Reilly's Ramblings

The experience with this assignment was unique because carrying a box of cookies to classes every day for three days was stressful with a backpack full of school work. It was hard at first to make the cookies go away but the next two days made it easy for the cookies to go away.

On day one, it was challenging to try to get someone to take one bag of cookies. Luckily, the activities fair was on the same day as this story first started. I took the box and open it up and set it in front of the Mass Communications table in the fair.

Nobody took a bag except when the fair was over. There was a lady at the table to the right of me that looked at my cookie box.  Another classmate, Mari Pizzini, also brought her box of cookies to the activities fair. They were Scooby Snacks.

She asked, “What kind of cookies do you have?”

I said, “Fudge Stripes.”

“Can I have a bag?”

“Sure you can.”

I tossed the bag of cookies to her, and she said, “Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome.”

On the next day, my progress of making the box of cookies empty was much better than the day before. Five bags of cookies less to have with me. I gave out two bags of cookies to Katy Hackworth and Nathan Hoogland. It was an awkward but funny experience. We laughed as gave them cookies.

Quickly after that, I asked Jenny Mansfield if she wanted a bag of cookies. She said yes and gave her a bag of cookies. Soon after, Jonathan Covert realized that I was giving out cookies and asked for bag himself. I said yes and gave him a bag of cookies. Katy, Nathan, and Jonathan all went to their class afterward.

I took my box of cookies onto the second floor of the library. Set them in front of my computer so when people walk by; they can see the cookies. Nobody took a bag of cookies for a while, and so made a sign that said: “FREE Yummy Cookies” to put in front of the box.

After a while, Steph Davis noticed the sign and was confused. I told her that it was for an assignment for class and she repeated what I said.

She says in a loud voice, “THANK YOU!!” and takes a bag for herself.

On day three, my progress was even better than yesterday. I gave out six bags of cookies. Kaitlyn Polk, who was leaving campus that day, before my class start. Morgan P., who was confused about why I was giving out cookies and was skeptical about the whole thing. Katie McClintock, who asked why I was giving out cookies and explained why she was seeing people giving out cookies.

The last three bags of cookies were giving out before the J.D. Scholten rally. They noticed the sign on the box and asked if there were cookies inside and said yes. They didn’t believe me, so I opened up the box to show that there are cookies inside.

They asked if they can have them and I said yes. I tossed the bags to them, and they said, “Thank you.”

I said, “You’re welcome.”

Finally, all twelve bags of cookies were gone. The struggle of carrying a box of cookies and trying to make them go away was gone.

Original lede: “On Oct. 23, chemists around the world come together to celebrate a sacred holiday amongst their profession: Mole Day. On that same day, millions of non-chemists look in confusion as chemists wish them a happy Mole Day.”

Revision #1: For chemists, Oct. 23 is a day that celebrates a sacred holiday, called Mole Day. For non-chemists, Oct. 23 it is just another day in the month.

Revision #2: Mole Day is a holiday that is not well-known to many people, but for chemists, it is an essential holiday to be celebrated.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-an-ex-cop-rigged-mcdonalds-monopoly-game-and-stole-millions

Original Lede: “Jacobson was the head of a sprawling network of mobsters, psychics, strip-club owners, convicts, drug traffickers, and even a family of Mormons, who had falsely claimed more than $24 million in cash and prizes.”

The lede works because it shows how huge this conspiracy actually is and how many people it took to rig the Monopoly game. It grabbed my attention by mentioning the different groups of people that helped Jackson and how much money and prizes were falsely claimed.

New ways to write lede:

Topical: Jerome Jackson and his crew had falsely claimed more than $24 million dollars in cash and prizes in 12 years from the McDonald’s Monopoly Game.

Topical: More than $24 million was falsely claimed in cash and prizes from the McDonald’s Monopoly game by one man and his large network of connections.

Contrast: It took mobsters, strip-club owners, convicts, psychics, drug traffickers, and a family of Mormons to help one man steal cash and prizes that are worth more than $24 million from the McDonald’s Monopoly game.

Question: How can someone or even large groups of people working together steal over $24 million in cash and prizes from the Monopoly game at McDonald’s?

Question/Contrast: Why would someone go through all the trouble to have lots of people help him steal millions of dollars from a game?

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/08/06/les-moonves-and-cbs-face-allegations-of-sexual-misconduct

Characters – Les Moonves-main character, Illeana Douglas-alleged victim number 1, Janet Jones-alleged victim number two, Christine Peters- victim number three, a prominent actress- victim number 4, Dinah Kirgo- victim number five, former child actress Kimberly-victim number six, CBS workers accused of sexual harassment, Jeff Fager- executive producer of ’60 Minutes’

Narrative Structure – Starts out with who Les Moonves is, then goes straight into the allegations, then the history of the allegations, how long CBS and it’s current and former workers knew about this, Moonves statement about the allegations, CBS statement about the allegations, CBS vs. Viacom, and Douglas’ allegation against Moonves. CBS statement about Moonves trying to kiss Douglas but denies any sexual harassment, continuing Douglas’ allegation, Jones’ allegation against Moonves, Peters’ allegation against Moonves, and a prominent actress’ allegation against Moonves. Dinah Kirgo’s allegations against Moonves, Kimberly’s allegations against Moonves, how CBS handles sexual harassment allegations and what they do about it, CBS workers accused of sexual harassment, claims against Fager, how Fager covered up accusations against other CBS workers, and how sexual harassment happens all across Hollywood.

Themes – Sexual harassment in Hollywood and how television stations handle sexual harassment claims

Story: The N.F.L. Stiff-Armed Trump. Now He Is Heckling From the White House. – The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/magazine/nfl-owners-trump-football.html?action=click&module=In%20Other%20News&pgtype=Homepage&action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage

Five additional feature-ish stories that can come out of this story:

1. How has politics affected sports since Trump came into office?
2. Why is politics in every aspect of life since Trump became President?
3. Can politics be removed from anything from sports to entertainment to everyday conversations?
4. When can sports be just sports again?
5. How do sports like football feel about all this attention on them because of the President?

The one that I would like to do most is number three. The reason is that ever since the 2016 presidential election, politics have become the basis of news in every aspect and Trump or his administration is in the headlines every single day.

Health: Detection of breast cancer genetics in younger women

What can women do when they’re younger to detect if they have any breast cancer genetics?

When they found out if they do have the genetics, what changes do they need to make to give themselves better chances of not having breast cancer?

Sources: online medical websites dedicated to women’s health and breast cancer

Quotes: young women who may or may not have the genetics, women that didn’t know about the genetics, campus nurse, doctors that studied breast cancer

Entitlement: Ways of seeing someone who’s entitled

How to detect if someone believes that they are entitled to anything and everything?

In what ways can anyone see an entitled person around them in public, friends, or family members?

Sources: online websites that have articles about entitlement and the mental history behind entitlement qualities

Quotes: People who have seen entitled people, people who have dealt personally with entitled people, and entitled people themselves

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/22/magazine/when-the-supreme-court-lurches-right.html

A story is a piece in a newspaper, newscast, or news updates that can capture the attention of readers when they are the least expecting it or the most when it is essential to know what’s going on. A story is something that doesn’t come to someone in a second but tells the reader that there is something to learn, something to gain from reading it. For writers, it takes revisions after revisions to have the right version of the story before it ever gets published. The time frame of a story can be short or long depending on what the writer wants to get out of the story.

We need stories to take our minds off of what the world is around for some time. The stress and the worries of life are gone when reading them. Stories can help the readers anywhere in the world by just the use of words. Stories can either relax or gain knowledge for readers. They bring a sense of why the topic or character is important enough to be read. Stories fill in the gaps of what’s happening in the world and the media; they will always intrigue viewers and readers.

1. Why does it seem like there’s not enough time to get eight hours of sleep?
2. Why is some chocolate food considered good for you and others considered bad?
3. Why are shootings happening more and more often?
4. What is the best way to not fall asleep in class at 2:30 in the afternoon?
5. When does the homework stop being so annoying to students after school starts?

Reilly Mahon

Ross Fuglsang

Story #2 Reflection

26 October 2017

Socializing Story Reflection

This experience with writing this recent story was very well for me. As a future sports reporter, I need all of the experience that I can write quick stories. This story helped me with my interviewing problem of just going up to people, ask them if they want to be interviewed and ask them questions about the socializing problem in today’s society. This reflection is going to be a learning lesson on reporting and what I need to improve to be a better reporter.

The part of the assignment that concerned me the most was the interviews. Interviews worried me because I am not good with going up to people and asking them questions. The interviewing part of the assignment helped me get out of my shell and talk to strangers. This concern affected my writing process of trying to have all of the interviews done before the first draft was due. Scheduling interviews are hard to do because you’re making sure that your schedule and the interviewee’s schedule are available at the same time. I decided to go straight up to the interviewees’ and asked them if I can ask them questions about socializing, and they all said yes. So, I just asked them a couple of questions that were quick and then to questions that came from the interviewees’ responses to questions.

One revision that I made between the first draft and the final draft was the cutting out and reorganizing of the story. This change took a while because I had to figure out what goes where after cutting a couple of paragraphs from the story. I had to see how the story looked and figured out how to make the story better than the first draft. The revision made the story more efficient because I eliminated some paragraphs that had no importance to the story. I cut out the section “Social media helps people hide online. People also use technology as a way to talk to others more easily” from the story. This item makes no sense in the story, and it is also weak too. This section is one of four parts that were taken out of the first draft to make the final version better.

The part of the process for article number two that I put the most effort into is the interviews. The interviews were the tricky part because I had to find the people, interview them, and make sure that I have their answer written correctly. I wanted to be able to quote my interviewees accurately in the article. The part of the process that I wish I spent more time on is how to put the story together. It took me a while to figure out how to have the story the way that I want it to be. As a reporter, this is a hard part in the beginning but the more experience I get, the better I will be in news story organization.

The news writing strategy that I learned that I would intend to use in the future is to organize my stories better. Organization in writing is very significant because it helps the readers understand the story and have information in order. This strategy also helps me, as the reporter, to have things and events for a story. Stories need to be able to have information in order and correct for readers. I want to be able to improve on organizing, so in the future, my articles are better.

This recent story helped me see where I am at in my progress in journalism writing as a reporter. I need more improvement in organizing, but I will get better with more practice and time. I have learned a lot about myself as a reporter and how this story made me want to go out and interview people better. Practice makes perfect for anything that someone wants to be good. The story is a good stepping stone to improve and be better. This story, in my opinion, is better than my first story that I did earlier in the semester and the next story will be better than this one.