July 22, 1975, was a turning point in the career of Boston Herald photographer Stanley Foreman. Foreman was finishing up a usual day of city photography when he got a call about a fire. The fire was located in an older part of town. There was word that people may be trapped inside the building. Foreman followed fire trucks to the scene. On a hunch he went around to the back of the row houses. There he saw firefighter Bob O’Neil trying to save two people trapped on the fifth floor fire escape. A 2-year-old girl and her 19-year-old godmother were holding on the fire escape waiting to be rescued. Foreman set himself into a position to capture pictures of what he expected to be a routine rescue. But to his surprise there was a loud noise that changed all of that. The fire escape gave way before O’Neil could save the girl and her godmother. O’Neil was just a moment away from saving the two girls. Foreman caught this event through the lens of his 135 mm lens. He shot four photos of the two falling, than turned away before they hit the ground. The godmother, Diana Bryant, broke the fall of the young girl, Tiare Jones, but lost her own life a couple of hours later, Tiare survived. Forman learned that Bryant had died a few hours after developing and turning in his photos to the newspaper. With Bryant now dead he was unsure whether the newspaper would run the photos. But the next morning at 2:00am he saw the first morning edition with his photo almost covering the whole front page. And the rest of his photos were on Page 3. Foreman then went ahead and made a set of prints for the Associated Press by 4:00am. And his photos were seen worldwide by the very next day. The releases of the photos lead to many cities improving the inspection and ma...
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...had such an amazing instinct that could not go unnoticed. But when word came that Bryant was dead, some extra sensitivity should have been added. Had both victims lived I believe that the picture had every right to take up the whole front page. Their survival should have been celebrated with a huge story. But once one of the victims was pronounced dead, the picture should have been toned down. I believe it should have still been placed on the front page, but at a more tasteful size. In the end though I feel an appropriate amount of information was disclosed. The public depends on the media to inform them of dangers. And in this case that is exactly what Foreman did. He may have done it in a louder fashion then necessary, but the story needed to be told. And in order to inform the public of the dangers associated with fire escapes the whole truth needed to be told.
Nora Ephron wrote, “The Boston Photographs” to make her argument about how the media should be able to publish photographs of death. She used the Boston Photographs as her example. The photographs were taken by Stanley Forman. They were of a woman and a child falling from a fire escape. Readers thought the photos were disturbing and should not have been published. The photographs were taken by accident when the photographer thought the woman and child would be rescued. He turned away at the very last split-second before the woman fell to her death. There were a lot of criticism for the published photographs. Ephron thought that the photos were rightfully published and argued that the pictures were irrelevant to the woman 's
In the articles, “Are These Stories True? (Nope.)” by Kristin Lewis and “The Story That Got Away” by Debby Waldman, the appeal of fake news and counterfeit stories is explained. One reason why people may find it interesting is because they are re-telling stories that they have heard before, but with a slight twist to make it seem worse than it was. For example, in the folktale “The Story That Got Away”, it gives an illustration of why it is appealing by saying, “At the schoolyard, Yankel told his friends his latest story. ‘Reb Wulff put salt in the rugelach. Not sugar! Salt! Imagine that!’ Yankel said. ‘Those rugelach tasted like stones!’” (Waldman, 14). The boy, Yankel, was recounting what he heard in his father’s shop, which may have seemed
From the film, “Documenting the Face of America: Roy Stryker and the FSA/OWI Photographers”, we, the viewer, are able to gain an understanding about all that the photographers witnessed and how they handled each of the situations they saw. Arthur Rothstein, Dorothea Lange, Ben Shahn, Carl Mydans, Edwin and Louise Rosskam, Gordon Parks, Jack Delano, John Vachon, Marion Post Wolcott, Esther Bubly, Russell Lee, John Collier Jr., Edwin Locke, and Walker Evans are the famous photographers that are discussed in this particular documentary. Almost all of the things that photographers witnessed while working on this project were things that people who lived in the city would never have seen unless they have visited or were originally from the country.
Furthermore, the picture shows dozens of bodies lying down on the floor, one by one in a straight line. There is blood everywhere, which adds to the darkness that has diffused through Syria. People encircle the bodies and start crying. Similarly, Ephron describes the Boston photos clearly as she states: “Smoke was pouring from the building behind them. A rescue ladder was approaching, just a few feet away, and the fireman had one arm around the woman and one arm reaching out toward the ladder” (728). Ephron uses expressive sentences to lure readers into this unfortunate incident. This shows that photographs are merely an ocular lens for the event; the photo is the closest tool to imaginatively go back in time and see the gruesome Syrian deaths. As Ephron says, “That they disturb readers is exactly as it should be: that’s why photojournalism is often more powerful than written journalism” (733). The power of photography is sensational as it captures the smallest of details that writers could not have possibly captured in their writing. For all these reasons, publishing of the picture of the dead bodies of the Syrians is
The sight of women jumping out of a building, due to a lack of fire escapes and locked doors, resonated with the American public. Across the country reporters and every day citizens questioned the business practices in place, and waited to see who would be to blame for such a terrible incident. Headlines of leading newspapers such as William Hearst’s the American read, “City Officials Blamed For Fire Tragedy,” and he devoted several days of front-page stories to this event. (Von Drehle, 187). Angry citizens took notice, and reform subsequently began.
However, despite being regarded as unnecessary rumors by a section of the American society and government, many media people and houses reported harrowing incidents of murder, rape, carjacking and assaults. There were also media reports about a significant number of urban legends who sprouted at the height of the commotion brought about by Hurricane Katrina – systematic children rapists and a 7-year-old’s throat being slit. However, media reports aside, these contentions remain just that. Nevertheless, although a significant count of th...
This thrilling event happened in New York on the late afternoon of March 25, 1911. The tendentious Max Blank and Isaac Harris owned the top three floors in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in the Asch Building. Most of the workers were Italian and European Jewish woman immigrants. It was near closing time for the young workers until that calm afternoon quickly turned into a frightening moment for everyone. At this moment people’s lives were flipped upside down forever when the fire broke out on the eighth floor in the Asch Building. To this day, there is no set cause as to why the fire started. All they have is that people heard an explosion that came from the eighth floor followed by bundles of clothes falling from the sky. The people soon noticed that not only were there bundle of clothes falling but those ‘bundles of clothes’ were actually some of the young workers jumping and falling from the window seals. The outburst of the fire was horrible, woman were falling through the ceiling while other taking their lives by jumping out the windows. Female workers found themselves in trouble when they tried to open the ninth floor doors to the Washington Place stairs but the doors appeared to be locked. On the other ...
Hundreds of people died that day. A good portion of the women who worked at the factory died from the fire, while the others decided to jump out of the building to their death. At the end of the day, the families who had suffered a loss due to the fire received at most $75 as compensation. The corporation learned nothing from the disaster. However, this was an eye opener for some of the journalists who wanted to make a change.
The two main characters of the story, Irene and Clare, leave the reader wanting to know more about the life that two very different cultures live. The racism, society, and views of all people have changed since the time period the book was based off of. Irene is left unaccepted into the world and ashamed to be a Negro, where Clare is fighting to keep her Negro past a secret to everyone around her. Reading Passing by Nella Larson is an eye opening experience that will have a lasting effect on the reader.
In “The Truth about Stories”, Thomas King, demonstrate connection between the Native storytelling and the authentic world. He examines various themes in the stories such as; oppression, racism, identity and discrimination. He uses the creational stories and implies in to the world today and points out the racism and identity issues the Native people went through and are going through. The surroundings shape individuals’ life and a story plays vital roles. How one tells a story has huge impact on the listeners and readers. King uses sarcastic tone as he tells the current stories of Native people and his experiences. He points out to the events and incidents such as the government apologizing for the colonialism, however, words remains as they are and are not exchanged for actions. King continuously alerts the reader about taking actions towards change as people tend to be ignorant of what is going around them. At the end people give a simple reason that they were not aware of it. Thus, the author constantly reminds the readers that now they are aware of the issue so they do not have any reason to be ignorant.
Throughout this paper I will explore the power of storytelling using the course lexicon and I will examine it in the context of two course texts. One of the texts that I will be referring to is by Doxtator, excerpts from Fluffs and Feathers and the second text I will be referring to is by Griffin, excerpts from Woman and Nature. The power of storytelling is a part of the mimetic world and because stories have so much power they can be used to help bring about dominant fantasies. Stories are told over and over again until they are reinforced and in this essay I will argue that the power of storytelling is a form of social control.
“Funerals [and] surgical operations” as well as deaths from “diseases caused by the exposure” filled the weeks after the blizzard. (252) Some amputations led to infections, which brought more death to families. Most families had to resort to “pioneer funerals” which included making caskets of “whatever lumber they had on hand.” (248) The cold weather had not let up since the blizzard, making it difficult to dig graves in some areas of the prairie. The publicity from the press ensured the family of Etta Shattuck, a schoolteacher who was caught out in the storm while collecting her final paycheck, gave her a funeral that was not like any “of the other storm victims.” (248) An undertaking firm from Omaha sent Shattuck’s family a casket free of charge and her funeral was “packed to overflowing.” (247) Etta Shattuck was one of many “heroines” honored by newspapers across the
John Edgar Wideman’s, “Our Time”, tells the story of how his brother’s mistakes have caused Robby lots of trouble. Many questions have roamed through my head about Robby, John’s brother, and why he turned out the way he was. Why did Robby have to turn out to be the rebel in the family? Could it have been his home town, his family, or his friends? Those are the questions. I feel like it may have been the “ghetto”, Homewood, that influenced him.
“George Layhe,” the boss yelled, “Get your firefighting blockhead in here!” Why I needed to rush was beyond me because nothing ever happens here in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Just then I heard what sounded to be gunfire. The alarm went off and we slid down the pole. As soon as we got to the bottom, the ground shook and it sounded as if an elevated train was above us. We frantically ran outside and drove to 529 Commercial Street.
This is a funny ,(funny to other people) and embarrassing ,(embarrassing to me) story. It happen like two months ago… So a week before this happen, I was walking down the hallway at Havre Middle school, and I saw my Vice Principal Mr. Irvin. When I see him he usually asked me if I want to work the concessions for the middle school football team . So he walked passed and I said “do you need me to work..”, He said “oooo man can you?????????”. I work with my friend Elly. She has been my friend ever since I was born because, our parents were friends. We went to daycare together when we were little. She is always there for me, and I am always there for here. We are like sisters! She calls my mom her mom.