This article in the Chicago Tribune was written by Ellen Warren. She went to Brooks Middle School in Oak Park to investigate how much kid's backpacks weigh. Since Warren was also the journalist I interviewed for the journalist interview assignment, I got somewhat of a behind-the-scenes look at this article and particularly enjoyed reading it. I thought that the overall idea of the article was very interesting, however, I have a few critiques for it.
Warren visited a middle school but talks about teenagers and their back problems when interviewing Dr. Jeffrey Mjaanes from Rush University. I think that she should have either visited a high school rather than a middle school, or did some better reporting with Mjaanes to find out some statistics about younger children and back pain.
The writing style of Warren seems sarcastic in this article, demonstrated by a couple different quotes including, "Equipped with a bathroom scale and a reporter's snoopy-- I mean inquisitive -- attitude..." and "When I learned that some of these kids walked blocks with their bulging loads to get there ---phew."
The second quote was a little confusing to me because "phew" is usually used as a word of relief. I think that Warren could have conveyed the fact that she was surprised that the children walked so far to school in a clearer way.
On a more positive note, I did enjoy Warren's last section of the article. First she listed the averages and statistics of her experiment, then advice about how to "lighten up" at the store, and then more expert's advice. However, I think so of the "expert's advice" could have enhanced the article and some of the information could have been incorporated into the piece, such as the part about "ignoring peer pressure and using backpacks with wheels."
Pain in the back(pack)
