The Homicide Report, writing homework help

The Homicide Report

This week we’ll start to get to know The Homicide Report (Links to an external site.). The blog was begun by Jill Leovy, author of Ghettoside, and is somewhat a precursor to the work she has done in our text. We’ll be making great use of it this semester with our group project which entails each group following the case of a recent victim posted to the report (first reports are due at the end of Week Two!).

For this week, I’d like us to become familiar with the blog together. Check it out and share your thoughts. Have you heard of The Homicide Report? After becoming familiar with it, what do you think about its existence? Does it feel necessary? Odd? Surprising? Why?

Keep in mind the community aspect of the blog. Of particular relevance are the content and tone of these two entries: “Responding to reader requests about the Homicide Report” (Links to an external site.) and “We’ve made changes to the map on the Homicide Report.” (Links to an external site.) What does the tone suggest about the readership of this blog? What responsibility do the blog’s authors (and, perhaps, the blog’s parent company, The Los Angeles Times) seem to feel they have to this readership? Does the tone of these two pieces lend itself to the idea of Los Angeles as being a city of segregation?

Pay particular attention to the paragraph in “Responding to reader requests…” about wanting more photos of victims as the thoughts this paragraph provokes will be useful to you in approaching our first essay.

(Here and in every thread) be sure to read through our colleagues’ posts before posting to avoid redundancies. There is always something new to say. Say that.