Outline

The Things that Carried Him

Part One: Indiana, The End

we are introduced to Don Collins
detail on Collins’ background
he makes his first cut in the grass
Collins digs
Various funeral goers come in
the casket travels
civilian motorcycles join
Soldiers from Fort Knox
Reverend prays
Ritual of firing shots
Bugler plays
details of bugle training
quote from Leatherbee
quote from Sergeant Chris Bastille
Soldiers folded the flag
detail on flag folding
Brigadier General Belinda Pinckney joins
Pinckney tells an anecdote about Missie
quote from Pinckney
service ends

Obama After Dark

I chose the piece, Obama After Dark: The Precious Hours Alone from the Don Van Natta list. The piece, published in the New York Times gave insight into President Obama’s day-to-day life. It detailed how he spent his nights working, having dinner with his family or watching sports. The writer interviewed several sources about the president’s various habits and the relationships he had with his aids. Something I noticed about this piece is that it does not have the “suitcase lede” that Clark talks about. It’s clear, straightforward, and not bogged down by too many details.

This is how the article starts:

“Are you up?”

The emails arrive late, often after 1 a.m., tapped out on a secure BlackBerry from an email address known only to a few. The weary recipients know that once again, the boss has not yet gone to bed.

It’s oddly specific without giving away the subject (President Obama) or the location (The White House). It leaves enough mystery for the reader to want to continue.

Similarly, the nutgraph is straightforward, clear and easy to understand

Mr. Obama calls himself a “night guy,” and as president, he has come to consider the long, solitary hours after dark as essential as his time in the Oval Office.

Lede: Münchausen by internet: the sickness bloggers who fake it online

Lede: How would you fake cancer? Shave your head? Pluck your eyebrows? Install a chemo port into your neck? These days you don’t need to. Belle Gibson’s story is a masterclass on faking cancer in the modern age. She fooled Apple, Cosmopolitan, Elle and Penguin. She fooled the hundreds of thousands who bought her app, read her blog and believed that her story could be their story.

This lede is unusual. As journalists, we are often told not to start with a question, but there is something striking about the way the Guardian writer starts with the question, “How would you fake cancer?” The last four sentences that make up the graph sums up Belle Gibson’s crazy stunt well, and sucks the readers in. However, I don’t think leading with four sentences was necessary. The first question would have carried the shock.

Daisy Audio Profile

Here’s a link: https://soundcloud.com/lisa-fu-878563583/passionmp4-mixdown

Photopackage Syria

http://www.reuters.com/news/picture/syrias-unraveling-truce?articleId=USRTSOT29

I really liked this photo gallery because it focused on the conflict and atmosphere in Syria. The images are haunting and unlike news on the radio or written news, it’s a lot more emotional. It’s hard not to have some kind of reaction. The photograph of the Syrian school is one of my favorites. There’s very much a “before” and “after” feel to it and it reminds us that Syria is not just a warzone, for many children, it is home. The once brightly colored mural of the school is full of bullet holes, and I think this particular image really highlights how devastating war is for the children and civilians living in Syria.

Infographic

I chose this infographic because it’s so easy to grasp the main message being carried across. The differences in color and the scale of the graph makes it easy for readers to see the difference in the data. In addition, the lines are labeled in an easy to read font size. There’s not so much going on that the reader becomes overwhelmed which I feel is very important.

This infographic is a good example of the principle: encourage eyes to compare data. The creator of the infographic did a good job showing the differences through contrasting colors and by plotting the data on the same graph.

Freakonomics: Does Early Education Come Too Late?

Does “Early Education” Come Way Too Late? A New Freakonomics Radio Podcast

What I really liked about this particular freakonomics podcast is that it pairs a newer concern with the age-old problem with poverty. In the United States we are becoming more and more concerned with education, and more specifically, keeping up with the standard of education to get a good job. From the last generation to this generation, the standard of education has changed. A high school graduation is no longer enough, and bachelor’s degrees are becoming a necessity for children of the millennial generation. At the same time, we’ve become extremely concerned with money since the 2008 financial crisis. Though we’re on the road to financial recovery, not everyone is feeling the benefits. The issue of poverty has always been on our radar, but the wealth gap has grown wider between the richest of the rich and the average American.

This podcast ties in the problem of poverty with the growing demand for higher education. In addition, it took a fresh new look at the issue by looking at hard data and speaking to professional, which I thought was absolutely brilliant. It made numbers seem interesting and relevant to our lives. We heard the voices of mothers and teachers over the podcast which made the people being affected by the issues real to the listener.

Brainstorming 2

Comparing cost of medication with and without insurance for students
How do the homeless get healthcare treatment?
Rising cost of pharmaceuticals on the market
Medical bills are the biggest cause of US bankruptcy (according to CNBC)
Nutritional health among the poor
The cost of becoming a doctor
Nurses are underpaid and overworked, according to survey
Depression treatment depends on socioeconomic class and race (according to study)
Seeking help for opioid abuse, what are the societal costs?
Getting off your parents’ healthcare plan is a difficult and complicated process, that leaves some, uninsured.
Looking at a lack of sleep and a lack of pay: the profile of a nurse
Trend story: looking at doctors that are forced to take on more patients and spend less time with each of them. With all the costs of healthcare, all the tests that doctors do to prevent patients from potentially suing them, and the money that sometimes sinking hospitals have to make to stay afloat, doctors are force to take on more patients than they’d like. Oftentimes, one will wait much longer than the five minute interaction they will later have with their physician. It hasn’t always been this way. Doctors used to make home visits and take their time explaining the situation to their patients. Why is this suddenly happening? Talk to doctors at the hospital in Athens.
Trend story: Looking at the cost of dying and why some patients are wanting to choose assisted suicide. (or to stop treatment) The debate about assisted suicide has come up a couple times. Most recently, a woman with terminal cancer went viral after making a video about how she had to cross state lines to find a way to die on her own terms. Dr. Kevorkian has been jailed for his very issue. And some European countries have now made it legal to choose a comfortable death over treatment. Talk to med students about medical ethics.
*Look Back: The rise of antibiotic soap and why the FDA decided to ban it. Most recently, the FDA banned the production of antibiotic soap. Antibiotic soap, advertising to kill germs and prevent diseases, meant to do good when it first came out. Unfortunately, over usage of antibiotic products created superbugs or antibiotic resistant bacteria that doctors had a hard time treating. Talk to some med students and pharmacists about this.
Localizer: Obamacare, is it better or worse for students at UGA?
*Doctors, with little time on their hands, sometimes make careless but life threatening mistakes when prescribing medications. Often times the pharmacist is left to catch the mistake and prevent a disaster. Profile of a local pharmacist.
*Some insurances don’t cover mental health costs. Why? CAPS has an overwhelming number of students needing help. They are incredibly selective about insurance and cant take long term treatment. Insurance tries to wrap up treatment as quickly as possible. Look at national data and interview CAPS.
medical economics problem: Doctors often work against the benefit of society by acting rationally in their own self interest. They over test patients and end up spending a lot more money than necessary in order to lessen the chances of getting sued.
*As consumers, we can get the price of almost everything we consume, except medical care. Why don’t doctors inform patients of how much treatment can cost? Being charged after the fact.
*Freakenomics- Does more sleep result in higher pay? Look at data and do some research/interview of your own. Compare with smoker’s ads that say that smokers make on average less than nonsmokers.

More Research

Los Angeles Times: Starbucks Serving Up Less Healthcare

By David Lazarus

Starbucks offered US workers a raise that will boost compensation by 5-15 percent. However, they also announced giving out a health insurance plan that was more affordable but less comprehensive. This is a part of a greater trend of tiered healthcare in the US. Those who have the money get strong coverage, while everyone else ends up with high-deductibles and spotty coverage. Healthy workers and shareholders will fare just fine, but the sicker workers will pay the price. Throughout the country, costs rise for the sick as healthier people choose cheaper, high-deductible plans.

The doctors are in–the homeless encampments (Contra Costa Times)

By Mark Emmons

A program in which doctors go out to treat the homeless is a smart use of resources since the homeless tend to be a “drain on social services such as emergency room visits and ambulance calls. One doctor said the chronicaly homeless have an average life expectancy of just 47. Even simple illnesses and infections become serious quickly. Many have diabetes without knowing it, which complicates infections.

They demand action-stat! Flushing nurses march for better hours & more money

By Lisa L. Colangelo

Claiming to be overworked and underpaid, Flushing Hospital Medical Center nurses protested on the streets. This is the lowest paying hospital in Brooklyn and Queens, paying them a salary of $63,000. The union wants to increase staffing and offer more 12 hour shifts rather than 7.5 hour shifts which would allow nurses to work fewer days. Some are also concerned about health plans as they receive $750 a year for health insurance when it costs more like $3,000 a year.

7% jump in healthcare costs

By Jay Greene

While single coverage through healthcare has dropped in price by 4%, from $116 to $95, health costs for family have increased. In addition, fewer companies are now offering wellness programs. To gain company healthcare benefits, employees must also now meet criteria: body weight, smoking, blood pressure and cholesterol, for lower copayments.

Few with insurance grasp medical care’s costs

By Bobby Caina Calvan, McClatchy Newspapers

Healthcare spending is estimated to hit $2.5 trillion this year, but those who have good insurance often care little. Though policy makers argue what plan will lower healthcare costs, studies show that this carelessness and ignorance to cost by the consumer are the real drivers of extreme prices. There are more and more Americans uninsured–$46 billion currently, and to cover costs, healthcare providers have shifted to bill to the insured. At the same time, doctors order more tests just to make sure they won’t be sued.

Brainstorming

Comparing cost of medication with and without insurance for students
How do the homeless get healthcare treatment?
Rising cost of pharmaceuticals on the market
Medical bills are the biggest cause of US bankruptcy (according to CNBC)
Nutritional health among the poor
The cost of becoming a doctor
Nurses are underpaid and overworked, according to survey
Depression treatment depends on socioeconomic class and race (according to study)
Seeking help for opioid abuse, what are the societal costs?
Getting off your parents’ healthcare plan is a difficult and complicated process, that leaves some, uninsured