My favourite part of town - project

Some simple tips to writing a piece like this:

Address the reader directly

appeal to the senses

use interesting adjectives

use interesting sentence intros

use some vivid verbs

throw in an interesting fact

flip the usual order of sentence clauses (fronting)

include a personal reflection

Can you spot where these tips are applied in Leo's piece about Ponsonby?

Ponsonby Road is a vivid part of Auckland, New Zealand. With lots of restaurants, bars and cafes lining the this long broad strip, it has a welcoming atmosphere. The area is known for its old post office, the Three Lamps and more recently Ponsonby Central.

Upon arrival you will first hear sharp traffic noise cutting through people’s conversations and all the different styles of music being played. You'll also smell the traffic fumes in sharp contrast to the aromas from restaurants and shops. If it’s a rainy day – not unusual for Auckland – you'll probably smell the "petrichor" rising from the ground as the rain eases.

The area’s charm originates from its omnipresent Victorian and colonial style architecture. As an interesting fact, Grey Lynn, the neighbourhood surrounding this part of the city boasts the largest concentration of wooden Victorian buildings in the world. However, sadly some houses are still to be repurposed or renovated.

Once upon a time, Ponsonby was a middle-class suburb, but then came the Great Depression in the 1930’s. After that the area became a notorious slum with the associated social problems and criminality. But it was also celebrated by many for its cultural vibrancy, with many Maori, Pacific Islanders, left wing Pakeha (Europeans) and the LGBT community living there. Since the 70s, Ponsonby has undergone a new wave of gentrification, returning to its middle-class roots.

Nowadays it’s one of the busiest and most affluent areas in Auckland. You can see people walk from and to work all day, but also people grabbing breakfast, lunch, dinner – and also drinks on any day of the week.

Ponsonby was the first part of New Zealand I got to know and I fell in love with it instantly. It’s just a hop, skip and a jump away from my place, so I can experience the atmosphere there on any day of the week. For me, the best thing about this part of town is that there are lots of open minded, interesting people who you can just talk to, getting to know not only Kiwis, but also people from all over the world.

Think of your favourite part of town and jot down some thoughts or vocabulary on these points:

Location

Best way to get there

Sights

Sounds

Smells and tastes

Textures

Atmosphere / moods

People

Types of business

Types of activity

Backstory

Historical facts

Reasons people go there

Famous people who have been there or lived there

Interesting or amusing facts

Types of architecture

Your memories there

What you most like to do there

Its not-so-good aspects

Adjectives to describe it

What it's like at different times of day/night