In their introduction to exercise #41 titled “The Newspaper Muse: Ann Landers and the National Enquirer,” Bernays and Painter (2005) quote Joyce Carol Oates’ treatment of the everyday newspaper as a rich source of fictional fodder:
“…it is the very skeletal nature of the newspaper, I think, that attracts me to it, the need it inspires in me to give flesh to such neatly and thinly-told tales, to resurrect this event which has already become history and will never be understood unless it is re-lived, re-dramatized” (120).
Although there exists a virtually infinite pool of easy to access and transport print AND digital news material at your fingertips to use for this sort of activity (just think of your own used newspaper that you would otherwise throw away and / or the myriad of online local, regional, and national newspapers!), I argue that students often feel relatively dissociated with local, regional, and / or national events to which they may perceive little to no personal proximity. Whether influenced by adolescent egocentrism and / or the seemingly universal human tendency to pay less attention to information one perceives to hold little to no influence over their lived experience and / or identity, I argue that the creative potential of Bernays’ and Painter’s (2005) intriguing exercise could be negatively compromised if students perceived their available pool of news stories to likewise hold little to no relevance to their own lived experiences and / or identities. After all, when readers don’t personally know the individuals involved, incur any personal costs, and / or incur any personal benefits in relation to a given news story, what is their incentive to care? If my students are anything like me, they frequently have a difficult time finding an incentive to read on and / or “do” anything with the news stories they consume.
Therefore, this assignment will require students to
1.) identify
AND
2.) “give flesh to”
the “neatly and thinly-told tales” found in their school’s own newspaper to which they ideally perceive a higher degree of relevance to their own lived experiences and / or identities.
PROCEDURE
-Acquire enough copies (and some extras just in case!) of your school’s newspaper to ensure that EACH student has their own copy to work with.
NOTE: although I imagine that students will logically perceive larger degrees of personal association with coverage of more vs. less recent news, feel free to dip back into the archives and acquire a diverse range of newer and older editions of your school’s newspaper (you never know what exactly will trip a student’s creative trigger!).
NOTE 2: also, because “school news” isn’t reported / doesn’t occur in a vacuum, encourage students to consult outside news sources for more information if an event or issue trips their curiosities. In other words, although the “school news” should be a rich enough ecosystem in which to navigate this activity, encourage students to explore other news ecosystems if they wish.
-After acquiring and distributing school newspapers, students will
- identify ONE headline off of which to develop a story
- write said headline at the top of a sheet of paper as a sort of tentative title / lens to help them frame their story
- develop their story! (I’m thinking about 1-2 pages as one night's homework here, but like always, the assignment parameters and drafting times you chose depends on your own unique learning context!).
**NOTE: Before jumping into the creative portion of the activity, it might be necessary to establish some ground rules re what is / isn’t appropriate when utilizing familiar people, places, and things as writing catalysts. For example, clarify with your class that it is NOT acceptable to use their fiction as a guise to ridicule and / or harass other students, teachers, administrators, community members, etc. In other words, create and enforce rules re your own unique learning context.**
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