The Power of Words. Finding a new angle for the staple holiday story

12/17/97
Finding a new angle
for the staple holiday story

       Lynn Arditi said holidays come each year; the holiday story has become a staple that both editors and readers depend upon. The issue for the writer is how to make the story fresh and interesting when it has aleady been done so many times before. What was interesting in the writing assignments we are looking at today is that all three writers used the Internet as a part of the reporting for their holiday stories.
       Lynn began with a quiz:
       1) What holiday celebrates evil, death and rebirth?
       2) What is the holiday Americans feel most ambivalent about?
       3) On what holiday do the celebrants cast bread and fish into the river?
       The answers can be found at the bottom of this report.
       The writers who talked about holiday stories are Jody McPhillips, Elliot Krieger and Bill Malinowski.
       Jody said the newspaper in 1997 tried something different in writing about holidays. Rather than casting about for a writer at the last moment, editors assigned writers at the beginning of the year to do stories on each of the holidays. Jody was assigned Halloween. She said she was lucky, because she likes Halloween. Because she had plenty of time to prepare, she began by looking on the Internet. I could not believe the ton of stuff that was out there, she said. People were obsessed with Halloween. She first searched to find out more about the history of Halloween, but she then moved to numerous Web sites.
       This was the first story she had ever done, said Jody, where she did not talk to a single human being. Virtually all of the material was collected off of the Internet. What she looked for were particular Web sites with different points of view. I weeded out the really strange stuff, she said. She also looked for ways to verify information, and if that could not be done, that information was not used. The amount of time reporting was about one day, but it was done in half-hour sessions over about two weeks.
       I just had fun with it, she said, it was a hoot.

       Columbus Day is my favorite holiday, said Elliot.
       Just kidding, he added.
       Elliot said the assignment to write about Columbus quickly became interesting because of the way we now treat Columbus. Years ago, Columbus was a hero. Today, many consider him a villain. The original idea was to go to a school and see how the subject of Columbus is taught. But Elliot said he has been working almost full-time on education stories, and he wanted a break. He began by looking on the Internet for factual information, using the computer system the way we once used an encyclopedia. It was immediately helpful, said Elliot, because he learned, for example, that Columbus Day marks the anniversary of the explorer's arrival in America, not his birth.
       Additional information was picked up on the Internet about the debate over Columbus. But Elliot said he also wanted to talk to some experts on this issue. Rather than calling the public-relations departments of local colleges, Elliot again took to the Internet and, using the Web site of nearby Wheaton College, he found an expert who had taught on the issue of Columbus. He found that course listings and faculty profiles on university Web sites could be helpful.
       Finally, Elliot said he needed to talk to some local people about Columbus Day and he already knew that he would have a good shot at finding them by wandering over to the nearby Federal Hill neighborhood, a bastion of the Italian-American community.
       Bill Malinowski came in late and talked about Rosh Hashanah. What was nice about the assignment, said Bill, is that he knew virtually nothing about the Jewish holiday. But he quickly became worried, because he was told not a great deal happens during the holiday. He quickly went to the Internet, where he says he found a ton of stuff. One early suggestion was to focus the story on the shofar, or ram's horn, which is traditionally used to begin the holiday. He found, buried deep inside the newspaper, a notice of a class that was going to be held that would provide lessons on how to blow the horn. That eventually led to the story.
       A discussion occurred that sparked a number of ideas on how to improve stories about holidays. Some of them:
       -Planning is important. Having a few days to think about potential ideas can be the difference.
       -The Bristol Fourth of July Parade is a big story every year, but finding a fresh approach is difficult. One reporter succeeded by finding a key person, the grand marshal, and writing about the marshal's day. One news gem was produced: the grand marshal had to put on a party and other festivities, which cost him $10,000.
       -A carnival was setting up in town as part of a holiday weekend festival. A reporter spent time talking to several workers about life on the road as a carnie.
       -There are always clubs and organizations set up for certain holidays. Find the people in charge, and talk to them about the holiday.
       -Talk to people at a parade or a holiday event. Sooner or later, the more people you talk to, the closer you will come to finding the story.
       -Veterans are a great source of stories around Memorial Day, Veterans Day and, in Rhode Island, on VJ or Victory Day. The stories of warfare can be quite gripping, even 50 years later.
       -Sometimes you do not have to reinvent the wheel. Simple observations, such as who got the biggest applause during the parade, can work. At last year's Bristol parade, it was the actor who represents Dunkin' Donuts.
       Still need those quiz answers? Halloween, Columbus Day and Rosh Hashanah.

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