“2 Jobs at Sugar Factory, and a Lump in the Throat” by Vivian Yee does a great job of profiling Robert Shelton. Yee didn’t use the often approached method of waiting to introduce the subject matter, in this case, Mr. Shelton. In fact, his first and last names are the first words in the article, I’m sure many impatient readers appreciated that. The profile is thorough and balanced in my opinion. To exemplify this, one could simply take a look at the article. Yee begins by speaking on the issue at hand, the closing of Kara Walker’s installation, and how its correlated with Mr. Shelton’s many experiences at the Sugar Factory. She then uses that as a platform to take us through the years of Mr. Shelton’s life at the time he was working at the Sugar factory, while simultaneously conveying details of his life (i.e. where he lived, his abusive stepfather, his three jobs). Overall, this profile is an exemplary piece.

Vivien Lee does a brilliant job in profiling Mr. Robert Shelton, a retired sugar factory worker, in the NY Times article “ 2 jobs at Sugar factory, and a Lump in the Throat.”  Mr. Shelton spent 2 decades working, at what used to be the Domino Sugar refinery, located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Many onlookers may label working at a factory as being grueling labor, but for Mr. Shelton, his experiences at the sugar factory were built on friendships, hard but prideful work, and a lifetime of memories

It was pretty clear that Mr. Shelton’s return to the sugar factory, was a joyous occasion. When he heard there were volunteer positions open to help prepare for Kara Walker’s sugar sculpture, Mr. Shelton jumped on the opportunity to relive his glory days. What first appeared to be an opportunity to jump back nearly 20 years, turned into a trip even further back, to the original sugar trade. Ms. Walker’s sculpture provided everyone who came to see it, with a powerful, eye opening look into the awful treatment of slaves, especially female slaves.

Mr.Shelton’s return to Williamsburg also brought upon several depressing realizations. The line of  factories that once made up downtown Brooklyn’s landscape, were forever gone, replaced by fancy, luxurious buildings, each taller than the next. The crowd of sweaty, run down factory workers was replaced with hipsters, and “wanna be” photographers.

As the Domino Factory prepares to close its doors for good, several veteran sugar makers, and art goers had one final opportunity to experience “How sweet it is”

Vivian Yee describes Robert Shelton in a way that makes us feel as though we know him on a personal level. To a degree, he is established in a way as a character who is not simply an interviewed person for a profile. Instead, we get to know Robert Shelton.

Shelton is able to shine through his words, the way he describes his return to the factory. “Once this is down, years from now, it’s going to be forgotten”, illustrates the attachment and overall sadness he feels. He is given emotions on a level deeper than answers to simple and bothersome questions.

Yee dives even deeper into Shelton’s character by providing back story and going into details that chronicle his life. A man that works three jobs at any point in his life is sympathetic with most New Yorkers, myself included.

The feelings that Shelton has for the factory and the neighborhood is illustrated as he highlights the differences from back then to recent day. He is painted even deeper as a sympathetic character when his personal situations are described. He is clearly strong willed, being a widower who runs errands for a paralyzed woman.

Overall, the profile extends beyond your run of the mill. Instead a simple intrigue, there is sympathy, compassion and understanding. A profile that works emotion, no matter how little, will always be more effective in my opinion. This profile does just that.

Before I get into my thoughts on the reading, I need to have some clarification on early parts of the reading.  At the time, when the article was written, was the The Domino Factory closing? In place of the closing factory, is the art installation?

While reading the article, I picked on things that I found were unique and interesting and gave the story meaning.  I like that the author, Vivian Yee, introduced the subject of the story at the very beginning of the lead. It allows me to connect to the story immediately.

I like her descriptions that were used to describe the outside structures and interior make-up of the factory and how the factory looked like b  Robert Shelton quotes, “It almost talks to you; it’s alive. Something just comes over you.” Those quotes provoke in me visuals and feelings that allows me to feel as if I’m present in the moment.

The feelings of Robert Shelton that Vivian Yee made come alive in the article was important in showing the humanizing characteristics of his personality, where she showed how the closing of the place he called work for so long left him with a feeling of sadness.

It is a really a brilliant element of a story, when the author is able to describe the overarching history and everyday activities of a particular location in a story. And that Yee does exceptionally well with her placement and distinct decriptions of the factory.

I found it to be an incredible strategy, where she got into the life of Robert Shelton–from from his childhood days to his present life–in the middle of the story, rather than starting out in the very beginning. I consider that a winning strategy that made this article a grabbing piece.

I thought the reporting of this story was great. The writer does a good job at expressing the character of Shelton and making the reader feel like they know him. She really gets him to open up about how he feels about the exhibit ending and about all of the memories he had at the old factory. It’s clear that Yee took the time not just to talk and learn about Shelton’s life as a Domino factory worker, but she also made sure to give the reader a good picture of his life as a child, his family, and what his life is like today. The graph about his mother and stepfather was very interesting and well-written, and it shows that Yee was not afraid to ask even the most potentially sensitive questions.

I also enjoyed the way Yee chronicled Shelton’s time at the factory, from how he heard about the job, to the exact date when he started working there, to when and why he left Domino. In doing this, it gives us a bigger sense of how important the factory was to Shelton and to others who worked there. “Night shifts, day shifts, weekend shifts, holidays shifts, 60 or 70 hours a week for 20 years, all feeling like 2,000 degrees.” With this line and others like it, the writer gives the reader a clear understanding of how much time Shelton and his fellow workers spent working there and why it remains an important part of Shelton’s life.

Yee successfully conveys the idea that this was not merely just a job that Robert Shelton and others had, but an entire life that still remains with each of the people who passed though the factory.

An article in The New York Times entitled “2 Jobs at Sugar Factory, and a Lump in the Throat” gives a profile of a man who reminisces about the many memories he had about an historical sugar factory in Brooklyn. Vivian Lee gives a very enticing title for the article, as well as an intriguing lead. The lead of the story sets the tone for the article, which is a sense of longing for the past and for the sugar factory to remain. Unfortunately, this is not the case, because the sugar factory no longer stood in the center of Williamsburg, Brooklyn because of the new residential units that were built.

The design of the piece is very tangible because Lee makes you use all your senses while you’re reading. For example, she states, “His world is dimly lit, pungent with the burned-marshmallow smell of fermentation, as if old syrup were coating your every breath.” This one line makes you imagine how Mr.Shelton must have felt while working in the factory. You can smell the burned-marshmallow scent and you can taste the syrup. Lee does a superb job at making the reader get a feel of what Robert’s everyday life must have been like in the factory. From the long hours, to the constant perspiration that dripped from his glands as he turned dark sugar into white, Shelton was a hard worker that put his blood and sweat into his work and we got this message from reading this article.

Through the journey Vivian Lee takes us on, we learn about the history of the sugar factory, how Mr. Shelton got the job, the struggles he went through while working, and the closing of an historical factory that meant so much to one man. If I were to relate this article to today, I think it still remains relevant as the United States is primarily made of workers over the age of 50. Many of these workers have become accustomed to their workplaces and once their work comes to an end, many feel like they’ve lost a part of them. It’s a difficult time in one’s life, but as Mr. Shelton has shown, we can only look back at the memorable times we shared and continue to look to the future.