I wish I had written that: Week three

This week, I'm going to be doing something a little different. Still three excerpts from three separate articles, but this week they're all from the same author -- Detroitblogger John. I hope that by the end of this post you'll have gained a sense of the way he writes and why it impresses me.

Excerpt One

“He's immune to power outages, indifferent to rising utility costs, oblivious to gas prices.”

-- Detroitblogger John, Metro Times

Immune, indifferent and oblivious all mean different things. But Detroitblogger John knows how to use words in such a way that different meanings can be used together to build a collective meaning.

What he has done here is impressive just for that reason: John is talking about Glendale Stewart, a man who lives in Detroit, but "off the grid," and the three separate meanings are used together to emphasize his distance from the city, though he lives in it.

John writes for the Metro Times and "scours [Detroit] for hidden gems." His main purpose, and the reason he started writing these hidden gems, "is to share local, personal happenings with a handful of former Detroit-born friends."

Yet besides finding and writing such stories, he knows how to bend words to his will, making them mean what he wants them to.

And if you don't believe me that Detroitblogger John's writing is good, the fact that it's published in multiple places and the comments people make on it should back me up.

Excerpt Two

"She's a performer in search of a stage, a teacher looking for a class, living in a museum without visitors."

-- Detroitblogger John, Metro Times

Detroitblogger John's writing is littered with sentences like these. Little gems, tucked here and there, in the features he writes.

He has a way of grasping qualities that can't be grasped, like in the excerpt above. He's describing a woman, Bettie Birch, who has devoted her life to continuing the oral traditions passed down to her, the stories of slavery from generations before her. But now, being retired and not having the means to purchase a building in which to continue her life's work, she keeps everything she used to teach in her house.

And Detroitblogger John writes the colorful sentence excerpted above to try and describe her situation, since most descriptions wouldn't do it justice.

It's powerful because it grasps something ethereal, showing the state of wanting to do something, but not being able to.

That's the type of writing that you often find in Detroitblogger John's features, a man who is just as mysterious as the ethereal excerpt above, since he has no name other than Detroitblogger John. No one really knows who he is.

Excerpt Three

"He and other sign painters transform their frustration by incorporating art into their commercial work. A Caudle cartoon for a shipping company shows two retro-looking deliverymen smiling earnestly as they work. A Bridge Card portrayed on a Livernois liquor store by the painter known as Norman features the Ambassador Bridge and is issued to Britney Spears. A simple ad commissioned by a small tire shop wound up featuring a voluptuous blonde in a gown standing in front of a sparkling yellow Rolls Royce. Patrick made that one. 'I love to paint beautiful women,' he says with a sly smile. 'That's my specialty. I really want to go that way someday.'

Caudle just wants respect. He says some people look down on the profession, as they did years ago when sign painters were called 'wall dogs' and had a reputation for being unruly transients. 'They think you're a bunch of drug addicts and drunks, that you have to drink in order to keep a sturdy hand, which is not true,' he says. 'That's sort of the reputation.' He still takes considerable pride, he says, in doing a quality job, in being a true artist, in proving the critics wrong."

-- Detroitblogger John, Metro Times

OK, so this excerpt is a little longer. But trust me, please, I'm not just trying to take up more of your time; I have a reason for this. This excerpt, from Detroitblogger John's feature "The writing on the wall," doesn't contain the usual hidden gems that he weaves into his writing.

This time, this excerpt's merit is not in its writing, but in its content. I thought that ending this post by focusing on the impressive things that John finds, rather than just writes, will help to give you a more well-rounded picture of who he is as a writer and what he's capable of.

Detroitblogger John has a knack for finding unusual stories in Detroit. This time he writes about a group that, as the excerpt above says, is sometimes looked down upon.

And on those lines, there is something to admire about the writing here: John's use of quotes carry his description of the sign painters.

But that's not what I'm focusing on here. I'm focusing on the fact that someone even thought to write about sign painters. To me, it shows John has a keen eye for unusual things -- things that might seem ordinary on the surface, but really aren't.

And just in case you think I'm making this stuff up, Time.com blogger Darrell Dawsey backs me up, saying that he wishes he had written John's piece.

In my opinion, Detroitblogger John is not only an amazing wordsmith, able to bend words to his bidding, but he also has an amazing eye for stories, looking in places that others might not think to look.

And I hope by now you might agree with my opinion.

I wish I had written that: Week two

Excerpt One

"During Genesis’ sexier moments—and it's easy to forget how many there are—bodies are put on full display. This will no doubt offend some who are used to seeing the book more as a manual than as a story of what it means to be human; however, it is partly these moments—which are by no means excessive or out of character with the text—that remind the reader these people existed." --Andrew Welch, RELEVANT magazine

Andrew Welch just used a book of the Bible -- Genesis -- and the word "sexier" in one sentence. RELEVANT is a Christian magazine! There are many who would be offended by those two terms together, but Welch is reviewing a graphic novel version of Genesis by R. Crumb, and he's calling it like it is. That's rather bold. Simply reviewing a work by such an edgy comic book artist -- one who has created works that definitely stand in contrast to Christian values, such as "R. Crumb's Sex Obsessions" -- in a Christian magazine is even more bold.

Unfortunately, Welch's review of the graphic novel is the only work of his that can be found on RELEVANT's Web site. Google also has nothing to say about him, either -- that is, unless he's a software developer or a Dartmouth medical school admissions director as well as a writer.

But his review alone tells readers a little bit about his personality -- he's bold and not afraid to shock those with more delicate sensibilities.

Excerpt Two

"The huge cross (along with some church signs) got me thinking. I wondered if anyone ever decided to follow Jesus after seeing one of these giant, roadside crosses. I mean, there’s not much there. I wondered about what might go through a person’s mind after glimpsing one of these monuments. Jesus saves; true, but how? And from what? And what difference should it make to me? It just didn’t seem like drive-by evangelism was the way to go. Think about it; can you picture the scene?

'Yeah, I had just finished beatin’ up some old lady—stole her purse and some jewelry—and I was headed back to pick up my live-in girlfriend at the abortion clinic, but she wasn’t out yet, so I decided to rob an orphanage (since I had some time to kill and all). As I peeled out of the parking lot and turned onto Interstate 40, there it was … a big ol’ cross and the words “JESUS SAVES” in humongous red letters. That was all it took to change my life. Why hadn’t anyone told me that before? I pulled off into the break-down lane, knelt down on the side of the road by mile marker forty-two, and surrendered my life to Jesus. In fact, I decided to become a missionary right then and there.'" -- John R. Greco, author of "The Jesus Sessions"

This fictional account makes author John R. Greco's opinion on faceless, interaction-less evangelism clear in a humorous -- yet also edgy -- way. Through the use of an extreme caricature, Greco says that drive-by evangelism is not "

the way to go." And his caricaturization of it is over-the-top, but because of exactly that, it drives home the point.

Greco, who is pursuing a divinity degree according to his bio, would probably offend some with what he has written in the excerpt above. But that's exactly the point -- he's railing against impersonal, human interaction-less evangelism. And sometimes to make a point, you have to offend.

Excerpt Three

"The Bathroom Rule forces these self-important over-texters to explain themselves. Whatever the social setting, you wouldn't get up to use the restroom more than a few times without offering an excuse for your apparent incontinence—and your excuse has to sound believable, lest your friends think you have a drug problem. The same goes for texting: Your friends will understand that you've got to constantly keep an eye on your e-mail as long as you offer a good explanation (you're the White House press secretary), but they'll cut you less slack if your excuse sounds fishy (you're the night manager at 7-Eleven)." -- Farhad Manjoo, Slate magazine

Go to the bathroom a lot in a social setting -- you have a problem. And, says Farhad Manjoo, a technology writer for Slate magazine and author of "True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society," you have a problem if you're reaching for your phone a lot to text in a social situation.

That's what Manjoo is trying to convey in the sentence above. And he does so with a bite, comparing over-texting to a drug problem. It's a comparison that works and with which I find myself contentedly agreeing -- texting in social situations, especially in small groups, says to the other people that you don't care about what's happening around you and perhaps even that you don't want to be with them. It's rude. Manjoo does a good job of conveying this in the excerpt above. And if you don't believe it, read the article itself here and the 310 comments on which he based the Bathroom Rule here.

I wish I had written that: Week one

Excerpt One

Mirta Ojito, according to the feature story writing book "The Authentic Voice," is "an author and freelance journalist" who "teaches immigration reporting at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism."

She wrote an insightful article titled "Best of Friends, Worlds Apart" that discusses the racial divide in Miami from the perspective of two Cuban immigrants, one black and one white. It's interesting to note that she's a Cuban immigrant herself. Here's an excerpt from the article:

Mr. Ruiz insists he does not dislike whites. He cites his friendship with Mr. Valdes as an example of his open-mindedness, just as Mr. Valdes uses their relationship to establish that he is not racist. And talking to the two men, watching them in one of their rare times together, it is impossible not to feel their fierce loyalty and genuine affection.

Yet both also know that theirs is now mostly a friendship of nostalgia. They are adults with ambitions and jobs and bills to pay, they point out, with little time to talk on the phone. When they do they seldom discuss anything beyond their families in Cuba or how busy they are with work.

When it comes to race, Mr. Ruiz will give his friend the benefit of the doubt. Mr. Ruiz is proud that when he turned 30 in February, Mr. Valdes ventured to black Miami for the party at Annie Mae's. ''I understand that it is more difficult for him to cross the line than it is for me,'' Mr. Ruiz says. ''It's not his thing and I respect that.''

Mr. Valdes seems uncharacteristically thoughtful when discussing his friend's life. His friend, he says, has chosen to live as a black man rather than as a Miami Cuban.

''If I were him, I would get out of there and forget about everybody else's problems and begin my own life,'' he says. ''If he stays it is because he wants to.''

Mr. Ruiz thinks his friend cannot possibly understand. Even after he moved in April to an apartment south of Miami to escape the pressures of his needy relatives, Mr. Ruiz could not cast his family or his blackness aside. He spends most of his time back in Allapatah, near the bar and the neighbors who have embraced him.

''I know he would do anything for me if I ask him to, but the one thing he can never do is to walk in my shoes,'' Mr. Ruiz says of his old friend. ''Achmed does not know what it means to be black.''

Mr. Valdes and Mr. Ruiz have never talked about race. When told of his friend's opinion of blacks, Mr. Ruiz shifts uncomfortably in his seat.

''He said that?'' Mr. Ruiz asks, lifting his eyebrows. ''I don't know why he would think that blacks are delinquents. I know he doesn't think that of me, and I'm black. I've always been black.'' A pause. He thinks some more. ''He grew up with blacks,'' he says. ''I don't understand it. Maybe something bad happened to him. I am sure he is talking about American blacks.''

Mr. Valdes has never told him about his experiences in Miami's black neighborhoods, just as Mr. Ruiz has never told him about the police outside the Versailles.

Joel Ruiz and Achmed Valdéz were, according to the article, the best of friends in Cuba. But when they came to Miami, the racial divide drove them apart. "The Authentic Voice" calls the article "a broader portrait of how Miami treats its white and black citizens."

It's sad because that portrait shows a United States in which the racial divide is still wide enough to prevent people of different ethnicities from being best friends and keeping in close contact, as shown in the excerpt -- they are described as having a "friendship of nostalgia."

Excerpt Two

Another author featured in "The Authentic Voice," Allie Shah, wrote an article titled "Somali girls coming of age are caught in cultural tug of war." The article follows two Somali girls and how they cope with meshing their families' culture with the U.S. culture. Here's an excerpt:

For Fartun, the tug comes from another direction, from Africa. In Kenya, where she grew up, she made a conscious decision to hide her dark brown locks from public gaze. She was 14, the age when many Somali girls start wearing the hijaab.

It was Eid, an important Muslim holiday, and her mother spread out an assortment of pretty scarves from which Fartun chose one. Admiring her new look in the mirror, she decided to make the hijaab a part of her permanent identity. Only at home among relatives or among women does she take it off.

According to "The Authentic Voice," because she is Muslim, "Shah shows journalists how to write from a community rather than just about it." This is evident from the excerpt in how easily Shah writes about it, perhaps having had just such an experience herself. There is no elaborate explanation of Eid, just a portrait of the scene in which a Muslim girl makes her faith a part of her daily identity. It's simple and it works.

Excerpt Three

Thomas French became a reporter for the St. Petersburg Times in 1981. He started as a night cops reporter, but now writes feature stories. His article "A gown for Lindsay Rose" is one that connects with the reader on a deep emotional level. Here's an excerpt:

As Lois washed the blood from the child, she studied her round head, her wisps of light blond hair, the soft expanse of her eyelids, her perfectly formed fingernails, the tributaries of veins stretching under her porcelain skin.

She was gorgeous.

Lois held her, thinking of the first time she held her own two children. She thought about this baby's mother, now down the hall in the intensive care unit, and thought about all the things the child and her parents would never get to experience. Visits from the Tooth Fairy, skinned knees on the playground, a first dance with a boy.

Trying to hold back her tears, Lois silently prayed, asking God to give the girl's family the strength and comfort to get through this loss. She often said this prayer and had it down to three simple words.

Strength and comfort, she said. Strength and comfort.

If it's not clear from the excerpt, Lois, a nurse, is holding a stillborn baby.

This is an emotionally powerful thing in and of itself, but it's strengthened by the reflection on all the things the child will never experience: "Visits from the Tooth Fairy, skinned knees on the playground, a first dance with a boy," things to which an everyday person can relate.

You can also almost hear the prayer ringing in Lois' head and imagine the emotions coursing through her being by the way French writes it.

It's a tragic piece, but, as can be seen, it works on multiple levels. Debra Bradley Ruder, a journalist with 25 years of experience who currently works out of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, calls it "heartbreakingly powerful" and "a wrenching piece."

Thomas French knows what he's doing.