The Perfect Diet

I like the lead and introduction for this article. It gets straight to the point, the "meat" of the story... Like other how-to articles we've read, this article is not bogged down by number after number reciting the calorie counts of various foods.

Instead, I feel the writer does a great job in utilizing sources. She has interviewed real experts and the quotes reveal a lot of information.

The structure of the article works well in that a reader can quickly maneuver to whichever tips they wish to read. However, it did seem a bit monotonous to me. I became bored and found myself skipping valuable information. The recipes at the end also don't seem to fit. I don't know how this looked in the magazine, but I feel these recipes may have been better suited as a different section or some kind of sidebar.

Lastly, I feel that the writer should focus more on the impact this diet has on running. What makes this diet specifically better in regards to a runner? I feel like she just says it works "well for runners" but doesn't explain why.

Healthy Guide To Eating Out

I really enjoyed how Sari Harrer begins this story. It's simple and yet I was able to picture a typical Norman Rockwell-era family depart for a restaurant dinner. Those who don't know who Norman Rockwell is may miss the point, but I'd say that's their loss. The story then goes into an average nut graf full of startling statistics and facts.

The structure of the article works very well for a how-to. Reader's should have no difficulty steering to topics which interest them most. The content is also informative and effectively displays how one should go about healthily eating out.

One issue I had with the article did involve the use of statistics. There were times (specifically in Step 2) where the numbers almost seemed to outnumber the words. It just seemed so hard to keep track of all these numbers as I was reading. There needs to be something here to ground the writing so the reader isn't lost in the numbers.

Story 2 Outline and Sources

1. Introduction
a. Anecdotal lead of Aaron Swaidner playing a record and describing the experience
b. Nut graf – Explains the vinyl record industry. Include record sales vs. CD/digital music sales. Why do artists still produce records?

2. Story Bulk
a. Background/history on vinyl records. How a record works.
b. Interviews with record store owners. Why do they sell vinyl? Preference on how music is played?
c. Interview with musician who actually sells their music on vinyl.
d. Info on audiophiles who prefer vinyl records

3. Conclusion
a. Answer why records are still sold; better sound quality? Artwork? Listening experience? All of the above?
b. Return to Aaron Swaidner

SOURCES

Aaron Swaidner - Student who collects and regularly listens to vinyl records
Andy - Owner of Tracks, a record store in Bloomington.
Owner of another record store (i.e. Landlocked, TD's)
Mike Adams - Musician and founder of XRA Records

The End Of Men

This story opens with a lead describing scientist Ronald Ericcson's work on sperm selection methods. The lead does a great job of getting the reader's attention. I didn't get the impression that this article was about Ericcson though (which it isn't). This introduction is interesting, but I feel like it's length is a bit strained. Perhaps other info on Ericcson can be spread throughout the story. Finally after dwelling on Ericcson, Hanna Rosin states that, "Man has been the dominant sex since, well, the dawn of mankind. But for the first time in human history, that is changing—and with shocking speed." I felt like this was almost a worthless sentence. I gathered this throughout the introduction and didn't need retold.

Like the other Atlantic article we read, Beating Obesity, this contains a lot of information and statistics. Unlike Beating Obesity, I had more difficulty reading every line in this article. I caught myself skimming through the facts and figures. I hardly thought it was an uninteresting subject; as a man, I'm kind of worried now. I really just feel like this article could have been much shorter and still been just as good of quality if not better. I understand the Atlantic may feature more long-form stories, but this one seemed a bit too long for me.

How Apple Got Everything Right By Doing Everything Wrong

I think this story opens very well with a lead which gives the reader an impression of how Steve Jobs acts. The anecdote explains how he would often park in handicapped spaces at Apple HQ. As Jobs represents Apple as a whole, this provides a stark contrast with the products which Apple produces.

I felt that Leander Kahney did well in explaining how other copanies handle their employees compared to how Apple does. I always knew that companies like Google and Microsoft and Facebook were very open to their employees ideas and freedom. It certainly surprised me to learn this about Apple.

This article contains a lot of information concerning Apple's history and at times it can seem very repetitive. Kahney is essentially listing off ways in which Apple does things wrong. I felt like this was a very biased article as well. Apple and Jobs are portrayed in a very negative light and I have trouble believing that Apple really is such an awful company. It almost seems like the article represents how Wired Magazine feels towards the company. The reader receives little positive about Apple apart from the point that Jobs is harsh, yet knows what he's doing.

Beating Obesity

This story opens with a long and fact-filled introduction. The reader learns why Americans are fat and what challenges they face. The author then indicates that a certain change must be made to combat this "epidemic."
This article contains a huge amount of facts, which at times, seem to get confusing. However, this is a long article which is dealing with a hefty topic. Learning about obesity and how to beat it is hardly a new topic. Marc Ambinder surely had difficulty trying to make this article different than others like it, and I feel like he did a good job. The article covers a lot. We learn about the history of obesity, and just about every way there is to beat it from diet and exercise to bariatric surgery. I found it interesting how blunt Ambinder was in his remarks. He has no trouble explaing exactly what the issue is regardless of how others may feel. Perhaps he can do so because he actually came from a similar place, being obese once himself. In the end though, I don't feel like I came away with a definite answer to "beat obesity." I suppose we learn that everyone must cooperate in order for change to occur by the end, but is that really possible?

Drinking Games

This article begins with a scene setter of a couple traveling to Bolivia to do some anthropological research. There's not too much regarding drinking in this first section and I was confused as to where the article was going. I did feel that this intro was written very well and it did catch my attention so it didn't bother me too much that there was no drinking mentioned at first. When the purpose of the story comes along, I found myself interested in the different ways people drink though.
This article almost reads more like an ethnographic anthropological article than a magazine article. Although this was not a huge problem, I felt like there were some points in the article where I just simply got confused at what was being said. Some of it just seemed above my head and I feel that the average magazine reader may have felt the same. I also feel like the article lacked actual quotes from sources which the author gets his info from. We get a lot of quotes from the Heath couple, but we get little else.