Spit [alternitive lead assignement]

BALTIMORE - Unlike the rest of us, David Wong enjoys talking about spit.

He likes to speak of its texture, color, scent and sociology. Spend a few hours with him and one learns that saliva is the lubricant that makes food and language possible and that at certain Greek weddings, celebrants spit on the bride and groom for good luck.

If Dr. Wong, 50, the associate dean for research at the U.C.L.A. School of Dentistry, is singular in his conversation, it is because he has seen the future, and it is spit.


This story has a three paragraph lead which culminates in a fourth paragraph nut-graph. It combines irony with knocking down the straw and curtain raising. This is a very unusual story.

The main point of the story is that this dentist has found a way to analyze saliva that could benifit people. This is clearly outlined in the nut.

At his laboratory, Dr. Wong has been investigating the molecular content of saliva, with the hope of developing a whole new category of tests for diagnosing human diseases.

Claudia makes good use of anecdotes in her story, bringing in the old Greek marriage tradition to bring some humor to the American reader.

The downfall of this story is that it relied on a photo on the right of the screen. There weren't a lot of descriptive details about the person being profiled.