It's hard to say goodbye

I wanted to start my last blog by saying thank you to Professor Gail McElroy for being a great journalism teacher. I know dealing with me every quarter this past year isn’t easy, just ask my mother haha! I’ve improved my skills in writing and knowledge in journalism because of you, so thank you!

One valuable aspect I learned about feature writing was the kabob structure. I was used to the inverted pyramid because of news writing, but as soon as I was introduced and incorporate the kabob structure, I was thankful my stories didn’t have to be in the inverted pyramid anymore. A structure that enables me to use my imagination and be a little more free, yet I can’t forget some parts of news writing is in features.

Another lesson I learned was that the subjects that are covered aren’t as depressing as news writing. Why is valuable to me? It’s because I’d rather be sucked into information or stories that bring my spirits down or have to live in fear or be afraid all because of a story I read. Whether it’s reading or writing, I’d prefer topics or subjects in features writing such as trend stories, personal narratives, human-interest, and others.

The third valuable thing I learned was feature writing, in general, is a lot more fun than news writing. I have nothing against news writing since it was the reason I have built a foundation in journalism, but I have a philosophy where if you’re not having fun with what you’re doing or if you’re not enjoying it, you’re doing it wrong. Between the two, I would choose feature writing just because of my personal philosophy.

I feel that my APA style is getting a lot better within my stories/articles and being able to step out of my comfort zone by writing stories/articles with new structures that other people have used that I have never thought of ever trying before. My titles have gotten more creative, but that was only because feature writing has given me the opportunity to expand my imagination more than regular English classes or news writing.

I might be interpreting this question wrong, but my favorite feature style of writing would have to be personality profiles because it enabled me to get to know someone I didn’t know better and write a story about them. It’s like making a new friend and writing their biography (sort of). I learned a lot not only about the person, but being aware of their actions, likes and dislikes, and past. My least favorite was the enterprise/investigative because I’m not really curious with topics such as how many people get their car damaged at school or how clean the bathrooms are.

What’s next for me? Well this is my last quarter at De Anza and I feel nostalgic about it. I’ve been here since the fall of ’07, been through a lot of tough situations, but I never gave up on my dreams and goals in life. I’m happy to leave after so many years, yet it’s hard to move on after being established here for so long. I will be going to SJSU for public relations in sports or video games, continue dancing my heart out until my body can’t take it, learn as many things as I can before my time is up, take care of my mother, and later in the future have a family. Until then I’ll be enjoying my first real summer without having to go to summer school by going to Las Vegas and a possible trip outside of the country or to Hawaii. I’ve enjoyed this class and won’t forget what I learned or the people I met. Thank you all!

Do you ever feel, like a plastic bag, deserves the benefit of the doubt

According to an editorial in the San Jose Mercury News, California plans on banning plastic bags. Now, there is good evidence on how much production it takes to make it, how much oil, being environmentally dangerous, which is something I do understand and take into consideration. HOWEVER, whatever I’m going to say from here on out will not be logical, just pure emotion and only related to my selfish needs. I may get criticized or may be taken down through logic on this topic, but this is somewhat of me venting and opposing the ban of plastic bags.

Because of these “urban tumbleweeds,” they’re littering the parks and waterways. Whenever you bring a product, living organism, or anything, maintenance comes along with it. When you get a new dog you don’t expect it to clean itself or pick up its own droppings. When there are plastic bags lying around, people are educated enough where they should clean up their areas to produce a clean environment for their children and loved ones. Those involved in community service, if there are plastic bags left around and people are heading home, it shows they’re not doing a good enough job. It’s taking the easy way out of eliminating the bag and not changing the bad habits of people today.

Plastic bags may use oil for production, but what doesn’t? There are other things out there that use more than the plastic bags, yet the majority of us won’t even use those things. Plastic bags are more convenient in the sense of reusing them as trash bags, yack bags in the car, travelling light with clothes and/or shoes, putting them over your shoes in order to keep wherever you’re walking clean, and many more.

If it’s our tax dollars that are paying to clean up the areas, then we should pay less in taxes. If places aren’t cleaned up properly, then we’re being ripped off with our tax dollars because whatever we’re investing in, we don’t get anything back in return because of the lazy workers.

There are always unfortunate situations that come along, and with plastic bags, they could just fly out of trash bins or dumps, landing in the habitats of animals which could jeopardize their existence. However, this could be changed if things were properly disposed of or only worry about ourselves. We, the planet as a whole that uses plastic bags, need to play our parts equally and keep it clean. If people don’t play their part, it shows and people will blame the plastic bags instead of themselves, thinking that will get rid of the problem.

The profile I will be writing about will be on...

The person I will be doing my profile background on is the De Anza women’s basketball coach Arden Kragalott. The reason I chose her is because she’s my strength development teacher for this quarter, but also I’ve never gotten the chance to talk to any coaches on campus. I took a class with the current head of the physical education department Colleen lee-wheat and one of the coaches for the De Anza football team Dan Atencio, but never had the chance to talk to them. This is my last quarter here so this would be a great opportunity to talk to one of the coaches and get to know their background story before I leave this school.

She is my strength development instructor for this quarter and she seemed like a very relaxing instructor. If I were to take another PE class, it would have to be with her.

I hope to learn anything during the interview. Her past education goals, past sport accomplishments, why she’s coaching at De Anza, if she came here as a student, what would she be doing if she wasn’t a coach or a PE instructor at De Anza, and a lot more.

In order to capture interesting quotes I’ll probably ask interesting questions, which I will come up with prior to the interview. If I can’t think of any creative questions before the interview, I better come up with ones on the spot during the interview and write them down before they go unrecorded.

I am looking forward to writing the profile because I’ve never written about anyone except myself for prior school assignments. Plus I’m interested in how I’ll be molding their profile and what kind of theme I’ll be twisting with it.

A cup of tea that isn't for me

Going into this assignment, I went in blind, assuming that I could think of a topic that is somewhat interesting to me, do light research, and then write it. After reading “What is Enterprise Reporting,” it helped me dig deeper with researching my topic. I felt that the “why” aspect helps me explore areas of my topic that I wouldn't have noticed unless someone mentioned it to me. I also have to keep being a little skeptical about the information that I’m giving since it can be biased to a certain degree, which is something I don’t want to have in my story and in future write-ups.

At first investigative reporting didn’t catch my attention and I still don’t find it appealing. I did learn to be more analytical and not believe everything that I hear without doing more research on whatever topic is brought up because of investigative reporting. However, I’m not really the type to be too focused on things that may/may not concern me or my future nor look deep into a certain subject because it might be information I won’t utilize in my daily life. I’m glad that I’m getting exposure in investigative reporting, but it’s an ice cream flavor that I won’t ask seconds for.

Foundation is important, and I'm not talking about makeup ladies

The blog I thought was the most helpful of the 3 was JPROF: The grammar. Spelling punctuation and diction study guide because it deals with the fundamentals of writing. People might want a really nice car or a nice home, but if the foundation isn't solidified, if the bolts, nuts, and screws aren't tightened enough, the nice car turned into a nice pile of metal. Without the proper foundation, the million dollar home can’t even stand a gust of wind or it will disassemble itself due to the fact that the ground it was built on was sand instead of concrete. The tips I found helpful were grouped up in the “Sentence errors” and “word choice,” and the reason why I just grouped them all in one instead of nit-picking certain tips was not because I make all of the mistakes with each example given, but more of polishing what I know and trying to change how I write because I get a sense that sometimes when I write, it sounds the same as how I talk, which is pretty much redundant and filled with errors. The way I would apply it is by practicing and polishing these weak points in my writing, and once these specific areas have been improved, then I will just apply them right into my writing like a painter would add paint to their portrait, in their own creative way.

Here is the link to the blog: "http://jprof.com/editing/gspdguide.html"

Plain, yet ambiguous

The blog I chose to critique was the dbqp visualizing poetics blog. Now the second I saw this blog I was already engaged not by the blogs, but the layout itself was connected to the title. The blogger enabled the blog layout to be changed if the viewer wishes to with the tool/tab bar on the top of the page. With the tool bar on top, it helps viewers navigate the home page, as well as other links related to the blog. I feel that the blogger enabled this feature because poetry and art can be seen in different ways, so why not make the blog where viewers can look at them in various layouts. There isn't a background and that’s probably because each blog already consists of an image in relation with a post/poem that is posted with it. I actually like that because some people have a hard time trying to visualize certain objects or sceneries, but with an image it helps others see the picture. There’s not much that I dislike about the blog, although some of the posts are pretty lengthy. However, within the long posts are ambiguous visualizations from the bloggers poetry, which might be something I’ll utilize in future blogs. Yes, talking in a poetic format and/or structuring my sentences to paint a picture instead of getting a point out. 

Here is the link to the blog: "http://dbqp.blogspot.com/"

Not your average love letter

*Disclaimer: this love letter is towards dancing, not a person. I've been dancing for 6+ years and have established a relationship where if I’m not able to do it, then I feel as if I've lost a part of me. This had actually happened due to multiple injuries this past year. Pardon the cheesiness in this letter, but it’s how I truly felt without dancing.

Dear Love,

This past year hasn't been the same without you in my life. As I listen to music, I have the urge to bring you out, but I hold myself back because of what hurts most. The things that hold us back from being together resulted from making irrational decisions such as dancing without proper stretching or playing basketball tipsy. Ever since then I've only been able to feel your cold shoulder (in reality, an ice pack) and the sorrow growing within my soul. I now know what I've done had damaged our relationship and kept us apart this whole time. If I had made smarter decisions, then we would be dancing the night away, however this isn't the case. Whenever I see people dancing on the internet, the television, or even when I’m out with friends, I feel a sharp pain in my heart and my moral drops faster than water flowing out from the sink. Every time I think of you I feel like I’m dying inside because I can’t dance. You were there before any of my girlfriends, you kept me in shape after high school while everyone else put on some weight, you were my stress reliever, and you were the gateway to making new friends for me. You've also been the reason why I've been confident, original, and a little cocky and arrogant at times. Now that you’re restrained from within me, I’m a shy guy always looking down because there’s nothing worth bringing my head up for. It hurts when I try to be optimistic that I’ll be fine the next day, but my smile turns into a frown once I feel the pain in my shoulder and toe as I wake up to the morning sunrise. I've got to be more positive because there’s a saying “Pain is temporary. It may last for a minute, an hour, a day, or even a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place.” One day my depression and sorrow will be replaced with joy and happiness. One day I won’t have to feel the cold ice packs on my shoulder and toe. One day I won’t have to hold myself back from dancing when I hear music. We will be reunited and I will feel completed once more. The difference between you and my past girlfriends is that no matter what stupid stuff I do or if I’d rather spend my time elsewhere, I know you’ll always be there for me, even when I die. So until the day I am able to dance comes, I’ll be waiting for you.

Your first love,

Allen Matsumoto

Emulate to create, not to duplicate just to imitate

After skimming through tattoo, health, and car magazines at Barns & Noble, I stumbled upon an article about an exotic car. The car brought me to the page, but the article that talked about the car kept me at that page. The lead had nothing to do with the specs of the car, but describes the anticipation of the owner’s next drive in the car as they walk away from it. The nut graph then talks about the manufacturer, Lamborghini, and their reputation when it comes to their customer base and car enthusiasts that admire their cars. Coming from someone that’s interested in cars, the lead painted a great picture of how I would feel after I close the door of my own Lamborghini Aventador. I would think of another errand that I need to run or make a random road trip to the next city over. 

I would like to utilize this technique, but something that’s more universal because this lead was catered towards a review/article about a car. Somewhere along the lines of after an event/situation a person has a positive connotation with it and wanting more of it. I don’t know if that makes sense, but if I were talking about paying for a parent’s lunch (The first time I bought my mom lunch was In-N-Out), I would start the lead with the sentimental feeling of paying for the person’s lunch who’s raised me as we walk away from the cash register. From there I would talk about anything related to the situation.

Article taken from EVO magazine

Photo taken from gdefon.com

A little too much wax in the ear, but having heart in my work

Within the 12-step process to good writing, the one I would have difficulty in the most would be Step 3: Listen. No, it’s not that I don’t clean my ears (THAT’S NASTY), but it’s because I tend to take notes of the details that don’t really matter and let the details that matter most adrift into space, in addition to getting sidetracked easily. I could probably improve this weakness by trying reiterating what they said to see if I understood what they said. If they said no, then I obviously wasn't paying attention to the right details, but if they respond with a “yes” or even “sort of” then I know I’m progressing with my listening skills.

The step I find easiest is Step 11: Care. I learned in a previous English class that “If it’s painful to write, it’s going to be painful to read.” Whether it’s writing a topic that I'm interested in or something that I’m not too fond/lack knowledge of, I have my ways to make it something fun and interesting so that I’ll be glad that I wrote the story instead of being glad that I’m through with it.

When life hands you lemons, put them on your face!

Choosing just one of the six feature categories to talk about was a struggle. I’m sort of a knowledge “mutt” since I’m interested in a variety of topics, but after stressful flipping multiple coins and name-pickings out of a hat, I've decided to talk about a hybrid mix of the “food” and “health” categories since the ideas do overlap each other (I hope I don’t get marked down for this from my professor). These specific ideas that I chose to talk about are things that I already do because I don’t feel it’s ethical if I were to write stories or articles that give advice, yet I don’t take the advice myself or if I do the complete opposite.

The first idea would be about the benefits of using lemons on our faces: decreasing the amount of pimples and blackheads, brightening of the skin, and other positive effects with lemon juice by itself or being combined with other vitamin-rich foods. There is a lot of information and positive feedback about lemons being used for these treatments, giving credibility to this story, as well as my own personal experience of sleeping with a lemony-scent on my face at night. The downside for this story is that since there are multiple resources and stories that already back up this idea it would be hard to talk about it in a unique angle, as well as not having to pertain to those who have that “nice, smooth, silky skin” naturally. Also, it might not appeal to people because they’re just not interested in this.

The next idea isn't necessarily food, but we do consume it, and it’s the benefits of drinking water. It might sound obvious, but there are a lot more benefits that come with drinking water than we think there are such as weight loss, helping the joints, helps productivity and performance at work and school just to name a few. The whole “tap vs. filtered water” is probably the biggest con on this topic. Other than that and that it might be difficult to talk about in a unique angle since there is a lot of research about it and again, the topic might not be appealing to people.