Feature

The feature article that I chose to read was titled “10 wonders to visit before they disappear” written by David Salt. I chose this feature story because I am very adventurous and love traveling and experiencing different cultures. Another reason I chose this because it said, “Before they disappear.” This made the wonders to visit even more appealing because they may not always be around for us to visit. The article starts off by stating why these wonders will disappear. It states that because of global warming, these wonders are not going to stick around for you.

            Next the feature starts off with a great introduction talking about the benefits of experience. It says, “Experiencing is believing.” The article talks about time and when you look at it with a sense of reality, time runs out and not everything will be “forever.” The article then educates you about global warming so you can better understand why these wonders will disappear. It states how one day we will only be able to rely on history, and pictures from the past instead of physically seeing these wonders. It informs the reader that the next few decades are really our last change to get an opportunity of a final view.

         After the introduction and portion of insight of global warming the article begins to number the wonders to visit by starting with number 1. The first wonder they say to visit is Mt. Kilimanjaro. The article tells you the location of this wonder as well as plenty of information about it. It gives us information such as what it looks like. It is a 5,896-metre peak with snowcapped tops.  It states what has previously been lost of wonder as well as what scientists believe will happen in the near feature. The article continues to go into the remaining 9 wonders to visit.  Again giving us information about what you can do there, what it looks like, why it is disappearing as well as how the economy and wildlife will suffer upon their disappearance.

            Overall I think this feature article is written very well. In the very beginning the title and opening paragraph drags you in making it interesting and grapping the reader’s attention. The article covers all of the requirements of a great feature. Since global warming is something that impacts everyone as well as a current controversy, many people will be interested in the article making it successful. The article is also written in a great way allowing readers to understand it easily. By starting of explaining global warming is great because it will allow the people who don’t know to understand the wonders better and why they will vanish.  The feature offers us advice, as well as ideas of exploration. Since feature articles are very flexible the length of the article is not a problem. The article is fairly long, giving us just enough information without boring the reader with too much. As a reader as well as critique of this article I think it was done in a great way and an effective, successful feature.

Editorial- "Free-for-All in the Cafeteria"

I chose to read an editorial from the NY Times titled “Free-for-All in the Cafeteria”. The editorial discusses the problem in New York City dealing with their public schools and subsidized lunches. The editorial starts off by stating the initial issue, subsidized lunches. It discusses how so many children are eligible for these “free", subsidized lunches but many choose to not take advantage of it. While 780,000 children qualify, 250,000 of them choose to not participate. 

The writer then directs straight to the reason why many of these children don’t participate. They states the reason is due to the embarrassment, bullying they receive, and identification as poor. The editorial includes many facts including the rate change seen through out school grade. They state the opinion that most teenagers would rather go hungry than struggle from the humiliation of receiving subsidized lunches. The editorial goes on to say that instead of telling these children to suck it up and accept the lunches, we should encourage them to take advantage of it.

Next in the editorial the idea of free lunch throughout all schools is brought up.  The benefits of children having a good meal has towards their ability in the classroom is also brought up. It states that it is easier to teach children who are not hungry. The writer then goes on to state the people who are involved with this issue. Finally she closes with a direct opinion stating that they should “should embrace these ideas because a school population that’s better nourished is more ready to learn.”

The editorial is very direct and shows what side the writer is on.  The writer takes a stand in the situation and picks her side while showing it directly. She does not take on a personal attack by strictly focusing on all of the schools in general. The editorial consists of all of the writing requirements including writing in the third person. The writer does not use the word “I” and keeps themselves unassigned. It fulfills the word count requirement leaving it to be shorter compared to a column. The writer does a great job by keeping control through out and keeping her focus on the issue of the subsidized lunches.

Overall I enjoyed reading this editorial and think the writer did a great job addressing her stand and beliefs on the issue. By reading this article I have received a better understanding of how to go about writing editorials in a successful manner.   

The Alburtis Tavern

I chose to look at the review published in The Morning Call, written on the Alburtis Tavern. I chose this review because my parents have recently gone there, it is close to home, and I love food so it is definitely something of interest. The review starts off stating their first observations when they arrived, noting the amount of people at the tavern. Then the review goes into some facts about the Alburtis tavern. These facts included when it opened, the previous establishment, the structure of the building, as well as many details about the character of the building.  Continued with more details about the location and building, they speak of the theme of the tavern and how it carries over to the menu items. The review includes many of the entrees, what they ordered, including very descriptive statements. I noticed that many positive adjectives were used including “delicious," "perfect partner," and "light and luscious." The review also notes many of the prices, I’m assuming for readers to get an idea of a price range.  The review then goes on stating the owners including facts about other restaurants they own and the success of them.  The reviewer says, “It’s looking like they share one important characteristic – success.” This statement being added in the review makes it quite obvious to readers they this is defintely a good place to go. The review ends with the address, hours, phone number, and other useful data about the new Alburtis Tavern.

            I believe that this review was very useful and over all contains many of the characteristics to a good review. To start the review was written right after it had opened which is good because reviews are to cover places people haven’t gotten to see or try yet. The writer does a very good job at balancing facts with reactions. She included many facts that readers will want to know as well as an overall opinion of the tavern.  The review also answered the question stated in the book. “Is this thing worth my time and money”, which is exactly what readers what to know. The only thing that I did question about this review was the use of the word “I” in the very beginning. The writer used “I” twice in the first two sentences. Knowing that reviews should be written in the third person I’m not sure if this could be considered an exception. Overall I think this review was written very well. It gave me exactly what I wanted to know in order to decide if this place is somewhere I would like to go.

Profile- Angelina Jolie

The profile I chose to read was on Angelina Jolie. The profile was published in the year of 2008 so it is a bit outdated. The profile focuses on her role as a mother and the way her family works.  The beginning of the profile starts out by talking about her pregnancy. It talks about how most women will hate pregnancy and it continues to talk about how positive pregnancy was for Angelina.  After, she speaks about her family life including her relationship with Brad Pitt and how they manage their family they have together. They discuss how they work their family and give examples about how they never have people stay the night. It is just a certain thing they believe in as a family and it is what works for them. The article also talks about how family oriented Angelina is. They discuss the controversy over Angelina and Brad not being married, Angelina states that its what works for them. The profile then discusses her parenting and how she handles having children that she adopted compared to the child she gave birth to. It talks about how she sees no difference. Angelina states that these children are a gift to her. The article then continues on about her children as well as details about her childhood life and her mother.

            I enjoyed reading this profile. The profile is extremely positive and lets readers view Angelina Jolie as a great mother and wife.  I was a little surprised by the length of the profile because it was 4 pages. I know that profiles tend to be longer than traditional news articles but was still a little shocked. The profile used many details that captured her beauty as a mother by using graceful adjectives.  The article covered all of the characteristics of a good profile. While reading I could really capture her mannerisms, feelings as well as her attitude towards motherhood and family life.  The profile also gave me a good feel of her personality, almost like I know her. The only thing I think could be improved would to be focus on just one topic. We learned that a profile should focus on one specific topic about a person. The profile jumped around a lot with her pregnancy, adoption process, relationship, accomplishments as well as information about her mother. Talking about all of these things made it interesting but I still think it would follow the criteria of a profile better if they would focus on solely one topic about Angelina Jolie’s life.

Hard News- Update on missing 20-year-old Heather Elvis

I chose to write about the news on Heather Elvis. She was a 20-year old girl from Myrtle Beach, SC who disappeared on December 19^th.  I found an article on the Myrtle Beach News website. The most updated news on this event was just found today, February, 24.  Heather Elvis has been missing for over two months. Finally this past Friday they began to uncover the mystery of her disappearance. The Moorers who have been at suspect during this entire time have been arrested.

The married couple was first charged with kidnapping, obstruction of justice, and indecent exposure.  Finally today it was reported that they would face murder charges for the killing of Heather Elvis.  The article begins with the most recent information, also being the most important.  It then continues to talk about the evidence and facts about Heathers disappearance. The article then follows with background information from previous discoveries in the case such as here whereabouts before hand, the discovery of her abandoned car, as well as stating that the Moorers have been suspects from the start.

The article then continues to talk about how the initial search warrant led to one thing, then another, allowing them to build the case with greater charges. The article continues and explains various reasons for the lead as well as including a quote that gives more information about the term “kidnapping”. The article explains what this term actually means due to many people having the wrong idea. It also educates you about the Moorers having different attorneys, which is very common when a husband and wife are both arrested in a case. Finally the article states that they have not yet found her body, but are not worried about having enough evidence to successfully charge them with murder. The article concludes with the statement that there is still a long journey ahead and that the ultimate goal is to find heather.

            This article is a huge deal. The Heather Elvis case has attracted many followers on social media, and has become a well-known case.  This article begins with the most important facts, what is most recent and is the “breaking news” on the story. The article then continues to educate readers and the public about previous chargers so they can better understand the case and what they have found. The article goes about this in a good manner. It is a very upsetting event for many and it does a great job informing us about the case and helping the public to understand it fully. I also believe that the way the  article ended was don't well because it ended by stating that the most important thing is to find Heather. The final statement is a quote from Rhodes “We realize that this is only one step in the process, we are continuing the investigation because our ultimate goal is to locate Heather. We’ve crossed one hurdle and we still have numerous more to go. We recognize that.”