A Small Dose of E.B. White

"Mr. Highstone, being himself a practicing farmer, knows one important truth about country life: he knows that farming is about twenty per cent agriculture and eighty per cent mending something that has got busted. Farming is a sort of glorified repair job. This is a truth that takes some people years to discover, and many farmers go their whole lives without ever really grasping the idea. A good farmer is nothing more nor less than a handy man with a sense of humus. The repair aspect of farming looms so large that, on a place like my own, which is not really a farm at all but merely a private zoo, sometimes months go by when nothing but repair goes on. I can get so absorbed in the construction of a barn door that I can let the spring planting season go right by without ever opening the ground or sowing a seed. If I were engaged in making myself self-sustaining, I should perhaps be a little wider awake; but I know, from experience, that at any given moment of the year I would be found doing the wrong thing, and with a dull tool. I mention this because the weakness in Mr. Highstone’s book is not in his plan for subsistence but in the people who are going to carry it out. In spite of all his warnings, there will be plenty of them who will get sidetracked, probably along the line of some special hobby, hitherto unindulged. I have been fooling around this place for a couple of years, but nobody calls my activity agriculture. I simply like to play with animals. Nobody knows this better than I do — although my neighbors know it well enough and on the whole have been tolerant and sympathetic."

Before I even realized what the title of White's piece was, I had thralled upon the idea that it was an article on his experience in regards to farming. Something mentioned in class was that you could write a sentence on something completely tragic, yet it could have that small hint of hopefulness or happiness for that matter. "Farming is a sort of glorified repair job." Ironically, the sentence connotes a sort of positive feel to farming. Because the writing in general is very personal, it allows for its readers to better grasp the concept as a hobby rather than a task. A good writer always says what he thinks, and E.B. White definitely captivates this sense in his writing. In this small piece, he reflects on pure honesty: the honesty of what farming is for him, the honesty of what farming may be portrayed as to others. He mentions he gets easily distracted without even getting to the actual farming part, something most "How To" writers might not admit. As a reader, I think it's safe to say the writing has to be personal.

Magazine Title Ideas and Possible Sources/Contacts/Resources

Titles?

(1) J'adore

(2) Bee El Oh Gee

(3) College Post

(4) Time to Tell

(5) Ohh Magazine

Resources?

Wendy Tokuda, CBS 5 News anchor- via email or phone number-personal connection
http://www.facebook.com/people/Wendy-Tokuda/1227083062
650-868-3669

Michelle Phan- via email @ MichellePhanBusiness@gmail.com

My Query: Outline/Letter/High-Concept

To Editor Andrew Todhunter:
The following is my proposed story for next week’s layout.
• Michelle Phan
• What my story’s about: My story will be about Michelle Phan’s transformation from an average art major student to a Cosmetic public figure and how she achieved this through her own passion and dedication. Because she is a new-comer to the writing business as well, she talks a little bit about blogging! “I compared blogging to being in a relationship. Most relationships require attention and commitment. You can have the greatest love in your life, but let’s face it… it can wear you down and next thing you know you are on a break. Depending on how long the breaks are, maybe you need time to think, recollect your thoughts, or just need a breath of fresh air.”
• Why this story: I think it is important for people to hear stories about people who have achieved their dreams through their own hard work and effort. It serves as a reminder to students that hard work does pay off and that anything is possible. Most importantly, to not go out looking for fame. When you do what you love really well, sometimes you’re lucky enough that fame already comes with it.
• Who/ Sources and Subjects: Michelle Phan’s multiple networking websites and I will attempt to email her asking questions related to the topic matter.
• What treatment: Positive Impact through good use in resources.
• Who are you and why/ passion: Because I am a believer that good things can happen when you do what you love, I find it fascinating to hear stories such as Michelle Phan. She is absolutely amazing and also is living proof that the internet is by far one of the most amazing pieces of technology today (since she first launched herself out there publicly through YouTube.
• What length: Average Article, 750 words.
• When will you deliver: I plan to deliver this article by Next Monday.
If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask or send an email.
Sinerecly,
Vanessa Villafuerte
Writer in Art/Cosmetic Journalism

High Concept: This story is an attempt to focus on Michelle Phan's success as an artist and present an overview of her latest projects.

Success and Failure as a Writer

Success as a writer means putting your thoughts and ideas on paper without holding back. It means being able to express yourself and having the courage to expose it to others to read. Success is having the ability to identify your writing with your person and staying true to you and not what others want to read. It means putting yourself out there in hopes that you can reach out to at least one person, and not reach out to the money behind the cover. Writing successfully means writing with passion, writing for identity, and writing for the love of doing it.

Failure as a writer is more of a difficult thing for me to reflect on. I believe that the only way you can truly fail as a writer is by not writing what you want to write. The second you abide by someone else’s guidelines, I feel as if though the writing with passion is lost, the writing for identity is never met, and the love of doing it fades. It’s hard to say that following someone else’s guidelines is failure because evidently there are usually more than often “rules” we must abide by. However, one of the things a great writer should be able to do is follow these “rules” and still be able to find a connection with him.

Magazine Commentaries

As I was flipping through the travel magazines, I came across and article titled The New Kid. I wondered, "What could an article titled The New Kid be doing in a travel magazine?" As I read it, I realized it had nothing to do with a new kid. The article interestingly enough was about Elle's impact in fashion in the world. I liked that the article had an interesting title that grasped the readers attention. It certainly grasped mine.

On the other hand, there was a history article in the travel magazine that caught my attention. I didn't think it had anything to do with the magazine "theme" yet because it was kind of off topic, it made me want to read it even more.

Ezine Commentaries

As I was browsing at ezinearticles.com, an article titled A Teen’s Guide to Making Money, stood out to me the most because I found it interesting that financial help is still being employed at an early stage. I think it is a good idea for an article because these are the kinds of things that you would expect teenagers to not really read about, yet it is still published somewhere.
To continue, there was an article on religion that just completely caught my attention. You would think that religion would be something you wouldn’t want to comment on publicly, just for the sake of saving the criticism and controversy, but on the other hand this article talked freely about God and Sex(hence the title of the article).

My Experience in Writing and Journalism

My experience in writing and journalism does not go beyond a college classroom. I, like many other students, have only taken the appropriate english classes, (nothing out of the ordinary). Back in high school, however, I was a part of the journalism club, in which I learned to develop some of the computer skills needed to put together a newspaper. Through Communications 320 I would like to learn how to apply my writing skills towards writing for a magazine. Even though I am unsure as to what I would be an asset in when it comes to this class, my interests revolve around hosting on television, people magazine, movie reviews, and cosmetics.