The Rite-Aid for Smart Student Shoppers

One day, I struggled to contain the ridiculous creature that I call my key chain. I had to sort through complicated Disney character charms, a hot pink can of mace (it's a rough world out there), three unalike keys that I still have trouble distinguishing which door each opens, and six store loyalty cards. Do I even use all six of those cards? No. In fact, as a busy and broke college student, I only use my Rite-Aid wellness+ card on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, students are limited in where they can shop, especially at the University of Pittsburgh. Pitt's campus sits in Oakland, a bustling sliver of the city of Pittsburgh. Pitt's Oakland campus isn't exactly grocery friendly for the thousands of college students that call the area home. Especially for busy students like me and my peers, time is rarely available to take a bus to Shadyside or Southside to go to Giant Eagle. Besides, I usually need only a few basic necessities between my trips back home every few weeks.

In the heart of Oakland along Forbes Avenue, there is a CVS, a Rite-Aid, and an IGA. If you're really in a pinch for foods only sold at large grocery stores (frozen chicken, fresh deli meat and cheeses, or fresh produce) IGA is your best bet. IGA has just about everything a large grocery store would, but items can be pricey. You can definitely find some items for a better offer at Rite-Aid or CVS. Most importantly, IGA doesn't offer a loyalty program. Stores with loyalty cards definitely offer an incentive to consumers to shop at their store. Even if you're not getting the best deal, you feel like you've saved some change.

Large drugstore chains like Rite-Aid not only offer a loyalty program but an additional incentive to Pitt students that other stores don't—convenience. Not only is there a Rite-Aid on Forbes, but there is another larger Rite-Aid just around the corner on Atwood Street with a substantial freezer and cooler section and pharmacy. For students living in university housing in the heart of campus, Rite-Aid is most convenient. I only shop at Rite-Aid because CVS is too far from my general stomping ground in Oakland. It's a whopping four blocks from Rite-Aid and way out of the way from my humble abode deep into the abyss that is South Oakland.

Rite-Aid's wellness+ rewards are pretty simple. The customer earns 1 point for every dollar spent on non-prescription purchases and 25 points for every prescription purchase. These points accrue towards different point levels; the higher the level, the better the savings. Loyalty card customers can create an account on Rite-Aid's website to track their points and see which special offers are available. They can even clip and print coupons on certain items to use next time they shop. These coupons can also be loaded onto their wellness+ card and redeemed when they purchase those products at checkout.

It's not necessarily the card that gets you the discount. You have to be a smart shopper. When shopping, pay attention to what products actually give you the best bang for your buck. If you're going to buy dish detergent for the pile of germ infested dishes in your sink, look at the price tag. Rite-Aid usually offers special discounts on their brand of products, and Rite-Aid brand (or any generic brand available) may come with other discounts as well. Put the money you've saved by buying the generic brand toward a new, flashy pair of Ray Bans that will look amazing while you lay out between classes at Schenley Plaza.

Some consumers are concerned that using store loyalty cards breaches privacy rights. When a loyalty card is scanned at the time of purchase, the customer allows the store to track which items are bought. Most stores use this information to decide which products to carry and which customers to target with specific coupons or discounts.

Store promotions and loyalty cards definitely have a psychological effect on the customer. A recent article in USA Today discusses the analytical measures stores take in order to find better ways to market products to customers. Just as a doctor may use a placebo method on patients, stores use the same idea in marketing strategies. Customers think they've bargain shopped, when in reality they bought in excess of their needs and spent more money.

Cara Pallatino, a junior in the Dietetics and Nutrition program at Pitt, says she isn't really worried that her privacy rights are violated by using her wellness+ card.

"I use my card to get the discounts on sale items and to get points for coupons." When asked if she actually feels she is saving money, she says that she does.

"I can see how much I save with my wellness card on my receipt each time I buy stuff at Rite-Aid. I definitely think I'm saving money, even if it's just a little, it's something."

Smart shopping has infiltrated the smartphone era, as well. There is a plethora of smartphone apps available for free in order to make smart shopping easier. Consumers can download the free Key Ring Rewards Card app on any iPhone, Android, Windows 7, or Blackberry device. App users can scan and store their loyalty cards, use new shopping programs, and receive coupons and special offers via their smartphone. The Key Ring Rewards Card app was voted Best Online Pick and 1st Place in Mobile Commerce for the 2011 Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) Emerging Technology Awards. Apps like this are ideal for the busy and money conscious college student. Students always have their phones on hand, and using an app like Key Ring makes for organized shopping.

It all comes down to smart shopping. Pay attention to store offers, and don't buy in excess of what you need. As college students, we know best when it comes to technology, so take advantage of special smartphone apps to organize loyalty cards and get special discounts. And, if worse comes to worst, unlock that iPhone and ask Siri. After all, Siri knows best.

For more information on the Key Ring Rewards Card app, check out this video from ABC 13 News out of Houston, Texas!

Neil Diamond

Our weekend getaway to New York was over. When I woke up on Sunday morning, I was a walking zombie. I had spent the past two days running all over God’s creation shopping, eating, then shopping more, and eating more. We had all been to New York City before. My mom, Aunt Amy (we call her Titsy, don’t ask), and my cousin Christina took this trip seriously as a shop-till-you-drop (and literally drop) weekend getaway.

First, we hit Fifth Avenue. We looked a little less Carrie Bradshaw and more like obvious tourists strapped down with large bags and a map of the hop-on hop-off bus stops. Of course, we had to go to Tiffany’s. Christina already mapped out her purchase. Tiffany’s in New York has multiple floors so we waited for an elevator. The elevator opened and a tall, good-looking guy dressed in a spiffy suit held the door open for us.

“What floor?”

“Two,” replied the man standing with his girlfriend. We went on the floor where all the silver jewelry was. Then the elevator man gave us the rundown of what was on each of the floors.

“Floor two. Engagement rings, wedding rings. Good luck to you, sir,” he said smiling.

We ventured to Little Italy and China Town the next day. Once again, Christina had a plan. Find the most “real-looking” knock off Louis Vuitton bag. Next thing I know, we’re being ushered through some random hole in the wall (literally, a hole in the wall), up a very tall flight of steps, to a hot steamy makeshift store in an old apartment. This is it, I thought, this is the end of me.

Another day and another marathon around the city, we ended our trip with breakfast at the Carnegie Deli. Although I was tired and hungry, I walked in proudly sporting my favorite purchase of the weekend—a black t-shirt with “Italian Girls Best in the World, Little Italy, New York” written in hot pink letters. “A lot of famous people eat here” was Christina’s reasoning for why we had to have breakfast at the Carnegie. It had been on Food Network, and is famous for the mile high sandwiches and a monstrosity of a cheesecake (literally, they’re six inches thick).

We sat down, ordered, and started babbling about a bunch of nothing until Christina noticed a recognizable character eating lox and bagels.

“That guy is famous,” she said, “who is that?” My mom and I had our backs to the unknown celebrity and didn’t want to rudely stare.

“Oh my god! It’s NEIL DIAMOND!!!” She yelled in some sort of loud whisper, embarrassing us. Neil, caught up in conversation and his lox and bagels, didn’t notice.

You would have thought my mom died and went to heaven. She loves Neil. Christina and my mom went up to Neil, said the traditional “I’m a big fan of yours,” shook his hand, and my aunt and I paid the bill. I could have cared less.

My Favorite Songs Remind Me of My Favorite People and Places

Shampoo.
Multiple pairs of shoes.
Purple bathing suit.
Black bathing suit.
Sunblock.
Phone charger.
Ipod charger.
Ipod.

On rare occasions, when I go on vacation, I try to only pack the essentials. No unnecessary clothes. No unnecessary accessories. But anytime I travel my iPod is an essential. I need it. It keeps me occupied. It keeps my mind wandering.

This vacation would be to Plymouth, Massachusetts about an eleven hour car ride from Pittsburgh. Eleven hours in a car; I couldn’t wait. I enjoy long car rides. I put my headphones in and stare off into the distance watching the road ahead grow bigger as the road behind becomes a dot in the distance. It was still dark out when we started out on the road. I tried to fall back to sleep. It was impossible. The car tires rumbling along the pavement, weaving out of lanes to pass slow traffic, my head bouncing off of the window. I sat up, dug my iPod out of my bag, and relaxed into my own little world. The sun starts to peek through the mountains as we drive across Pennsylvania.

Hand out the window
Floatin' on air
Just a flip of the wrist
And I’m wavin’ you goodbye

Hours into the trip signs read Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. I know someone from Wilkes-Barre, but he’s away now. Then, we climb this rode on the edge of a mountain. We’re close to New York. The sun shines brightly over green colored hills of trees. Shadows from the clouds move across the mountains. Port Jervis, exit 1, keep right. Port Jervis. I met a Mike from Port Jervis when my best friend and I vacationed in Ocean City, MD. We were fourteen. He and his friend were fifteen. We thought we were something else then.

I heard about your trip.
I heard about your souvenirs.
I heard about the cool breeze, in the cool nights,
And the cool guys that you spent them with.

Massachusetts air was unlike anything I had ever breathed before. It was light, fresh, and clean. The coast was breezy. The beaches rocky. Our vacation home was perched on a cliff overlooking our own little sliver of the cape. I walked along the beach during low tide collecting sea glass, my iPod tucked gently in the strap of my bathing suit. I felt the wind flow through my hair and the water gently wash over my feet.

So long sweet summer,
I stumbled upon you and gracefully basked in your rays.
So long sweet slumber,
I fell into you now you’re gracefully falling away.

"The Things That Carried Him" and "Death of a Racehorse"

Chris Jones takes a different approach to create the structure of “The Things That Carried Him.” He separates the narrative into three parts. The first focuses on Sergeant Montgomery’s funeral. The second includes the events where Montgomery’s body is prepared for the funeral and flown back to Indiana, and the third part readers find out how Sergeant Montgomery was killed. Jones builds his story backwards; the first character we get to know is Don Collins who is digging Sergeant Montgomery’s grave. Not long after that, we learn more about Montgomery’s family and get a closer look at the precise funeral practices at a soldier’s funeral. Jones builds Montgomery as a character through his family and close friends. Instead of beginning the story with Montgomery’s death, he starts in reverse using heavy detail to build up something that would otherwise not be so interesting (like the funeral practices, the people who fly the planes of the fallen soldiers). Although, I think this structure and those details make the story so moving. Jones really captured Sergeant Montgomery’s last trip home down to every morsel of detail.

W.C Heinz’s “Death of a Racehorse” begins with the race, although from the title we understand that some horse is going to die. His piece is built using a structure that is quite the opposite of Jones’. Heinz builds the story to the action. There’s a strong tension that arises when we know this horse is doomed because of his broken leg, but we are not exactly sure when it will happen (they’re waiting for the go ahead from the trainer, Hirsch). Although the piece was pretty short, I kept wondering about when the horse would be killed. And then, it happens and that’s it. Heinz ends the story with the rain falling over the horse as all the people watching the race scurry to avoid the storm. It ends on a somber note where the horse is alone after it has been killed. These two pieces share similarities in scene structure and how the pieces end. Jones also ends his piece describing how Montgomery’s body being flown home and I got the same alone feeling as I felt reading about the horse. The pieces also use mostly scene and description to convey the stories.

Hiroshima

John Hershey combines six individual narrative threads to create Hiroshima. These six narratives are rooted around one singular event, the “noiseless flash,” which changed their lives forever. I think Hershey does an excellent job intertwining the narratives to portray the events before, during, and after the atomic bomb explosion. Stories that include multiple narratives can be tricky for readers to understand. The abundance of characters and the events that happen to each individual character can be difficult to follow. Hershey introduces all of the characters with a long connected sentence, telling the reader what each person was doing just before the bomb fell to the ground. Hershey throws the reader into the story right off the bat, excluding any long drawn out history lesson on the war.

I also noticed that he shaped the entire narrative around intricate recollections from the characters, and he weaves these stories with those of the other characters even though they are often unrelated. I think he took great care in shaping these individual narratives and breaking them up in order to be woven more carefully with each other. I found that at the end of each small section, just before he introduces the narrative of another character, he ends on a dramatic detail or some detail that makes the reader curious as to what happens next. I don’t think that these points cut of the narrative at a bad time because Hershey picks pivotal areas that won’t harm the reader’s interpretation of the events but sort of pause one story and begin another weaving them along the way. For example, Hershey writes, “As Mrs. Nakamura started frantically to claw her way toward the baby, she could see or hear nothing of her other children” (13). That is a moment where Hershey leads off and then begins another story and we’re left wondering.

The narrative as a whole is only broken up into four separate sections. For a story this short and the amount of narrative detail, the limited number of chapter interruptions is essential for the flow of the narratives. I can only imagine the lengths Hershey took to create this story. The amount of detail he had to uncover of the six narratives and turn them into one solid narrative must have been a tremendous feat. And to think he created a piece that took up the entire issue of the New Yorker with such detailed and traumatic stories. The stories he researched could have probably consumed many, many books with the amount of information that was available.

My Best Friend's Pap

-Trying on the voice of John Jeremiah Sullivan



When I was in elementary school, my best friend’s grandfather used to drive us home at the end of the day. He stood on the corner across the street from school with his hands in his pockets and a stern look on his face waiting for us. I have to admit he was very intimidating; he was a great grandfather and an all around nice man, but he meant business.

Even though he was in his fifties, he still exercised, drank protein shakes, and he tanned. Boy was he tan. Jordan, my best friend, had pictures of her grandfather’s bodybuilding competitions and a napkin he gave her signed by Frankie Valli. Jordan’s “Pap” looked a lot like Frankie Valli.

Then in 2001, Pap was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. ALS is incurable causing muscle weakness and eventually paralysis. It attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord deteriorating motor neurons. As a result of ALS, the brain can no longer control muscle movements causing the deterioration of the muscles in the body.

He was determined to fight the disease. He kept his job working with the Turtle Creek Mental Health/ Mental Retardation, Inc. finding handicapped individuals jobs, and he worked tirelessly with ALS foundations to help find a cure. Sadly, within two years, Pap passed away from ALS. Even though I was only 12 at the time, I couldn’t believe I had seen a man once so strong become so weak at the hands of a nasty disease. But, he fought it until the end.

John and Ida

They met over twenty-five years ago. At first they were acquaintances; her father had him paint the apartments he rented out on Oakland Avenue. He worked fixing copiers, doing plumbing work, painting, and other odd jobs with home repairs. She worked Downtown in finance and accounting. He was four years younger than her. She had met him a few times before because his friend Patsy’s uncle, Salvatore, lived four doors down from the row house she lived in with her parents. He lived in Dormont where he spent most of his childhood. They were both close with Patsy’s family; they just never knew each other.

He had jus t gotten a divorce. His ex-wife and his one-year-old son were living in Michigan just outside of Detroit.

In September of 1986, Patsy’s sister Maria was getting married. They were both going to the wedding. To the mass at St. Regis Church, she wore a shiny black and cobalt blue suit. After that, she went home to change for the reception at St. Valentine’s Hall in Bethel Park. She showed up to the reception in a black strapless sequin dress. This caught his eye. He approached her. You weren’t wearing that in church, he said.

“I would never wear something like this to church.”

She was also wearing a gold ring on her hand. He asked her if that meant anything. Real smooth. She gave him her phone number that night, and they went out on their first date not long after that. She doesn’t remember the exact date, but she knows it was right before her birthday in September. On their first date, they went to South Park Game Preserve. There they walked around feeding ducks, looking at buffalo and peacocks.

Her parents weren’t exactly thrilled about their daughter dating this man. He was young. He had an ex-wife and a son he was so far away from him. He worked odd jobs. He didn’t go to college and he was in over his head in debt. But his father loved her. They got along very well. He was a wonderful man who loved his family. They were together for less than a year when his father had a heart attack. He was in the hospital for weeks and he couldn’t speak. Instead, he drew pictures and wrote words on a notepad. When I saw these pictures over ten years after his death, I saw he drew pictures of my mom, asking for her and wondering where she was. My parents got engaged on Christmas Eve of 1987 about six months after my grandfather Emilio passed away.

About a year and a half later, they got married in September of 1989. It was around the time of their three year anniversary. The mass was held at St. Paul’s Cathedral (where everyone in our family gets baptized, makes their First Holy Communion, and gets married). In total 80s fashion, her dress had long puffy sleeves covered in lace, pearls and sequins. He wore a black tuxedo with a bow tie. Her flowers were red roses and white orchids. He wore a red rose and an orchid on his tuxedo jacket. They went to Hawaii on their honeymoon. And that’s how their story began.

Michael Paterniti- In Class Lab

"The Long Fall of One-Eleven Heavy"

"Snap Nonfiction"

"175 Things a Man Should Do Before He Dies: Get Married"

All three pieces are from www.esquire.com

When I read Paterniti's first piece for the lab, "The Long Fall of One-Eleven Heavy," I immediately got a sense of his scene development. He uses extremely heavy descriptions which really takes the reader to the exact moment the story began (even before it became a story). Even though he was present for the crash and there were no survivors, his descriptions move you to that time and forces the reader to imagine the moments just before the plane went down. Paterniti writes, "All of these people, it was as if they were all turning to gold, all marked with an invisible X on their foreheads, as of course we are, too, the place and time yet to be determined. Yes, we are burning down; time is disintegrating. There were 229 people who owned cars and houses, slept in beds, had bought clothes and gifts for this trip, some with price tags still on them -- and then they were gone." As I read this section, the people on the plane instantly became real to me. I could see them preparing for their trip and sitting on the plane unknowingly experiencing their last moments alive. This piece had a very somber and surreal voice. It was very emotional to read the piece.

This also contributes a great deal to the way he develops his characters. Throughout the entire piece we don't know these people by name. We know none of the passengers by name, but we do get short snapshots of the medical examiner and the man who lost his daughter. Finally at the end of the piece, he tells us the names of these two men. I've heard throughout many situations that it is always easier for people to relate if "you can put a name to a face," but the fact he withheld that information did not hinder my experience reading. I still felt emotional connections to the characters, and I think a lack of a name enhanced that. The second piece I read, "175 Things A Man Should Do Before He Dies: Get Married," included more of Paterniti's character development. It is a short piece, but his descriptions make him and his wife real characters to readers. Paterniti lets us in on a revealing moment: "Sara's mother died in a scuba-diving accident, and on one of the murky nights just after, lying sleeplessly in Sara's childhood bed, in her childhood home, when everything in the world seemed broken, she turned to me and said, "We should have gotten married." And I said, "Yeah," but there was nothing more to say. Without her mother, it seemed unthinkable now." He uses the word "murky" to describe a night after Sara's mother's accident, and he definitely chose that word to relate the two events. Small effects Paterniti utilizes in his writing, like that, build the characters which are the basis of his stories. I think he plays with his characters a lot in his writing, and I like the way he molds them into the story.

His story about his marriage was a nice change in voice and tone compared to the plane crash piece and his final piece I read "Snap Fiction." Paterniti's snap fiction piece is a short, detailed account of the tragic shooting at Columbine High School. I have read a few articles about the shooting and none compare on the level of emotion and description that Paterniti includes. In his piece about the plane crash there is a very somber tone, almost surreal. The same is evident in the Columbine piece. That surreal feeling like while reading you're left in a cloud thinking "How could this have happened?" He also plays with his characters in this piece including the names of a few and what happened to them, including the detail that each is "a real boy." He also includes descriptions that are totally haunting. For example, he writes, "Inside that building, everything was exactly as it had been: computers and lights still on, lunches half eaten, books turned to the last page read, the college application of a girl who was shot, its final check mark made, the pencil lying next to it. That's what's most hard to imagine: how, in midsentence, in the throes of some idea, in the beginning of some meaningful life, that girl was entered by some dark, crippled thing and became a memory." We don't know what this girl's name is, but we do know she was shot and we feel a helpless feeling Paterniti captures through this piece. He captures this tragedy without writing a million word piece, without including all the victim's names, and it's still conveys the enormity of this tragic event.

Writing For Power

1. Kopchak lived here his whole life. The road his and Thompson's properties shared was named Kopchak road after his great-uncle. He taught seventh-grade science before he retired four years ago, but he didn't know much about lions. He heard lions would give chase if you challenged them; it would be unwise to make eye contact or run away. Kopchak decided to walk Red briskly toward the barn looking back only once. The lion stayed put, still on the opposite side of the fence, though at any moment he could jump over to the other side.

2. That was all they could learn for now; they were urgently redeployed to the southern end of the property where cats were readying to cross the fence. After the first shot, an African lion ran between dozens of junk cars, RVs, and tractors, rusted out and overgrown with weeds, parked on the property. They used the truck to see the escapees spread over the hillside, firing on them from seventy to a hundred yards away until they went down. Kanavel strategized to shoot for the head, then move to the body. "I was sick, shooting these animals, because they didn't ask to be there," he says. "And, you know, I'm a cat person."

3. The 911 operator asked for her name.

"Dolores," Mrs. Kopchak answered.

Trapped in the barn, her son watched the menagerie grow from a north-facing window.

Characterizations of a Hero

I am having great difficulty uncovering Velasco’s character and seeing past his experience labeled “heroic”. Because the story is written from his point of view I can only judge his character by his experience as he remembers it; this is difficult because there are times I question the author’s narrative involvement and the accuracy of Velasco’s memory. I think that his character can be uncovered throughout his approach to the experience he survived. How did he employ mind over matter because he knew he needed to survive? On the other hand, how did he succumb to the elements that faced him?

Velasco survives a traumatic ordeal. Throughout his ten days on the raft, readers delve into his quest for survival and the strain his mind endures to live. First, I began to realize Velasco’s hallucinations without him acknowledging that he was imaging seeing people and possibly the planes in the sky. Velasco describes his visits from a shipmate, Jaime, noting that he visits frequently and he points Velasco toward Cartagena. He says, “…I knew I was fully awake, completely lucid, and I could hear the whistling of the wind and the sounds of the sea. I felt hungry and thirsty. And I hadn’t the slightest doubt that Jaime Manjarres was with me on the raft” (40). I could start to see the weakness in Velasco; I knew he survived the days at sea from reading the “The Story of this Story,” but I wondered what would come of him if his hallucinations proved injurious. I think these are the moments in the narrative where I questioned the strength of his character. He appeared to decline from his lack of water or food.

On the contrary, he exhibited great physical and mental strength at other moments. When he catches the sea gull, he recalls a moment when an experienced sailor told him not to kill sea gulls. But, that didn’t matter to Velasco at this point in his experience because “hunger was more powerful than anything else” (51). Here, he regains his bearings for a time. He knows he must eat to survive, and he’s hungry. His mind is still sharp as he cunningly catches the gull and overcomes the struggle he feels to take its life. I think that in these moments of tense desperation, he develops humanistic features to his character. Velasco’s sailor experience and human instincts gear into overdrive; he needs to eat and overcome feeling in order to survive.

At the end of the story, Velasco questions his title “hero.” Marquez recounts Velasco saying, “I did nothing heroic. All my effort went toward saving myself. But since salvation came wrapped in a glow and with the title of hero as a prize, like a bonbon with a surprise inside it, I had no choice but to accept my salvation as it came, heroism and all” (101). I do not think that Velasco develops himself as a hero throughout the story, nor does he convey himself as a newfound hero. I assume that this depends on one’s definition of a “hero.” He didn’t save another individual (although he tried), and the ship did not thrust the men overboard in the course of treacherous hurricane. Whatever “heroism” he displays lies within his strength to ensure he survived. Throughout his own account of his character development, he did not portray any notion that he should be praised for his survival.

Esquire Prevails (Carla, Rachel, Elizabeth, Mandy)

After reading over the two articles, our group came to the consensus that Esquire created a better story. First, most of us agreed that Thompson's lack of presence was important to the piece. We wanted a story about what happened after Sam Kophchak's mother called 911. Although it may be important to know about Terry Thompson in order to piece together the "how" and the "why" we didn't think his presence should be crucial in the story.

Chris Jones did a fantastic job building tension and suspense through his descriptions in the Esquire piece. For example, Jones constantly keeps his eye on the time. Jones writes, "It was fifteen or twenty minutes before five o'clock, two hours before dark" and he follows up with the 911 phone call "at precisely five o'clock." He keeps the reader informed about when this fiasco started and what happened hour by hour. This precise consideration of time really builds tension. Readers feel like "what's going to happen next?" The article in GQ felt much more like a documentary, whereas Esquire pulled you in as a good movie would.

In terms of multimedia, Esquire used much better pictures and the trailer was interesting as well. We liked that the pictures focused on the actual people involved rather than pictures of animals that were not housed by Thompson. The trailer made it feel like it was just the beginning of a Hollywood blockbuster.

Tomato, Tomahto; Provenzano, Soprano

Two summers ago, I attended the most awful vacation to Ohio’s little town of Vermilion with my dad, brother and my dad’s overly opinionated girlfriend, Amy. There was only one television in our little lakeside retreat, and I had difficulty prying the remote out of my brother’s fingers. I made it very clear that the only show I wanted to watch in peace and quiet the entire week was Bravo’s The Real Housewives of New Jersey; the newest addition to my favorite reality shows. No matter how real it is (or isn’t), I really don’t care. I get involved for pure entertainment, and I enjoy watching it, so shoot me.

“This show is absolutely disgraceful to Italian-Americans,” Amy squeaked, “these people should be ashamed of themselves." She was sprawled out on the couch reading Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope. I wanted nothing more than to jump up and yell thanks for your opinion, but NO ONE cares right now, because truly, no one did. No one responded, but I should have.

I completely understand anyone, especially Italian-Americans like myself, who believes that shows like The Real Housewives of New Jersey and MTV’s Jersey Shore, portray those of Italian ethnicity in a negative light. Unfortunately, the media creates stereotypes for all types of people. When HBO’s Sopranos aired, it created a media frenzy because it made the “assumption” that all Italian-Americans living in New Jersey (or anywhere for that matter) deal with organized crime. Just because my mother’s maiden name is Provenzano, which rhymes with Soprano, doesn’t mean my family is in the mafia.

Both my mother and father are Italian; my father’s grandparents and my mother’s parents immigrated to America. I was raised to embrace my Italian heritage, and I am extremely proud of my family. I was also raised to distinguish truth from opinion. These shows serve as entertainment outlets, a look into someone else’s ridiculous life to give viewers a laugh or to make them feel better about their current situation. Television viewers need to keep an open mind, and if the show is that bothersome change the channel or contact television executives to express your opinion on why the show should be removed. I know I don’t fit most of the stereotypes shown through these programs. Yes, I can be loud, and I express myself with hand gestures. I wear my heart on my sleeve, and I like glitter and animal print anything. On the other hand, my cousin Frankie doesn’t have a blow-out, I don’t go tanning, and no one is referred to as a “guido” in my family. If it is impossible to distinguish characters on a show from “real life” people, then maybe you shouldn’t watch television.

I remember being in middle school, playing outside with the kids from my neighborhood. One kid asked me, “Hey, are you Puerto Rican?”

“Nope,” I said, “I’m Italian.”

“Oh, are you in the mafia?” He assumingly asked me.

“Yes,” I said laughing at this boy so naive to false stereotypes, “and if you aren’t nice to me, my Uncle Vinny is going to cut you off at the knees.” He never bothered me again.

Choo-Choo Beans

White, cylindrical drums sit scattered around the roaster, filled to the brim with tiny green beans. I lunge my entire little arm into a drum swirling the beans around like a coffee stirrer. They’re dusty and rough like sandpaper. I turn around and plop down onto a couch of burlap bags full of un-roasted beans. The fibrous bags feel itchy on my skin. I hate feeling itchy. I stand up and scowl, displeased at the discomfort the bags provide.

Guatemala, Kona, Colombia, I read out loud. Dad! They spelled Columbia wrong!

It’s a different country, Carla.

Oh.

Dad walks over, picks up the drum I was playing in only a few minutes ago, and heads toward the choo-choo train. I know it’s a coffee roaster, but it dwarfs my four foot five frame and bears a striking resemblance to an old train. He turns the roaster on and it lets out the loudest rumble of thunder, spinning the mixer at the bottom and lighting flames inside. Tall, metal vents that jut out of the ceiling shake from the force of the roaster; it is so strong I think it might let out a whistle and move right out of the produce terminal. As Dad climbs the step ladder to the left of the roaster, he hoists the drum over his shoulder pouring the green beans into a copper-colored funnel at the top. I can hear the beans making their way into the warm cylinder in the middle of the roaster spinning around and rising in temperature.

A few minutes later, Dad checks the beans through this convenient knob which you twist and pull out to check the bean’s new color.

They’re ready.

He flips open the flap at the bottom of the roaster. Thousands of beans and billows of smoke fall out of the choo-choo train into a circular vat where they are spun to cooler temperatures. I place my hand into the vat, being careful not to get smacked by the spinning arms. Now, the beans are a deep brown like dark chocolate, and they are smooth and oil seeps out.

Writer Presence in the Digital World

Rebecca Skloot is present in various digital forms discussing her work and making her writing available on the internet. She uses social networking like Facebook and Twitter to update and invite her readers to new works and current events in the writing world. These two social networking sites are extremely effective in capturing an audience. First, Facebook allows inquirers to see Skloot's pictures, write on her fan page's wall, and posts links to other sites (her website, the Henrietta Lacks Foundation, and her Twitter account). In comparison, her Twitter account works in the same way, but I think Twitter allows users to gain a bigger perspective on what is current in the writing field. By simply following Skloot's account and looking at her profile readers can find out who she follows and what interests her at this time in her life. I think both of these social networking tools are extremely effective to reach an audience. They allow readers to feel personally connected to an author they admire and can find up-to-date information about what the author has going on.

I also found a blog of hers called Culture Dish on Scienceblogs.com. It appears to have moved to a different site as stated in the last post on July 8, 2010, but I also think this is a great digital platform she used to interest those in the science world about her book and what in science interests her. "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" has a heavy grounding in science and the medical world that would interest avid readers of the science genre and those who are studying medicine. I think by having this type of blog is an excellent way to reach out to that part of her audience.

Rebecca Skloot also appeared on an episode of "The Colbert Report" with Stephen Colbert. I watched the video on his website of his interview with her and it provided more of a light-hearted discussion of the book. This is another great way to capture readers from other areas. Maybe a viewer of "The Colbert Report" doesn't read much but was inspired to read this book based upon this episode of the show? Even television interviews and watching those things online can grab the attention of future readers. In this interview clip, she was in good spirits laughing at Colbert's jokes and I think this shows an enthusiastic tone/personality of her digital presence. Even her Twitter and Facebook pages show pictures of her and her interactions with fans and it makes a viewer think "Wow, she's very friendly and very involved with her followers." That is extremely important for a writer in the digital age. Since we rely so heavily on impressions over the internet it's extremely important that it paints a good picture of the author.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

As I read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, I could not help but think about the immense amount of research that had to have gone into the piece. Rebecca Skloot devoted over ten years of her life to create this book and make Henrietta and her family’s story available to the world. After finishing the book, I read the acknowledgements and the notes Skloot provided. She contacted hundreds of people for interviews, dug up mountains of information, and kept years of notes, tape-recorded interviews, and artifacts to put all of the pieces of HeLa back together.

The heavy medical information struck me the most in the reading. For me, someone who has only a basic understanding of cells and other medical topics, I usually have to read and re-read anything that deals with any medical jargon (I can only imagine how the Lacks family felt trying to understand those things as well). On page 28, Skloot begins to describe various types of cervical carcinomas writing, “Cervical carcinomas are divided into two types: invasive carcinomas, which have penetrated the surface of the cervix, and noninvasive carcinomas, which haven’t. The noninvasive type is sometimes called “sugar-icing carcinoma,” because it grows in a smooth layered sheet across the surface of the cervix…” I found Skloot’s descriptions of Henrietta’s procedures, other doctor’s experimentation, among many other medical topics easy to understand. I think Skloot’s background in Biology afforded her the ability to easily convey these ideas to readers. Medical journals and doctors sometimes get caught up in the heavy medical terms which I think make it difficult for people to understand especially when they are not familiar with those topics. I believe that was something Skloot did effectively while compiling her research into the text.

I like to think that writer’s are detectives but in a different context than solving a crime. Skloot shows this detective work when she was in Baltimore having difficulty reaching the Lackses; that was when she realized she was seeing the same view Michael Rogers described in his article in Rolling Stone, and she began to call numbers in the phone book of everyone named Lacks. That led her to Tuner’s Station and got the ball rolling on her adventure. Skloot got up and got out, looking for any and all information that could lead her to the Lacks family and closer to finding out about Henrietta’s life. She immersed herself into the Lacks family, becoming a family member herself as she developed a strong relationship to Deborah. I think that those parts of the research are the most important to creating a successful story. The story was essentially there for Skloot, but she had to uncover a vast amount of information to find it. This teaches me a lot about myself as a writer. I need to be more assertive and not be afraid to ask questions when I’m creating a story because I never know where it could lead me.

Also, Skloot used multiple resources to find stories for one sliver of the story. Since George Gey had passed many years before Skloot began her research, she had to work around that. She talked to his lab assistants and his co-workers. She pieced together him as a character in the story even though he wasn’t around to help create it himself. That is another very valuable form of researching; if the story isn’t available one way, you have to go a different route to find it.

My Writing Life

My writing habits have developed into an orderly routine. I like to create rough outlines for any writing I start. Having a fairly concrete idea of where I’m headed in my writing (no matter what writing I do) makes me feel better about the process. If I am writing a memoir piece or an academic piece for another class, I always seem to outline my ideas prior to diving right in. Although, there are times where I want to include a scene in my piece, and for scenes I like to just get right down to it. I enjoy building scenes and incorporating a lot of details. Anytime I think of an idea throughout the course of my day, I try to write it down immediately. When I’m in the process of writing a paper, I have post it notes covering my desk and my note board above my desk. I’ll admit I’m a slow writer. I’m also a slow reader. I’m a slow person in general, but sometimes writing forces me to take long Facebook breaks and stare at the computer screen hoping an idea pops into my head. My writing has improved immensely throughout my studies. When I revise longer pieces now, I completely change the structure and information, and sometimes the piece travels a different direction than when I first outlined. Finding topics is always an area of writing that causes me heartache. I want to find a good topic and it find relevance with readers, but I don’t want to bore myself to tears throughout the entire process to create it. I like to start with what I know, what I like. What are my friends doing? How does it affect their life? What do I enjoy? Why do I enjoy it? What are some of the questions I have? By exploring some of these questions, I’m finding more outlets for ideas and ways to further enhance my writing.

Lab Assignment

Autism's First Child - The Atlantic

Story from The Atlantic
Autism’s First Child
By John Donovan and Caren Zucker

Out of all of the stories I researched for this lab, this was by far my favorite. First, the subject was incredibly interesting; autism is a pretty contemporary diagnosis with a lot of research and activism prevalent in today’s medical community and to read about the first person associated with the disease is eye opening. The authors wrote the story on Donald Tripplet, the first person ever diagnosed with autism. This piece also contains a video with some insight from the authors on how the story was developed. My favorite areas of the piece are the interjections of the scenes where the text focuses on Donald. Readers gain a great insight into Donald’s life, his passions, they way he engages with others, and how autism has affected his life. What inspires me about this piece is the way the writing doesn’t feel like a report, but the authors make the subject feel real and build the character so readers understand more about the subject. Although the text is full of facts and medical history at some points, I do not feel like I’m reading a boring medical journal. I feel like I can learn how to report on a subject including the important facts while showing the reader a character, rather than telling the reader about the subject.


Parallel Play-The New Yorker

Story from The New Yorker
Parallel Play
By Tim Page

I enjoy author Tim Page’s recollection of his life prior to his Asperger’s diagnoses. I think this piece approaches multiple angles. First, Page delves into childhood memories that demonstrate his “differences,” but he also weaves medical history of the syndrome within the memoir moments in the piece. Most of my writing has been mostly within memoir, so I think this piece provides me with an example of an author writing on their own experience while making the piece about more than just their life. Page’s structure isn’t so chronological, which is also something I would like to experiment with. I tried with my 25 page assignment in my last writing class, but the piece ended up working better with a chronological frame. Although, I think that is part of my own writing style. I like when things flow and seem to follow right after the other, which is why I am so fond of the chronological writing structure (even though sometimes it’s boring).


Navigating Love and Autism-The New York Times

Video/Story from The New York Times
Navigating Love and Autism
By Amy Harmon

-This story incorporates a five minute video about the subjects of the piece. The story follows Jack and Kirsten, two college students from Massachusetts who both have Asperger’s syndrome. What inspires me about this piece is the video aspect; it’s provides a different method and outlet to tell a story using video and pictures. The video does not include nearly as much information as the supplementary article, but it shows the essentials of Jack and Kirsten’s relationship. I think I can learn a lot about the more visual aspect of contemporary nonfiction. With our society’s increased dependence on the internet and advanced forms of media, I want to acquire a better understanding of digital media within writing and reporting.

Free Write

For this free-write, I am trying to “try on” the voice of the authors in Autism’s First Child to create a scene and build character. The scenes within the piece focusing on Donald have quick sentences that are descriptive but to the point.

“Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas, Mario! Come here, and give me a hug.”

Mario, my godson, opens up his little arms and walks towards me. I bend down and pick him up. He’s almost too big to carry around anymore.

“Can I have a kiss, please?” His light brown hair swoops across his face; it’s almost too long to see through, but he doesn’t like the process of a haircut. He closes his lips, shuts his eyes, and gives me a big kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, Mario, you’re so cute.”

“Your welcome!”

I put him back down on the floor, and he makes his way around the room saying hello to the rest of the family. Mario walks into the kitchen clutching his Buzz Lightyear toy tightly in his hand. He rolls a kitchen chair out from under the table.

“Mario, want some chips?” His mother asks.

“Chips. Chips, chips.”

She opens the bag of Lays potato chips and sets it down on the table. Mario, still holding his toy, starts eating his chips one by one. He counts each chip and smears the salt from his fingers onto his blue jeans. Potato chips are Mario’s favorite food. He’s allergic to wheat, eggs, and peanuts, so every food he eats has to be checked to ensure he isn’t allergic to any ingredients. Now that his allergies have developed, it is difficult to get him to try new foods. He won’t eat things he has never tried and even getting him to touch new foods is difficult progress.

After Mario finished his chips he went into the dining room. I stayed in the kitchen helping my grandma cook dinner. A while after, I noticed Mario wasn’t in the dining room. He wasn’t in the kitchen or the living room either.

“Gabriella,” I called to my baby cousin, “let’s go find your baby brother.”

Gabriella and I walked up the steps to the second floor. The light was on in the bedroom at the top of the stairs. We stepped into the room to find Mario, still gripping tightly onto Buzz, lying on the bed singing.

“Mario, what are you doing?”

“Hi!” he says back.

I sat down. Gabriella jumped onto the bed behind me. Mario sat up; his eyes open wide, a big, bright smile grew on his face. They started to jump on the bed and pretended to fight each other. Even though Mario is only four, and Gabriella is two years older than him, he is still much bigger than her.

“Oh noo!” Mario yells as he plops onto the bed. The two get up and fall down and laugh. Mario has the most infectious laugh. They laugh so hard they can’t even catch their breath. He loves playing with his sister.

Their jumping is interrupted by a loud voice from the kitchen saying dinner is ready. Gabriella jumps off the bed and heads straight for the door. Mario lies back down in the middle of the bed, holding Buzz, and playing with his feet above his head.

“Come downstairs, Mario. It’s time for dinner.”

“Noooo!”

“Come on. Me and Gabriella are going downstairs. The faster you eat your dinner, the faster we can open Christmas presents.”

“No!”

After a little begging, Gabriella finally persuaded her brother to come downstairs. Since he couldn’t eat the seafood and pasta everyone else ate for Christmas, he had gluten-free pancakes and sausage. He didn’t want to eat any of it. Instead, he laid on the coffee table in my grandparent’s living room watching cartoons. He stayed just like that, lying on the coffee table, hanging onto Buzz, for the rest of dinner.

Lying on flat surfaces is Mario’s habit when he needs to calm himself down. When he gets upset it’s best to leave him alone and allow himself to calm down. Mario has autism. He was diagnosed when he was about two years old, and since then we’ve become accustomed to his habits, his likes, and dislikes. He absolutely adores Toy Story, and he seems to always have Buzz Lightyear or Woody in his hand at all times. When he answers a question, if he answers at all, it’s always a very short answer. He repeats himself a lot. He has outbursts and becomes attached to things and won’t let them go, like Buzz. Despite his social quirks, he is intelligent for his age. Ahead of most of the children in his daycare class, he can read, count, spell, and understand concepts that children a few years older than him have yet to learn. With help from counselors and therapists, Mario has improved through his social differences. Each time I see him I can tell he’s getting better. I remember when he used to cry every time I held him as a young toddler, but now he gives hugs and kisses and tells everyone “I love you!” He gets better expressing himself and engaging with others. Even though he still has some adjustments to make, he’s the happiest boy I know.

Final Project Ideas

I’ve brainstormed a few topics for my final project. As I sat thinking, I tried to develop ideas that were relevant to today’s culture and would interest readers. It seemed even more difficult for me to come up with a topic since I could pick any topic I choose. You would think that I would be able to come up with a topic the moment I began thinking, but that wasn’t the case. Oh well! J Here’s what I have so far. I brainstormed a few just to jot down my thoughts in case I forget any.

1. Store Loyalty Cards: I have about six store loyalty cards on my keychain, which is only a fraction of the amount I have strewn across my room, in my desk, and in my purse. Some of which I have neglected to activate and use EVER. Of the six on my keychain I only use two consistently, my Giant Eagle Advantage card and my Wellness + card for Rite-Aid. I have always been interested in the benefits of these cards to the consumer and the business providing them. Is it really worth it to buy multiple items just because they’re 10 for $10 dollars with my Store Loyalty card, even though I only really need one? Also, how does this affect our culture’s affinity for saving money and getting a deal when making purchases? Are we really getting a deal? What about reward cards you have to purchase? What’s next in our society’s obsession with saving? I would try to include information about the couponing habits of people as depicted on TLC’s Extreme Couponing, and how these couponers utilize couponing blogs and websites, along with store loyalty cards, to get the most bang for their buck.

2. The Cupcake business: Flipping through the channels, I’ve noticed an abundance of shows about cupcakes and cupcakes bakers. My first thought was YUM I love cupcakes. My second was who cares? Why do I care about this bakery in Washington D.C. that makes only cupcakes and expensive ones at that? Over the summer, I went on vacation with my roommate and her family to Plymouth, Massachusetts where we came across Cupcake Charley’s, a bakery that had been on Food Networks Cupcake Wars. I bought four cupcakes and spent almost $15. They were delicious, but ridiculously priced. It seems every time I turn around there is a new business opening up selling extremely expensive baked goods. What happened to the small town bakeries where you could buy fresh cakes and cookies without breaking the bank?

3. Kiddie pageants: Youth pageants have exploded into popular culture. Now, it seems like an extremely lucrative business. Pageant kids have tanners, flipper makers, make-up artists, dress designers, hair stylists, and pageant coaches, all of these things cost a pretty penny. Shows like Toddlers and Tiaras and Little Miss Perfect have really showcased the world of Kiddie pageants: the pageant moms, the snotty kids, pageant preparation, and the competition. The pageant world has really evolved since the early days of pageants. I have heard before that pageants should be regulated as part of child labor laws and thought that was pretty interesting. Do the pageants really offer young children anything? What is there to gain from these types of television shows? How much has the Kiddie pageant business grown and where is it heading?