Profile update and Reading Response:

I’ve touched base with Mary Ellen and we are meeting on Friday for our first interview. I’m a little worried about having a draft due on Tuesday. Hopefully the interview will get me a good start and we’ll have lots of opportunity after workshops to do more interviews.

Reading from our texts gave me a much clearer picture of the profile should look like and what it should be about. I was struggling with what the story should be about, and now have better ideas. I have a list of thing to think about when writing and what to think about in the interview. I love the idea of “ask stupid questions” that has come up a few times.

I liked the Virgina Tech piece, Virgina Tech Struggles to Recover From Shootings. It gave an enlightening profile of a campus struck by tragedy as they try to “return to normal.” Quotes were used sparingly and were effective. I like the piece on a personal level because it got off of the media’s emphasis on the motive, what happened the day of, and the horrifying stories of the survivors, but rather focuses on the place, and those who still have to live their daily lives. It also used many techniques the reading talks about- a could see the beginning, middle, and end. Quotes were effectively used, and there was a flow and rhythm that kept you reading.

I chose not to read a lot of the other articles on the Cho and the gun and VTech, for personal reasons.