Lede the Way

Narrative Lead:
"The advice made her head spin: Have the lump removed. No, let them take the whole breast. Chemo? Radiation? Everyone seemed to have an opinion."
-cnn.com (full article at "http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/02/19/cancer.coaches.ap/index.html")

Nut Graf:
"Many advocacy groups and hospitals are using "professional" coaches -- trained volunteers or paid workers who can objectively help new patients navigate the maze of information and options."


At first I had a problem with the fact that the nut graf was six blocks into the article, but then I scrolled down and realized that this article is over 1,000 words long. I can't imagine a writer attempting to use any other type of a lead than a narrative for an article of this magnitude. Actually, this type of lead is completely necessary, because the article is practically a story about a woman named Bernie Brann(the "her" in the lead), who utilized the services of a "coach" while battling cancer.

This article could have been extremely shorter if the writer had taken a different, more "newsy" approach, but the article would lose the factor of personality that made it so interesting. Sure, I could read a short, straight-forward article about people who choach cancer patients through their process, but I would much rather read about an actual cancer patient who is going through the struggle and can tell about the ups and downs of having one of these coaches, which would be much more effective for other patients. And from my perspective, as someone who doesn't suffer from cancer, how else can I begin to understand or relate to how difficult it is? That's why I feel that the narrative approach the writer took was the perfect way to go about the subject matter he/she was writing about.

It's long, but if you have time you should read the whole article. It's pretty good.

Classmate interview: Rommel

Rommel Conclara is 22 years old and currently lives in Daly City. He has been taking journalism classes with his eye on a possible future career in broadcasting, and hopes to eventually transfer to San Francisco State. Rommel is working hard to move forward academically and is interested in State because of the school’s prestigious reputation for journalism. “Right now I’m most passionate about school,” he said.

When he’s not attending class or studying, Rommel works two jobs and works out whenever he gets the chance. He enjoys taking trips to Vegas with his group of friends, which he referred to as the “Ocean 11-type group” (where he very humbly accepts the role of Brad Pitt or George Clooney).

Rommel also enjoys music, and puts hip hop at the top of the list. “I’ll listen to pretty much anything,” he said, “as long as it’s real.” To use his example, “50 Cent is bad, but I like Lupe [Fiasco].” Rommel’s tastes in music are a bit more eclectic than that, though, listing John Mayer, Nas, and Rage Against the Machine as some of his favorite artists.

Going to school and working two jobs is not an easy task, but Rommel gets it done, still managing to squeeze some fun in. He attributes his grandmother – his “second mom” - as his greatest inspiration.

I am Paul

What's up everybody? My given name is Paul Nathanael Sieger. People call me Paul, and my friends call me Paul too because my name doesn't give much leeway for nicknames. But I'm ok with that.

ANYWAY, this is my first official blog, although I do tend to write "notes" on Facebook every once in a while. This is a blog for my Journalism 120 class at Skyline, and I've never had to do anything like this for a class before, so I'll milk as much excitement out of it as I possibly can. This is my first semester at Skyline. After I graduated in '05, I got accepted to Cal Poly Pomona, and spent three days there only to end up coming home and working for a year because of some ridiculous "Fatal Attraction"-type relationship problems(don't ask). I spent a semester at USF in the fall of '06 to major in architecture, like I had intended to do at Cal Poly. By the end of the semester, I pretty much went from being interested in architecture to being almost repulsed by it. Because I was academically lost and dishing out way too much money, I moved to CSM and did two semesters there. And now here I am at Skyline, five minutes away from home and taking classes with friends, and I'm finally feeling pretty good about my situation.

I switched my major to journalism for this semester, because I decided that's what I want to do with my life. My dad did the same thing in college and became a sports writer, and still freelances to this day. I guess you could say he's my inspiration for this.

But enough of this academic crap. What I'm really into is hip hop. Ever since I fell in love with it when I was 14, I pretty much have found a way to revert any and every conversation into a conversation about hip hop. So don't talk to me if you're completely disinterested in how The Wu-Tang Clan relates to nuclear physics. So, it'd be nice to eventually write officially for a hip hop magazine, or at least do some freelancing in that area. When I'm not verbally destroying mainstream radio rap, you'll find me with my friends, trying as hard as possible to avoid video games but failing miserably, and driving around unable to think of anything "cool" to do.

So that's about all I have to say. I'll catch you next time.