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Popular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Oct. 31 — Shaggs’ own thing

November 5, 2012 by Hank Stuever Leave a Comment

Photo illustration: smellslikepop.com

Last Wednesday’s class was more of a had-to-be-there thing.

As we move into reading and talking about long (or sometimes just long-ish) narratives, our class sessions are becoming more and more like a book group. (Without wine and Trader Joe’s-style nosh, alas.) We wonder “how’d she get that?” and try to think of answers. We ask “what’s it about” followed by “what’s it really about?” on everything now. We read aloud sentences we really liked. We talk about what works, what doesn’t. I’m holding forth a little more on HOW to do it — how to get people to talk to you. How to hang out. How to arrive in a new and strange place and ask questions. I’m finding that I can’t take notes for a recap AND lead the discussion.

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.

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.

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.

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.)

Popular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Oct. 15 — the divine scene story

October 16, 2012 by Hank Stuever Leave a Comment

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 is, in a way, a scene story: What happened, but also, what did the courtroom feel like as it happened? What did people say during court recess, in the hallways? What did people wear? How did they react to evidence, testimony, verdicts? And, of course, what is the news?

Popular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Oct. 10 — Juggalos and other frights

October 11, 2012 by Hank Stuever 2 Comments

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 to, the heat/humidity, the safety issue. How deeply would you throw yourself into it? At least one student said she’d just have to decline the assignment. That’s something to really think about when you’re on the cusp of deciding whether or not to be a reporter/photographer or to look for a desk job. If it could all be done from the comfort of our computer screens, it wouldn’t be journalism. (Too much of it is already done from a chair.)

Popular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Oct. 3 — Getting personal

October 5, 2012 by Hank Stuever Leave a Comment

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) personal essays the students were asked to read and mark up. The next writing assignment is a 750-1,000-word personal essay about popular culture.

Is there a movie that changed you? A TV show? A book (or series of books)? A superhero? A rock band? An album?

Popular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Oct. 1 — The Context of No-Context

October 3, 2012 by Hank Stuever Leave a Comment

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 blowing some readers’ heads off (mine, about 15 years ago) and leaving others puzzled and even cold. If you haven’t read it, you should. (Here’s a tiny taste.) The essay begins:

Popular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Sept. 26 — group critiques of essays

September 27, 2012 by Hank Stuever Leave a Comment

We spent the entire class period Wednesday doing roundtable critiques of the reported essays. For the handful of you reading this blog way outside of room 301, this is where we’re mostly going to have to leave you out of the fun. When it comes to this part of the process, what happens in room 301 stays in room 301.

I split the class into two groups last week: Group A read all of the essays in Group B; and Group B read A. They were encouraged to mark them up like crazy. For the critique sessions, I put the essays in random order. We spent roughly six minutes on each — and we still have a few left to do on Monday, before we try to figure out George Trow.

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