Saturday, April 4, 2009

In the Dordogne, Canoeing in prehistory

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/travel/05dordogne.html?8dpc

"FAR below the clifftop terrace where we were savoring a wild boar stew, the Vézère River curved silky and dark under a steep cliff, carrying three canoes and a kayak. The paddlers passed smoothly over the water, around a bend and out of sight. Reports had been right — the canoeing would be good here in the Dordogne, an area in Aquitaine where the rivers have invited exploration and settlement since the days of the Neanderthals."

I loved how this article opened in this beginning paragraph. It made me feel like I was actually there with such detailed words like "silky" and the river "carrying three canoes and a kayak". Throughout the article I had a mental picture of the location where the journalist was. The journalist also continued using descriptive words to let the reader know exactly the place he was at. I think that some articles require the journalist to set a mental picture, and that a good journalist knows how to do so.

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