ORANGE SODA AND CIGARETTES

“You can find a story if you look for it,” said college student Alysa Obert as she described a recent encounter on the Boston metro. A man boarded the train with nothing but a bottle of orange soda tucked under his arm and a pack of cigarettes his hand. “I thought to myself, ‘What’s his story? Why orange soda and cigarettes?’”

In a society where the media consists largely of sensationalist journalism and celebrity gossip, some college students are looking for real, substantive writing about real people.

“I feel a lot of Journalism tends to be a lot of fluff and they don’t get to the story,” said communication Arts student Michelle Webber. “Say what you want to say and don’t make it more complicated.”

In an effort to capture the reader, magazines increasingly resort to colorful language, alliteration and complex sentence structures. 

“We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills and meaningless jargon,” wrote William Zinsser in his book On Writing Well.

The book, written 30 years ago, still captivates the interest of prospective writers and journalists like Obert and Webber.

“[On Writing Well] applies a lot,” said Webber. “In some ways it is very classic […] and could be applied in any time period.”

“Getting down someone’s language is crucial to telling their story,” said Obert of Zinsser’s teaching on clarity of writing and accuracy of reporting. “The moment you bring your scalpel, you are endangering their Identity. Those are their words […] It’s a big responsibility.”

To many shock value journalists and celebrity gossip writers, Zinsser’s teaching restrains creative streaks that are prevalent in today’s journalism. But to writing students that aim to achieve excellence and quality in their writing, On Writing Well is indispensable.

“Now I don’t read gossip magazines or celebrity blogs anymore,” said Obert. “Brad is still with Jenn in my opinion.”