Reading Log for Magazine Article #2

Name and Date of Magazine: Newsweek , November 27/2000.

Name of Article: Shootout in the Sun

Author of Article: Evan Thomas, Michael Isikoff

Summary of Article: The article describes the year 2000 presidential election in the U.S.A. The article displays how the two candidates are dealing with this interminable election,and how the democrats are finding ways to manipulate the law on their favor. It also describes  Al Gore and George W. Bush's attitude and behavior as they are waiting for Florida's precious votes. This article describes what the Americans think about all this chaos. One main point in this article is that the broadcasting stations in the U.S.A. are making this issue larger than it is, and that  they are turning it into a soap opera.

Photographs/Illustrations/Maps: The phtographs of this article didn't compliment the article a lot, because they only showed a few photographs, and they were useless regarding a better understanding of the article. They complimented the article a bit by showing us a map that shows how many votes each candidate has. Altogether, the photographs didn't explain the article well enough. The photographs weren't very necessary, because as I said they didn't explain the article well enough, and the author was very descriptive in his writing. More photographs would have been helpful for a better understanding of the article, because there weren't enough pictures and the author was talking about politics, which needed to be explained thoroughly in words as well as pictures.

Comment: I didn't enjoy the article a lot, because it wasn't very interesting and I felt the article was interminable. I didn't enjoy reading this article as much as I enjoyed reading the last one. The article provided me with some new information, but not a lot, because I saw most of it on television. Some of that information I learned was that the democrats were trying to manipulate the law on their favour, and that Al Gore is trying to forget about the election on the weekend by having a social life. It was a good article that provides someone who doesn't have a clue about the election with a lot of new and interesting information. It was a good article that most people would read, because they used very sophisticated words such as republican, senate, etc. What I would like to learn more about this article is, why it is taking the U.S.A. such a long time to decide such an easy decision? The parts of the article, which could've been omitted, were the parts when they talked about what Florida was doing to decide this decision. I liked the parts about the candidates' personal lives the most, because I realized that the candidates actually have a life like you and me, and that they don't obsess over the election like others do. I think the parts, which the authors were talking about Florida's decision, should've been omitted, because I felt the author didn't explain himself thoroughly and he didn't say what they were doing to decide their decision. I think that the authors should've added that A l Gore is a sore loser, and that he is the one that made this problem and the one making it bigger than it actually is. The article was fine, but it wasn't excellent.

By: Samar Al Ansari

7C