Final Exam Project

Billy's World

The Feature

1."Billy started skipping classes in middle school. He recalls sharing a joint with friends as he strolled around Fulmore Middle School. By seventh grade, he'd miss school for weeks at a time. When he missed enough school, he'd get suspended. By the time he returned, he'd fallen further behind, making him feel lost, leading to more absences."

To me as a reader, this small passage shows a part of Billy's past that he is not proud of. Reading this and then reading on in the section, you can tell that Billy's brother is really making a mistake by following in his brother's footsteps. The writer really showed the negativity of dropping out by writing this passage about Billy's bad habits in school.

2.'Oh, my God," Charlie, the mother of Billy's daughter, said one day in the fall. "In three months, I'll be 20. But I don't feel 20. I feel ... 13."

This lead made me picture Charlie, sitting helplessly at home with the baby not allowed to go out and do anything.

3."Billy waits inside a secure visiting room, tables surrounded by painted cinder blocks. He holds his head in his hands."

These two sentences to me are used to signify that Billy is locked up in jail on Christmas, the few lines before this were explaining the conditions of the jail, and how some new correctional officers have graduated. After talking about that it moves into talking about Billy's whereabouts.



Headlines
Struggling on parole

Main Verb:Struggling
Grammatical Subject: Parole

Adjusting to life at home and as an adult, Billy tries to fulfill the items on an ambitious to-do list.

Main Verb:Adjusting
Grammatical Subject: life
I chose this particular headline because I found the verb in this one fast while looking through the sections.



Photojournalism


"In July, Billy spends time with then 15-month-old Aaliyah, named after the singer who died in a plane crash in 2001."

This picture has the qualities to be considered good photojournalism, the picture seems to be telling a story of Billy, the father spending time with his daughter,the photo is candid and not posed,the photo frame is kind of visually appealing, and it has a caption.



Design

In the web edition, there are more pictures, and it has video which to me is more appealing. However, I like how the printed edition is written all in one and not broken up into different pages like the web edition. The web edition isn't really put in any specific style or design.I didn't really like the printed edition better than the web edition because the internet is fast and always ready.