Blog Post #4 Due 12/2

12/1/2019

At this point you have read two feature pieces, "The Making of a Terrorist" and "The Girl in the Window". Please explain how these two features are different and how they are similar. Remember we are interested in this from a writing perspective. Think about research, character development, style, etc. Do not forget to respond to a classmate.

27 Comments

Joe Aoude

12/2/2019 08:59:30 am

After reading these two pieces, I feel that both of them are similar in the sense that both stories are very dark and gloomy and both stories are stories that anyone would think ''Oh that would never happen'', but they did. Both stories have the most horrific events possible. I also feel like both authors what to make sure to tell and write about both sides of the story and to be as factual as possible on both sides and not make anything one sided.
the stories are different when it comes to the writing - the terrorist piece I noticed how that author interjected her opinion here and there and you did not see that much with girl in window piece. The author of that piece stayed on topic and focused on telling the story. I found that another thing that made the second piece different was that while the author addressed both sides in the story she made an effort to focus more on Dani as much as possible.

Kailyn Cogan

12/2/2019 09:50:01 pm

Hey Joe,

You made a great point about how both of these pieces themes are dark. I never really thought about that similar connection until your mentioned that. Also, great job pointing out opinion based thoughts in the first feature piece. Looking back, I can see where the author gave her opinion, unlike the second piece where the author strictly told the story and focused on the main character and her thoughts, rather than her own-self as a writer. Great job Joe!

thomas frati

12/4/2019 06:48:41 am

I agree with your statement about the authors having a different writing style Joe. I definitely think that the authors took a different approach to describing their stories. I think that the author should've voiced their opinion in the other story.

nhamaa

12/4/2019 07:37:15 am

I agree that the Author of the terrorist piece inserted her opinion more. I like how they did that.

Meredith Beckett

12/4/2019 09:15:11 am

hey Joe,

I couldn't agree more with you that these are both extremely dark pieces, so I assume that the authors must both have a certain interest for tackling un easy subjects like these. I also understand what your getting at when you say that "The American Terrorist" seemed to be written with more of a deeper message in mind then " The girl in the Window did,

Br Miller

12/2/2019 11:05:14 am

The similarities between the two features of " The Girl in the Window" and "The Making of a Terrorist" are that they both have heart wrenching and scary stories about the reality of life and whats possible. The way the authors displayed and wrote about the events gave a non biased side of writing where they gave different perspectives and facts of each story. However, each author of the story came back to the point of how horrific and possible events like these happen everyday around us and the world.
The differences between the two features " The Girl in the Window" and "The Making of a Terrorist" was the research and the structure off writing. The author of "The Making of the Terrorist" gives research by giving interviews, visiting places where the main character went, along with giving facts and opinion based writing. Compared to the author of the "The Girl in the Window" where the author has more of a storytelling and biography of the little girl Danielle.

Brianna G

12/2/2019 12:04:59 pm

"The Making of a Terrorist" and "The Girl in the Window" are both similar and different in there own ways. Both stories are about different situations but are serious issues. I think that both are similar in the way that they are tough situations to write about. The writers both had to clear their minds of any bias, thoughts, or opinions they might have had on the situation.
These two pieces are different in the way the stories are told. "The Girl in the Window" was a very descriptive story. while "The Making of a Terrorist" had a different feel. It involved traveling places, doing research, interviewing people, and reporting. Both stories had a message to prove that horrible, heart wrenching things actually happening.

Joe Aoude

12/3/2019 02:21:02 pm

Hey Bri,
I totally agree with you on the fact that the stories are very different, but they involve serious situations. I also appreciated how you pointed out that the girl in the window piece was a descriptive story - I felt the same way. Great post!

Kailyn Cogan

12/2/2019 09:38:46 pm

After reading both of these feature pieces, I noticed some similarities and differences between the two. First for similarities, I noticed the style and information given in both were very similar. In "The Making of The Terrorist", the piece started out by jumping right into the main point of the story. I noticed that the piece didn't really introduce the main character, or give to much background information until after the plot of the story was told, and different topics were introduced and discussed. Same goes with "The Girl In The Window". I noticed right off the bat of the story, we don't know who this girl is, who is found looking through the window of a old abandon house. All we know is the situation that occurs in that current moment until she is introduced, and her story is told in sections further along the piece. As goes for differences, I would say the detail and amount of depth was different in both of these pieces. To me, "The Making of Terrorists" seemed more informative. It strictly got to its point, and informed us on filler background information that was needed to piece the story together. As for "The Girl In The Window", there was so much descriptive detail that was given. When reading this piece, I was able to visualize so many descriptive scenes that took place unlike the first piece. It felt almost as if I was there.

Andrew Arsenault

12/2/2019 09:44:49 pm

I felt the same way while reading "The Girl in the Window", it felt as if you were in the moment while reading and that was very powerful. The writing was pretty amazing. I actually thought "The Girl in the Window" was more informative just because of the psychological aspects of us humans that they got into, but I see where you are coming from. Thanks for sharing!

Arsiama Zacharias

12/4/2019 12:48:59 pm

I agree, “The Girl in the Window” had a lot of descriptive imagery and details about Danielle’s life.

Andrew Arsenault

12/2/2019 09:40:38 pm

I felt as if "The Girl In The Window" and the "The Making of a Terrorist" were very similar in many ways. They both had in depth character development. They both were able to keep me entertained throughout, the detail in "The Girl in The Window" really stood out to me. The description of the house It also felt much more informative than the terrorist story. "The Girl in the Window" went in depth about what could happen if we as humans don't receive proper attention as children. The story involved input from many different sources who were tasked with developing Danielle. One of the psychologists introduced a term I had never heard previously called "Environmental Autism". There was also great detail in the terrorist story about what lead to the tragic event, and possibly why it could have happened. The terrorist piece discussed a topic that had already happened, while "The Girl in the Window" made me as a reader feel as if if I was in that moment. It came off as you were in the present while reading which was pretty fascinating to me. I really enjoyed both feature pieces.

Meredith Beckett

12/3/2019 03:42:19 pm

Given how heavy both the topics were in the journals we read this week, I noticed that the writers seemed to manage both pieces with similar levels of sensitivity, and pure facts about the issues at hand. For example both of the authors took a distant tone to the writing, neither of them involved their reactions or a creative distinctive tone to the story. Instead both authors seemed focus on delivering the facts and letting the reader come to their own conclusion. However the two pieces are different in a sense that in " The making of a terrorist" the author seemed to put a spin on the story to convey a deeper message to the reader, and calls the reader to look at the situation from a different angle. On the other hand " The Girl in the Window" the author was presenting more facts, and documenting Danielle's life rather then trying to convey a message or a point.

Justin Curtis

12/3/2019 08:14:23 pm

The similarities between the two feature pieces we have read, “The Girl in the Window” and “The Making of a terrorist” are that they both tell horrific and tragic stories about the reality of people’s lives. Both authors were able to write in a way that was unbiased and they were able to give multiple perspectives and crucial information along the course of the stories. Also, both authors were able to come full circle and come back to the point of how truly horrific the story taking place was and how it can happen to anyone, anywhere.
The differences between the two features are seen in the way research was done and the style of writing. The author of “The Making of a Terrorist” provides research through interviews and visiting the places where the main character in the story went. While the author of “The Girl in the Window” tends to do more storytelling and provides biographical information of the girl Danielle in the story.

Justin Curtis

12/3/2019 08:19:32 pm

Once again, here is my comment because it will not let me post a reply to anyones blog post.

Hi Bri,
I agree with a lot of what you said. I liked how you brought up the fact that the author comes back to making it known that these horrific events happen everyday all around us, and that is scary to think about! These things can happen to any of us at any time. Great job on your blog overall!

thomas frati

12/4/2019 06:43:40 am

A couple similarities between the two feature pieces we have read, “The Girl in the Window” and “The Making of a terrorist” are that they both describe and tell you tragic stories about the reality of people’s lives. Both the authors were able to write in a way that was an unbiased opinion and they were able to give multiple perspectives and crucial information along the course of the stories. The authors do a good job of telling the audience a bout where the story takes place was and how it can happen to anyone, anywhere.
The differences between the two features are in the way research was done and the style of writing the author choice to do. The author of “The Making of a Terrorist” provides research to us through interviews and visiting the places where the main character in the story went. While the author of “The Girl in the Window” tends to do more storytelling and gives us vial information about the girl in the story.

Camden Tuffile

12/4/2019 10:10:30 am

I agree that the two pieces are similar in that they both deal with heavy topics. I also agree that they have different writing styles that fit the type of story that each author is trying to tell.

Nhamaa Cortes

12/4/2019 07:35:08 am

both feature pieces "the girl in the window" and "the making of a terrorist" are extremely sad. they both are able to touch the hearts of the reader because both are true stories that are horrible. the two pieces of writing differ in the sense that "the making of a terrorist" is more trying to figure out a story and why the terrorist committed the actions and "the girl in the window" is more just telling a story that the author already knew.

Alexis

12/4/2019 08:26:17 am

Similarities; both pieces were about tragedy. Both explained many different perspectives. Both descriptive, made it easy for me to picture what what happening in the stories.
Differences; there were different approaches to research, one piece was more interview based while the other was more fact based.
Both had been tragic stories, giving us a look into some things that don't necessarily go on in our immediate worlds.

Camden Tuffile

12/4/2019 10:05:53 am

"The Girl in the Window" and "The Making of a Terrorist" are similar in that they both deal with heavy topics: the former dealing with child abuse and neglect, and the latter dealing with murder and terrorism. As for differences, the Dylan Roof piece tends to be more informative yet unchronological, while the Danielle piece has much more vivid description and stays in chronological order.

Zhaoya Xu

12/4/2019 10:29:41 am

Both of the two pieces are trying to present facts. But "The Girl in the Window" seems more descriptive and informative that it is interview--based. It makes the readers eaay to cath on with the content by using a story-telling way. While "The Making of a Terrorist" is trying to answer the question"what do we know by far about the change of terrirists" through the whole piece.

Zhaoya Xu

12/4/2019 11:44:54 am

I cannot reply for some reason so I will just post below.

Hey Kailyn,

I agree with you that "The Girl In The Window" is more descriptive and "The Making of Terrorists" is more informative. I also like "The Girl In The Window" more because the author use a story-telling way to write and it is more vivid. The distance between the readers and the character is closer.

Arsiama Zacharias

12/4/2019 12:46:56 pm

“The Making of a Terrorist” and “The Girl in the Window” are similar because they’re both about traumatic events. Overall, both features show what can happen in the real world. And both features are different based on their writing style and research. “The Making of a Terrorist” is an opinion and interview-based story, and it includes traveling to other places.“The Girl in the Window” is a detailed story about Danielle’s life, and it’s full of descriptive imagery.

Mike Sheehan

12/7/2019 08:44:14 pm

Hey Arsiama,

I agree that the story about Danielle portrayed descriptive imagery, it really painted a picture to me of how hard it is for a family to take in a child that suffered from neglect. Both writers did a great job explaining how traumatic events can be so detailed and how their is a lot of background research to really dive into a feature piece.

Michael Romano

12/4/2019 05:40:31 pm

The two pieces "The Girl in the Window" and "The Making of a Terrorist" are similar because they are both horrible stories of peoples everyday lives. The style of writing both authors used was being descriptive and putting you in their shoes. The authors were also able to come back to the main point of how terrible the story was and how it can happen at anytime to anyone. The differences between them was how they gathered their information. The author for "The Girl in the Window" did more of a storytelling style of writing and the information about the girl. The author for "The Making of a Terrorist" did more interviews and going to the places in the story.

Quinn DeMelo

12/4/2019 08:25:23 pm

The two stories "The Making of a Terrorist" and "The Girl in the Window" share a variety of similarities and distinct differences that make both unique. Starting off with similarities, both stories set a gloomy tone and are written about serious situations. Both authors used different perspectives throughout their stories and at the same time both did a great job being descriptive. They were able to keep me eager to finish the story while reading them.

For differences each author had a different style of writing and how they conducted research. Through "The Making of a Terrorist" the author held interviews with people associated with Dylan. For "The Girl in the Window" it was more of a story telling vibe and descriptive. Also the author in "The Making of a Terrorist" it was more personal, the author stated her own opinions while in the other story the author did not.

Mike Sheehan

12/7/2019 08:40:07 pm

Reading both of the feature pieces, they seem to have a lot of similarities and differences. Similarities including they both focus on the background story of one person, providing detail and thorough investigation of the lives of Danielle the feral child and Dylan Roof. To write a feature piece about someone's profile a journalist must dig deep into the background of the person. I felt both writers did a great job explaining this through interviews and life examples. The Girl in the Window piece focused on Danielle's early life of being neglected and how she struggled to become a functioning human with a new family. The Most American Terrorist focused on Dylan Roofs early life through research of his home and school life to determine why his life turned to a tragedy. The differences in my opinion are portrayed by tone and style of writing, even though they both are about sad gloomy stories, Danielle's story has some positive hope while Dylan's did not. The style of the girl in the window differed from the most american terrorist because it was mainly a whole article about the transformation of Danielle, how hard it is to overcome childhood neglect. While the most american terrorist was broken up into different sections to provide background and different angles to the reasoning of the horrific shooting.

Blog Post #4 Due 12/2

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