Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

It's evident that ZZ Packer is a very talented writer with her own extremely unique style. I feel like I'm sitting in front of her as we're drinking coffee and she's telling me these stories. She takes us into the lives of these characters in a tone that doesn't get stale nor repetitive. She has various themes in her stories that are great from keeping the reader from getting bored such as a group of drifters in Japan who are starving and unable to find work and a girl living in a ghetto who has ambitions of the larger world she's seen on the TV screens in the store nearby where even the shopkeeper has his own hope for fulfilling his own American Dream. When you mix similes and metaphors at the appropriate times as well as Packer's own vision imbued in the stories, you get an interesting read. 

NPR Radio interview analysis

I listened to "Health Insurance Help for Laid Off Workers May End." Sarah Vandi interviewed a woman named Nicole Pelton who was affected by the lack of health insurance. 

Vandi overall made the interview more like a conversation so the interviewee could be more comfortable. She was prepared with in-depth questions and was able to get Pelton to discuss the situation in a way she might not have told anyone before. Vandi could get Pelton to talk by asking her questions pertaining to her children and husband which allowed her to get many quotes to create her story. I assume it was easy to get Pelton to talk about something that was relevant and close to her heart because her family's situation made her give great detailed answers. 

As for an apparent relationship, they sounded like friends talking which happens because of the interviewer. Vandi makes it look easy.

I learned that once the interviewer finds the sweet spot for the interviewee, the interview opens up and offers a lot of quality information to be used in their story. It's also interesting to see how a conversational interview can be used to an interviewer's advantage. Making the interviewee comfortable works and helps the interview go places it might not otherwise go had the interviewer not had a plan. Once the interviewee's trust is earned, more difficult questions can be asked and the answers will come out like hotcakes. 

Word #8

1. meticulous

2. His grandfather liked to play the first-person shooter Wolfenstein 3D and meticulously drew each room's map on graph paper, noting the location of every secret he could find.

Article: Life After Titanfall // Site: polygon.com

3. (adjective) showing great attention to detail; very careful and precise.

4. The lady walked meticulously as the doctor said she could walk on her own after surgery.

Copy Edit the World

All of these were found at a new restaurant not too far from where I live called Bangkok Boulevard.

Typo: Add

Correction: Ad

Typo: Togo

Correction: To Go

Typo: Carter

Correction: Cater

Extra Credit

1) Phrase: Cut the Cheese

Origin: Cheese had a thick layer of wax on it's exterior when it was packed. It was bought in large amounts and as it got older and smellier, no one could smell it because of the layer of wax. Once someone cut through the layer to get to the cheese, it released a stinky odor. So when someone smelled a bad odor, they would ask, "Who cut the cheese?"

Meaning: To fart

Original Thought: As a kid I thought it meant somebody had body odor. I thought asking “Who cut the cheese?” was another way of asking “Who hasn’t taken a shower in a week?”

2) Phrase: Throw a Wrench in the Works

Origin: Low paid factory workers used to throw monkey wrenches into the industrial machines to get a break. The phrase was first used in 1931 by The Daily Express - talking about the head of the liberal party - "He hurled a monkey wrench into the machinery of Liberalism".

Meaning: To do something that prevents a plan or activity from succeeding

Original Thought: I thought it meant to give someone a hand. Like your hand represented a wrench and the works were what that person needed help with.

Word #7

1. elude

2. And yet, month after month, the story of what exactly happened with the launch of the original Defense Grid has eluded me.

Article: When a Successful Game is a Failure // Site: polygon.com

3. (verb) evade or escape from (a danger, enemy, or pursuer), typically in a skillful or cunning way.

4. I hide near my trash can to catch the raccoon but it always finds a way to elude me.

Word #6

1. pitfall

2.But with success comes some pitfalls as well. (Article: How Flight Rising’s Creator Went from Developer to Deputy Site: polygon.com)

3. (noun) a hidden or unsuspected danger or difficulty.

4. He didn’t anticipate any pitfalls when he planned to climb the mountain.