IN OUR CLASS, we are talking about making you educated consumers of journalism.Well, you should also be an educated consumer of your education. You should research your teachers and classes. Information is power. It helps you make wise decisions.
If you want to see what kind of journalist your Journalism & Society teacher is, check out his cover story in this week's Philadelphia Weekly.
The story is about one of the greatest college basketball players who ever played in the Big Five. His life was full of peaks and valleys, until he was murdered in May.
You don't have to read the story (and you really don't have to make comments). But check it out if you have the time.
UPDATE FROM 9/12: Arrests made in the case. Alleged hooker says Porter was into drugs. Cops arrest the alleged hooker, say they don't know whether she's lying about the drugs and sex.
9 comments:
I would just like to say that Howard Porter was one of the best men I have had the chance to interview. I wrote an article about all time Big 5 bball when I did an internship and he was nice enough to take my phone call and speak to me. I told him I would only need 10 minutes of his time and we ended up talking for an hour. He will be missed
This is sort of unrelated, but how did you become involved with Philadelphia Weekly? I am interested in being part of a news outlet such as PW and want to know some important steps to take. Discussing this in comment form would be silly; you can e-mail me at tua17725@temple.edu
thought you made a nice tribute to a great man and basketball players...just wanted to share that on yahoo.com the other day there was an article saying that he was with a prostitute and trying to trade drugs for sex..that was just the police report that was filed earlier this week..
here is the link..hope it works..if not sorry..
http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/news?slug=ap-howardporter-charges&prov=ap&type=lgns
--mike birnbaum
Kylee (and everyone else) -
The Philly Weekly is my favorite place to write. They let you write long and detailed about things connected to Philly. They let you experiment with style and voice. And they help you improve your story through the editing and fact checking processes.
They are always in the market for interns. If you have clips and a resume, send them to PW. If you want contact info, let me know. Interning is a GREAT start. Face time is amazingly valuable. And if you intern, make an impression (hopefully a positive one).
Both alternative weeklies in town are open to story pitches. You should be familiar with their style of writing, their audience and the kinds of stories that they cover.
That really goes the same for any publication you want to work for (or any media outlet). Be familiar with their work.
There are a lot of young people who work at alternative weeklies, and many fine journalists have started wonderful careers at those kind of places.
Come up with good ideas. Look for unusual events, people, places, etc. Look for quirky things in the city that haven't been covered before.
If anyone wants more info, grab me some time, or shoot me an e-mail.
- George (the teacher)
I picked up that PW and today's Metro this morning before seeing this post. I was surprised to see my teacher wrote the cover story. I haven't read the article yet, but the story is interesting to me. Sex, drugs and prostitutes, what's better? lol.
I read the article today about Howard "Howie" Porter, on my way home on the train, and it was such a great piece, it actually made me upset at the end when reading about his passing.
The writing is great, and it's such an interesting story of a man and his life which is filled with highs as well as lows.
I just think it's amazing how his life had so many twists and turns. Although he was a great basketball player, I think my favorite part of his life was when he started to dedicate his life to helping others.
I think that is such a positive way to live.
How he passed away is truely a tragedy. How could anyone want to do such a horrible thing to someone who seemed to be such a great influence in people's lives? I'm sure there is another side to every story, but I really think George captured his life well, and I suggest everyone pick up PW and read it. It has so much great information about Porter, it makes you feel like you knew him.
It's such a shame that it seems like only the good die young.
But again, great article.
I am sick of reading articles about the downfall of atheletes. They all seem to go the same way, they are on top of the world. They dominate their sport and after basketball they fall into a world of drugs. This kind of story needs to be given more attention. Atheletes and especially children everywhere need to learn from this, no matter how rich and how talented you are drugs take you down a dangerous path. From Eddie Griffin to Howard Porter...too many former athletes are heading down the wrong path. In all honesty it is just sad.
-Ben Margolies
I never followed Basketball, so I had never heard of Porter before. However, after reading this, it felt as though I knew him personally. To be able to write that well and evoke that much emotion is amazing, I hope someday I can write like that. And, it's really awesome that our teacher writes cover stories!
~Kim Wood
I read the story at lunch today because it caught my attention. I didn't register the name "GW Miller." Good article.
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