Mary Kay Blakely

Married in the '70s, Blakely expected to be the kind of mother society could admire. But, caught up in the women's movement--and an increasingly chaotic world--she soon lost her innocence about expert wisdom and began to break the rules. With humor and insight, this acclaimed journalist explodes the myths of motherhood today.

Motherhood, Politics, and Humble Pie

American Mom

University of Missouri--Columbia. School of Journalism

Stephanie Michelle Smith

This journalism master's project includes a professional work component and a research component. The professional work component details the author's experiences working for Missouri Life with the task of creating the magazine's first top town's package. Field notes and samples of work are included. In the research component the author looks at "how literary journalist Susan Orlean frames her stories, which profile ordinary people and capture an everyday 'slice of life,' in order to parlay their importance to the reader. Specifically, [the author] want[s] to look at how she uses voice not only to gain the readers' interest, but also to make the reader aware of her take on the subject and justify her reasons for warranting the article space" (p. 66). Voice is defined as the way a writer talks and the way he/she speaks to the readers.This section includes a literature review and interview transcript.

Susan Orlean--a Writer's Perspective

Voicing the Ordinary

Amanda Dahling

Newspapers and magazines have been steadily shrinking, and more and more former subscribers have gone to digital and internet sources for the news. Yet it has become increasingly clear that “short takes” don’t satisfy many readers, who still long for nuanced, long form journalism. By providing examples of classic magazine articles by professional writers, all of whom are graduates of the Missouri School of Journalism, this book fulfills the need for more sophisticated, thought-provoking essays that will resonate with both the general reader and students. The book is divided into three broad categories: profiles, first person journalism, and personal memoirs, and includes the original articles as well as a “postscript” by the writers in which they discuss what they’ve learned about writing, journalism, and the business of getting published. Useful for students and instructors in writing programs, the book also appeals to writers interested in both the art and the craft of successful writing.

Writing to Make a Difference

Words Matter

Gloria J. Kaufman

Gloria Kaufman

Collects political cartoons, comic strips, humorous essays and songs that satirize male chauvinism and society's stereotypes of women

Feminist Humor & Satire

Pulling Our Own Strings

Scott Anderson

Harry Crews

A collection of the very best in contemporary first-person journalism compiled by the award-winning former Washington Post reporter and author. Great journalists, at one time or another, have all been characters in their own stories: people with personalities that shaped what they saw and reported, and were touched and changed by the experiences about which they wrote; and innovators who borrowed the storytelling techniques of fiction. The Beholder’s Eye showcases the very best of an increasing trend toward personal narrative: Mike Sager stalking Marlon Brando in the Tahitian jungle; J. R. Moehringer’s quest to discover the true identity of an old boxer; Bill Plaschke’s story about a woman with cerebral palsy who runs an obscure Los Angeles Dodgers Web site; Scott Anderson’s story of his lifetime of covering war after war; Harrington’s own tale of his interracial family’s struggle to persevere; and many others. Written by reporters who were willing to reveal themselves in order to bring readers insights that were deeper than supposedly objective third-person stories, their articles are an invaluable resource for aspiring journalists, students, and teachers of the craft of writing, and any reader with an appreciation for masterful storytelling. “Aims to dispel the old journalistic cliché: that a journalist writing about him/herself is always ‘self-indulgent and, quite likely, narcissistic.’ He couldn’t have put together a better lineup of writers to make the point that it doesn’t have to be . . . Not just some of the country’s finest personal journalism, but some of its finest journalism, period.”—Kirkus Reviews

Mary Kay Blakely

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