Classes suspended (Covid-19). Oral presentations continued.
27 Abril 2020, 14:00 • Isabel Maria Ferro Mealha
Zoom meeting - Individual oral presentations continued: The week in review - your pick of stories: Catarina Fernandes; Catarina Constantino; Alexandre Lopes; Joana Costa; Ana Carolina Santos (video); Duarte Barreiros (video); João Filipe Afonso (video).Individual feedback on editorial assignment sent by email and doubts cleared during the Zoom meeting.Below are the instructions for the personal column assignment (also sent by email). This assignment is due on 4th May.
Instructions for writing a “me” column, aka the personal column
The following excerpt from “How to write journalism: Peter Cole and Michael White on writing columns”, The Guardian, 28 September 2008, sums up the main purpose and style of a “me” column, also known as the personal column:
“The so-called "me" columns, often dealing with no more than the everyday trivia and experiences of the writer are remarkably popular, providing a printed version of soap.” (…) Writing a column requires clarity of thought, the ability to communicate a message clearly and simply, and an engaging style. First comes the decision about the topic, which must lend itself to comment, ridicule, satire or whatever the nature of the column. It may be inspired by a particular quote from a public figure, a story in the news, a report, an unusual occurrence, a piece of bureaucratic absurdity, a domestic incident or a sporting controversy. The column must be planned so that the writer knows before he or she starts just what they are going to say. There must not be too many ideas (two or three will usually suffice), but plenty of opinions; the bland, obvious or fence-sitting must be ruthlessly expunged. Columns are there to get a reaction - agreement, disagreement, amusement, enlightenment. Intolerance is often a virtue. 'So what?' will not do. The column must sustain its theme, building towards a climax or "pay-off" line. If it wanders the reader will wander off.”
(emphasis mine)
Your assignment: Write a “me” column. Make up a headline for your column.
Submission deadline: Please submit your assignment by email not later than 4th May.
Word limit: 500-600 words maximum. Assignments that exceed the 600-word limit will be penalised.
Steps for writing the “me” column
FIRST, please read TEXT 16 to learn more about newspaper columns in terms of content and style.
TEXT 16: How to write journalism | Peter Cole and Michael White on writing columns |Books |The Guardian
SECONDLY, read through the four examples of “me” columns (TEXTS 14, 15, 17, 18) paying attention to the structure, style and language used in these columns (especially Texts 14 and 15 as this is the kind of style I would like you to adopt).
TEXT 14: Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride the Subway Alone | New York Sun
TEXT 15: More From America's Worst Mom: 9-Year-Old On The Subway, Continued | HuffPost
TEXT 17: Sorry We Stole Your Stuff |The Humor Columnist
TEXT 18: How I finally came to terms with not being able to drive | Arwa Mahdawi | Opinion | The Guardian
THIRDLY, choose the topic of your “me” column
Remember the “me” column is often about “the everyday trivia and experiences of the writer”, and not so much about major political or social issues which are often addressed in the more serious-minded opinion pieces/columns.
(…) “the topic, which must lend itself to comment, ridicule, satire or whatever the nature of the column. It may be inspired by a particular quote from a public figure, a story in the news, a report, an unusual occurrence, a piece of bureaucratic absurdity, a domestic incident or a sporting controversy.”
LASTLY, follow the guidelines given below regarding structure, style and language:
“The column must be planned so that the writer knows before he or she starts just what they are going to say.”
STRUCTURE
1. Openings: State the topic in the opening sentence(s). Write in the first person.
Check the opening sentences of TEXTS 14, 15, 17, and 18:
TEXT 14
I left my 9-year-old at Bloomingdale's (the original one) a couple weeks ago. Last seen, he was in first floor handbags as I sashayed out the door.
Bye bye! Have fun!
And he did. He came home on the subway and bus by himself.
TEXT 15
If you've ever wondered what it's like to be at the epicenter of a media storm – one that has labeled you an irresponsible parent (at best) -- let me tell you: …
TEXT 17
I’m a cautious person. I check the oven every single time I leave the house. For the record, I’ve never once left the oven on. I hardly use my oven. It’s not like I’m cooking so much that oh-geez sometimes I lose track of when I’ve activated a major appliance that starts controlled fires.
TEXT 18
I belong to an exclusive club that most of you have no hope of ever qualifying for. It’s called People of An Embarrassingly Advanced Age Who Can’t Drive.
2. Development: “the column must sustain its theme, building towards a climax or "pay-off" line”.
3. Ending: Climax or “pay-off” line.
Check the endings of TEXTS 14, 15, 17, and 18:
TEXT 14
The problem with this everything-is-dangerous outlook is that overprotectiveness is a danger in and of itself. A child who thinks he can't do anything on his own eventually can't.
Meantime, my son wants his next trip to be from Queens. In my day, I doubt that would have struck anyone as particularly brave. Now it seems like hitchhiking through Yemen.
TEXT 15
The dissident in me is now ready to start talking about something else, because it's no fun to be treated as insane by society when you're not.
Actually, it's probably no fun to be treated as insane even when you are. But that's for another day. Meantime, stay safe (enough).
TEXT 17
Somewhere in Japan right now there is a couple who got married in Los Angeles trying to explain to their friends that the man in the Mickey Mouse T-shirt standing next to the woman in a bridal gown is the groom, and their friends are just sitting there and nodding politely and silently judging the groom for going Normcore at his wedding.
TEXT 18
The good news for those of us without a licence is that not driving is becoming more common, and is perhaps even cool. Far fewer young people are learning to drive: the number of British people under 25 taking driving tests has fallen by 18% in the past decade, according to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency. This is largely because of cost, but also because in an increasingly urban and digital world, cars are no longer the vehicle of liberation they once were. So, non-drivers of the world unite. There is much to be said for getting the bus.
STYLE AND LANGUAGE typical of a “me” column:
· first-person narration
· conversational tone
· colloquial language
· asides
· answers to imaginary questions that might have been asked
· verbatim dialogue to capture and convey a first-hand experience (i.e. direct speech)
· record any dialogue as accurately as possible: include pauses, slang, stumbles, inflection, etc.
· a stream of consciousness feel
· lots and lots of details
· onomatopoeic words
· contracted verb forms
· exclamations
For examples of the above-mentioned features see TEXTS 14 and 15.
You should write your “me” column in a style similar to that of these two texts.