It's About Time I Felt Conflicted
Normally, I have personal, angsty rants in "Friends Only" mode, but this is also relevant to my writing.
I had an epiphany.
I had this epiphany at about 1:15 AM CST today. And I was presented with this question about my journalistic writing:
Am I a pretentious bitch, or am I informing the readers of so much more out there?
The thought occurred to me because I've been struggling with writing an article on musicals my fellow students have probably never heard of. I was recommended to look at my favourite musicals.
Well, that would be Company, La Cage Aux Folles (I recently discovered that one, thanks to my father. I find it to be rather brilliant.), Spring Awakening, and maybe good old Cabaret.
As I sat in my room trying to write this article, a thought occurred to me:
What high schooler in their right mind would want to read about musicals they haven't heard of? Better yet, what high schooler in their right mind would want to read a paragraph in which I say that Boyd Gaines is not a good Robert in Company?
I really couldn't come up with a good answer.
The target audience for a school newspaper has heard of The Hills, Gray's Anatomy, Wicked, and Lil' Wayne.
I write reviews on Mad Men and Nine Inch Nails albums. I write pieces on how ABC killed off the highly acclaimed Pushing Daisies, Broadway is getting killed off by Hollywood (although now it's Broadway is getting killed off by the economy), and British Television. I still have no damn clue as to how my article on Mad Men got published. (Entertainment Editor: Monica, I love your article on Mad Men! Revise it and we're going to run it in next weeks paper! Me: Did you just use the phrases "love your article", "Mad Men, and "we're going to run it" in the same sentence?)
Everyday I check NYTimes.com (The New York Times website), NYMag.com (New York magazine's website), Playbill.com (Playbill), and my e-mail. Every other day, Gazetteonline.com (Cedar Rapids Gazette's website). Hell, I even look forward to The Carpetbagger returning. What Iowa teenager looks forward to that?
I don't even live in New York and Cedar Rapids.
(Okay, I'm going off on a random tangent, but the fact that while viewing New York Magazine's Vulture Blogs 28 reasons why the Twilight film is better than the book, there is at least one ad for Milk on every page. I don't know which is more amusing, the slideshow, or the fact that there is the clashing of a film expected to get some Oscar nods and Twilight.)
And I'm done going off on random tangents.
With my writings for the paper, I feel as though I'm presenting myself as a pretentious bitch that says "You're doing this wrong, there's so much out there you uncultured imbiciles."
But at the same time, I think that my peers would much rather read me talking about how Dean Jones and Raúl Esparza as Robert in Company is awesome, and Boyd Gaines in that same role not being awesome than read me review...umm...seriously, I'm thinking of something...okay, I've got it...A Notebook-esque film. That's probably more predictable than...damn, I'm really struggling with these...I'll get back to this later.
News should be informing people about things. And, in a scathing, amusing, acerbic way, that's what I've been doing. I've even discovered that there are some people who actually enjoy reading my columns and articles. Very few actually go to the high school that this is published for.
I think I should try to write more news articles and entertainment pieces more relevant to high schoolers. That's for the paper. Why? Because no high schooler wants to read me talking about George Hearn in drag.
For this blog, may the acerbic, truthful, uncensored posts continue. People like this, and I'm not going to change it.
Although, I think I will write some musings on Tony Nominees when they're announced.
(I think that this is the post with the most amount of theatre references, parenthesis, and expletives. Ever.)
I had an epiphany.
I had this epiphany at about 1:15 AM CST today. And I was presented with this question about my journalistic writing:
Am I a pretentious bitch, or am I informing the readers of so much more out there?
The thought occurred to me because I've been struggling with writing an article on musicals my fellow students have probably never heard of. I was recommended to look at my favourite musicals.
Well, that would be Company, La Cage Aux Folles (I recently discovered that one, thanks to my father. I find it to be rather brilliant.), Spring Awakening, and maybe good old Cabaret.
As I sat in my room trying to write this article, a thought occurred to me:
What high schooler in their right mind would want to read about musicals they haven't heard of? Better yet, what high schooler in their right mind would want to read a paragraph in which I say that Boyd Gaines is not a good Robert in Company?
I really couldn't come up with a good answer.
The target audience for a school newspaper has heard of The Hills, Gray's Anatomy, Wicked, and Lil' Wayne.
I write reviews on Mad Men and Nine Inch Nails albums. I write pieces on how ABC killed off the highly acclaimed Pushing Daisies, Broadway is getting killed off by Hollywood (although now it's Broadway is getting killed off by the economy), and British Television. I still have no damn clue as to how my article on Mad Men got published. (Entertainment Editor: Monica, I love your article on Mad Men! Revise it and we're going to run it in next weeks paper! Me: Did you just use the phrases "love your article", "Mad Men, and "we're going to run it" in the same sentence?)
Everyday I check NYTimes.com (The New York Times website), NYMag.com (New York magazine's website), Playbill.com (Playbill), and my e-mail. Every other day, Gazetteonline.com (Cedar Rapids Gazette's website). Hell, I even look forward to The Carpetbagger returning. What Iowa teenager looks forward to that?
I don't even live in New York and Cedar Rapids.
(Okay, I'm going off on a random tangent, but the fact that while viewing New York Magazine's Vulture Blogs 28 reasons why the Twilight film is better than the book, there is at least one ad for Milk on every page. I don't know which is more amusing, the slideshow, or the fact that there is the clashing of a film expected to get some Oscar nods and Twilight.)
And I'm done going off on random tangents.
With my writings for the paper, I feel as though I'm presenting myself as a pretentious bitch that says "You're doing this wrong, there's so much out there you uncultured imbiciles."
But at the same time, I think that my peers would much rather read me talking about how Dean Jones and Raúl Esparza as Robert in Company is awesome, and Boyd Gaines in that same role not being awesome than read me review...umm...seriously, I'm thinking of something...okay, I've got it...A Notebook-esque film. That's probably more predictable than...damn, I'm really struggling with these...I'll get back to this later.
News should be informing people about things. And, in a scathing, amusing, acerbic way, that's what I've been doing. I've even discovered that there are some people who actually enjoy reading my columns and articles. Very few actually go to the high school that this is published for.
I think I should try to write more news articles and entertainment pieces more relevant to high schoolers. That's for the paper. Why? Because no high schooler wants to read me talking about George Hearn in drag.
For this blog, may the acerbic, truthful, uncensored posts continue. People like this, and I'm not going to change it.
Although, I think I will write some musings on Tony Nominees when they're announced.
(I think that this is the post with the most amount of theatre references, parenthesis, and expletives. Ever.)