Journalism Class - Monday November 14

[jerusalem-s.livejournal.com]

Spider is lounging in his chair, cat in his lap and a huge mug of coffee in one hand.

"Today, as promised, we will be discussing your final term project. I hope that everyone is paying attention. We'll work out the specifics by the end of the week, but here is what I expect of you.

Each journalism student, saving only our photo journalist, needs to select one other student from the school population. Your subject must be another student and they must be someone you know only casually. It would be better if they were a complete stranger. No friends, roommates or significant others may be chosen for this project.

Once you have chosen your subject, you will need to approach them and arrange for an interview and, this is the important part, permission to accompany them home for an hour or so (preferably with your photojournalist also at hand). Coffee, lunch, a fast space battle... whatever appeals to you both. Please apply to me for the appropriate permissions to leave campus, as this is a sanctioned school activity.

I want to see a 400 word article on your chosen subject as a well-rounded person - not as a student at Fandom High. I also will require the text of the interview. Choosing someone who has already been featured in any public interview or student newspaper article is frowned upon. I want to see fresh material, please.

Each article must be accompanied by two photographs. One needs to be a standarized head shot, and our Photojournalist will be responsible for those. It is permissable for her to set either appointments or put aside a day wherein she will be available to take those photographs. It will be your responsibility to see to it that the subject shows up. The second photograph needs to be of something significant to the subject and the article (hence it being a good idea to ask the photojournalist to accompany you on your field trip - if she cannot fit you into her schedule, other arrangements can be made through me).

That's all for the moment. An official Homework post will be made tomorrow. In the meantime, discuss."

Comments

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"You think he's kidding?" Rory whispers, glancing over at John. "Or maybe that he means four hundred words, not pages?"

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

John makes a show of pounding on his chest to restart his heart. "God, I hope he's joking or I'm screwed. There's no way I can write 400 pages on ANYTHING."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. I mean...people here are interesting, but I don't think I could write a novel like that about myself, even," Rory says, shaking her head vehemently.

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

"If I wrote down every single thing about myself, everything I've ever done in my life, I still wouldn't fill up two hundred pages." He shakes his head and considers, like Jake, crying for a bit. "I wonder how big our fonts can be....?"

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"I know this really cool trick with margins," Rory says, pensively chewing on the tip of her pen. "And if you extend the space between the letters? Makes the whole thing a lot longer."

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

John is actually writing all this down. "Good ideas. And I remember a friend saying Courier New is the best font to use. It's a huge font and we can make it bigger by making the font size bigger. And triple space! Forget double spacing, triple spacing here I come!"

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"I think he might notice if you triple space," Rory frowns. "But Courier New is probably our best bet. And we should use a title page and stuff. And a dedication, since those are short. Oh, and page numbers, since that's a line or two at the top or bottom. It shouldn't be that hard. Really."