Listening journal - Author overcomes fears In ‘Bag Lady Papers’

Feature title: Title: Author overcomes fears In ‘Bag Lady Papers’
Producer: NPR
Length: 7:18
Link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123749919



This feature is about the book called “The bag lady papers” written by Journalist and author Alexandra Penney about her experience of loosing all her savings in the Bernard Madoff scam. Roger Rosenblatt made the story vivid and closer to audience by exploring Penney’s emotions and fears when she lost her money.

The feature was composed of an interview with Penney after a brief introduction to the story. The introduction included a description by Penney of how she first knew about her loss. Her voice as she told what happened set the right tone for the piece, because with every word, she was sharing some of her true fears. Statements from her book were used by the reporter when asking questions. This was extremely helpful as it reminded the author of her experience and made her re-live the past; it also made her tell story sound real.

The feature revealed the different angles of the story by using Penney’s narration. For example, Rosenblatt made Penney read a part of her book where she said describing her fears “You are going to loose your edge I think, you will be walking around with swollen ankles, you will be holding around you moth eaten layers of old clothes together with rusted safety pins, your hair will be gray, yellow and dirty and stringy, and you will be cold and lonely and alone.”


There were no nat sounds and there was no need to include any. The quality of sound was great and the delivery was interesting throughout the piece.

The length was fine, but the information included wasn’t enough especially towards the ending. The story lacked a satisfactory wrap. Although the feature wasn’t supposed to summarize the whole experience, it could have had a better structure, and a better ending.

Generally, the piece was very inspiring and interesting, the reporter referred to the book constantly and that made the piece compelling and vivid.