Monday, January 21, 2013

Lead Exercises


Favorite Lead

“At least 15 people are dead and more than 100 injured in the wake of a devastating tornado that hit the city late Wednesday afternoon, destroying thousands of homes, businesses, and other structures.”

http://www.pulitzer.org/files/2012/breaking_news_reporting/01tuscaloosa.pdf

I chose this lead as my favorite because it is direct and straight to point, while still interesting. This lead caught my attention immediately with the opening fact that 15 people died. The fact that so many people died lead me to want to know the how, why, when, and where of this story. The other leads were lengthy and not about anything I personally am interested in. With lead number one I didn’t feel any confusion or anticipation; it was all there right from the start. While questions and curiosity can be good tools to influence readers to continue, in this context I feel that answering questions is more important than presenting them.

Two other leads

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

‘“What you looking at me for? I didn’t come to stay…”

I hadn’t so much forgot as I couldn’t bring myself to remember. Other things were more important.

Whether I could remember the rest of the poem or not was immaterial. The truth of the statement was like a wadded-up handkerchief, sopping wet in my fists, and the sooner they accepted it the quicker I could let my hands open and the air would cool my palms.”

“L.A. church leaders sought to hide sex abuse cases from authorities”

“Fifteen years before the clergy sex abuse scandal came to light, Archbishop Roger M. Mahony and a top advisor plotted to conceal child molestation by priests from law enforcement, including keeping them out of California to avoid prosecution, according to internal Catholic church records released Monday.”

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