First of all, I want to establish this story has many sides and the conflict here is very great.  I think until put in that situation, no one really knows what the right decisions to make were.  But there are a good deal of things I disagree with.

The fact that a hospital administrator referred to the hospital as being in ‘survival mode’ not ‘treatment mode’, seems a little ludacris to me. I couldn’t agree more with Marc Leblanc’s statement.  I understand that the hospital was in crisis, but I feel the situation could have been dealt with better as a hospital should ALWAYS be in treatment mode. And turning away victims seems inexcusable.  After going back and forth mentally for a while, I also kind of disagree with the numbering system.  I feel that the sickest and most at risk patients should have been given 1’s, and the healthier ones who did not directly rely on iv’s or ventilation, 3’s.

I do understand the difficulty of performing triage and making patient assessments, because unlike most things in the medical world, there is no black and white way to do it.  While I don’t excuse euthanasia in any circumstance, this one seems particularly trying.  And also, the fear the doctors had for the patients if they did not evacuate and experienced a looting, which was predicted, is very reasonable.  The further one reads into the story the more one sees how difficult these decisions were to make.

This article absolutely blew me away.  The fact that a mother can be so negligent is disgusting.  Obviously, she has some type of mental retardation or illness herself because any sane and logical person would neglect their child so severely.

I have never heard of the term ‘feral child’ before this article, but I understand what it means based on the examples.  It’s a crazy concept that a six year old child has not yet spoken and may not ever.  I wasn’t aware of the fragility of speech, and that it had to be learned so early or it may never be.

I like the way the author of the article interviews all sides for the story: the social service workers involved, speech therapists, Diane and Bernie, and her mother. It answers all the necessary questions.

I found a link to an article that talks about Dani’s progress three years later, if anyone is interested.

http://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/article1186860.ece

This semester has definitely showed me some of the difficulties journalists on the beat encounter.  Getting crucial sources to talk was a hard task for all my stories.  I feel as if people automatically hear that their quotes will be published and freeze up, and eventually try to revoke statements.  Another thing that was an issue was I think because I am a college student, that people were more reluctant to talk to me then had I been writing for a major paper.

My profile story actually went pretty smooth, except my initial character backed out.  The person I ended up doing the profile on actually was a great source and I had a lot of people who could back up my story and were willing to divulge information about her.

My small business story did not go as well.  I had originally planned to write an article about a shoe repair shop in my neighborhood where I am a fairly frequent customer.  After speaking to an employee and getting the ground work on my story, I found that the owner, a crucial source for completion of the story, refused to be interviewed.  So I moved on to a local pharmacy. There, I had a little bit better luck and the owner was forthcoming with information, but he did refuse to give concrete numbers.  Also, none of the employees would be in any of the photos which was frustrating.

The community service story was by far the worst as far as obtaining sources.  After volunteering at the organization, I had written down some of the things the employees said, but I couldn’t really get too much one on one time.  So my plan was to e-mail them and explain that I had a great experience and was going to write an article about it for my school blog.  I figured that since I was telling them that the article would have a pretty positive tone, they would comply.  No such luck.  I went back and forth with the assistant manager of volunteer services (the only person who  would even respond to my e-mails) and she would not give me any information, just told me to look on their website.  So I decided to call her.  I think I caught her off guard with the phone call, but she sounded nervous and apprehensive and told me she had to speak to her marketing director before saying anything.  She came back on the line after a brief hold and said that it’d be best to check their website.  I waited a week, and e-mailed her again.  FINALLY she gave me a little bit of information but it was like pulling teeth.

These experiences gave me even more respect for today’s journalists because I know they are often given details of a story and have mere hours to come up with something plausible and with good sources.  We were lucky enough to have understanding deadlines, being new at this, but I learned that sometimes while persistence is a useful tool, moving on is often necessary.

Diamond in the Rough

The Baruch Harman Writer-in-Residence program finds a diamond in the rough in their latest fellowship selection, Portuguese-American author, Katherine Vaz.  Vaz is most well-known for her novels Saudade and Mariana, as well as her book of short-stories with a religious undertone, ‘Our Lady of the Artichokes’.  Growing up in the Oakland area of Northern California, she was surrounded with stories of the saints which had a profound impact on inspiring her writing style.

Being raised in an atmosphere which fostered creativity was an important part of Katherine Vaz’s development into a talented fiction writer.  She attributes much of her early passion for writing to both of her parents.  Vaz’s father who was a multitasking painter, gardener, and high school history teacher encouraged her creative process in a way beyond those of most parents.

“Unlike most parents, who would just yell at their kids for drawing on a wall, my father designated one wall and said, ‘Okay here is the wall we draw on’.” Vaz describes her father as being her inspiration and one of the most important people in her life.  “I feel full and complete when I spend time with my father.”  She credits her mother with giving her the gift of her love for reading.

For Vaz, writing was second nature.  She compares it to those who have a singing talent; it’s just something one is born with.  However, that does not mean it does not require hard work. In college Vaz recalls assigning three hours a day just to write, no matter what.  Those exercises in discipline gave her the backbone to make something of her talent.

Vaz attended the University of California twice, both as an initial post-high school college venture, and again to obtain a Masters in Fine Arts degree. Since then her career has taken off.  Following her win of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize, her work was published in notorious magazines and papers throughout the world.  She has also participated in fellowships at Harvard, Radcliffe, and now Baruch College.

Vaz was always told she had the face of her grandmother, who died in childbirth with Vaz’s father and this allowed a spiritual side to grow within her.  Her writing has a great deal of emotional and spiritual roots, particularly ‘Our Lady of the Artichokes’.  While some may reach for the word depressing to describe some of her stories, she counteracts the accusations like this.

“It is hard to write fiction that doesn’t have those issues that connect to loss.  The aim is how human beings find real joy, genuine joy in the face of that.  That’s probably the definition of real courage.   I think we fear the death of our loved ones more than our own.”

Apology for Breathing was definitely an interesting piece. This was definitely my favorite of the parts of Back Where I Came From. I like how it differentiates between life as a born New Yorker and a foreigner/immigrant.  It also had some interesting facts that I didn’t know about New York, such as the high life expectancy of the residents.  I also connected with the part where Liebling talks about how comforting the consistency of events is.  The fact that he wakes up hung-over in his apartment and is out of his own element, does not mean that the rest of the world ceases to keep going.

Beginning with the Undertaker seemed like a little bit of a confusing piece with not much of a point to it.

Getting By was an interesting anecdote but again, didn’t really strike any chords with me personally.

Liebling does have an enticing writing style, though.