Final Feature Story Post-Mortem

This last feature story was an interesting one. It was about the culture of alcohol that some experts in the community have been noticing and warning about. For this story I got to talk to a lot of interesting people and even went to a Town Hall meeting at a high school in Arlington. I enjoyed writing the piece because I got to evoke the tone of the Town Hall meeting, which was a rather sober one. So, it was sad, but at least I got to use some description and imagery.

The challenge in this piece was tying the Town Hall meeting to the actual premise of the story, which was the culture of alcohol. I wanted a gripping intro that would lead readers into the story. I thought the subject matter was interesting, I just needed a good intro. That is why I thought an alternative lead that displayed the headings of the PowerPoint that the officer gave would be a good one. The headlines were rather cold, stark and to the point, and below them were the photographs of mangled cars. At the town hall meeting the PowerPoint really touched me, so I wanted to convey that sentiment. At the same time, the story itself was not about DWI's, so I didn't want it had to be sure underline that fact with the nut graph.