Posts Tagged ‘writing’
Popular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Oct. 17 — How they did that scene story
We spent most of Wednesday’s class period talking about the five scene stories I assigned for readings. These are each different kinds of scene stories, and I want the students to keep these handy as they work on their own scene stories, due Nov. 7. The first one is a ride-along (literally), as Dan Zak…
Read MorePopular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Oct. 15 — the divine scene story
We’re delving into scene stories now, and what do I mean by that? It’s a feature that’s not too long, heavy on narrative and vivid detail, that takes a reader into a place they might not normally go, or were too busy to get to, or don’t have the access to. Reporting on a trial…
Read MorePopular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Oct. 10 — Juggalos and other frights
Today’s assignment was to watch Sean Dunne’s remarkable, 23-minute documentary, American Juggalo, and think about how you would have handled that assignment — to spend a couple of days in the midst of the juaggalos at their annual bacchanal in an Illinois campground each August. Factor in everything: the kind of people you’d be talking…
Read MorePopular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Oct. 8 — personal essaying (continued)
Quick-like, today. Once more with the personal essays on popular-culture forget-me-nots. Koestenbaum on Jackie Kennedy’s Zapruder moment. Rakoff on the fact that “Rent” is a piece of junk. Franzen on the heartbreaking perfection of Charlie Brown. Yeah, yeah, yeah we get it. THE PERSONAL ESSAY. (Did you even do the readings? I have my doubts.…
Read MorePopular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Oct. 3 — Getting personal
Just a quick recap today. I’m in Shreveport, La., for a long weekend to be a judge at the first-ever Louisiana Film Prize, where 20 short films are competing for a $50,000 win. It’s a big street party. With movies! Check it out. Meanwhile, back in Missoula … On Wednesday, we discussed three (almost four)…
Read MorePopular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Oct. 1 — The Context of No-Context
George W.S. Trow’s long essay about American culture and the irreversible effects of television on the national psyche, Within the Context of No-Context, was first published in the New Yorker’s Nov. 17, 1980, issue. It took up nearly the whole magazine. It changed people — and also irritated many. It still has the effect of…
Read MorePopular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Sept. 24 — scene stories
We’re a month into the semester, the pace is quickening, and the Pollner class is turning into a bit of a juggling lesson. On Wednesday, we’re going to be group-critiquing the reported essays. (Professor Stuever is also grappling with something he hasn’t thought one bit about since he left college: grades. How to grade? There’s…
Read MorePopular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Sept. 19 — beautiful (dark twisted) criticism
Gently onward, talking once more about great criticism and its role as a valid form of journalism. When it works, it’s a piece of art in and of itself — useful to the reader, filled with context and beautifully written. But try telling to that all those editors and publishers who, when faced with the…
Read MorePopular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Sept. 17 — with guest stars
My very good friends Leslie Yazel (deputy editor of the “Personal Journal” features section of the Wall Street Journal) and her husband Jeremy Egner (producer and writer in the arts & leisure department of the New York Times) came to class on Monday to talk about their careers, their work, the state of online and…
Read MorePopular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Sept. 12 — writing criticism
She may be the fairy godmother of all film criticism, but the work of Pauline Kael (1919-2001) went over like a lead balloon as we began our sequence of classes on criticism/reviews. (Let me just say: I remember having pretty much the same reaction when I had to read her as a college sophomore in…
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