Jessica Beard on Bilger

I found that this piece seemed to be more of a profile of a concept than on a person. Charles Zuker did seem to be somewhat of a focal point as far as people are concerned, but the piece focused more on sugar, its alternatives, and the quest to find effective ones. As readers, we get very few humanitistic or personal details: Zucker attending college at 15, his house overlooks a cliff, he drives a really fast car, and his wife looks like Charo. Even more interesting is how these intimate details are thrown in at the most random of times. Everything else is focused upon sugar. It's definitely a different style of doing a profile than what we're used to reading and I can't really say if I like it or not. I love the fact that its extremely informative and detailed and I actually learned something I previously didn't know before reading it, but other than that I think I'm kind of ambivalent towards it.

Comments

[Pierce]

I understand about the ambivalence. I am torn between appreciating how interesting Bilger was able to make the subject, and how much it really doesn't excite me at all. But I do disagree about the profile bit. I don't think this was a profile at all--rather, Zucker was a part of what made the search for sweet possible. He was a cog in the greater machinery, if you catch my drift. I think this was more in the vein of McPhee's FedEx piece--or even Atchafalaya (though significantly less daunting)--; the article focused more on an interesting portion of our everyday lives rather than a particular person.

[Lindsey Hess]

I agree that the Bilger piece is not really a profile. As discussed in class it seems like lots of little bios on the different sugars. It was informative so that kept it interesting to read and it was different than previous articles that we have been reading so that was kind of nice. Like Jessica, I don't really have much of an opinion on way or the other on this article. Overall, nothing stood out to me as especially distinct about this piece.

[Veronica Lewis]

I agree that the piece did not really seem like a profile. It consisted of so many random facets that it made a more of a feature article than a profile. It did not feature anything unique, which, in a way, could make it unique in itself because it differs from other "profiles." In a general sense, I perceived this article as a portrayal of the random things of life.

[Nicole Wurzell]

i agree with the comments of ambivalence in regard to this bilger article because normally i do not think that this topic would ever excite me and some of the terminology/experiments worked to turn me off. however, bilger did manage to tweak it enough to hold my attention and even make me realize that perhaps i should be interested in this because i do consume a lot of sugar...along with most other americans...and msg according to class! i think bilger managed to pull this off by giving comparisons that put the actual facts into more comprehendable ideas. i also noted that this was not a profile. while zucker was important in the whole adventure i would say that bilger is the main cheese more than anyone else. this is his adventure (and he does bring the reader along) of taste testing and embarking into a world of sugars, chemicals and there alternatives. so, while i do claim ambivalence, i must admit that i did enjoy the article and learn a lot from it -- and when i was dumping sweet'n'low into my iced tea tonight i did think of bilger...and the warheads.