Reading Response Week 9: Jon Ronson

Jon Ronson is probably one of my favorite writers of all time.  Ronson writes mostly profiles on people from Stanley Kubrik (post-mortem) to a man who thought he was a superhero.  My favorite part about his writing style is that he is able to write from his point of view in a way that it makes it easier to connect with the person he is profiling.  I think he is a real master at creating character in a very short amount of time and I appreciate that he is very open about his anxieties while reporting!  Ronson ends up in a lot of very dangerous situations, with a drug dealer for example, because when he does his reporting he goes all in, which is very inspiring.

This is a piece about Rebecca Coriam, a girl who "got lost" while on a Disney Cruise in 2011.  It's a bit lengthy so don't feel like you have to read all of it.  If you do like his work, check out "The Psychopath Test" and/or "Lost at Sea" for more.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on his use of the I character.  Do you think it works or is it distracting?  Hope you enjoy!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/nov/11/rebecca-coriam-lost-at-sea

Dreams and Pickles - Final Draft

Sunglasses on and golden-brown hair flying, Melody Daacon – Mel - cruises along the streets of Kalamazoo, MI in a large green van.  Wind whips through the interior, almost drowning out the sound of the old tape playing in the tape deck.  Making a sudden turn, Mel pulls into the parking lot of Bacchus Wine and Spirits, fidgeting with her glasses, hair, and notebook.  She is nervous for the cold call she is about to make to the store’s owner in the hopes of convincing him to stock her pickles, Veggie Bites. 

 “I’m always nervous for the first minute or so and then everything is fine,” she says of making cold calls, “sometimes if I’m by myself, I’ll just drive away.”  This time, however, she goes in, introduces herself and asks for the owner.  He’s not there but she gets a business card and leaves a few samples for him to try.  The new owner is interested in local products, according to the ladies at the register, so Mel is hopeful she’ll get a call back.

Mel has been working with the small business, Veggie Bites, since shortly after she returned to Kalamazoo two years ago.  A family friend, Ron, owns the business, but Mel does most of the day-to-day work; including marketing, going to farmers markets, and pickling vegetables.  Mel usually pickles alone in a small room full of counters and several sinks.  All of the vegetables are delivered from Russell Farms in Parchment; Veggie Bites is a local, Kalamazoo product and proudly markets itself as such.  Bell’s Eccentric Café goes through six large buckets of Veggie Bites each week, pairing them with each of their sandwiches.  Bronson Hospital also carries them in their cafeteria.  Ron has been asking Mel to take over the business from him fully so he can move on, but she is hesitating.  She isn’t sure if she’s ready for such a time commitment yet, or even if she’s ready to settle down. 

Mel grew up in Parchment, a small town just outside of Kalamazoo.  When she graduated high school she wanted to leave Kalamazoo as quickly as possible, attending Central Michigan University for a bachelors in health administration.  There she met someone, the two started dating and were married soon after.  Mel often drops this fact casually, with an “I was married once” and then moves on with the conversation.  The two graduated and moved on to pursue higher degrees at Saint Louis University and eventually settled down in New Jersey.

After graduate school, Mel found a job working in New York City for the Health Department while her husband worked as a lawyer for a firm.  Her experience at the Health Department was stressful and degrading.  Every day she had to convince doctors to give them patients using all sorts of tactics, this is not what Mel had imagined when she said she wanted to go into health administration.  As Mel gradually understood that this was not her dream job, she also began to realize that she and her husband were different people than they had been when they had met back in Kalamazoo. The relationship wasn’t working any more and Mel decided that it was time to move on.

The marriage ended and Mel realized that she had nowhere to go except to the place that she had so readily left 10 years before.  She said coming back felt like, “being hugged by Kalamazoo,” it felt right.  Two years later and now thirty, Mel is taking the chance to have more freedom.  “I feel like I’m in a semi-transitional period…but it’s okay,” she says with a rueful smile.  Setting her own schedule is something she was never able to do at the Health Administration and the change is freeing. 

After the meeting, Mel hops back into her van, breathing more easily now that the suspense is over.  She answers a phone call from someone asking about what grants the Kalamazoo River Valley Trail has applied for this year.  In addition to her pickling work, Mel works part time for the Kalamazoo River Valley Trail writing grants and doing social media.  She also does some bookkeeping for a local patent lawyer.  Mel is a very active volunteer at the Kalamazoo Food Co-op and sits on the board of Fair Food Matters, a local non-profit focused on food sustainability and accessibility.  “This is the kind of town where you can do that,” Mel says, “that” being the ability to be involved in so many things and being very connected to the community.

Although Mel seems to be loving life, there are outside pressures that worry her.  “I think that there are expectations, maybe they aren’t spoken as loudly now, but they’re there.  My mom sort of mentions kids, or just being safe, having a base for whatever you want to do.  She never said ‘do this, do that’ but it’d be nice for you to have health insurance.”  Mel considers that maybe this desire for a free lifestyle comes from her decision to settle down so early in life and trying to regain her younger twenties.  “I think I’m trying to do both, I’m trying to be free and do what I want to do…and then also think about the future, in any relationship, and in being almost thirty this year.  Family, do you want to start a family?  Is it in the future?  Well if it is then you have to have some sort of foundation before you build on that.”

Two weeks later and she still hasn’t heard from Bacchus, but sitting outside of Black Owl café, drinking an iced Sweet Matcha tea, she seems more concerned with her big life decisions than small losses.  She’s made big decisions before, leaving her husband and moving back to Kalamazoo, but deciding whether or not to take on a new business or keep on in her mobile lifestyle makes Mel nervous.  One thing does bring her comfort, considering a different outlook.  “There are expectations from my friends, and that is just to be happy.  I think I could be happy doing anything, and I just need to realize that.”  

Intended Publication: Kalamazoo Gazette
Word Count: 1024

The Events of October response (Week 8)

The whole time I was reading this book I was in awe of how much reporting Gail Griffin did in order to complete this book.  There was never a time when I felt there was a lack of anecdote or quotes, there were always many different sides of the story being told.  In a way, this piece was similar to the profile done on Frank Sinatra by Gay Talese, in that the main characters of the story aren't interviewed at all, yet we get a good picture of their relationship.  I'd like to one day try a profile where I don't interview the person it is about at all and just talk to people in Kalamazoo who know them, I think that could be a really interesting experiment.

I found so many aspects of this book worth talking about, but I wanted to focus in on Gail's choice to include herself in the story.  I felt that this was definitely one of those times where using the "I" character worked to the book's advantage and I felt that she really committed to going that route.  In a story like this that's so emotional and has the potential for bias, it was definitely good for her to be up front.  I think that if she had been some outsider the book would have read much differently and she may not have gotten her subjects to say as much about their experiences.  I did have one thought as I was reading the book though and I was wondering if any of you were thinking the same:  If we are to consider this as a narrative journalism piece, did Gail have uncontaminated access to the story?  I'm sure that Kalamazoo College wouldn't have fired her over the book, but she definitely had quite a few of the connections to subjects and to the story that we were warned against.  Just wanted to hear your thoughts!

Final Story Pitch

I am thinking for my final piece I will try and go back to my original profile idea that fell through because my subject fell ill and couldn't meet with me in time.  He has already expressed an interest in letting me profile him so hopefully he will have some time in the next few weeks for me.

As a reminder, my first idea was to profile a man named Ryan Bailey, a teacher at Kalamazoo Central and also the co-owner of a small gin distillery.  He is also apparently the tennis coach for Kalamazoo Central and leads anti-racism workshops.  There's definitely a lot to go into here, I kind of want to get to the root of what his true passion and desire is amidst all this randomness.  Hopefully it works out this time!  What do you all think?

TTS Pts. 4+5 reading response (week 7)

One of the pieces I found most useful in this section of Telling True Stories was the section by Kelley Benham on using quotes and capturing dialogue.  This was one of the biggest things I had trouble doing in my first and second drafts and it was helpful to read what her advice.  I definitely want to use some of her techniques when I interview Mel again and in future pieces.

During my first interview with Mel I was SO focused on finding "the story" that I totally missed a ton of dialogue and good quotes.  We were in and out and everywhere so I didn't end up using a recording device either, so now I have very few quotes to work with until I meet her again.  I just hope that the quotes I get are organic and not manufactured from my questioning, so I'm trying not to go in there with only the objective of getting some usable quotes.

I like the idea of capturing seemingly unimportant moments and using that dialogue or voice to develop the character.  I think the little piece on Elizabeth Edwards was really brilliant and brought a new side of her forward.  None of our subjects is so famous that we have to worry about being redundant, but I think that capturing dialogue with other people is definitely something I'd like to try and incorporate in my piece.

There were a lot of other really good parts to these two sections, but this is what stuck with me the most throughout because it applied to something I've been struggling with in my piece.  What are your methods for picking/getting good quotes?  Do you think it's more important to pay attention to the big picture or smaller details when reporting for a story?

Profile Draft #2

Sunglasses on and golden-brown hair flying, Melody Daacon – Mel - cruises along streets in Kalamazoo, MI in a large green van.  Wind whips through the interior, almost drowning out the sound of the old tape playing in the tape deck.  Making a sudden turn, Mel pulls into the parking lot of Bacchus Wine and Spirits, fidgeting with her glasses, hair, and notebook.  She is nervous for the cold call she is about to make to the store’s owner about having the store sell her pickles, Veggie Bites. 

 “I’m always nervous for the first minute or so and then everything is fine,” she says of making cold calls, “sometimes if I’m by myself, I’ll just drive away.”  This time, however, she goes in, introduces herself and asks for the owner.  He’s not there but she gets a business card and leaves a few samples for him to try.  The new owner is interested in local products, according to the ladies at the register, so Mel is hopeful she’ll get a call back.

Mel has been working with the small business since shortly after she returned to Kalamazoo two years ago.  A family friend, Ron, owns the business, but Mel does most of the required work; including marketing, going to farmers markets, and pickling vegetables.  Mel pickles in a small room full of counters and several sinks.  All of the vegetables are delivered from Russell Farms in Parchment, and Veggie Bites is a local product and markets itself as such.  Veggie Bites are already eaten by many people, although they may not know it, Bell’s Eccentric Café goes through about six large buckets per week, they pair them with each of their sandwiches.  Bronson Hospital also carries them in their cafeteria.  Ron has been asking Mel to take over the business from him fully so he can move on, but she is hesitating.  She isn’t sure if she’s ready for such a time commitment yet, or if she’s ready to settle down. 

Mel grew up in Parchment, a small town just outside of Kalamazoo.  When she graduated high school she wanted to leave Kalamazoo as quickly as possible, attending Central Michigan University for a bachelors in health administration.  There she met someone, the two started dating and were married soon after.  Mel often drops this fact casually, with an “I was married once” and then moves on with the conversation.  The two graduated and moved on to pursue higher degrees at Saint Louis University and eventually settled down in New Jersey.

After graduate school, Mel found herself working in New York City for the Health Department while her husband worked as a lawyer for a firm.  Her experience at the Health Department was stressful and degrading.  Every day she had to convince doctors to give them patients using all sorts of tactics, this is not what Mel had imagined when she said she wanted to go into health administration.  Gradually, Mel began to realize that she and her husband were different people than they were when they had met back in Kalamazoo and the relationship wasn’t working any more.  It was time to move on.

The marriage ended and Mel realized that she had nowhere to go except to the place that she had so readily left 10 years before.  She said coming back felt like, “being hugged by Kalamazoo,” it felt right.  Two years later and now thirty, Mel is taking the chance to have more freedom.  “I feel like I’m in a semi-transitional period…but it’s okay,” she says with a rueful smile.  Setting her own schedule is something she was never able to do at the Health Administration and the change is freeing. 

After the meeting, Mel hops back into her van, breathing more easily now that the suspense is over.  She answers a phone call from someone asking about what grants the Kalamazoo River Valley Trail has applied for this year.  In addition to her pickling work, Mel works part time for the Kalamazoo River Valley Trail writing grants and doing social media.  She also does some bookkeeping for a local patent lawyer.  Mel is a very active volunteer at the Kalamazoo Food Co-op and sits on the board of Fair Food Matters, a local non-profit focused on food sustainability and accessibility.  “This is the kind of town where you can do that,” Mel says, “that” being the ability to be involved in so many things and being very connected to the community.

Final paragraph still in development

Note:  Hey guys, so I was supposed to meet with Mel again today but she had to cancel at the last minute so now I won't be meeting with her until Monday.  I had really hoped I'd have a little more edits I could do, but I'm sort of waiting to see what direction our next time takes before I can make any major changes.  Anyways, I was trying to do the weaved narrative and I'm having trouble, so if you guys have any suggestions on how I can try and break up past and present a little more PLEASE help!  Also, do you think the ideas of like her home coming and also coming of age have to be mutually exclusive?  I'm not sure one works without the other, but I will see what you both think. I wish I had a more different draft to offer but it just didn't work out for today.  Thanks for looking at it!

Writing process - profile

     On Tuesday of last week, my original subject for this piece emailed to tell me that he had had an appendectomy over the weekend and so would not be able to have me interview him the next day.  My heart sank and I kind of freaked out cause I didn't think I knew of that many more interesting people.  I tried to think about what might interest me and I settled on exploring why people stayed in/came back to their home towns to live.  During one of my non-profit internships in Kalamazoo I met Melody Daacon, who was a Kalamazoo native and was now doing a bunch of non-profit work.  What had really grabbed my attention when we talked once was that she had casually mentioned, "I was married once."  Something about how she talked about it so cooly made me really interested and I was happy to get the chance to find out more.
     I got to spend a whole afternoon with Mel on Friday, going on cold calls with her and checking out her pickling premises and warehouse.  The next day I visited her at the first Farmer's market of the year, which was really cool too.  I definitely think that this will turn out better than my original idea because I was able to see her in action.  We talked so much in the car that I barely had any formal questions/need to do a formal interview with her.
     I wasn't really sure how to approach the writing portion of this piece, so I tried to structure it sort of around the afternoon I spent with her and then interjecting some deeper stories into that sort of chronology.  I'm not sure if it worked or not so I am looking forward to hearing some comments from my workshop group!  Also, I feel like there are a lot more details and things I can add to make it better, I just ran out of time a bit.  Can't wait to talk Wednesday!

Profile draft - Melody Daacon

Sunglasses on and golden-brown hair flying, Melody Daacon – Mel - cruises through the farmlands just north of Kalamazoo, MI in a large green van.  Wind whips through the interior, almost drowning out the sound of the old tape playing in the tape deck.   The truck moves quickly past fields of corn and soybeans reminding Mel of her uncle’s farm nearby where she spent some of her childhood.  This is the area where she lived when she was younger, and where her mother still resides.  Mel considers herself a Kalamazoo native, even though she grew up just outside in the small town of Parchment.  Her father lived across the city in Portage and she made the trip back and forth many times.  She often went to college parties in the city,

Mel is now incredibly active in Kalamazoo community organizations, especially those relating to sustainable food, but back then she recalls just being a kid who liked sports and who wasn’t too concerned with how things like food systems worked.  When she graduated high school she wanted to leave Kalamazoo as quickly as possible, attending Central Michigan University for a bachelors in health administration. 

There, Mel met a guy that she had seen one night in high school at a college house party on Lovell.  They had talked for a little bit but nothing had come of it, until now.  The pair started dating, went on study abroad together in Norway, and were married soon after.  They both moved on to pursue higher degrees at Saint Louis University and eventually settled down in New Jersey.

Mel found herself working in New York City for the Health Department while her husband worked as a lawyer for a firm.  Her experience at the Health Department was stressful and degrading.  Every day she had to convince doctors to give them patients using all sorts of tactics, this is not what Mel had imagined when she said she wanted to go into health administration.  Gradually, Mel began to realize that she and her husband were different people than they were when they had met back in Kalamazoo and the relationship wasn’t working any more.  It was time to move on.

The marriage ended and Mel realized that she had nowhere to go except to the place that she had so readily left 10 years before.  She said coming back felt like, “being hugged by Kalamazoo,” it felt right.  An uncle who she had not known much during her childhood was terminally ill with brain cancer, so she moved in with him to be his caretaker in his final months.  The experience allowed her to get to know her uncle before he passed, and kept her busy, letting her move forward.

Mel pulls into the parking lot of Bacchus Wine and Spirits, fidgeting with her glasses, hair, and notebook.  She is nervous for the cold call she is about to make to the owner about having the store stock her pickles, Veggie Bites.  Mel has been working with the small business since shortly after she returned to Kalamazoo two years ago.  A family friend, Ron, owns the business, but Mel does most of the required work; including marketing, going to farmers markets, and pickling vegetables.  Mel pickles in a small room full of counters and several sinks.  All of the vegetables are delivered from Russell Farms in Parchment, and Veggie Bites is a local product and markets itself as such.

“I’m always nervous for the first minute or so and then everything is fine,” she says of making cold calls, “sometimes if I’m by myself, I’ll just drive away.”  This time, however, she goes in, introduces herself and asks for the owner.  He’s not there but she gets a business card and leaves a few samples for him to try.  The new owner is interested in local products, according to the ladies at the register, so Mel is hopeful she’ll get a call back.  Veggie Bites are already eaten by many people, although they may not know it, Bell’s Eccentric Café goes through about six large buckets per week, they pair them with each of their sandwiches.  Bronson Hospital also carries them in their cafeteria.

After the meeting, Mel hops back into her van, breathing more easily after the interaction.  She answers a phone call from someone asking about what grants the Kalamazoo River Valley Trail has applied for this year.  In addition to her pickling work, Mel works part time for the Kalamazoo River Valley Trail writing grants and doing social media.  She also does some bookkeeping for a local patent lawyer.  Mel considers this to be a semi-transition phase in her life still, but she loves every minute of it.  Setting her own schedule is something she was never able to do at the Health Administration and the change is freeing. 

In addition to her multiple part time jobs, Mel is a very active volunteer at the Kalamazoo Food Co-op and sits on the board of Fair Food Matters, a local non-profit focused on food sustainability and accessibility.  “This is the kind of town where you can do that,” Mel says, “that” being the ability to be involved in so many things and being very connected to the community. 

Ron, the owner of Veggie Bites, has been asking Mel to take over the business from him fully so he can move on, but she is hesitating.  She isn’t sure if she’s ready for such a time commitment yet, or if she’s ready to settle down.  Her boyfriend, Matt, the man who runs Kalamazoo Housing Co-op and she have decided to reevaluate in one year whether to stay in Kalamazoo or move on to somewhere new.  So though it might not be permanent, for now, Kalamazoo is finally home.