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 In
addition to the cheesy Vanilla Ice look-alike on the cover,
Bobby Hawthorne's textbook The Radical Write isa
refreshing look at newspaper/yearbook writing -- but that's
all.
However, the title suits its purpose. The Radical Write
(emphasis on Write) teaches students to breathe life into
their stories, giving them student-written examples and
ideas as guides. The chapters are split into an easy-to-follow
outline of the writing process, (beginning with "Focus
on Reporting" and ending with "Clean it up,"
a chapter on editing) with additional chapters on yearbook
writing and the separate writing techniques (which explains
exactly why the Inverted Pyramid technique is slowly dwindling).
Although the book is not graphically entertaining (there
are few photos and graphics, and the pages are entirely
black and white), it is split into specific subsections,
making it much easier to follow than a book with lengthy
text blocks.
Plus, The Radical Write doesn't sound like a textbook.
The wording isn't elevated beyond a high school vocabulary,
yet Hawthorne rarely resorts to the words "like"
and "cool". He uses his sense of humor to illustrate
his points, which most students respond well to. High school
students like to laugh, and we appreciate the fact that
Hawthorne's book contains humor. Quite frankly, if The Radical
Write were comparable to Victorian Poetry, most (including
myself) simply wouldn't read it.
But such a textbook wouldn't be useful in a typical Introductory
Journalism class, which focuses on design, advertising,
and photography (in addition to writing) because it neglects
to cover these aspects of journalism. Without these topics,
students would know how to do nothing more than write amazing
stories, and a publication consisting solely of well-written
copy still wouldn't be widely read. Plus, first-year journalism
students need story-writing structure. Most need to know
exactly what to ask in an interview and precisely what information
to put in a transition. The Radical Write simply doesn't
offer this information. That, however, is why it's a wonderful
textbook.
Being on a newspaper staff, I constantly use this book as
a guide to finding the real story in my topic, and it gives
several specific examples explaining how to do so. For instance,
an entire chapter is devoted to "Finding an Angle,"
and in this chapter, Hawthorne converts a typical story
on exchange students into a piece covering an ongoing conflict
in Beirut. He shifts a common "I'm-so-happy-to-be-Homecoming-queen"
story about Karen Mays into one which portrays her concern
for a friend, who was having surgery when Karen was named
Homecoming Queen. Hawthorne conveys every high school newspaper
cliché in an innovative manner, which would (if practiced)
make newspapers much more interesting to the school, staff,
and community. This book teaches advanced journalism students
to write, and write well.
However, due to its poor coverage of many basic journalism
skills, The Radical Write still wouldn't be a useful
J1 textbook. It's geared toward advanced students, and would
be much more useful in a publications atmosphere.
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About
the author:
Ashley Crockett is an editor on the Timberlines
staff at Greenwood High School. Ashley also serves as
an officer with the IHSPA. |
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