Brandon T. Harden is a writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper, who worked in mens fashion prior. Now, he writes black lifestyle stories, about “what’s cool and hip, what’s happening, and who’s coming,” Harden said at a recent visit to our fashion journalism class at Jefferson University. The Inquirer describes him as a writer who “…writes about the arts and culture scene in Philadelphia’s marginalized communities.” Overall, he is a reporter who tells readers the facts, and lets “other people do the talking,” he says. He is always searching for the perfect story, and hunting people down to talk to.
Harden talked a lot about opinion pieces versus fact based pieces. In his writings, he doesn’t say “I” or state his opinion directly, but by the information he gives, he sort of sways the readers opinion to feel or think a certain way. In opinion pieces, the writer is supposed to tell their opinion, and tell it strongly. You want to get the reader to see your point of view and hopefully agree with you, or at least to start to feel something about the topic and form their own opinion.
In class, we read some of his work as well to see first hand what he was teaching us. He was an excellent writer and speaker, and his pieces were very informative, but not too informative to the point where they were boring whatsoever. He has strong opinions on what he writes and is very passionate and educated on them, but doesn’t force his opinions on anyone, which makes him a good and successful writer. Overall, I enjoyed what he had to say and definitely did take something away from his presentation.
Fashionably Late 