Month: November 2016

Main idea of the article to show how the grass may not be greener on the other side: sometimes we think if we had a different job our lives would be so much easier but that may not actually be the truth

Interviews:

1. Student at Baruch College – Sabrina Mendizabal
   • “I am so stressed out I have like 5 papers due in one week and my sister is about to have a baby any minute. I have so much going on and our professors are giving us a whole book to read for each class on top of regular assignments that are due. It’s like they think we have nothing else to do except school work. And on top of all that I have to work too.
2. Bartender at Rose Bar, Gramercy Park Hotel – David Winters
   • “The most stressful parts of the job are just dealing with drunk people all night. It makes you want to drink too just so they don’t completely drive you crazy. And then the staying up to 4 am and waking up hungover doesn’t lead to a very full life. The good thing is I don’t have to worry about money, haha.”
3. Personal trainer at Equinox – Ariel Comeau
   • “I honestly love my job. Yeah it’s stressful when clients cancel and my paycheck always is different every week but I get to help people live healthy lives and at the end of the day that makes it worth it.
   • “I spend a lot of my time scheduling and rescheduling, and then rescheduling again.”
4. Musician, Lipstick Gypsy- John Barlosky
   • “Getting to play music is the greatest job I could have. I’m so grateful for all the blessings that I have gotten in the past few years. But right now in the beginning stages it’s hard because we don’t know what we are going to get paid. So I have to still bartend on the side until we get a more secure paycheck.
5. Marketing Coordinator at Nike Kids-
   •  “It’s about being good to your employees. You have a relationship with them. If the employees feel that their boss cares about their well-being they’ll do a better job. Two people in my department quit this week so I’m taking on 3 people’s workloads. I want to quit.
   • “People quit because they get burnt out and overwhelmed with responsibility and pressure.”
6. ***Screenwriter, Director, Producer- Oren Moverman
   • “I just got really lucky. I came here from Israel and I didn’t even know how to write in English. Then I got a job at Interview Magazine as a journalist. After that opportunities kept coming my way and I just ended up meeting the right people to help me out. I still feel like it can end at any moment. I never take it for granted. I always think my careers over and then something happens and I seem to get another chance to create something.”
   • “It is funny though don’t you think people just can’t get out of their own heads. It’s like a type of mental illness.”
   • “It’s all about community and having the right people around you. There a lot of assholes out there. Especially in this industry. Just find good people and stick with them.”
7. ***Former NYU Law Student- Her friend told me that she came to NYC to get her law degree and while she was here she started taking lots of “study drugs” and ended up having a mental breakdown and is now diagnosed with schizophrenia.
8. Investment banker at Goldman Sachs- Ben Goodkind
9. Actress- Hannah Hasseloy
10. Homeless person

Alana-

“Guys here are so delusional. They think everything revolves around them. They want you to be exactly what they hope in their mind you would be and then they can do whatever they want. It’s crazy. They can’t get out of their own heads to see reality.”

Natalia-

“People are so rude. They see I have a tray of drinks in my hand and a check in the other and they still try to stop me to order drinks. Like they don’t see at all that I have 10 things I’m trying to do at once, and the worst part is they just sat down 2 minutes ago.”

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7352/full/nature10190.html

• In 1900, only 14 per cent of the world’s population were city-dwellers.
• By 2050, the United Nations predict that 70 per cent of people will be urbanite

• Previous research has shown that people living in cities have a 21% increased risk of anxiety disorders and a 39% increased risk of mood disorders. In addition, the incidence of schizophrenia is twice as high in those born and brought up in cities.

• Although city dwellers, on average, are wealthier and receive improved sanitation, nutrition, contraception and health care, urban living is also associated with increased risk for chronic disorders, a more demanding and stressful social environment and greater social disparities.

• many authors have proposed that social stress processing in the urban environment underlies the greater risk for mental illness, and contributes to the manifestation of these disorders in adults.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2064106/Why-living-city-makes-fat-infertile-blind-depressed-causes-cancer.html

• when Scientists compared the placentas of mothers from a busy city and a quiet rural district, they found that the city mums had far higher levels of chemical pollutants called xenoestrogens in their blood — and in that of their unborn babies. Xenoestrogens are industrial chemicals that affect our bodies in similar ways to the female hormone, oestrogen. They are found in countless man-made pollutants such as petrol fumes, and are more abundant in industrial areas than the countryside. As well as causing excess foetal growth, they have been linked to problems such as obesity, hyperactivity, early puberty, fertility problems and cancers of the lung, breast and prostate.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-city-life-pose-a-risk-to-mental-health/

• Converging evidence has revealed that growing up in the city doubles the risk of developing psychosis later in life

Narrative ideas:

1. what goes into making a New Yorker
2. what does it mean to be a New Yorker in 2016
3. dangers of being a New Yorker
4. how to navigate a New York life without falling into a life of delusion
5. how to make it out of New York with your sanity intact

Multimedia use?

How to stylize “sikhs” vs. “seek”

—

Mandeep Singh stretches his arms while the American custom’s security officer pats him down. The officer tells him he is going to move onto his turban. Singh agrees while he silently curses the man. He knows the airport security is confusing him and his family for people of the Islamic faith—the same religion that well-known terrorist groups follow. Singh, however, is not a Muslim; he is a Sikh.

Sikhism is a monotheistic religion, and it is the world’s fifth most popular religion, originating in the 15^th century. It is often mispronounced as “seek.” Major tenets of the religion include worshipping one god, treating everyone equally, working hard, and never begging.

Sikhs, mostly Sikh men, wear turbans as a part of their religion [specifics]. This visible identification causes confusion between Sikhs and Muslims, who wear turbans for fashion or status reasons. However, many Muslims in the west don’t wear turbans. Most people who wear turbans are Sikhs. [insert statistics].

-expand

Due to the rise of Islamophobia in recent years because of terrorist attacks, Sikhs have been targets for Muslim hate crimes and discrimination. [add stat]. The most infamous of the terrorists was Osama Bin Laden, leader of terrorist group al-Qaeda behind the September 11 attacks, who wore a turban. Through Laden’s infamy, Americans associate turbans with Muslims. Through the rise of islamophobia [capital?], Muslims are associated with terrorism. Thus, Sikhs who wear turbans are also associated with terrorism.

During the annual New York City Marathon in November, Simran Jeet Singh, a Sikh, participated in the marathon and received anti-Muslim remarks from fellow participants and volunteers. It was his fifth time running.

He took to twitter to share his experience. “To the woman who just pulled back the water cup as I reached out and called me a ‘Dirty Muslim’—screw you [censor?] … also, to the dude who just yelled out: ‘Run faster everyone! That guy from ISIS is right behind you!’ Seriously, not cool.”

[quote]

[add pictures]

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah [format?], an American news satire and talk show program, made a video called, “Confused Islamophobes Target American Sikhs.” In the video, News Correspondent Hasan Minhaj walked around Times Square with a large photograph of “a bird, binoculars, a child playing hide-and-go-seek, and a man in a turban and a beard” and asked New Yorkers which one was a “Sikh.” All those who answered in the video answered incorrectly.

“It was [the video] was pretty interesting but, in my experience, not that surprising,” says Mandeep. “I think they should’ve asked them to name each one of the pictures to the best of their abilities. If they did that, I wonder how many would’ve said the Sikh was a Muslim.”

Minhaj asked a group of Sikhs, “Why don’t you go, ‘Hey, I’m not Muslim’?”

An unnamed Sikh said, “It’s just not an option for us to throw another community under the bus, even if it means things are harder for us. We believe it’s the right thing to do.”

[comment]

“I don’t resent Muslims or their community for the harassment of Sikhs,” says Mandeep. “They haven’t done anything to me personally. The way I see it, they’re the victims in all this, too.”

-Segue into root of all problems: 9/11

-Discuss hardship in Muslim communities

The Worst Kind of Miracle

This news story, “The Worst Kind of Miracle,” follows Charcandrick West, a running back for the Kansas City Chiefs, and the obstacle he faced to achieve his dreams. The article wastes no time detailing the nightmare that led to his miracle. It is like a movie. He begins the article with, “My body was on fire,” and gives you about 75% of the climax, but leaves an important 25% of it out to add suspense. As a reader, with no context at all, you are interested in why his body was on fire. After beginning the article with a scene setter, West flashbacks to his high school years and shares the rest of his story in chronological order.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/24/greenland-is-melting

This feature begins with the reporter Elizabeth Kolbert in a memorial service for a NASA Scientist Alberto Behar. She did not know him. ALberto passed away in 2015 in a plane crash in Los Angeles. Alberto Behar had a passion for creating craft, sensors or cameras that could go to places no human could ever go. His mission was to get more research on Greenland.

Kolbert is with the crew, Behar worked with. It has been a year since his passing. She goes and explain the situation what is going on Greenland. The ice is Melting, which affecting our climate on earth. She also goes in detail of Greenland trying to get independence from Denmark.

In the end she ends with a personal essay on her opinion global warming.

Venezuela, a Failing State

The way this article opens up automatically gives the reader an idea of what the author will be speaking and it also gives it the “feature” aspect of it since it speaks about a medical students, and then moves on to quote him and his feelings about Venezuela’s political situation and how that is affecting him.

I think the author was very effective in transitioning to different stories and through this, show the reader the critical state Venezuela is in.

Throughout the article, he also gave a long and detailed summary of Venezuela and everything that contributed to their current situation.

He was also very effective in offering different perspectives from different people and their attitude towards the government. It gave the article more objectivity in an issue that is hard to not show bias towards.

Overall, there was a lot of emotional appeal throughout the article and the personal stories told but, the author also did a great job in explaining the situation, the causes and the possible outcomes in the future. The end was also very effective and has the potential to cause many reactions at once from the

reader. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/11/14/venezuela-a-failing-state

The opening of the article takes the reader into the scene where a lucky refugee mother of three wakes up in a comfortable home in Canada. Throughout the article the writer keeps coming back to the leading character to emphasize her difficulty to transition into a new life

The article is written in the past tense. It is very humanized, have a lots of quotes and description of characters’ daily routines and background stories. The statistics are wived in the paragraphs, they are not separate which makes reading very fluent. The story begins and ends in the same theme, it comes back to circle.

This long form news feature by Gene Weingarten is a really great example of powerful storytelling. He tells multiple stories of parents leaving their children in cars, a topic people see in headlines and shake their head in disgust and disbelief, and shows how easily a mistake like this can be made.

The story was very well told and though he breaks it up through multiple sub stories, the narrative is still very fluid and tells a complete story. Through the vivid detail and powerful images Weingarten paints, he manages to keep the reader hooked to the very end of this 8,000+ word story.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/fatal-distraction-forgetting-a-child-in-thebackseat-of-a-car-is-a-horrifying-mistake-is-it-a-crime/2014/06/16/8ae0fe3a-f580-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html

https://magazine.atavist.com/when-the-devil-enters?utm_content=bufferb1662&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

This article opens with a character and a scene in past tense. The first paragraph begins with a background story of one fire that had happened and gives a detailed description of the house and the room that was burning. Then the story leads into a character description of Antonino Pezzino and where he is from.

I believe the nut graph here is the investigations of why these unexplained fires are happening in this town. Beginning from scientific, and political to religious and spiritual. The way that the article is set up takes the reader on a journey of trying to find out why this is happening as the story develops.

Through much investigation, theory, and speculation Pezzino and his son Giuseppe were put on trail for starting the fires because of footage of them both being present and acting suspiciously when the fires had started.

The conclusion ends that the people of Sicily love drama and want to distort facts for their own personal reasons and desires instead of truly looking for the truth.

The longform article I chose to read came straight from longreads called “The Life and Murder of Stella Walsh, Intersex Olympic Champion.”

This piece details the life and death of Walsh, as well as the secret she kept from everyone. It starts out with Walsh’s murder and subsequent secret reveal. It then reverts back to her early years and many of her illustrious accomplishments.

What I liked about this article’s structure was the way it was able to jump from topic to topic seamlessly. He’d introduce new characters when it was appropriate and did a fine job of including every last detail into this piece.

He looked at both sides with an open mind. He didn’t interject his opinion into this piece visually. From what Rob Tannenbaum gave us, we have to determine our selves which side he chose.

Overall, it was a very good read, a LONG one for sure. It brought a story that was forgotten for a while back into the spotlight, with a 2016 twist.

https://blog.longreads.com/2016/08/18/the-life-and-murder-of-stella-walsh-intersex-olympic-champion/#

This story is written in the past tense and breaks down the last one hundred years or so in American history as a way to offer some insights over how segregation and discrimination gain strength in this country.

The story begins by offering an excerpt of a writing ‘Blood at the Root’ which is a writing that talks about how two African men attacked two White women.

Later we discover that the identity of one of the women who was killed was Mae Crow, and one of the men who was the alleged murder was Ernest Knox.

AnD it is during this opening paragraph then where the nut graph of this article is found at.

By starting this story in this way then, it clues the reader a bit on how hate against non-whites (Blacks particularly as it relates to this story) may at times stem from the crimes that a few non-whites may had committed against white women.

Unfortunately however, my own belief on such a trend is that this is often an awful occurrence when the weight of a few crimes committed by a tiny amount of people end up harshly punishing a majority of other people from the same culture or ethnicity too.

Anyway, moving on, the story offers quotes by Du Bois as well as a way to offer some context of the climate and era of Blacks during the early twentieth century.

And since whites had a lot of unrest of Blacks just because of the new freedoms that they had after slavery had been abolished, many times horrific crimes that may had been committed by a few Blacks, were often used as justification to go on hunts or raids against any free Black persons.

This article also goes on to detail how the Ku Klux Klan did not receive recognition as a white supremacist terrorist organization until after 1915 when the film the birth of a nation was set out. Ironically enough the film idolized the KKK as defenders of White women in a way.

Before this time then, many Whites were just seen as mobs as raiders who targeted black families because of racial tensions and of the civil unrest that whites felt once Blacks were no longer slaves in America.

As for how this article is written out then, it goes over a sequence of events since the murder of Mae Crow in the first few paragraphs of this story, to describing more of the reactions of White people in later paragraphs, to a full-circle conclusion of how events such as the murder of Mae Crow spurred hatred of many African Americans post the abolishment of slavery.

A Story of Racial Cleansing in America