Sunday, February 24, 2013

A gift for Africa



A gift for Africa was not only a touching story but a well written one.  I chose to look through the Columbus Dispatch because it is my hometown paper.  I was taken to this story because of the headline and picture that caught my eye.  I like how this story is written with facts and quotes.  The topic is already a story any age group can enjoy.  But the quote from one of the men and an OSU professor supports the facts and emotions throughout the story.  The map of the specific location on the side gave some background on the area and throughout the article, history on young children's struggles are told.  Without the background, the readers would not understand how vital medicine and other drugs are needed in Piol, Africa.  

After reading the article I realized that philanthropy articles can be very popular.  It is an international dilemma that local citizens are doing something for.  Covering stories that are making a difference across the globe is something any reader can emotionally relate too.  I am sure this story will create a positive image for the newspaper and will support the cause.  I did not know about "the lost boys" cause and i’m sure others did not either till this article.  The author placed a link to the lost boys foundation and a place to donate, which is helpful to the cause.  Overall I am pleased with this article because of the easy-to-read structure, topic and facts.  This was a win-win for the newspaper and the cause!

14 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed reading this article. One element I noticed right away is how the article seemed less of a news piece and more of a story, which I thought was great. As you said the background information was useful to understand what I was reading. It drew my attention and connected with my emotions, which I could really feel coming from the author as well. With a story as engaging as this it would be easy to convince the reader to donate to the cause, so I think placing a link to the lost boys foundation was a really good idea.

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  2. I liked this article because it demonstrates the obstacles people can overcome with a drive to help those that raised them. I was really glad to see how much help these boys received from others. It restores faith in humanity. The article was well written and gave a good amount of background information that paints the whole picture.

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  3. I enjoyed reading this article because it's a feel-good story about a country that obviously endures a lot of turmoil. I'm sure that these men experienced more turmoil before the age of six than most of us have during our entire life. I think it's great that they are giving back to the community in which they were raised, even through difficult circumstances. Overall, I think the article was very well written and provided good insight on the troubles in Sudan. The background information on the two men was helpful as well. It's not often that we hear about troubles in Africa here in America, so it was also helpful that The Dispatch presented this story.

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  4. I absolutely loved this article. Not only was it a good philanthropy and world affairs story, but just a great article in general. From a writing stand point I believe this story was written very well. I appreciated the background given about the two main characters. It revealed what they personally went through and how amazing it is to see what they're doing now. Them giving back to their village and not forgetting where they came from was very inspirational.

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  5. This article is great in my opinion, because of the uplifting nature it possesses. So often we hear of the tragic events going on worldwide, and when we do hear things about issues in Africa, they are typically not very uplifting. This story addresses the unfortunate things that are occurring, but chooses to focus on the positives that a group of people are doing to combat the negatives. That is very refreshing. Overall the story is an easy read, and I like the local ties it has to Ohio, in that Aweng and Dau are OSU graduates. I also like that the author chose to write a story rather than just report something.

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  6. This article was well-written and compelling. It kept the reader interested all of the way through and wasn't just a report/news article, it was also a story and delved a little into both of the men's previous lives with some shocking statistics.The picture at the beginning of the article also does wonders in drawing readers in with sentiment and interest, especially with the awful but factual caption. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this article. The only thing that would have made it better would be a video or more images!

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  7. I really did enjoy the uplifting nature of this piece. However, I think there could have been better transitions between paragraphs and the structure. I found myself going back to reread certain sections and confirming facts before I moved on. It seems like it started as more of a storytelling piece and then went into chronological order which changed the structure. Overall, I think the quality and in depth of this piece is good and it had a very happy and light tone.

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  8. I really enjoyed this article. It kept me interested and reading because, as stated before, it seemed more like a story being told rather than simply facts. Although I could not personally relate with their experience, this article made me feel like I could. I live in Columbus as well so this article is close to home for me. I have grown up around OSU and it was great to read such an inspirational story coming from there. I thought the article was well written and it made light of a dark situation.

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  9. I liked his article - it was interesting and informative. I only had one gripe, which was that it took a long time for the article to tell what exactly it was about. I would have liked the article to start by telling me what we were going to be told about first, and then continuing their chronological story.

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  10. This was a really good article. They did a great job at "story-telling". It's something we talk about so much, yet rarely see. As journalists we always talk about how we need to be great story-tellers, yet, more often, we are just relayers of information. It's also a good cause story, which is great to see when all we hear about is the bad in the world.

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  11. I remember watching a movie in my Sociology 101 class about the Lost Boys trip to United States and the differences of social norms and material culture they experienced. This article is a good update on how the Lost Boys have continued to better the lives of their native people. The writing style conveys a unique storytelling quality and is much more flexible than the inverted pyramid writing. A positive story such as this one brings hope that beneficial change is a possibility.

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  12. The multimedia use in this article is very helpful and well structured. It is not only an uplifting story, but it is very informative as well. It provides pictures for insight, links to organizations and more information, etc. The article also works as a link between the local interest to international topics, like how Katie described it, " It is an international dilemma that local citizens are doing something for." And I agree, a definite win-win for all involved.

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  13. Very good story-telling article with a like-able plot. I thought this was very interesting and the way the author presented the information was helpful. It really engages the reader. Overall I'd say a nice article with a great impact.

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  14. I also enjoyed how it was more like a story. This definitely kept me engaged and wanting to read till the end. I also like how it has a clear meaning and something powerful to walk away with. I enjoyed how in depth it was and how it gave full back ground.

    I also think the multimedia added a lot of context and understanding to the story.

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