Recent Stories

MCJ

The Final Days of Eli (Or Not?) (5740 word article, 340 words written)

By |

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)

By |

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)

By |

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.

Face for a Canvas

By |

by Samuel Trombetta

Houda spread the glue evenly around her face, making the outline of a heart shape before embezzling it with shiny little stones that resemble diamonds. Deciding that her face wasn’t blue enough after layering on some paint, she drew on tears that went to her cheeks which faded into a light red hue. Finally, she drew her eyebrows, raised at the ends closer to her nose and made them into straight lines, almost resembling a tent to display a saddened expression. All the while, Houda filmed her progress and later edited the video into a short clip that showcased her final work at the end. She posted the clip on instagram and a picture of the final product, believing it to be just another one of her hundreds of posts that her page dedicated itself to.

MCJ

“Body Positivity Is a Scam” (2,447 words)

By |

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)

By |

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)

By |

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.

MCJ

Grace Kelly (Dead Blondes Part 11 Episode 103: 1 hour)

By |

The podcast Grace Kelly (Dead Blondes Part 11) from the You Must Remember This Podcast told the story of Grace Kelly’s life and tragic death. After watching Grace Kelly in Rear Window as well as in some other films, knowing that she was a princess, and learning of her death, I thought that this podcast would be interesting to listen to and would give a greater insight into her life. In the podcast, the host Karina Longworth started the podcast by telling the audience that most “blonde” stories are that of the “suffering” blondes like Marilyn Monroe. Grace Kelly had a different story with a sad ending. Longworth described how Kelly grew up in an unsupportive family, how she started within the acting and modeling industry, and what occurred with the fame she received.

MCJ

“What Do We Owe Her Now?” (Washington Post, 2018, 9,475 words)

By |

I read this quite a while ago, and it stuck with me so much so that I read it again. It is devastating, by the way, in case anybody didn't land on this one. Elizabeth Bruenig's five part multimedia feature for the Washington Post profiles a woman named Amber Wyatt who reported her rape by two popular boys in high school and was subsequently ridiculed by her hometown and denied her day in court by the authorities. Bruenig went to school with Wyatt but did not know her well. I remember being reminded of Sharp Objects, the Gillian Flynn novel, where the main character is asked to return to her hometown to report on a series of missing and murdered young women, and I was even more jarred reading this considering this was a real woman's life completely ruined by people who didn't believe her.

MCJ

“‘Tiny House Hunters’ and the Shrinking American Dream” (Curbed, 1704 words)

By |

(This has been sitting in a Google doc since literally February. Sorry. Ah.)

Roxane Gay contributed here to Curbed, a publication owned by the Vox Media group, in a piece denoting the experience of watching HGTV’s Tiny House Hunters (a program that I happen to love) and becoming increasingly frustrated not just with the repeated demands and the American obsession with the McMansion but then also laments the same sort of issue I have when I watch those shows: why are you looking for a tiny house when you want a lot of space? Now, it’s recently sort of occurred to me that “tiny homes” are like gentrified mobile homes, and the shrinking of the American Dream that Gay points out here is rather evident. These are people who are clearly looking for some beautiful thing to own, but the budget just isn’t there.

MCJ

The Final Days of Eli (Or Not?) (5740 word article, 340 words written)

By |

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)

By |

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)

By |

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.

Face for a Canvas

By |

by Samuel Trombetta

Houda spread the glue evenly around her face, making the outline of a heart shape before embezzling it with shiny little stones that resemble diamonds. Deciding that her face wasn’t blue enough after layering on some paint, she drew on tears that went to her cheeks which faded into a light red hue. Finally, she drew her eyebrows, raised at the ends closer to her nose and made them into straight lines, almost resembling a tent to display a saddened expression. All the while, Houda filmed her progress and later edited the video into a short clip that showcased her final work at the end. She posted the clip on instagram and a picture of the final product, believing it to be just another one of her hundreds of posts that her page dedicated itself to.

MCJ

“Body Positivity Is a Scam” (2,447 words)

By |

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)

By |

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)

By |

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.

MCJ

Grace Kelly (Dead Blondes Part 11 Episode 103: 1 hour)

By |

The podcast Grace Kelly (Dead Blondes Part 11) from the You Must Remember This Podcast told the story of Grace Kelly’s life and tragic death. After watching Grace Kelly in Rear Window as well as in some other films, knowing that she was a princess, and learning of her death, I thought that this podcast would be interesting to listen to and would give a greater insight into her life. In the podcast, the host Karina Longworth started the podcast by telling the audience that most “blonde” stories are that of the “suffering” blondes like Marilyn Monroe. Grace Kelly had a different story with a sad ending. Longworth described how Kelly grew up in an unsupportive family, how she started within the acting and modeling industry, and what occurred with the fame she received.

MCJ

“What Do We Owe Her Now?” (Washington Post, 2018, 9,475 words)

By |

I read this quite a while ago, and it stuck with me so much so that I read it again. It is devastating, by the way, in case anybody didn't land on this one. Elizabeth Bruenig's five part multimedia feature for the Washington Post profiles a woman named Amber Wyatt who reported her rape by two popular boys in high school and was subsequently ridiculed by her hometown and denied her day in court by the authorities. Bruenig went to school with Wyatt but did not know her well. I remember being reminded of Sharp Objects, the Gillian Flynn novel, where the main character is asked to return to her hometown to report on a series of missing and murdered young women, and I was even more jarred reading this considering this was a real woman's life completely ruined by people who didn't believe her.

MCJ

“‘Tiny House Hunters’ and the Shrinking American Dream” (Curbed, 1704 words)

By |

(This has been sitting in a Google doc since literally February. Sorry. Ah.)

Roxane Gay contributed here to Curbed, a publication owned by the Vox Media group, in a piece denoting the experience of watching HGTV’s Tiny House Hunters (a program that I happen to love) and becoming increasingly frustrated not just with the repeated demands and the American obsession with the McMansion but then also laments the same sort of issue I have when I watch those shows: why are you looking for a tiny house when you want a lot of space? Now, it’s recently sort of occurred to me that “tiny homes” are like gentrified mobile homes, and the shrinking of the American Dream that Gay points out here is rather evident. These are people who are clearly looking for some beautiful thing to own, but the budget just isn’t there.