The Beat: New York Neighborhoods

The Beat: New York Neighborhoods

Summer 2018

Prof. Francis Flaherty 718.938.0663

An example to make this course concrete: You are sauntering along the street in Bushwick, on the way to meet a friend at a gastro pub, when you see a bookstore – but it’s no ordinary bookstore. There’s a witch’s cauldron in the window, an adfor an “alchemy workshop,” and a sign for the shop’s resident tarot card reader. This, it turns out, is an occult bookstore– and it might be a fine subject for a fascinating profile. In this course, we will scout out similarly rich story possibilities in various New York neighborhoods like Bushwick–the Lower East Side, the East Village, Williamsburg, Greenpoint and more.

Thinking hard about what makes for rich articles, we will select one such neighborhood for each student, who will then essentially become the correspondent for that place. Each student will steep himself or herself in that community, research its past, walk its streets, interview its inhabitants and then mine its nooks and crannies for feature stories, profiles and trend pieces.This search for stories won’t be hard. These places brim with endless tales, from the dramatic “donut wars” in Greenpoint, to the amazing planetarium at the Lower East Side Girls’ Club, tothe regular influx of “crusties”—nomadic youth –into the East Village each summer. As a bonus, the class will be tied closely to NYMag.com’sBedford + Bowery, so students will have the opportunity to publish their papers on that popular site if they satisfy its standards.

Student will write several articles of varying length about their beat neighborhoods, offering a journalistically professional look at their varied aspects. If your beat is the East Village, maybe you will report on the growing tensions within a squat. If your beat is Greenpoint, maybe you will write an affecting day-in-the-life story of a 90-year-old woman who has lived there for decades. If your beat is the Lower East Side, maybe you will portray the unlikely friendship between the proprietor of a hip new boutique and the aging haberdasher next door. All topics are open, from sports to music to immigration and beyond.

As we immerse ourselves in our beats, we will hone our journalistic skills. Most classes will include a mini-lecture — on story conception, interview techniques, article organization, leads, transitions, quotations and more. Occasionally, reporters from The New York Times and elsewhere will visit as guest speakers, describing how they themselves learned these varied skills.

Readings

We will also discuss standout articles, past and present, that are also set in New York neighborhoods. Writers will include marquee folks like A. J. Liebling, Joseph Mitchell, Pete Hamill, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, Richard Preston, and Kevin Baker, as well as journalists from the Times, the New Yorker and elsewhere. For all these articles we will ask: Is the underlying concept of the article smart? Is the reporting thorough? Is the organization logical and smooth? Is the writing compelling? Always, we’ll analyze with an eye toimproving our own pieces. To help in our appraisals, we will study the craft of writing using my text, “The Elements of Story.”

Grades

Papers account for 70 percent of your grade and class participation for 20 percent. The remaining 10 percent: occasional quizzes on readings. Equally important: Grades can be lowered for any of the following reasons: lateness to or absence from class, late or undelivered assignments and of course for plagiarism, invented sources or other ethical broaches.

Syllabus

WEEK 1: MAY 22 + 24

Introduction: The course

Mini-Lectures:

• New York Neighborhoods
• The Motor of English

Class Discussion: Finding and evaluating ideas for NYC neighborhood stories: Print and Web resources. Community boards, block associations and other primary sources. Shoe leather. Freshness as a journalistic value. The path less traveled. How can you tell a 500-word idea from a 1,000-word idea? Has someone already done this story and if so do we care?

Selection of neighborhood beats

Exercises:

• Ice Breaker: Smile While You Write
• Verbology: A Still Life in the Front Yard

Homework:

• Readings: “What About George?” by Saki Knafo;“Between Two Worlds,” by Tara Bahrampour
• Visit and research your assigned neighborhood.
• Write a 200-word paragraph on a familiar place – and make it fresh!
• Pitch 1 – for Paper 1, a 500-word neighborhood report

WEEK 2: May 29 + May 31

Mini-lectures:

• A Typology of Story Ideas: Slow News, Contrarianism, Symbolic Stories, The Virtues of Idleness. Look Inward, Angel. The Peg. The Unlit Corner. The Cobbler.
• A Human Face
• The Art of the Query

Class Discussion: Making the Familiar Fresh

Text Analysis: “Between Two Worlds”

Class presentation: Describing neighborhood beats

Exercises:

• The Body Language Dictionary
• Emotions: Convey Them In a Striking Way

Guest speaker: TBA

Homework:

• Read selections from Pete Hamill’s “Invisible City,” A.J. Liebling’s “The Jollity Building,” and Sean Wilsey’s “Cooking With Children.”
• Write pitch for Paper 1
• Report and write draft of Paper 1

WEEK 3 JUNE 5 + 7

Mini-lectures:

• Reporting I. How Much Is Enough? Appraising Sources. Interviewing Basics. The Most Important Question.
• The Theme: A Story’ Is Like A Tree, With One Trunk and Many Branches

Exercises:

• A Packet of Pitches – You Be the Editor
• The Determined Basketball Player – Say It Without Saying It

Text Analysis: “Invisible City”

Homework:

• Read Richard Preston’s “The Mountains of Pi” and Michael Wilson’s “Street Court”
• Write final of Paper 1
• Write pitch for Paper 2

WEEK 4: JUNE 12 + 14

Mini-Lectures:

• The Interview: The Central Act of Journalism
• Every Word You Write, the Reader Must Read

Reporting Roundtable

Class discussion: Pitch 2

Text Analysis: “The Mountains of Pi”

Exercise: Pruning an Overgrown Garden

Guest Speaker: TBA

Homework:

• Readings:“Up in the Old Hotel,” by Joseph Mitchell;“Bleak House” by Richard Morgan
• Write Final of Paper 2

WEEK 5: JUNE 19 + 21

Mini-Lectures:

• Outline I. Simplicity Is the Good News. The Five Kinds of Outlines. The Outline as Reporting Aid. Outlines and Transitions
• Outline II. One Subject, Many Stories. The Perils of the Planless Writer. Sidebars, Charts and Other Organizing Tools. Numbering Your Notes.

Text Analysis: “Bleak House”

Class Discussion: Outline fundamentals

Homework:

• Readings:“A Sort of Love Story,” by Barbara Stewart;“Target: Trash, by Alex Mindlin
• Pitch Paper 3
• Draft of Paper 3

WEEK 6: JUNE 26 + 28

Mini-lectures

• The Artful Writer – It’s Not Just What You Say. It’s How You Say It
• The Interactive Writer

Text Analysis: “Target: Trash”

Peer Review: Draft of Paper 3

Exercise: Show It, Don’t Say It -- Chloe Is the Most Organized Person I Know

Homework:

• Readings: “Chicken Vanishes, Heartbreak Ensues” by Elizabeth Giddens; “Praise the Lord and Green the Roof” by Joseph Huff-Hannon; “Life in the Slow Lane” by Jake Mooney
• Final of Paper 3
• Pitch for Paper 4

WEEK 7: JULY 3 + 5

Mini-Lecture: Article Components and Their Peculiarities: Lead, kicker and more

Text Analysis: “Chicken Vanishes, Heartbreak Ensues”

Class discussion: The Frustrating Lead

Exercise: Three Leads and How the Times Did Them

Guest Speaker: TBA

Homework:

• Readings: “The Kids of Christopher Street,” by Steven Kurutz; “Doodles a la Carte,” by Caroline Dworin
• Part draft of Paper 4

WEEK 8: JULY 10 + 12

Mini-lectures:

• The Devil’s in the Details – Typos, Grammar, Misused Words, Factual Slipups
• Punctuation: An Appreciation

Exercise: Copy Editor for a Day

Text Analysis: “Doodles a la Carte”

Homework:

• Readings: “An Acre of Blue,” by Jeff Van Dam; “Life on Life Row,” by Douglas Martin
• Full draft of Paper 4

WEEK 9 JULY 17 + 19

Mini-lectures:

• Selected Writing Problems
• Conclusion

Demonstration: Putting It All Together – A Case Study of a New York Times Edit

Homework:

• Readings: “Almost Famous,” by Dana Kennedy;“The Givers,” by Jim O’Grady
• Final of Paper 4