how when the media does not do its job well, it leads to negative consequences for the country.
A prime expample of this is the segragation that continues to fester in the south. I, like everyone else who commented on this article, was completely shocked by the segragated prom article. Then, I was outraged that this was the first time I had heard of it. In this situation the media failed to do its job. Instead of exposing American racism, the media in general uses Obama a symbol of equality, lulling society into a sense of false security.
Another example of the media's failure is in global news. Over 200,000 people have died in the genocide in Darfur yet this tragedy does not recieve as much attention as the attacks in Mumbai last year. I am not trying to say that the Mumbai attacks were not terrible, but in contrast to Darfur, 101 people were killed in the Mumbai attacks.
Another shocking statistic is that when I searched in google "number of people killed in Mumbai attacks," I got over five million hits. But when I searched "number of people killed in Darfur genocide" I got around 100,000 hits. Why is the scale of the tragedy not reflected in the media?
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