Write a description of someone in this room. No name, no clothes, no hair color.

 It took me about a week before I realized I had most of my classes with him this semester. I don’t know how I missed him; he towers over most of the class and is usually the first with a comment or question, an answer in a silent lit class, or first comment on a blog post or discussion board. A gentle giant with big doe eyes, we commiserate over Faulkner and long form nonfiction. With a voice to match his size, he sits one lanky leg crossed over the other in the back of a classroom and adds intelligent commentary that I wish I had thought of first. Tracy Kidder, Joan Didion, John D’Agata, and Jon Krakauer, we survived them all, my English major comrade. 

online school...

Unfortunately I couldn't find an embedding link for this piece but I thought I'd share it either way. Last week's On Point had a story about online high school and how more and more students are choosing to ditch the classroom and take their classes online from the comfort of their own home. I thought it was only fitting especially in our own class.

new storytelling

Ira Glass is already at the forefront of storytelling in this day and age but when looking through the archives of This American Life, I stumbled on this piece from May in which Ira does something new even for him. In this episode, he does the week in stories, several small snippets from all over the country. As always, he uses people's personal stories to talk about something much bigger and because of that, makes it all the more relatable for the listener.

Foreign Correspondents

The New York Times has just recently begun publishing photos that were previously anonymously done under Samuel Aranda's name. He was working in Yemen as a photo journalist and for his safety, all of his photos were being published anonymously. What I love the most about the story is the fact that in a place where he had to hide his camera from soldiers and state officials, the local Yemeni photographers assisted him in dressing in local garb and avoiding being arrested. As someone who would love to work as a foreign correspondent it's really great to read stories that show that not everyone hates America and that most people are kind and willing to help.

Some of Aranda's work from Yemen.

herman cain suspends.... too much media for ya mr. cain?!

Is he blaming the media here? It's an interesting argument and debate on where the media should stand during political times around elections but if there's a story, it's going to get published. Looks like Cain couldn't take the accusations and front page headlines and scandals this election. Maybe in 2016...

New York Times gets chippy

The New York Times has done it again, with another incredible interactive story. The story is centered around the late Derek Boogaard, an 'enforcer' on the Minnesota Wild in the NHL. Along with the story, is a three part video series with footage of Derek playing hockey and interviews with his former teammates and opponents and even his parents. The third part in the series will be published tomorrow. The story also has a series of photos and this map (below) that shows how Derek made it to the NHL from his birthplace in Canada.