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Thank you

December 19, 2012 by Hank Stuever Leave a Comment

My semester as the T. Anthony Pollner professor at the University of Montana’s School of Journalism has been one of the best things that’s ever happened to me. (Yes, ever.) Thank you students, faculty, Kaimin staff and especially Carol Van Valkenburg. And, miles away but often in our thoughts, Alice Thorpe, Ben Pollner and friends and family of Anthony Pollner.

I’m off. The shortest way back to D.C. is obviously west to Seattle then down to Oregon, then California, then New Mexico, then Kansas, then Texas. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Hank Stuever, journalism, Pollner professor, T. Anthony Pollner, University of Montana School of Journalism

Popular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Dec. 13 — The final critiques

December 17, 2012 by Hank Stuever 2 Comments

We were up before dawn on Thursday to meet one last time for a group critique of the final stories. The professor worked hard not to get verklempt, but that got exponentially more difficult when he was presented with this amazing poster (above), a gift from the class, designed by Carli Krueger.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Brooks Johnson, Carli Krueger, Charlie B's photographs, Cody Blum, Hank Stuever, Heather Jurva, Jour494, journalism, Lee Nye photographs, Levi Hunt, Missoula, Patrick Record, Pollner, Pollner professor, Popular Culture Journalism class, T. Anthony Pollner, University of Montana School of Journalism, writing

Popular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Dec. 5 — life is long

December 7, 2012 by Hank Stuever Leave a Comment

Wednesday was our last official class, which I set aside for just general gabbing and pre-goodbyes. Any questions? Any advice I can give? Anything?

I was prepared to just tell them what a real joy it’s been to be here in Montana and work with them, and, once that was done, let class out early — especially for those still sweating the 5 p.m. deadline for their final stories.

It turns out we had plenty to talk about for the whole 80 minutes.

But before I forget:

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Farhad Manjoo, Jour494, journalism, Pollner, Pollner professor, two spaces after a period, University of Montana School of Journalism, writing

Popular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Dec. 3 — reviewing the reviewers

December 3, 2012 by Hank Stuever Leave a Comment

Continuing my end-of-semester metaphor — this is what it’s like:

Today, however, we turned our attention to the criticism/reviews that students filed this semester. The TV recappers — Heather Jurva, Levi Hunt, Caitlyn Walsh — had to file five, 500-word recaps of consecutive episodes, and did so quite ably. Levi nitpicked “The Walking Dead,” even as he praised it; Caitlyn hilariously broke down this extra-loony season of “Dexter”; and Heather called “American Horror Story” on its own BS and took it to task for being such a mess this season.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Caitlyn Walsh, criticism, Heather Jurva, Jour494, journalism, Levi Hunt, Pollner professor, Popular culture j, reviews, Tom Holm, University of Montana School of Journalism, writing

Popular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Nov. 26 — name of dog, brand of beer

November 26, 2012 by Hank Stuever Leave a Comment

On Monday, we finished up critiquing the Nov. 7 scene stories. For my general diagnoses of these stories as a whole, please see the Nov. 19 recap. Meanwhile, here are excerpts from the three stories that I liked best, and why. (I haven’t fixed anything — the copy you’ll read here is exactly as it was filed to me.)

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Popular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Nov. 19 — scene story critiques

November 20, 2012 by Hank Stuever Leave a Comment

Kaimin photo: Tim Goessman

On Monday we went around our beautiful circular wooden classroom table and began critiquing the scene stories that were filed Nov. 7.

Some of the stories have been published in the Kaimin once the writers filed to me first: Dustin Askim’s story on the campus Belegarth scene grew a little in word-count and became a Friday Kaimin cover story on Nov. 9, just when the editors needed it most.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Belegarth, Billie Loewen, Brooks Johnson, Dustin Askim, Jour494, journalism, Montana Kaimin, Pollner professor, Popular Culture Journalism, scene stories, The Hub Missoula, University of Montana School of Journalism, writing

Popular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Oct. 29 — What is this REALLY about?

October 30, 2012 by Hank Stuever 1 Comment

My day never really gets going until I read what Nancy Nall has to say, as well as her regular commenters. Reading her blog has been a daily habit for, gosh, maybe a decade now.

Lately, both in class and in the Kaimin critiques on Friday (the student-run paper at the University of Montana), I’ve been trying to stress clarity and finesse in stories. You can know the basics of newswriting (fives W’s, one H, arranged in inverted pyramid, and hello, where is the nutgraf?) and still spend the rest of your career struggling to make it all clearer, more coherent, uncluttered, smoother. Many times I find myself asking what the story I’m reading is about — especially with feature stories, whether by students or in the nation’s best magazines.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: David Finkel story about family who watches television, Jour494, journalism, Journalism 494, Pollner professor, Popular Culture Journalism class, Stephanie Hayes Tampa Bay Times, Susan Orlean, Susan Orlean The Shaggs, Tampa Bay Times, The New Yorker, The Shaggs Philosophy of the World, University of Montana School of Journalism, writing

Popular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Oct. 24 — television without pity

October 25, 2012 by Hank Stuever 1 Comment

Busy class on Wednesday. We finished up critiquing the personal essay riffs: Dustin on “Lost”; Cody on “The Gong Show” reruns; Ashley on “Supernatural” and boy bands; Allison on “The Office’s” Jim & Pam romance; and Carli on loving the ’80s, even though she missed the ’80s entirely. Good discussions.

Then we talked about progress (frustrations, too) on scene stories. Sounds mostly good; some are still casting about for the right scene to go cover. Not quite time to panic yet — still about 10 days to figure it out, report it out, and file by Nov. 7. Somehow we still managed to talk for half an hour about who/what/where/when/why/how and pitch some more ideas. Come by and see me if you’re having problems.

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Popular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Oct. 22 — personal essay critiques

October 23, 2012 by Hank Stuever Leave a Comment

Although I didn’t plan it this way, it worked out nicely that Monday’s critique session in class was the day Alice Thorpe came to visit Journalism 494. Alice is the mother of Anthony Pollner, the Montana alum in whose memory all of this happens. She came from New York for her annual trip to visit the J-school, the students, and hear the Pollner professor’s big lecture. We were delighted to see her.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Billie Loewen, Carli Krueger, David Finkel, David Finkel story about family who watches television, Donelle Weston, Eben Keller, H. Neil Sauer, Hank Stuever, Heather Jurva, Jour494, Montana Kaimin, Pollner professor, Tom Holm, University of Montana School of Journalism, Washington Post, writing

Popular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Oct. 17 — How they did that scene story

October 19, 2012 by Hank Stuever Leave a Comment

Washington Post photo: Evy Mages

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 follows the scene at Washington, D.C.’s first-ever “tweed ride” of people who share the common wish that the 21st century could be more dandy and old-fashioned.

(For links to all of these stories, go to the bottom of Monday’s recap.)

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