‘To each is own’ and ‘To each is own opinion.’ We are all entitled to our own thoughts, opinions, views, and statements. Mary Schmich of the Chicago Tribune recently wrote a heart-wrenching piece about a family in Chicago who were the victims of a political raid. She presented the story very professionally and it wasn’t until the very last paragraph, actually the last sentence, that we really saw Schmich’s opinion about the wrong-doing.
Feature stories and opinion stories can go hand in hand, but not always do. This one does. I do believe that this story reads much like a feature story, one that touches an individual’s soul and makes the reader feel like he or she is the one interviewing the victim(s). At the end of the story, Mrs. Harris says, "It's not the dogs," she finally said. "It's not us. They just want this property." And that is why I termed the piece a political raid. By this point in the story, the reader knew everything necessary about the story. Schmich gave the background, including the reasons why the law enforcement “justified” their wrong doing. But the little complaints here and there should not have been enough to displace a family who had made a home out of the house they bought more than 40 years ago, and that’s Mary Schmich’s point.
Unfortunately, what Mrs. Harris said about the property is true. Property is worth more than anybody’s life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness when it comes to a city like Chicago’s government and law enforcement. Schmich points out that the two properties owned by the Harris’s is worth more than a million dollars, and the government wants it now. They don’t want to wait because they want to build new homes and buildings much like the ones that the Harris’s neighbors live in. And most of the neighbors are doing anything they can to make this happen.
Little do the neighbors realize, or care about, but the Harrises are the only ones left in the neighborhood that established the area. They have lived there the longest, and their traditions and customs are what made the neighborhood become what it is today. The new neighbors are worried about not having traffic, not having visitors, and not having music. But this is home to the Harrises, and this is what they do.
Schmich uses great quotes in the story, and the quotes, along with everything else, are what make the story so meaningful. She talked to every member of the family that she could, neighbors, and quoted statements from the release about the raid. My favorite quote in the story is probably this one: "Sometimes," said Mr. Harris, with a weak smile, "you just have to move on." At age 77, I wonder what Mr. Harris means by this. Would he rather move on to another life in a different world than have to worry about all of picking up their life and moving it? Mrs. Harris said they have nowhere to go. And I believe this because their children live with them. However, they are a strong family, because Mr. Harris is still smiling, Yvonne stood up at the CAPS meeting, and Mrs. Harris said she’d move on but wonders why she has to.
In class we have studied different techniques to making a good story. One of Donald Murray’s ideas is to make a line, and follow it. I feel that Mary Schmich made a line with this story. I can see it. She started out with the facts about the raid. This was her introduction, and she gave onomatopoeia: ‘bam bam’, she listed who was in the house, and she described the setting. She used quotes and quoted a neighbor’s blog post. Then the line moves up. She described the events of the rest of the day. It then dipped down, and described the past. She mentioned that R.J. Harris worked for the city for 25 years, and this is why he was so confused. He could not understand why they didn’t get a warning, why this wasn’t happening to anybody else. Then the line evens out. She describes the family; some got into a little trouble but nothing tremendous. The line then makes a steep rise. “Here’s how the police see it:” she says. The police live for problems and love doing things like this. They don’t care that the family doesn’t have some place to go, or that Mr. and Mrs. Harris are getting into their late years. The line then dips back down and this is where the story touches the reader’s heart. She quotes family members and their reactions to the raid. And at the end it comes to an abrupt halt. Schmich states her opinion here; and she does it professionally.
The story also fits the suggestions Tim Harrower gives about reporting. He says keep it tight and she did. She maintained the facts. She kept the story relevant by sticking to this one particular raid, the issue of the story. He says, “Take a stand” and she did this by stating her opinion at the end, and backing it up with facts. She wasn’t a bully, and didn’t attack any personalities. She only stated the facts and kept the facts simple. Her lead was strong, and her finish was stronger. It’s a great story; one that I will never forget and neither should the rest of the readers. It makes me thankful to live where I live, have the neighbors that I have, and make me aware of what can happen to people.
A work of art is something carefully crafted by the artist and one that sticks out in the viewers mind. This is a piece of art that the Harris family can appreciate, and also so many other citizens of Chicago. Raids may not be a normal occurrence in the Harris’s neighborhood, but I’m sure it happens elsewhere in Chicago. She carefully chooses which quotes to use, and she used respect towards the family. The reader can tell she took the side of the family, rather than the City of Chicago, but she did it in a way that she won’t lose her job or her readership.
Overall, I feel that Mary Schmich did a wonderful job writing this article, and it seems like she has a heart of gold. She will continue to have the respect of her readers, her employer, and the City of Chicago. She is a professional writer, and follows the ‘rules’ of journalism with precise. If I ever become a journalist, I see myself writing the way Schmich does.
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