tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65071653122687377752011-04-21T18:07:04.907-07:00virginiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04673369858112565190noreply@blogger.comBlogger11100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507165312268737775.post-37309483058338116722007-04-03T18:25:00.000-07:002007-04-03T21:12:19.342-07:00I found interesting to link the article <em>Pattern of Migration</em> and the readings for the class to better understand what narrative journalism is.<br /><br />In her article, Trish O'Kane briefly talks about her own life and her perception of what home is. As she has lived in different countries and different parts of the United States, her own experience shows how the concept of home has become important for her. It seems that there is no specific aim to this piece. The only goal is to share a bit of herself with the readers.<br />Generally we tend to be more interested in general topics that do not deal with individuals for themselves but individuals as a whole. In the newspapers, topics are far from individuals and from what is common to us. The main interests are politics, economics, society as a whole and countries as entities.<br />But, with the narrative genre, a new interest is given to the individual. This is a kind of common trend now in our Western societies to give more importance to common people. More shows deal with lives of common people, their problems and the way they chose to overcome them. Reality TV and blogs are examples that highlight that nowadays we give more importance to individuals. There is a growing need to share individual experiences and to interact.<br />How to explain it then? Knowing about other people’s lives and experiences can be helpful. It is useful and reassuring to see that other people have been through a similar situation as yours. Also, reading about others is a way to know more about ourselves and about who we are. For example, this woman who got a tattoo as a token for her fight against cancer (see <em>Badge of Courage</em>) shows that cancer is not an end; what is important is to have the strength to build this bridge towards recovery.<br />Finally, literary journalism is interesting in that it gives an idea of what are in people’s minds at a certain time and an idea of how they live too. This journalism can also be a kind of anthropological work. Traveling and living in new places and writing about one’s own experiences is a good way to give more insights of a specific community or society. That’s what Ted Conover did (<em>The art of literary journalism</em>, Norman Sims). According to him, living with hoboes or Mexican immigrants is the<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6507165312268737775-3730948305833811672?l=avirginie.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>virginiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04673369858112565190noreply@blogger.com0