Week 3

Over the past week we've talked a lot about interviews, in lab and in lecture. I think my interview with the manager of the Alpine Shop went pretty well. I picked him because I figured someone who worked in an outdoor shop would have a lot of experiences and maybe some interesting hobbies and stories. Jeremiah Wade didn't have any specific stories, but he did seem to have plenty of different experiences. I think I was able to put together the information fairly well, with the main theme starting in the lead and being repeated in the final quote from his wife—that Jermiah would always rather be outdoors.
One of the articles I read this week was "At $9.95 a Page, You Expected Poetry?" by Charles McGrath of the NY Times. It was an analysis of three different term papers written by three different Web sites. It was an interesting idea to order several papers then analyze them and show them to college professors. Overall the article was a good look at how terrible these services are and it had a fun style. However, one line stood out to me:
"It’s also written in language so stilted and often ungrammatical (...) that it suggests the author may not be a native speaker of English, and even makes you suspect that some of these made-to-order term papers are written by the very same people who pick up the phone when you call to complain about your credit card bill."
It was supposed to be funny, but it probably shouldn't have been included. I just know what my cross-cultural journalism professor would have to say about the stereotypical remark. But overall, I liked the piece and found it interesting.