What amazing sentence, phrase, moment would you like to share from your writer/blog? Wow us with your selection and tell us why you think your selection is wow inducing. And, wow inducing can be good, bad or ugly.
Since it's Labor Day weekend, you can post up until Monday night.
19 comments:
"A vile invader, she made coarse and unlovely a period that was not her own." -Kathleen Parker.
This sentence struck me first because of the way it is organized. Parker's use of "a vile invader" at the beginning of the sentence gives the subject a bad appearance before she is even mentioned in the sentence. I also liked the word "unlovely", because often when we're describing we describe how something is, but Parker is describing how it isn't. Finally, the idea of owning a period of time or invading someone else's time interested me. All in all, this sentence is crammed with ear-catching, interesting tricks.
“It must be so hard,” these friends said, flattening me into a stereotype." - Jennifer Baumgardner
In this column, a woman is expressing how she dislikes how some of her friends pity her because she is a single mother. What I really liked about this sentence was the way that she said her friends were "flattening me into a stereotype." I picture little boxes labeled with different stereotypes and one of her friends squishing her down into the box labeled single mother. It creates a great image in my mind. I also like the way that it expresses how people like to put others into categories; they "push" them into it.
"Then at the outset of the recession in late 2008 his employer fired him and the other old-timers, and hired younger workers — who earned only $9 or $10 an hour." - Nicholas Kristof
There is nothing too special about the content of this sentence, but the use of the dash stood out to me. I am always confused as to how and when I can use the dash and what Kristof does here is emphasize the amount of money the younger workers make. It would not be as effective if a comma was used. The dash makes the last phrase really pop off the page, which was his intention.
“People who are wallowing in self-doubt, the ones who have their own process, as it were, which includes a period of self-loathing before the chrysalis is broken and the artist emerges.” –Jon Carroll
The context of this fragment sentence is that it is at the end of a long list of different types of artists, particularly who are living in the city. What I love most about it is not so much the structure, but rather the metaphor of an artist as a butterfly. It made me burst out in laughter thinking of some half actor/half insect creature sprouting wings and finding inspiration. I think Carroll is slightly making fun of these people, especially because he puts the word “process” in italics. Also, the repetitive use of “self-” emphases how self-absorbed these people can be.
"Speaking parent-to-parent, PORTLAND, informing your 14-year-old son that there are perverts all over the internet who would be willing to pay him for his sweaty gym clothes wasn't the best idea." - Dan Savage
Advice-column journalism is a strange and difficult type of writing because in order to capture your audience's attention, you need to cram a hook, some humor, and some real guidance. Savage begins his response to "Pimpin' Out Real Teen's Leftover, Acrid, Nasty Duds" as though it is a heart-to-heart letter - and then gives the author of the query a dose of reality - his own words replayed with a little common sense sprinkled on top.
I really love Savage's response here because it includes the characteristic sass that I've learned to recognize reading his column, but is still a hard and fast reply to the question.
"Memory was once thought of as a filing cabinet, a more-or-less organized storage place for learning and experience, all the details of which were intact and accessible, waiting to be beckoned and retrieved. We now know how inadequate that metaphor is. Memory is not a filing cabinet, nor is it a videotape. Human memory is in fact fragmentary, malleable, and untrustworthy." - Wray Herbert
I really like the use of sensory language in these sentences. Herbert makes the idea of memory seem less abstract by comparing and contrasting, very vividly, the accepted views of memory over the years. The length of his sentences also varies significantly, which I think makes his thoughts flow well together. I especially like his last sentence — it adds depth and concisely sums up the argument of this paragraph.
"Precipitation is the underestimated, mundane, unexotic hazard of a tropical storm." -Joel Achenbach
This sentence is the opening line of Achenbach's story on the deadly effects rain has had on the East Coast because of Hurricane Irene. I found it particularly interesting because of his word choice. He describes a hazard with the words mundane and unexotic which from the beginning lets his readers know that the hazard he is writing about is not a topic that everyone would expect to be harmful. Also, when I think of words that describe hazard, I think more along the lines of underestimated or dangerous and liked how Achenbach chose to use words that grab the reader's attention because they are unexpected.
"Meanwhile, employment in the tradable sector of the U.S. economy, the sector that produces goods and services that can be consumed anywhere, such as manufactured products, engineering and consulting services — which accounted for more than 34 million jobs in 1990 — grew by just 600,000 jobs over the same 18-year period."-Fareed Zakaria
I had to read this sentence a few times before I fully comprehended what it was trying to say; once I did, I was amazed by how much information he fit into one sentence. After each subject in the sentence, he adds a bit of explanation. He makes very good use of commas and dashes. Although confusing at first, I really enjoyed the complexities in this particular sentence.
"Two of the Maasai guides led my youngest son and me on spontaneous mock hunts — stalking our “prey” on foot through ravines and across streams. I can tell you that this is the definition of heaven for a 12-year-old boy, and for someone with the emotional maturity of one." -David Brooks
I really liked this passage for multiple reasons. The first is that it is nice to see a writer who does not take his work too seriously and finds enjoyment in writing and living. The rest of the column talks about living simply, and this passage really captures the childish imagination and pure ecstasy of simplistic activities. Lastly, I like the structure of the sentences. The use of the dash in the first sentence and the way that he describes himself at the end of the second are both examples of a really creative writing style.
"If it happens, if Summitt one day fails to remember Tennessee because of the fog that is Alzheimer's, it won't change an eternal truth. And that truth is this: Tennessee will always remember Summitt." -Gene Wojciechowski
These sentences, the conclusion to Wojciechowski's piece on Tennessee Women's Basketball coach Pat Summit's struggle with Alzheimer's, could have been written more concisely, but the author's chosen presentation drastically increases the impact of what he is saying. Calling Tennessee's permanent connection to Summitt an "eternal truth" reveals that this is more than a sports piece. It tries to convey the state of the entire athletic community at UT and how central she was to its identity. The way the author uses two sentences and a colon allows him to frame his main point clearly and dramatically to increase emphasis.
"But the maddening truth is that we’ve become so accessible we’re often inaccessible, the process of getting to any of us more tortured and tortuous than ever."
I really like this sentence because it captures the essence of Bruni's column: the ridiculousness and complexity of communicating in today's world. Besides acting as a thesis for the article, it also is an exclamation of exasperation after Bruni's long list of the different ways he has to communicate with different people. It also captures the tone: light-hearted, relatable, and a bit frustrated.
"The Cincinnati Bengals will go 0-16. I don't see how they can beat anybody -- in the WAC."
The first sentence in my quote is just context for the second. Of course the WAC Reilly mentions is a mediocre sports conference in the NCAA, not close to the NFL's standards. The second sentence strikes me as a classic Rick Reilly hilarious line. It is not Rick Reilly's humor itself that makes the sentence funny. It is the dash Reilly uses to cause the reader to pause until he unleashes the unexpected comparison. Without the dash the sentence would be mundane and would lose the genius that Reilly creates. But with it, Reilly successfully compares the contrast of an NFL team to a struggling college one without confusing his reader into thinking it is a serious accusation.
"The broad Hudson is a wonder, ever changing, ever beautiful, sometimes smooth as glass, sometimes choppy and spotted with whitecaps, sometimes shrouded in a mist that melds sky and water in a soft gray blur." - Hendrick Hertzberg
In this article Hendrick is describing the Hudson River before the devastation of hurricane Irene.What i really admire about this sentence is Hendricks repetitive use of the words " ever" and " sometimes", which allowed me to visualize the different phases of the Hudson River. I was mesmerized by the never ending river which blends in with the skyline, through Hendricks unique and capturing details in the last fragment of the sentence.
"The sentencing came as some sort of justice for the family of Bailey..." - Henry K. Lee
This writing stood out for me, as it seems to express how fleeting the 'sense of justice' in the sentence is for Bailey's family. Using the words "some sort of justice", to me, implies a bit of doubt and flaw in the opinion or viewpoint of a person. Lee writes mostly without any kind of input or emotion, but this little piece seemed to indicate him putting in his own opinion on someone's reaction to current events (very subtly, of course).
"Instead, a 'feminist' is a fiscally conservative, pro-life butt-kicker in public, a cooperative helpmate at home, and a Christian wife and mother, above all." -Lisa Miller
I liked this sentence because of the adjectives. Compared to the lists we've been looking at in class, the grammar looks rather boring; however, the specificity of each facet of the 'new feminist' really drew me in. Especially "pro-life butt-kicker" - I liked Miller's sass and spice even when she was talking about such weighty subjects as feminism and religion.
"Like the Cold War, the 'war on terror,' as it instantly became known, clearly defined America’s friends, enemies and priorities." - Anne Applebaum
This quote was taken from a recent article in the Washington Post about 9/11. I enjoyed this line because it reminded me of a good thesis statement: clear, succinct, and arguable. It also caught my eye because I studied the Cold War extensively in U.S. History last year and this line in particular resonated with me. I apologize for the late post.
"I am a giver by nature; deeply rooted in my blood is the philanthropic need to ease the suffering of others, to strip away the tattered robes of misery and lick the wounds of the browbeaten, figuratively." - Soren Bowie
I really liked this sentence because of how vivid it is. I think that in this article, the use of this descriptive imagery serves two purposes: to showcase Bowie's trademark dramatic and mocking writing style and, above all, to hook the reader in. For me, these lines did just that — I was keen to read the article, and the image of "tattered robes of misery" and "wounds of the browbeaten" stayed with me long afterwords.
"..But back when the Great Seal was devised, we had little notion of what havoc triumphalist foreign policy would wreak."
After I read this sentence I did not think more of it than just some mumbo jumbo sentence that sounds good because of its vocabulary. however, after rereading it word by word and contemplating the meaning behind each word and their impact together, I realized Carrol's vocabulary, be it witty and confusing is still extraordinary and unique and when focused on, explains much more than what is written.
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