New York Times: Thursday, September 29, 2011

I really enjoyed reading today's paper; it had a lot to offer.  I thought that the paper's main article about the hijacking 39 years ago was very interesting, but not very well written.  The lead was nice, but then it just started taking all sorts of twists and turns.  The organization was terrible, and it was really hard to read.  It's a perfect example of how much organization matters in an article.

Even though I don't live in California, the story about the 35 year old murder scared me!  Just imagining a murderer hiding in my hometown is terrifying.  The writer did a great job making the reader feel like he or she should watch they're step no matter where they live.

As a huge tech geek, the business section of the paper was a blast to read.  Only a couple of days ago The Times said that Amazon was going to unveil it's new tablet, and now they did!  I'm not a huge fan of tablets, but I'm really impressed with the Kindle Fire.  It's basically an Ipad, but $300 less.  How are people not going to buy that?  If it gets good reviews I may find myself saving up for it!  I also thought the new cameras that the paper showcased were rather impressive as well.  Expensive, but impressive.

After yesterday's pictures on the front page, I realized that the photos really do improve the quality of the paper.  Today's paper didn't really have any noteworthy photos, so hopefully next week they will have some good ones!

New York Times: Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Finally! Today's paper had a lot of interesting articles in it.  I thought that the pictures accompanying the story about global government protest were very powerful.  It really gives the reader an idea about what's going on.  This was actually the first purely political story I have read since reading the times so it was a new experience.  It's amazing how much the author of the story wrote about this topic.  It seemed like the information never ended!

I was unsurprised to find another article about gay rights in the paper.  The Times definitely likes to put these in the paper.  Based on my reaction after reading it, it definitely gets a response out of the reader.  I think it's ridiculous that people won't let homosexual couples get married.  I understand that people have their religious beliefs, and they can believe what ever they want, but when it comes to marriage, leave them alone!  It's won't harm you, so why do you care?  It's frustrating that some people can be so single minded.

New York Times: Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Looks like this will be a slow week for the Times; today's paper didn't have anything extraordinary in it.  I hear about politics so much in the news and in everyday life that reading about more politics in the newspaper is just plain unreadable.

I did like the story on the front page about cervical cancer, however.  It's great to know that poorer countries are getting they need in terms of health and medicine.  I also really liked the delayed lead for this story.  I'm starting to see a general patter in the Times; political articles generally get summary leads while articles that tell a story or have a little emotion to them generally use summary leads.  When I think about it, it would be pretty challenging to use a delayed lead for a political article.  People want that kind of information fast, and a delayed lead would be rather boring.

New York Times: Monday, September 26, 2011

Toady's paper had a lot of entertaining articles.  The main story on the front page was very frustrating to read.  I hate when Congress does this to the people of America.  There are people without homes, and what are they doing?  Fighting, as usual.  The democrats and republicans need to set aside their differences for once.  I really liked the delayed lead for this story.  I thought it set up what the reader will expect to read very well.

The Times seems to like writing stories about debate over homosexuality.  The article about the anti-gay group was very interesting.  I see where both sides are coming from, however I feel like the companies involved aren't against homosexuality just because they were involved with the religious group.  Their relationship appears to be strictly business, and nothing more.  I don't agree with the religious groups views, but I still think this whole thing is blown out of proportion.

I'm not surprised to hear about Amazon's tablet; in fact I'm surprised that it took the company this long to reveal it.  It will be interesting to see how Apple deals with the new competition.

Giant jelly fish: delayed lead

Aysia Bennett decided to take her three children to Wallis Sands State Beach for a nice day in the cool ocean water.  What could possibly go wrong for such a nice family trip?   How about a giant 50 pound jelly fish with tentacles 100 feet long?

New York Times: Wednesday, September 21, 2011

I found it ironic that the Times decided to put the articles about the marines recruiting homosexual individuals and the squids that have same-sex sex in the same paper.  Did they do that intentionally?  It makes me wonder about the process of picking out stories for the day's paper.

 It's good to hear that the marines are willing to except homosexual individuals into their ranks.  I was well aware that the marines were the most biased, but it seems that they were willing to put their differences aside for once.  The last paragraph of the sums up the whole story very well.

New York Times: Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Another boring day for the paper, however there were two stories that stuck out to me.  The article on the front page about the website Topix was very powerful.  My home town went through something similar with a website called Formspring.  While it was less dramatic, I know what websites like Topix and Formspring are capable of, and it's infuriating to see how despicable some people can be.  I thought that the very last paragraph was incredible, and really struck and emotional chord for the readers.

The other story I thought was interesting was the main story on the business page about young workers losing their jobs.  I actually thought that the story was terrifying.  Reading articles like that makes me worry about the challenges me and my friends face in the future for finding a job, especially as an aspiring journalist.  The journalism world is a tough place to find a solid first job; I just hope I can keep a job for more than year.  This story also had an amazing concluding quote.  It showed that even in tough times people can find at least a little relaxation, but it also showed how people have such little time for themselves anymore.  It really shows how hard the economy is hitting people.

New York Times: Monday, September 19, 2011

Today's paper was painfully uninteresting.  I don't know what it was, i just couldn't become attached to any of the stories, not even the ones about Google or Facebook.  Now that we've been over the different kinds of leads extensively, I'm trying to figure how to order my paragraphs to make the information I gathered coherent and readable.  It's challenging to figure out how writers do it with the feature articles in the Times, considering how large their stories are.  However I feel like that's where I struggle the most right now, so from now on I'll be focusing on the order of the paragraphs when I read the times.

Giant Jellyfish Causes Chaos in Rye

            Over 100 swimmers were stung by an enormous 50 pound jellyfish today at Wallis Sands State Beach in Rye.  Five children were hospitalized and taken to the Portsmouth Regional Hospital by ambulance.

            The jellyfish, which had tentacles as long as 100 feet, is common around New England waters, but one of that size is virtually unheard of.  “That’s the largest we have around here,” said Robert Royer, aquarist at the Seacoast Science Center.  “I’ve never heard of them getting 50 pounds…” 

            Local New Hampshire resident Alysia Bennett took her three children to the beach for a relaxing day in the sun.  That was ruined when they all came screaming out of the water, crying.  “They were terrified,” she said.

            Medical responders who came to the beach were most concerned with the possibility of severe allergic reactions.  The hospital official reported that there were no serious injuries.

New York Times: Thursday, September 15, 2011

I've never read the paper prior to this class.  After reading the Times for the past two weeks, it's occurred how much violence there is in the world.  I tried to read today's paper without reading any articles that don't involved fighting, disputes, or death; I was done with the paper in half the time it would have normally took.  I was unfortunately forced to go back and read some of those stories in order to actually read the paper for an adequate amount of time.  However I have noticed that stories that involve fighting or death nearly always start with lead summaries.  I feel like this is very effective.  If you  were reading an article about a death, would you want to get the facts right away, or linger on the small facts?

New York Times: Wednesday, September 14, 2011

I didn't find a lot in today's paper that interested me.  Since a lot of the news lately has involved a lot of violence and death I decided to skip over the stories that avoided that.  I found that the article about the increased poverty had an excellent summary lead.  I knew exactly what I was going to read as soon as I read the first paragraph.  Surprisingly there was another article about homosexuality; this time the story was about same sex marriage.  This article also had an excellent summary lead.  While I like leads that tell a story and have a emotional value I'm finding that stories with summary leads can also be fun to read.

New York Times: Tuesday, September 13, 2011

It's a shame that there was so much depressing news in the paper today after the article about 9/11.  The article that accompanied the front picture was particularly sad.  It's tough to read about poor countries facing such unnecessary disasters like explosions.  It makes me realize how lucky I am to live in a place like this.  Another sad but infuriating article was the one about school systems and homosexuality.  It's devastating that some kids are willing to end their lives because people won't accept who they are, and it's infuriating that some school systems aren't willing to stop the bullying.  If there's anything today's paper did right, it was catching the emotional appeal of the readers.  I am now convinced that if you can't emotionally grab a reader, then he or she won't be interested in the article.

New York Times: Monday, September 12, 2011

It was hard not to read the the story about the 10th anniversary of September 11th first.  It seems that no matter how many times someone writes or talks about the tragedy, people are always willing to listen.  I thought the article about Jacqueline Kennedy was very confusing to read.  One of the things we talked about in class was "so what?"  That's exactly what I was thinking when I was reading the story.  Why does it matter that that a book containing interviews with Mrs. Kennedy is being published?  Maybe it's just me, but writing a feature story about this seems very irrelevant compared to other current events in today's paper.