Hayward WRT 205

This graphic novel assignment has been one of my favorite of the semester so far. I had never read, looked at or even picked up a graphic novel before this assignment but I read the book that I picked out from the library cover to cover in one night.   I really enjoyed the added visual component to reading a book and I found that interpreting images was more satisfying than interpreting written words, since there is more room for ambiguity and imagination. This may sound a little counterintuitive, because reading a fictional story in a regular book is all about creating the environment described in the text, in your mind so you have a picture of the scene and characters. While this is the case, a regular book tells you exactly what to pay attention to. What aspects of physical looks are important, what the key moments in a battle scene are. The graphic novel on the other hand, sometimes uses almost exclusively images to introduce a character or describe a battle s...

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/arts/television/unguarded-documentary-about-chris-herren-on-espn-review.html I chose to read reviews of Unguarded, the documentary I watched prior to last class which tells the story of Chris Herren, an ex-NBA player who struggled with drug addiction throughout his basketball career. I read a review on NewYorkTimes.com that was written shortly after the doc’s release in 2011. It begins by describing the storytelling methodology of the documentary and introduces Herren’s story as well as information about the director. Next, some examples of the more noteworthy, striking, and vivid stories from the documentary are described, likely to build interest since the review is overall quite positive. However, the reviewer does raise some questions about the doc as well as pointing out areas that he thinks were intentionally glossed over, "It’s a highly polished production, and while it feels brutally frank, you can’t help wo...