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Mike J. DiazProf. Julie RobertsEnglish 2010-015April 25th 2013When Tragedy Becomes RealityAnderson Cooper started experiencing journalism by borrowing a video camera when he was twenty-three and going to Burma (next to Thailand) to cover a coup, all the while armed with little more than a fake press identification. In the process of his fifteen-year plus career, Cooper has gone around the world to report on wars, political upheavals, famines, and natural disasters. In his autobiography, Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival, Cooper presents a mixture of personal memoir along with journalistic reporting. The author writes about his experiences as a reporter, including his coverage of a tsunami in Sri Lanka, the flooding of New Orleans, and his reporting from the Iraq War, all of which took place in 2005. He also discusses his time covering the famine in Niger and the civil war in Somalia. However, Cooper relates how reporting on these stories brought back old memories, such as the loss of his older brother to suicide when he was a student in college and the death of his father when he was ten years old. Cooper also recounts his overall family history as he reveals to readers his own internal struggles. All of it shows the complexity of its life and as an individual, which makes him very strong and much powerful on what he does.Cooper is a prestigious American television journalist who won a prime-time slot on the Cable News Network (CNN) with the show Anderson Cooper 360 and currently serves as host of his own syndicated daytime talk show Anderson Live. Born into privilege, his mother is the artist, designer, writer and heiress Gloria Vanderbilt-Cooper and his father writer Wyatt Emory Cooper. Cooper has been in the public eye since birth and has diligently worked his way up in the television news world. Cooper attended Yale University, majored in Political Science and graduated. The death of Cooper’s brother impacted his career by sparking his interest in journalism. During an interview he says, “Loss is a theme that I think a lot about, and it’s something in my work that I dwell on. I think when you experience any kind of loss, especially the kind I did, you have questions about survival: Why do some people thrive in situations that others can’t tolerate? Would I be able to survive and get on in the world on my own?” He seemed to always be looking for a place where there was conflict or suffering to possibly help him cope with his own reality and suffering. Like he said, “The only thing I really know is that I was hurting and needed to go someplace where the pain outside matched the pain inside” (Van Meter).In a video article on the CBS News Web site, Cooper noted that he has gone places overseas where people are dealing with loss and dealing with tragedy and the emotions are much more palpable. The author added: "And you're able to discuss it and learn from it. So, part of writing the book was sort of showing and talking about what I've seen in all these places around the world and what I've learned about survival and what others can learn, as well". Cooper also commented on his motivation to write a memoir in an interview with Dave Karger in Entertainment Weekly, noting: "I tried to run from my past for many years. Finding myself in New Orleans and Mississippi in the wake of Katrina, in places I'd visited as a kid with my dad, sort of brought the past into the present".The bravery of Cooper may have no limits when he was interviewing Mary Landrieu, senator from Louisiana, during the flooding and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He confronted her by saying: I got to tell you, there are a lot of people here who are very upset, and very angry, and very frustrated. And when they hear politicians… thanking one another, it just, you know, it kind of cuts them the wrong way right now. Because literally there was a body on the streets of this town yesterday being eaten by rats, because this woman had been laying in the street for 48 hours. And there are not enough facilities to take her up. Do you get the anger that is out here? Landrieu was not the only person surprised by the reporter, everyone was, and that made people like him even more. At that point he became a proxy, for the victims and for the viewers as well. “It was his honest humanity; he comes off as genuine because he is. He connected to those in the hurricane’s path, and to the people watching at home. He removed the filter”, said NY Times writer Van Meter in his article about Cooper. The show gained a lot more viewers and his future in his television career was obviously bright.Even though he was very connected to his stories in a personal level, he didn’t let his personal life be a distraction from what he wanted to accomplish, nor a distraction to the public. Anderson Cooper is openly gay and he is the most prominent openly gay journalist on American television, according to The New York Times. Cooper avoided discussing his private life in interviews for years, even though independent news sources reported on him being gay. In 2007, Out magazine ranked him second in its list of the fifty “Most Powerful Gay Man and Women in America”. When asked about his sexuality in the past, he explains that he is a reporter; he is also an observer, that needs to be able to adapt with any group of people, and that he didn’t want to threaten that. Not too long ago, Cooper gave permission to publish an email that stated as follows in part: I’ve begun to consider whether the unintended outcomes of maintaining my privacy outweigh personal and professional principle. It’s become clear to me that by remaining silent on certain aspects of my personal live for so long, I have given some the mistaken impression that I am trying to hide something -something that makes me uncomfortable, ashamed or even afraid. This is distressing because it is simply not true. I’ve also been reminded recently that while as a society we are moving toward greater inclusion and equality for all people, the tide of history only advances when people make themselves fully visible. There continue to be far too many incidences of bullying of young people, as well as discrimination and violence against people of all ages, based on their sexual orientation, and I believe there is value in making clear where I stand. The fact is, I’m gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn’t be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud.Cooper had to feel a sense of need of living on the edge in order to go through life. There is also a strong sense of rebellion in Cooper’s personality. Nonetheless, Anderson Cooper is a great example of bravery, dedication, and compassionate human being. Certainly Cooper could’ve had it easy since birth, but in his case, it was very painful and dramatic, however, he was able to cope and successfully made it through to become an amazing inspiration, and a model for survival and strength. Works CitedBronson, Po. “Anderson Cooper’s Private War”. Men’s Journal Magazine. February 12, 2007.Karger, Dave. “Booking Himself”. Entertainment Weekly. May 23, 2006. editors. “The Power 50”. Out Magazine. May 2007.Sullivan, Andrew. “Anderson Cooper: The fact is, I’m gay”. The Daily Beast. July 2, 2012.Van Meter, Jonathan. “Unanchored”. New York Times. September 19, 2005. ................
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