Journal 2

1) Word of the week: poignant. While I've obviously experienced the word before, I thought it was used perfectly by Lane DeGregory. In her piece about letters sent to God and Santa, DeGregory used poignant to describe the central letter to her story. She could have used it earlier, but she waited, knowing the distinct weight the word carries. Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary defines it as: a) sharply painful to the feelings, piercing, or b) evoking pity, compassion, etc.; emotionally touching or moving. And says its origin is from the Middle English poinaunt, from Old French poignant, present participle of poindre, to prick, from Latin pungere. Merriam-Webster says it comes from Middle English poynaunt, from Anglo-French poinant, poignant, present participle of poindre to prick, sting, from Latin pungere, with a first known use in the 14th century


2) Catch of the week:
"Built in 1964, Domodedovo is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) southeast of the center of Moscow and is the largest of the three major airports that serve the Russian capital, serving over 22 million people last year." 
The preferred usage of "over" in AP Style is for spatial relationships, such as: The plane flew over the city with a population of more than 22 million people. In the sentence, the writer should have used "more than" instead of "over." The fact that this egregious error made it into an AP story is very surprising. 


3) Headline of the week: 
Steelers, Packers provide plan for others to find success

I actually laughed when I read this. I'm not sure who writes the headlines for NFL.com, but if I were the editor, then he or she would be looking for a different job. I'd change the headline to: Steelers, Packers have more in common than Super Bowl berth.  It's enticing and is more appropriate for the entire article. 

4) Passage of the week: 

Ali stands at the window of his suite on the 24th floor of the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas. His once booming voice comes out a whisper.

"Look at this place," he says. "This big hotel, this town. It's dust, all dust. Don't none of it mean nothin'. It's all only dust."

A fighter jet lands at an Air Force base out on the desert. Ali watches it through the glass, the lights on the strip so bright it seems like they'll burn forever.

"Go up in an airplane," he says. "Go high enough, and it's like we don't even exist."

The passage comes from Wright Thompson's story entitled "Shadow Boxing." It's a detailed account of a search for Jimmy Robinson, and the elusive last autograph sought by a man who is collecting the signatures of every fighter to step in the ring with Muhammad Ali. I thought the passage summed up the story succinctly because after years and years of searching Robinson was no where to be found. And, it was extremely well written. Thompson has the power to move you with his words while not being overbearing or showing off.