Students of Lisa Phillips’ fall 2015 Literature of Journalism class were asked to interview everyday working people about their jobs, and frame the first-person commentaries in the style of Studs Terkel’s book “Working, People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do.” Subjects […]
Literature of Journalism
Students of Lisa Phillips’ fall 2015 Literature of Journalism class were asked to interview everyday working people about their jobs, and frame the first-person commentaries in the style of Studs Terkel’s book “Working, People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do.” Subjects […]
I ran out the door into the summer night, the smell of gasoline reeking from our ’97 Toyota Corolla. My father had stopped to work on its breaks while he brought my dog on a walk. “I always tell him to put her on a leash,” I turned and said to […]
What does family mean to you? This was the question asked to the students of the Spring 2011 Literature of Journalism Class. In response, the class individually wrote first-person short stories documenting scenes of interaction between themselves and members of their families. The Literature of Journalism class analyzes the technique […]
Moms will do anything and everything to protect their children, but this time the knock was too loud. I was too young to know what the word “repossession” meant, but I assumed it was bad when I saw a heavy-set bald man driving away in our car. At the time […]
“Another letter came for you in the mail today, Malcolm,” momma said. “It’s your father again.” This had been the fifth letter I received in almost three weeks; the previous four letters proved to be his unsuccessful attempts at soliciting two of my four graduation tickets. It had been about […]
We left her standing at the curb. As we drove away, my mother cried and stared at the shrinking shape of my sister in the rear view mirror. Lunch had been terrible that day. I did everything I could to make Tess feel as guilty as possible for leaving me. […]
Oh, God. Did I really just do that? Did I really just hand in a job application at McDonald’s? For a moment I picture myself hopping over that counter and strangling anyone in my way to get that piece of paper back. I reach for the door, but then stop. […]
Anthony Chanza sits in his apartment on Greene Avenue in Ridgewood, on a February afternoon. His parents and brother are out. He has class in four hours at CUNY Baruch. His apartment is a one-floor walkup. The vestibule has yellowing walls. His family is the only tenant and their landlord […]
The phone rang twice. “I really didn’t want to do this over the phone.” “What mom? What’s wrong?” Nicole Porter asked. “I was going to wait until you were home next, but I really thought you should know.” There was a pause on the line. “I have breast cancer,” her […]
