Singer/songwriter Brandi Carlile
Course schedule | JRN501 home page
KEY DUE DATES & INSTRUCTIONS
Vignettes: Sept. 12 (bring to class) and 11:59 p.m., Friday, Sept. 16 (submit via Blackboard)
Scenes: Sept. 26 (bring to class) and 11:59 p.m., Friday, Sept. 30 (submit via Blackboard)
Movie descriptions: Oct. 3 (bring to class)
Story pitch: Monday, Oct. 17 (bring to class) and 11:59 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 18 (submit via Blackboard)
Short evidence report: Monday, Nov. 14 (bring to class) and 11:59 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 15 (submit via Blackboard)
Vignette/scene: Friday, Nov. 18 -- email Google Doc link to professor by 11:59 p.m.
"Sh!tty first draft": Monday, Nov. 28 (submit Google Doc link to Blackboard)
A better draft: 11:59 p.m., Dec. 7 (email professor the SAME Google Doc link with fixes)
Final: noon, Dec. 14 (Link to expectations)
Monday, Aug. 29
WEEK 1. INTRODUCTION: Where are we doing in here and what's the road map?
The road map - character, scene, narrative, details (interviews), expertise (records, data)
Read before class:
"Teresa McGovern: A Death in the Cold" by Laura Blumenfeld/Washington Post (Feb. 5, 1995).
Read in class:
*The lyrics to the song The Highwomen by The Highwomen (Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris & Amanda Shires)
* These two chapters from Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
What we will talk about:
Character, scene, details, expertise and narrative (with a splash of context)
What to do for next class:
* Read Part 1 of Telling True Stories edited by Mark Kramer and Wendy Call (read all of the pages of PDF, pp. 3-16)
* Read "Every Profile is an Epic Story" by Tomas Alex Tizon (pp. 71-74)
* Read Brady Dennis vignettes from the St. Petersburg Times.
* Read a few vignettes from Portraits of Grief from the New York Times staff; compare these to Dennis'.
* Think of a couple people you see regularly in life, but do not know. * Observe them. * Write two, 300-word (max) vignettes of your own on real people (again, that you do not know personally).
Monday, Sept. 5
WEEK 2. LABOR DAY
NO CLASS
Monday, Sept. 12
WEEK 3. FIRST STOP: CHARACTER/PEOPLE
What we will talk about:
* Short assignments & "sh!tty first drafts" & Discuss the readings
* Read your 300-word vignettes
* Discuss final vignettes -- "It's all in the details!"
* Compare Dennis' vignettes to the Portraits of Grief
What to do for next class:
*Rewrite your vignettes (still 300 words!) & submit to Blackboard no later than 11:59 p.m., Friday, Sept. 16
* Read Witness describes final moments of Baker's life by Jennifer McMenamin/Baltimore Sun (Dec. 5, 2007)
* Read What first seems part of show turns to horrific, chaotic scene by Michael Booth & Kevin Simpson/Denver Post (May 1, 2016).
Monday, Sept. 19
WEEK 4. FROM CHARACTER TO... NEXT STOP: SCENE
What we will talk about:
* Go over your vignette-reporting process
* Discuss readings about scene -- "How did the writers know what they knew?"
What to do for next class:
* Read Two strangers bond over country music and beer. Then the gunshots started by Wesley Lowery/Washington Post (Oct. 3, 2017)
* Read Death of a Racehorse by W.C. Heinz/Baltimore Sun (July 29, 1949 -- yes, a classic)
* Write a 600-word (max) essay on a real scene.
Monday, Sept. 26
WEEK 5. SCENE
What we will talk about:
*Present your essays on a real scene and describe how you knew what you know
*Discuss more about scene through the details of the Post and Sun articles (triangulation)
What to do for next class:
* Rewrite your scene (max 600 words) & submit to Blackboard no later than 11:59 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 30
* Read Constructing a Structure (pp. 97-109) from "Telling True Stories"
* Watch a movie based on a true story (not a documentary). Think of the movie's beginning, middle and end. Write about it. In one sentence, answer the question, "What is this movie about?" Bring to class, printed, to discuss & turn in.
* Start to think about longform story ideas that you could execute by the end of the semester. Jot down ideas and what some potential hurdles to doing the story might be.
Monday, Oct. 3
WEEK 6. NEXT STOP: NARRATIVE/STYLE
What we will talk about:
* Present your final essays on scene and describe how you knew what you know
* Discuss the movies you watched - beginning, middle & end. (What is this movie about?)
* Watch Silkwood - identify beginning, middle & end.
What to do for next class:
* Read Constructing a Structure (pp. 109 end & 110-121) from "Telling True Stories"
* Read An Unbelievable Story of Rape* by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong/ProPublica & The Marshall Project (Dec. 16, 2015) * This story has since been made into a Netflix series called "Unbelievable"
* How did the authors know what they knew in An Unbelievable Story of Rape? What is it about in one sentence? Describe the beginning, middle and end.
* Start to think seriously about your final project - sources, beginning/middle/end, how in-depth can you go?
Monday, Oct. 10
WEEK 7. NARRATIVE/STYLE
What we will talk about:
* Discuss the narrative style employed in An Unbelievable Story of Rape (What is it about? Beginning. middle, end?)
* Discuss the reporting in the story (How did the journalists know what they knew?)
* Discuss your longform ideas & introduce story pitch format (see format here)
What to do for next class:
* Read The Long Fall of Phoebe Jonchuck by Lane DeGregory/Tampa Bay Times (Jan. 7, 2016); pay attention to the details of this story, What is it about in one sentence? How did the journalist know what he knew?
* Write an official (and binding) story pitch using the format above & submit to Blackboard no later than 11:59 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 18
Monday, Oct. 17
WEEK 8.
Discuss story pitches
NEXT STOP: DETAILS/REPORTING
What to do for next class:
Last class!
Monday, Oct. 24
WEEK 9. DETAILS/REPORTING
What we will talk about:
* Discuss the details of The Long Fall. What is it about? Describe the beginning, middle & end. How did the journalist know what he knows?
* Discuss your pitches
What to do for next class:
* Read Kate Fagan's Split Image (ESPN The Magazine).
* Write about the following: 1.) What is the story about? - in one sentence, 2.) The narrative style the journalist employs, 3.) How does the journalist know what she/he knows? 4.) Did anything make you uncomfortable regarding how the journalists came to know what he/she knows? Or, in how they relayed that information to you?
Monday, Oct. 31
WEEK 10. NEXT STOP: EXPERTISE/REPORTING/ETHICS
What we will talk about:
* Discuss details of Split Image -- what are they about? Beginning, middle and end. How did the writers know what they knew? Ethics
* Present your character vignette
* Getting the FACTS RIGHT
What to do for next class:
* Write a 600-word scene that needs to be described in your longform piece (bring to class Monday)
* Write one sentence on what it is about, and WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW? (bring to class Monday)
* Read The Really Big One by Kathryn Schulz/The New Yorker (July 13, 2015).
* Write about the following: 1.) What is the story about? - in one sentence, 2.) The narrative style the journalist employs, 3.) How does the journalist know what she/he knows? 4.) Did anything make you uncomfortable regarding how the journalists came to know what he/she knows? Or, in how they relayed that information to you?
* Read The Art of Fact-Checking (The Atlantic)
Monday, Nov. 7
WEEK 11. EXPERTISE/REPORTING
What we will talk about:
* Discuss expertise and what that means in terms of The Really Big One. What is it about in one sentence? Beginning, middle & end. How does Schulz know what she knows?
* Discuss your longform stories and how they're coming together. Present on "What is it about in one sentence? What do you need to know?"
What to do for next class:
* Locate and read at least two: academic journal articles, essays, public documents that you need to become an expert on your topic. *
* Short evidence report: Monday, Nov. 14 (bring to class) and 11:59 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 15 (submit via Blackboard)
Vignette/scene: Friday, Nov. 18 -- email Google Doc link to professor by 11:59 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 14
WEEK 12. SH!TTY FIRST DRAFTS (That's from Anne Lamott - back at the beginning of the semester)
What we will talk about:
* Present your first draft to class (bring copies and/or email everyone); group critique. Be prepared to answer WHAT IS IT ABOUT in one sentence, describe the beginning/middle/end and answer "how do you know what you know?
* Present on your expertise of the topic of your story
What to do for next class:
* Vignette/scene: Friday, Nov. 18 -- email Google Doc link to professor by 11:59 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 21
WEEK 12. NO CLASS
THANKSGIVING
Monday, Nov. 28
WEEK 14. NEXT DRAFTS
What we will talk about:
* Present your second draft to class (bring copies and/or email everyone); group critique. What changed? What is better? What still needs to be done.
What to do for next class:
* "Sh!tty first draft": Monday, Nov. 28 (submit via Blackboard)
* A better draft: 11:59 p.m., Dec. 7 (email professor the SAME Google Doc link with fixes)
Monday, Dec. 5
WEEK 15. REFINING & DISCUSSING
* In-class workshop of final articles
YOUR FINAL IS DUE VIA EMAIL (resend me the link to the Google Doc; this will indicate you are finished and ready for me to grade it) NO LATER THAN noon, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 14.
Vignettes: Sept. 12 (bring to class) and 11:59 p.m., Friday, Sept. 16 (submit via Blackboard)
Scenes: Sept. 26 (bring to class) and 11:59 p.m., Friday, Sept. 30 (submit via Blackboard)
Movie descriptions: Oct. 3 (bring to class)
Story pitch: Monday, Oct. 17 (bring to class) and 11:59 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 18 (submit via Blackboard)
Short evidence report: Monday, Nov. 14 (bring to class) and 11:59 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 15 (submit via Blackboard)
Vignette/scene: Friday, Nov. 18 -- email Google Doc link to professor by 11:59 p.m.
"Sh!tty first draft": Monday, Nov. 28 (submit Google Doc link to Blackboard)
A better draft: 11:59 p.m., Dec. 7 (email professor the SAME Google Doc link with fixes)
Final: noon, Dec. 14 (Link to expectations)
Monday, Aug. 29
WEEK 1. INTRODUCTION: Where are we doing in here and what's the road map?
The road map - character, scene, narrative, details (interviews), expertise (records, data)
Read before class:
"Teresa McGovern: A Death in the Cold" by Laura Blumenfeld/Washington Post (Feb. 5, 1995).
Read in class:
*The lyrics to the song The Highwomen by The Highwomen (Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris & Amanda Shires)
* These two chapters from Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
What we will talk about:
Character, scene, details, expertise and narrative (with a splash of context)
What to do for next class:
* Read Part 1 of Telling True Stories edited by Mark Kramer and Wendy Call (read all of the pages of PDF, pp. 3-16)
* Read "Every Profile is an Epic Story" by Tomas Alex Tizon (pp. 71-74)
* Read Brady Dennis vignettes from the St. Petersburg Times.
* Read a few vignettes from Portraits of Grief from the New York Times staff; compare these to Dennis'.
* Think of a couple people you see regularly in life, but do not know. * Observe them. * Write two, 300-word (max) vignettes of your own on real people (again, that you do not know personally).
Monday, Sept. 5
WEEK 2. LABOR DAY
NO CLASS
Monday, Sept. 12
WEEK 3. FIRST STOP: CHARACTER/PEOPLE
What we will talk about:
* Short assignments & "sh!tty first drafts" & Discuss the readings
* Read your 300-word vignettes
* Discuss final vignettes -- "It's all in the details!"
* Compare Dennis' vignettes to the Portraits of Grief
What to do for next class:
*Rewrite your vignettes (still 300 words!) & submit to Blackboard no later than 11:59 p.m., Friday, Sept. 16
* Read Witness describes final moments of Baker's life by Jennifer McMenamin/Baltimore Sun (Dec. 5, 2007)
* Read What first seems part of show turns to horrific, chaotic scene by Michael Booth & Kevin Simpson/Denver Post (May 1, 2016).
Monday, Sept. 19
WEEK 4. FROM CHARACTER TO... NEXT STOP: SCENE
What we will talk about:
* Go over your vignette-reporting process
* Discuss readings about scene -- "How did the writers know what they knew?"
What to do for next class:
* Read Two strangers bond over country music and beer. Then the gunshots started by Wesley Lowery/Washington Post (Oct. 3, 2017)
* Read Death of a Racehorse by W.C. Heinz/Baltimore Sun (July 29, 1949 -- yes, a classic)
* Write a 600-word (max) essay on a real scene.
Monday, Sept. 26
WEEK 5. SCENE
What we will talk about:
*Present your essays on a real scene and describe how you knew what you know
*Discuss more about scene through the details of the Post and Sun articles (triangulation)
What to do for next class:
* Rewrite your scene (max 600 words) & submit to Blackboard no later than 11:59 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 30
* Read Constructing a Structure (pp. 97-109) from "Telling True Stories"
* Watch a movie based on a true story (not a documentary). Think of the movie's beginning, middle and end. Write about it. In one sentence, answer the question, "What is this movie about?" Bring to class, printed, to discuss & turn in.
* Start to think about longform story ideas that you could execute by the end of the semester. Jot down ideas and what some potential hurdles to doing the story might be.
Monday, Oct. 3
WEEK 6. NEXT STOP: NARRATIVE/STYLE
What we will talk about:
* Present your final essays on scene and describe how you knew what you know
* Discuss the movies you watched - beginning, middle & end. (What is this movie about?)
* Watch Silkwood - identify beginning, middle & end.
What to do for next class:
* Read Constructing a Structure (pp. 109 end & 110-121) from "Telling True Stories"
* Read An Unbelievable Story of Rape* by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong/ProPublica & The Marshall Project (Dec. 16, 2015) * This story has since been made into a Netflix series called "Unbelievable"
* How did the authors know what they knew in An Unbelievable Story of Rape? What is it about in one sentence? Describe the beginning, middle and end.
* Start to think seriously about your final project - sources, beginning/middle/end, how in-depth can you go?
Monday, Oct. 10
WEEK 7. NARRATIVE/STYLE
What we will talk about:
* Discuss the narrative style employed in An Unbelievable Story of Rape (What is it about? Beginning. middle, end?)
* Discuss the reporting in the story (How did the journalists know what they knew?)
* Discuss your longform ideas & introduce story pitch format (see format here)
What to do for next class:
* Read The Long Fall of Phoebe Jonchuck by Lane DeGregory/Tampa Bay Times (Jan. 7, 2016); pay attention to the details of this story, What is it about in one sentence? How did the journalist know what he knew?
* Write an official (and binding) story pitch using the format above & submit to Blackboard no later than 11:59 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 18
Monday, Oct. 17
WEEK 8.
Discuss story pitches
NEXT STOP: DETAILS/REPORTING
What to do for next class:
Last class!
Monday, Oct. 24
WEEK 9. DETAILS/REPORTING
What we will talk about:
* Discuss the details of The Long Fall. What is it about? Describe the beginning, middle & end. How did the journalist know what he knows?
* Discuss your pitches
What to do for next class:
* Read Kate Fagan's Split Image (ESPN The Magazine).
* Write about the following: 1.) What is the story about? - in one sentence, 2.) The narrative style the journalist employs, 3.) How does the journalist know what she/he knows? 4.) Did anything make you uncomfortable regarding how the journalists came to know what he/she knows? Or, in how they relayed that information to you?
Monday, Oct. 31
WEEK 10. NEXT STOP: EXPERTISE/REPORTING/ETHICS
What we will talk about:
* Discuss details of Split Image -- what are they about? Beginning, middle and end. How did the writers know what they knew? Ethics
* Present your character vignette
* Getting the FACTS RIGHT
What to do for next class:
* Write a 600-word scene that needs to be described in your longform piece (bring to class Monday)
* Write one sentence on what it is about, and WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW? (bring to class Monday)
* Read The Really Big One by Kathryn Schulz/The New Yorker (July 13, 2015).
* Write about the following: 1.) What is the story about? - in one sentence, 2.) The narrative style the journalist employs, 3.) How does the journalist know what she/he knows? 4.) Did anything make you uncomfortable regarding how the journalists came to know what he/she knows? Or, in how they relayed that information to you?
* Read The Art of Fact-Checking (The Atlantic)
Monday, Nov. 7
WEEK 11. EXPERTISE/REPORTING
What we will talk about:
* Discuss expertise and what that means in terms of The Really Big One. What is it about in one sentence? Beginning, middle & end. How does Schulz know what she knows?
* Discuss your longform stories and how they're coming together. Present on "What is it about in one sentence? What do you need to know?"
What to do for next class:
* Locate and read at least two: academic journal articles, essays, public documents that you need to become an expert on your topic. *
* Short evidence report: Monday, Nov. 14 (bring to class) and 11:59 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 15 (submit via Blackboard)
Vignette/scene: Friday, Nov. 18 -- email Google Doc link to professor by 11:59 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 14
WEEK 12. SH!TTY FIRST DRAFTS (That's from Anne Lamott - back at the beginning of the semester)
What we will talk about:
* Present your first draft to class (bring copies and/or email everyone); group critique. Be prepared to answer WHAT IS IT ABOUT in one sentence, describe the beginning/middle/end and answer "how do you know what you know?
* Present on your expertise of the topic of your story
What to do for next class:
* Vignette/scene: Friday, Nov. 18 -- email Google Doc link to professor by 11:59 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 21
WEEK 12. NO CLASS
THANKSGIVING
Monday, Nov. 28
WEEK 14. NEXT DRAFTS
What we will talk about:
* Present your second draft to class (bring copies and/or email everyone); group critique. What changed? What is better? What still needs to be done.
What to do for next class:
* "Sh!tty first draft": Monday, Nov. 28 (submit via Blackboard)
* A better draft: 11:59 p.m., Dec. 7 (email professor the SAME Google Doc link with fixes)
Monday, Dec. 5
WEEK 15. REFINING & DISCUSSING
* In-class workshop of final articles
YOUR FINAL IS DUE VIA EMAIL (resend me the link to the Google Doc; this will indicate you are finished and ready for me to grade it) NO LATER THAN noon, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 14.