Final feature/sidebar deadline

Your final feature story and sidebar hard copies are due by noon Thursday Dec. 15. DO NOT slide your stories under my office door. You can leave your assignments in my mailbox located in DBH-105. It's your responsibility to make sure the story is given to a person in the office who will time stamp the story and put it in my box. You will not get credit for the assignment if you turn it in later than noon Thursday Dec. 15.

This is a list of what's due along with the final feature story:

1. Sidebar (hard copy)

2. Word count and semester word total broken down individually by story (hard copy)

3. List of interview sources including contact information--email and phone number (hard copy)

Link to Spartan Daily extra credit article

http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartan_daily_2016/73/

Extra credit Nov. 17

For 5 points extra credit, rewrite the lead from the front page article in Tuesday's Spartan Daily (Nov. 15) about the SJSU president's press conference. The current lead sounds like a topic lead. I want you to rewrite it and come up with a better lead. Post the rewritten lead on your blog and send me the link. You can do this assignment up until the end of the semester.

Write your own obituary

Jenna Suhl, a producer and director of the world's most powerful documentaries, passed away painlessly in her sleep at her San Diego beach house on Tuesday. She was 98.

The cause is unknown. 

Suhl spent more than 40 years filming worldwide documentaries, giving her the recognition as the "World's Greatest Storyteller." 

Suhl's career didn't start until after a few small, unimportant accomplishments, such as being a bathroom designer and the 49ers mascot " Sourdough Sam."

After her time as "Sourdough Sam," Suhl became a freelance children's books illustrator. 

She fell in love with storytelling and began to shoot small, local documentaries with the support of her husband. 

Suhl is known to have contributed to global music festivals for more than 10 years since her 30s and preached that a life without music is no life at all.

"She was always full of life," said Suhl's husband, Bob. "She found inspiration in almost anything around her. It was beautiful." 

Suhl met her husband at 25 and the two married when she was 28. 

Suhl's five children will host a "dance party" at the family's Santa Cruz beachhouse Saturday in lieu of a traditional memorial in keeping with Suhl's wishes that were outlined in her will.

Descriptive feature example

Their fists are held high above their bowed heads, pride and strength coursing through their veins. 

The azure mosaic statue glistens in the spring day sun. 

A breeze whispers past the iconic immortalization of Tommie Smith and John Carlos, two men who took a stand against racism in the 1968 Olympics. 

Towering at 22 feet tall, the statue serves as a poignant reminder to stand up for what you believe in.

Shoes the size of a big dog sit alongside the statues.

Smith and Carlos removed their shoes to represent black poverty.

Around Carlos' neck hangs a necklace of brilliant gold, green and ruby red beads.

This was a tribute to all who had been lynched or killed and not prayed for.

A weathered bronze plaque reads, "TAKE A STAND."

Around the statues is freshly cut green grass and trees that dance in the wind.

Their blue track suits with red stripes up the side blend into the pale blue sky.

On their faces are expressions of sadness and responsibility.

Smith's right hand is raised while Carlos' left is hoisted to the heavens.

Behind this powerful memorial sits a pale moon.

Carlos and Smith will live on forever through this statue, as will the message they made so clear almost 50 years ago.

Election night extra credit

For up to 25 points extra credit, write a blog post chronicling your feelings about the media's election night coverage. Watch a cable TV channel such as CNN, MSNBC or Fox and write a short column of between 150-200 words focusing on Tuesday night's coverage of this historic election. Was the media impartial or blatantly biased? Did the media do a good job of providing perspective to the election and explaining how the winning candidate was able to prevail?

Assignment deadline is 5 p.m. Wednesday Nov. 9. Send me the link to your blog once you've posted the extra credit. This assignment is OPTIONAL meaning you don't have to do it. It's for extra credit only. No late posts will be considered for extra credit.

Midterm study guide

Know the differences between:

A comma-splice, sentence fragment, run-on sentence and a fused sentence.

Be able to identify a:

Parenthetical phrase, parallel structure in a sentence, subject-verb agreement.

Know how to correctly use the following words:

Affect, effect, complimented, complemented, to, with, each other, one another, advice, advise, anxious, eager.

Know the different ways that the 5 W’s of newswriting are used and the differences between a Who, what, where, when and why lead.

Be able to identify a skills-based resume versus a work-history resume and what is distinctive about each resume.

Define the “inverted pyramid” and be able to answer why it is preferred for media writing.

Be able to define “news” and the characteristics/news values that are used to classify news stories.

What considerations should you have before, during and after an interview?

Be able to define the following terms: attribution, editorializing, objective reporting, topic lead.

Know the different types of leads that should be avoided and why.

Know the differences between news and feature stories, columns and editorials.

Be able to identify the reasons a press release is issued. What should be included in a good press release and how does a public relations practioner increase the chances of getting a press release published?

Define public relations.

Read the column

Instructions: Read the column linked below and be prepared to discuss it

http://www.sjsunews.com/spartan_daily/article_13ba8370-0d85-11e6-9fb6-9748a258a7d6.html

Ruby Bridges assignment

HOMEWORK:  Write a feature story from the Ruby Bridges’ interview on The View (link to the interview below). The lead should reflect something interesting that Bridges said during the interview about the events in her childhood that made her famous. Weave in factual information in your story about Bridges' life that is readily available on the Internet. Make the lead as dynamic and interesting as possible. Use direct quotes in your story from Bridges’ interview on The View along with paraphrased quotes. You can also quote one of the other women on the show who are asking the questions.

Basically, you should pretend you are a reporter sitting in the audience the day this interview took place and you are writing the story for your publication for the following day. Length: 300-400 words. Format: Hard copy only. Due date announced in class.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kub67ZZahao

Personality portrait feature examples

Below are two examples of personality portrait features written by students. Check out these two examples before writing one of your own.

Example No. 1

The only thing Codi Mills wanted as her going away present was a bookshelf.

That was the only gift Mills asked her father for as she left for San Jose State University to follow her passion in photography.

When Mills got to SJSU, she took all of the neat little decorations and items off her dorm room shelves to make room for all the books she purchased from the Martin Luther King Jr. Library patio sale on the San Jose State University campus.

“It was the greatest Tetris game of my life,” Mills said, about fitting all the books she purchased in one bag.

Mills loves to read anything, and attributes books to the person she is now and to the career path she has chosen in photography claiming that her personality was shaped by books from a young age.

“Books made me a thoughtful person,” said Mills. “I got that sense of freedom and imagination from books.”

According to Art Mills, Codi’s father, Codi picked up reading on her own with no influence from her parents.

“Some people enjoy watching TV, but for her it was reading,” said Art Mills. “She at one point mentioned that she was going to read the dictionary.”

Codi’s family runs a self-employed business known as Mills’ Plumbing and they didn’t have much time for vacations when she was young.

“We would take Codi on things called mini-vacations where we would drive back roads,” said Art Mills.

Codi also remembers that during those mini-vacations she would climb an old oak tree in her backyard and pretend she was a heroine.

But, probably more important to Codi were her books and how they brought her so many viewpoints and interpretations on life. “It’s the ability to see life through a different lens,” said Mills.

This is where Codi ties reading into photography, the connection between telling people’s stories and yet leave them up to interpretation.
“Interestingly enough, I don’t want to be in written journalism,” said Mills. “Writing alienates sections of the world, and I would hate a universal language.”

Codi explained that this is where the value of photography lies, in the universal language of visuals.

“In photography you can freeze the truth as it is,” said Mills.

According to Codi’s boyfriend, Quenton Fletcher, photography is a subject that naturally comes to Codi. “It fits her very much because she’s an outgoing person who loves to explore new places and this is definitely something that will allow her to adventure until her heart’s content.”

Codi’s father also believes in her choice of study. “She could do anything, she is an excellent student, but I think she can change the world.”

Codi’s goal is to change the world and educate people about different cultures and show them places that they couldn’t normally see for themselves.

“If I can do one small part and educate one person, that’s enough.”

The girl who reads and imagines herself in faraway lands plans to bring those lands to people through the pictures she takes.

 Example No. 2 

Seeing him wearing a Giants baseball cap and T-shirt, it is easy to assume Nick Esposito’s greatest passion is baseball and it is easy to be wrong.

This revelation is even more of a shock considering Esposito’s father is a 27-year veteran of coaching high school baseball and both of his brothers play baseball.

Even with all of this baseball influence, for 21-year-old Esposito, classic rock is where his interest really lies.

For Esposito, baseball never held his interest because he felt it was boring.

“I played until the fourth grade,” said Esposito. “I was the one in the left field picking the grass.”

Even though Esposito is not consumed by it, baseball draws the Esposito family together.

When Esposito and his brothers, Nate and Vinny, were young, they used to go to Granite Bay High School to play with the baseball team their father, Pat Esposito, coached.

“We all support the Giants and Yankees, and the whole family (aunts, uncles and grandparents) have fun with it,” said Esposito’s mother, Julie Esposito.

Although Esposito grew up with an extensive baseball influence from his father, Pat Esposito gave more to his son than just baseball by introducing him to classic rock.

“When I was a kid, my dad played that music for us all of the time,” Esposito said.

His father’s influence on his choice in music shows up in Esposito’s favorite band, Led Zeppelin, who were what his father would play, above the protests of his mother who wanted more positive music around the kids.

“At home when they were little, we had Christian Rock most of the time,” said Julie Esposito.

This restriction never stopped Esposito from developing a much deeper appreciation in junior high school for classic rock.

He took piano and guitar lessons and went on to give a few performances in high school of classic rock.

“He’s like a jukebox for Classic Rock, and it’s awesome to see how excited he gets when a good song comes on the radio,” said Mallory McCarron, Esposito’s girlfriend of nearly two years.

In Esposito’s opinion the most important thing about the music is not the lyrics but instead is the sound of the song.

He appreciates the ingenuity of classic rock bands as they pushed back against the happy musical styles of the 1950s while dealing with Vietnam.

“The sound is in your face,” Esposito said. “You can look at a society through the music.”

Even in other genres of music like Heavy Metal and Punk, Esposito is able to set aside the intense vocals and focus on the music that is backbone of the songs.

When McCarron decided to broaden his musical horizons into Country, she made sure to take into account Esposito’s love of sound.

“I knew he loved big guitar ‘electric’ solos, so I showed him artists such as Jason Aldean and Brad Paisley,” McCarron said. “They really know how to rock a good electric guitar solo.”

Esposito’s appreciation for classic rock is deeper than just its aesthetics because he believes that it served as a gateway for the styles of music that are around today.

The classic rock style and sound eventually allowed genres like Rap, Heavy Metal and Punk to spring up, while the more acoustic music of the 1960s lead into the Easy Listening genre.

“It’s like comparing dinosaur bones to modern day birds,” Esposito said. “Classic rock was the precursor for everything that we have now.”

Although Esposito admits that he enjoys all genres of music, he has a problem with what he feels is the creation of music not for the music’s sake but for the fame of the artist.

“Mainstream music has forgotten its purpose. We’re missing the point.”

If Nick Esposito walks by dressed in his Giants fan gear with headphones in his ears, don’t be surprised if classic rock is playing instead of the latest baseball game because for him, the music is the most important part.

Opinion column example

Add fat people to the growing list of people Donald Trump doesn't like.

Who knew?

He first called Mexicans "rapists." Then he associated Muslims with being terrorists. Women have been in his crosshairs for decades.

Now it's fat people.

Twice during the first presidential debate with Hillary Clinton, Donald (may I call you, Donald?) made disparaging remarks about fat people.

He alluded to a 400-pound computer hacker sitting at home getting fatter by the minute. Then came Miss Universe 1996 Alicia Machado who Donald called "Miss Piggy" because she gained weight after winning the pageant.

Machado says she has lived with humiliation, depression and shame for 20 years because of Trump's criticism. It doesn’t matter that she’s gorgeous today and has a Miss Universe title on her resume. She has felt like fat for 20 years because of Trump.

We already knew the groups Donald didn’t like—Mexicans, Muslims, the handicapped, women—so it should come as no surprise there are others such as fat people.

Donald doesn’t dislike everyone. He loves beautiful women, as long as they’re not fat. In fact, he loves beautiful women so much that he feels "compulsively drawn" to kiss them whenever he sees them.

Now Donald’s allowed to dislike anyone he wants. We all are. Everyone has people they don’t like for either logical or very random reasons.

The problem is Donald’s name-calling.

Donald feels like he needs to call everyone a name like we’re all back in third grade. Hillary’s “Crooked Hillary.” Ted Cruz is “Lying Ted.” Sen. Marco Rubio is “Little Marco” and Sen. Elizabeth Warren is “Pocahontas.”

Sadly, the name-calling seems to resonate with the Republican base. Anyone Donald dislikes or disagrees with is belittled and chastised with some tacky moniker Donald slaps on them.

Say something often enough and people start believing it. I guess that’s Donald’s thinking.

The problem with name-calling is that it hurts people and, as in the case of Machado, it leaves scars that makes a beautiful woman feel fat and ugly when she's not.

If Donald gets elected I hope he doesn’t start calling foreign heads of state names. Russian President Vladimir Putin might not like being called “Punky Putin.”

But Donald wouldn’t call Vladimir (may I call you, Vladimir?) names. He likes him. He even admires him.

As long as Vladimir doesn’t get fat.

100W checklist to live by

1.      Did you write in the inverted pyramid style using one-sentence paragraphs? Every assignment unless otherwise specified needs to be written in this format.

2. Did you check your AP stylebook before turning in the assignment?

3. Reading sentences aloud allows you to hear awkward phrasing. Try it.

4. Did you look for wordy sentences? Wordy writing is bad writing. Try rewriting sentences using fewer words.

5. Did you use the correct format for hard copy and/or blog? Be sure your assignment follows the correct format.

6. Turn the assignment in on time to get credit for your work.

7. Is the lead dynamic? If not, rewrite it.

8. Have you read similar stories in the newspaper such as features, columns, etc. The more you read of these the better guideline you will have for how to write one of your own.

Info on upcoming assignments

Campus speaker assignment

Assignment: SJSU hosts numerous speakers throughout the semester. I want you to attend an on-campus event involving a speaker or speakers and writer a feature story on it. At least three people should be quoted in your story including the main speaker. Check the Campus Events section of the SJSU.edu home page for listings of upcoming speakers.

You can talk to people attending the event and get their reaction for additional quotes. Story deadline: Nov. 5 before 11 a.m. Word count: 300-350 words. (Important: Let me know ahead of time which event you plan to intend to attend). Point value: 50 points.

NPR Fresh Air Terry Gross

Below is an example from a feature story on  Terry Gross’ radio interview with rock star Bruce Springsteen. You will have an upcoming assignment where you listen to a Terry Gross interview and write a feature story on what you heard. This is a catchy beginning for the feature on her interview with Springsteen. This is a good way to start your story.

As a young musician coming up in the early 1970s, Bruce Springsteen played in the bars of Asbury Park, N.J., a hardscrabble urban beach town full of colorful characters.

The town fired his imagination and inspired him musically, but still he found himself longing for more.

Springsteen tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross that he knew that if he was ever going to make his mark on the larger world, it would be through his words.

"I looked at myself and I just said, 'Well, you know, I can sing but I'm not the greatest singer in the world. I can play guitar very well but I'm not the greatest guitar player in the world,' " Springsteen remembers. "So I said, "Well, if I'm going to project an individuality, it's going to have to be in my writing."

Springsteen went on to record the album Born To Run in 1974. Its title track paved the way for his mainstream popularity.

The album also lends its name to his new memoir, in which Springsteen reflects on how he and his music were shaped by home, roots, family and community.

Letter to the editor

Letters to the editor have been a staple of newspapers. They give readers the opportunity to express an opinion on an issue in the news. A few letters are published to provide a glimpse on the issues that readers care about. Letters to the editor are concise because space is limited. Most letters are between 150 and 200 words.

For this assignment, I want you to write a letter to the editor to either the San Jose Mercury News or the San Francisco Chronicle. You must adhere to the letter policy of the newspaper you choose. Send the letter to the publication and post a cop of the letter you sent on your blog.

Below are some recent examples of letters to the editor.

San Jose Mercury News Letters Policy: To submit a letter, email it to letters@mercurynews.com. Requirements: 150 words or less; no attachments; include your name, address and daytime phone.

Letters will be edited for length and clarity. Street addresses and phone numbers are not published. The Mercury News reserves the right to publish and republish your submission in any form or medium.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/article/submit-your-opinion-7244189.php?t=3678db0449

Multiple polls show Trump won debate

Your staff news report on the Donald Trump-Hillary Clinton debate (Page 1A, Sept. 27) cited that the CNN poll declared Clinton as the clear debate winner. But you would expect that from CNN.  When listening to various radio reports on the debate results, CNN was the only poll declaring Clinton the victor.

Other polls from USA Today, Drudge Report, CNBC, Breitbart, Time, ABC and who knows how many others had Donald Trump as the apparent winner. So it appears that the majority of polls are for Trump on this first debate.

Once again the Mercury News persists in being deficient in objectivity and accuracy in their reportage.

Tony Favero
Half Moon Bay

Trump’s position on taxes is frightening

So, Donald Trump actually bragged at the debate about how smart he is to not have paid his taxes, huh? Well, I guess that makes the rest of us a bunch of idiots. Personally, I know my tax dollars make a difference to many, and I can live with that. I live in this country, live in California, and use many resources with gratitude. I’ve had friends who have come from countries where there were few of the wonderful resources we usually take for granted. I learned a long time ago the money has to come from somewhere, so I pay my fair share of taxes as most responsible citizens do. Trump’s attitude of entitlement should scare many more than it apparently does.

That is frightening in itself when you think he may be elected to lead our country.

Lynda Martinez
San Jose 

   

So long Vin Scully!

How do I sum up 49 years of memories?

It all began at the age of 10, when my parents gave me a transistor radio for Christmas. My parents were always working and as a child I became very lonely, so that’s when I fell in love with the Dodgers and Vin Scully. Everywhere I went, my radio and Vinney went, riding my bike, long walks, playing in the backyard.

I will never be able to thank you enough for keeping a lonely little girl company all those years.

Trent Saviers

La Hambra