There's something truly bizarre how our social media and stan/fanboy culture has developed in our US elections. We have stan wars over politicians, attempts to put Elizabeth Warren or Kamala Harris in pop culture scenes. It's kind of bizarre we are treating an election like a reality show. To quote Joaquin Phoenix, we live in a society. Regardless, the fun of this article is its graphics and interactives.
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The Raisin Situation (3,844 words)
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As somebody who loves Sun-Maid, I had to check this article out, and I'm very glad I did. There's plenty of intrigue and suspense for what is a story about raisin companies. I have a love for niche documentaries and stories, and this was right up my alley. In terms of presentation, what I really enjoyed were the greyscale images. The New York Times knows the story is pretty silly, and uses the lack of color in two ways.
MCJ
“The Greatest Story Reddit Ever Told” -Kevin Morris (5,562 words)
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I don’t know what I thought when I first read the title of this article. I did not think it would be about how members of the Reddit community come together to help a man in federal prison. It was very interesting and it reminds you that people on the Internet are not all trolls. Some are good people just looking to help others out and have a good time.
The story began with how Dante Orpilla was arrested for buying cocaine from ICE agents. Then goes into how we got into Reddit and how he emassed a following for his artwork.
MCJ
“For One Last Night, Make It a Blockbuster Night”- Justin Heckert (9,282 words)
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When I was younger I remember going to Blockbuster. My parents would take us every once in a while to pick out a movie. It was fun to run around looking at all the movies and then hoping into the dollar store next door to get some cheap treats. It has been a long time since I stepped foot in a Blockbuster, for many people it has been a long time.
This article by Justin Heckert, brings those memories back. Heckert spends a lot of time creating the atmosphere of the ill fated Alaskan Blockbusters.
MCJ
“The Lottery Hackers”- Jason Fagone (11,000 words)
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All I can say is wow. This story was wild. I cannot believe how this elderly couple was able to make millions off the lottery. It is just, wow. I never thought about playing the lottery like this and I cannot believe they were able to crack it.
MCJ
The Final Days of Eli (Or Not?) (5740 word article, 340 words written)
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When I saw the title “The Final Days of Eli (Or Not?), I automatically it was going to be about Eli Manning and his final season in the NFL. I was right. I thought this was a very well written and interesting article. We got to go inside the minds of both Eli, his family, and his teammates/coaches as his career was winding down. I really liked that in the very beginning of the article, we kind of got a play-by-play of Manning’s family at his last game before he was ultimately benched for Daniel Jones.
MCJ
Yankees Suck! Yankees Suck! (7335 word article, 333 words written)
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The title of this article drew me in immediately. Being a die hard baseball and Phillies fan, I knew I had to give this one a read. The first thing that grabbed my attention was the picture at the very top of the page. All the “Yankees Suck” shirts, the Red Sox flags. Damn, I miss baseball.
MCJ
My Writing Education: A Timeline (4187 word article, 328 words written)
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I am writing in response to My Writing Education: A Timeline by George Saunders. This one was in one of Dr. Dwyer's recommended readings, so I figured I would give this one a read. First, I did a quick scan of the article so I could pace myself while reading and have a good idea of where I am at in the story. The first thing I noticed was this article is organized very well and put into subcategories to break up the text. Each one made it very clear where we were at in the reading.
MCJ
“Body Positivity Is a Scam” (2,447 words)
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The article “Body Positivity Is a Scam” by Amanda Mull argued that the “progressive” movements in the advertisement industry of certain brands have not been to promote body positivity. Rather, these advertisements have been catered to the feelings of the masses and are meant to drive up sales. Mull uses the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty as their main example as it started the movement through showing the Photoshop process. The reason Mull believes that this method works is because Dove is doing the exact opposite of, for example, high fashion companies. Dove has been using people of all sizes and skin tones to represent their company.
MCJ
“I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb”-Allie Contie (5,750 words)
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All I can say about this article is wow. The facts of this article are not necessarily surprising, but it still makes my blood boil. The story begins with Contie’s experience with an Airbnb host that suddenly canceled her reservation and sent her to another place to stay that was disgusting and kicked them out after one night. After some digging Contie soon finds that this is a lot more than one bad experience.
People are setting up multiple accounts, advertising suspiciously similar apartments, giving clients loads of almost exactly the same experiences, and taking full advantage of Airbnb’s lax policies. Like mentioned before, the fact that this is occurring is not surprising.
MCJ
“The Raisin Situation” – Jonah Engel Bromwich (3,844 words)
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Two words: raisin mafia.
For a story that seems it would be so simple and standard, “The Raisin Situation” takes you on a whirlwind journey with Sun-Maid’s new chief executive and the turmoil he faces entering the raisin industry.
The story begins explaining the raisin industry’s issue with young people not eating raisins and would seem to find it’s solution with the hiring of a younger CEO, Harry Overly, with experience in different food companies. The story then takes a turn with Overly meeting other raisin industry “players” and him saying after that occured in the back room of a restaurant felt like a raisin mafia. The story then continues by describing all the treats on Overly and his family’s lives, the state of the raisin industry, the anger and distrust in the farmers, and Overly trying his best to appeal to them and try to save the industry. The story luckily ends on a high note and it seems Overly has persuaded a lot of farmers and is currently on his way to attempt to change the industry for the better.
This story is something that is different. It is so interesting because it takes something that one would expect to be really boring and flips it on its head.