Oranges+1+JG

Joanne Goodall Response to "A Reporter at Large: Oranges I" by John McPhee

I chose this article based on Russ' mention of the article when I was in my first year of university. I thought it absurd that someone writing about oranges could have a man talk about it in front of a class of 30 students. I'm delighted that I had read it- I have so much to tell.

After reading the title I assume it is an investigative piece on, well, oranges. I'm left wondering how a man could find an investigative story on the subject, nonetheless, it is John McPhee. I pressed on. Could it be an article on the growing of oranges and how it is in financial peril? Could it be about how to grow oranges environmentally friendly? With John McPhee, so many possibilities are at hand. I find he can take any subject and write about it- somewhat like daring his editor to find a subject, any subject, for him to write about it. The editor hopes for failure- or a really damn good piece.

I also read the student's blurb about the story because usually if one student in the class likes it and recommends it, I'll probably enjoy it. As well, I wanted to avoid anything that has something to do with geology or geography. It's been 4 years since my last geography class and even then I was left behind in some cases. I enjoy reading pieces that are easy to follow and I don't find myself stumbling over words. I like being lost in a story through pictures and emotions- not literally lost because I can't understand a darn thing he's writing about. After reading the student's blurb, I am left to assume that it is an investigative piece on different cultures around the world in relation to oranges, as well as, how oranges are grown around the world.

I have the first paragraph read and I am completely amazed. John McPhee is able to grab his audience right from the very first sentence. "The custom of drinking orange juice with breakfast is not very widespread, taking the world as a whole, and it is thought by many people to be a distinctly American habit." Really? What possessed a man to research this- about drinking orange juice? This first paragraph is VERY long, taking up 3/4 of the page.I've never learned so much about oranges in my entire life than in that first paragraph. I became hooked because I knew there were another eight to ten pages left to read all about oranges. What else could he write about!? I wondered why McPhee didn't break up the paragraph into multiple ones but I realized it would break the flow he wanted to set. By reading it as one large paragraph, a reader wouldn't stop in mid-paragraph if they didn't like the story. It feel awkward to do this. McPhee wants his readers to read at least a page of his work to really know if they want to press on. It's that first paragraph, the lead, that hooks your reader's attention- without it your article fails. I also assume that McPhee is worried that with a "boring, everyday" subject like oranges, his readers wouldn't be intrigued to read further so he adds all the interesting good stuff right from the top. He does this in "In Virgin Forest" as well when he describes the beauty of the forest rather than beginning from its history. Readers would have found that boring and wouldn't continue reading. I couldn't help buy laugh in most parts of this story- both at McPhee's stories but also at myself for being suckered into reading this article. It was a mind game for me because I felt as though I should stop reading- it's all about oranges after all, how interesting could it be? But I found myself wanting to learn more about the everyday breakfast fruit. I wanted to know where they grew and how they got here. I wanted to know the variety of oranges and how they tasted. I can literally taste one in my mouth already with the descriptive writing McPhee uses. There is a little story McPhee adds about the fight between Florida and California about who makes the better oranges. I can just picture this big orange food fight with people squirting sour orange juice into people's eyes. I also laughed at myself when McPhee mentions the "white, lacey" stuff that coats the orange after you peel it because I always wanted to know what it was! I always have to take another minute out of my peeling time to take all of that stuff off before I can eat it because I find it gross but I guess that there are oranges out there who do not produce this white stuff or produce really little of it. Where are these oranges!?

I was also intrigued by the anatomy of a citrus tree. I am fascinated by McPhee's choice of facts. A journalist complies a lot of research and interviews and then sifts through them to choose what they feel to be important aspects of the story and what their readers should know. I think McPhee chucks this idea out the door and doesn't think about what HE wants in the story as much as what he feels READERS want in to the story. What would intrigue them? I was definitely delighted to find out that in California, oranges are grown on lemon tree roots while plums can be grown on cherry trees! A citrus tree can grow a variety of citrus fruits, such as oranges, lemons, kumquats, and cherries, on their branches ALL AT THE SAME TIME!

This article made me really think about the choices made over research and what I should be thinking about, as a journalist, when chosing facts for my articles or other related assignments. What do my readers actually want to know or learn? I also learned that anything, well mostly anything, can be turned into a story if you chose the right places to go, people to talk to, and information to seek.