Unsinkable Anniversary Story

Associated Press Photo

UPDATE: Another fascinating anniversary story to read as a model: Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the first practical solar cell

Did you know that Babe Ruth hit his first home run as a professional baseball player right here in North Carolina? And that it was 100 years ago? I learned those amazing facts in an anniversary story published April 3 in the Winston-Salem Journal.

Here's the nub of the matter: "In 1914, Babe Ruth, the 'Sultan of Swat,' hit his first home run as a professional baseball player while playing in North Carolina. On March 7 that year, Ruth was playing in an inter-squad game in Fayetteville for the Baltimore Orioles. It was the Buzzards against the Sparrows. For half the game, Ruth played shortstop and then he pitched. But history was made when he came to bat for the second time. Babe Ruth belted the ball far over the right field fence." (Editor: Yes, I fixed the comma error and removed the awful semi-colon.)

One instinct that all feature writers must cultivate is an almost psychic ability to think ahead, to anticipate stories weeks or months in advance, so as not to be caught flat footed. A good feature story is going to take time to report and to write, after all. If the light bulb of a story idea flashes on only a week before the event in question, it's too late to do much more than knock out a down-and-dirty daily story. Not much time for artful writing — much less nice photos, graphics and design.

Archive photo (not subject to copyright)

One of the tried-and-true story formats that capitalizes on thinking ahead is the venerable anniversary story. Journalists love 'em, and readers can't get enough. It ranks right up there with the list or the Q&A. Plus, an anniversary story can take on myriad forms — a news feature, a personal remembrance, a profile pegged to the anniversary, an interview story featuring people involved in the anniversary event, a trend story about the lasting influence the event has had and, yes, a list or Q&A using the event as a jumping off point.

For some writers, the trick is knowing their beats well enough to spot anniversary events on the horizon. For others, the anniversary event is so widely known — like the sinking of the Titanic
— that the challenge is finding the format or approach that will surprise and delight.
Take Daniel Mendelsohn, for example. He was given the unenviable task of penning a Titanic anniversary story for The New Yorker magazine. Talk about a perfect recipe for writer's block! But he chose to juxtapose personal memory with broad cultural significance to write this smart and well-observed feature, Unsinkable: Why We Can't Let Go of the Titanic.

Here's a funny snippet from the nut graph:

The aura of significance that surrounds the Titanic’s fate was the subject of another, belated headline, which appeared in a special publication of the satirical newspaper the Onion, in 1999, stomping across the page in dire block letters:
WORLD’S LARGEST METAPHOR HITS ICE-BERG
The "news" was accompanied by an archival image of the ship’s famous four-funnelled profile. The subhead pressed the joke: "TITANIC, REPRESENTATION OF MAN’S HUBRIS, SINKS IN NORTH ATLANTIC. 1,500 DEAD IN SYMBOLIC TRAGEDY."
The Onion’s spoof gets to the heart of the matter: unlike other disasters, the Titanic seems to be about something. But what?

I found a lot of memorable moments in Mendelsohn's lengthy feature. One reason I'd recommend it to you is he finds ways to add small personal touches into the narrative without making it all about himself. That takes a deft touch.

Another reason I'd recommend this feature to you is for the breadth and detail of the reporting. Did you know the three most written-about subjects were Jesus, the Civil War and the Titanic? Did you know there were five grand pianos, 8,000 dinner forks and car on board the ship? Did you know one survivor described the sound of passengers flailing and drowning in the frigid water as the sound of locusts buzzing in a field? Chilling.

Do you know of an upcoming anniversary that you'd like to write about? Would it be something specific to your beat or something that most people would know about? Would that difference affect how you wrote about it? What approach would work best for the anniversary you're thinking of?

Be thinking about components for your package — headline, photo, credit, cutline, byline, main bar and a sidebar, which we will discuss in class. Also think about trusted sources for found quotes and two live people for fresh quotes. You need AT LEAST TWO OF EACH TYPE OF QUOTE. The story should be about 600 words.

If you missed class when we discussed this, Mayeesa has provided this shot of the board: