Right when Mrs. McDonald said we had to choose a journalist to research I went for Nellie Bly. I mean, any person who is willing to pretend to be insane just to get a good article and uncover the hard truth is definitely commendable in my book. (Note: I have a fairly small book. But I digress.) After Wikipedia-ing her I found that her nickname was "Pinky" because she loved the color. Good thing that isn't what my parents did to me, otherwise I would be known as Electric Purple. Now get this, she wrote an article back to some sexist columnist, and the editor wanted to hire her. Of course they had no idea she was a girl, so she had to convince him she was right for the job. Ah the god old sexists days... At her job is where she created her pen name, which was after a folk song by Stephen Foster, I think it is cute because the lyrics are joyful singing about, "my lady love." I decided to look more into the asylum piece she created, Ten Days in a Mad-House. The way she writes and how she describes pretending to be sick is interesting. Actually, the more I read, the more inclined I am to read about this woman. She fooled, or should I say, made fools of so many doctors at the Women's Lunatic Asylum. She definitely will have a lasting effect on all journalist to come, because she shows both bravery and determination to unveil the truth. She even has a theme park named after her!
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