By Kirk Johnson
The New York Times
This is kind of an interesting story in American history. Back in the 1930s is seems several unhappy Wyomingans, unhappy with the current politics of their area, attempted unsuccessfully to break off parts of Wyoming, South Dakota and Montana to form their new state called Absaroka. The movement was very unsuccessful and forgotten by the majority of people shortly after it was ended, but the people of Sheridan have adopted the strange rebellion as a piece of their celebrated history.
Johnson interviews several Sheridan senior citizens, all over 70, about that strange time when a group of business and political leaders attempted to form their own state. He also interviews two college students, a couple from the University of Wyoming, who are participating in a festival "the Absaroka spirit of can-do and get-through."
Johnson's title is what pulled me into the story, and his lead gets straight to the point detailing in typical NY times lengthy lead fashion what this crazy story would be about. He ends his story with a local Wyoming ranch owner who states he participates in the festival because it helps him keep his ranch noting how the tale of Absakoka, that's accuracy is still debated by historians, has "blown away like dust in the high plains wind."
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Is McCain's Age Showing? Tongues Wave Over Flubs
By Howard Kurtz
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/22/AR2008072203201.html?nav=hcmodule
John McCain is old, and we all know that. But lately his little verbal slip-ups, known as "gaffes" have been the lastest media scrunity calling into question whether McCain at 72 is too old to be president.
Kurtz's lead is somewhat humorous as he pokes fun at the media's obession with Obama, "We interupt the nonstop coverage of Barak Obama's overseas trip to bring you some breaking whispers about John McCain."
He presents both the democrat's side ("he's too old") and republican's ("anyone would mess up if they were constantly followed around"). He also touches on the lopsided coverage of the canidates. MSNBC's Dan Abrams notes that Obama seems to be of much more interest to the press than McCain. He also lists some of Obama's "gaffes" too.
He ends with a quote from a political director for the University of Virginia who says that anyone who is on camera all day is bound to make a long list of mistakes.
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/22/AR2008072203201.html?nav=hcmodule
John McCain is old, and we all know that. But lately his little verbal slip-ups, known as "gaffes" have been the lastest media scrunity calling into question whether McCain at 72 is too old to be president.
Kurtz's lead is somewhat humorous as he pokes fun at the media's obession with Obama, "We interupt the nonstop coverage of Barak Obama's overseas trip to bring you some breaking whispers about John McCain."
He presents both the democrat's side ("he's too old") and republican's ("anyone would mess up if they were constantly followed around"). He also touches on the lopsided coverage of the canidates. MSNBC's Dan Abrams notes that Obama seems to be of much more interest to the press than McCain. He also lists some of Obama's "gaffes" too.
He ends with a quote from a political director for the University of Virginia who says that anyone who is on camera all day is bound to make a long list of mistakes.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
With No Frills or Tuition, a College Draws Notice
By Tamar Lewin
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/education/21endowments.html?em&ex=1216872000&en=a77d3816b3d96c57&ei=5087%0A
Last summer I spent two weeks with my college-aged friends from England. Of course as they were both university students the cost of college was brought up, and they were in utter disbelief at the amount Americans shell out for a college education. And so am I at the constant rising cost of tuition in this country and the slashing of funding.
Just when I thought all hope was lost, I saw this very intriguing article about Berea College in Kentucky whose students, all from low income families, attend the institution free of charge. It seems the college has a 1.1 billion dollar endowment, making it one of the wealthiest colleges in the country, and unlike other institutions that are as well off, Berea has chosen to spend this money on the kids. Sounds strange, huh?
Lewin compares Berea to the also well-endowed institutions such as Harvard ($35 billion), Yale ($23 billion), Stanford ($17 billion), Princeton ($16 billion) and Amherst College in Massachusetts where he actually interviews the president of the college, Anthony Marx who defends the college's spending habits. He interviews a good variety of people on the topic including administrators and students from Berea and several financial experts from different universities along with Marx.
His article is overall done very objectively though that's hard because Berea appears to be the messiah of universities and the rich Ive leagues, no matter how many perfectly logical explanations they give for not following Berea, still look no better than money grubbing corporations next to Brera.
Lewin leads with a brief history of Brera, noting it used to be a "poor, white mounteering school" back when it started 150 years ago, and he ends with a comment from Larry Shinn, president of Berea who says some liberal arts colleges choose to spend the money they should be using to give fiancial aid to low income students to build fancy rec centers and coffee shops.
"Is it just a way for colleges to keep up with the Joneses?" Shinn asks of these colleges.
Amen, sir.
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/education/21endowments.html?em&ex=1216872000&en=a77d3816b3d96c57&ei=5087%0A
Last summer I spent two weeks with my college-aged friends from England. Of course as they were both university students the cost of college was brought up, and they were in utter disbelief at the amount Americans shell out for a college education. And so am I at the constant rising cost of tuition in this country and the slashing of funding.
Just when I thought all hope was lost, I saw this very intriguing article about Berea College in Kentucky whose students, all from low income families, attend the institution free of charge. It seems the college has a 1.1 billion dollar endowment, making it one of the wealthiest colleges in the country, and unlike other institutions that are as well off, Berea has chosen to spend this money on the kids. Sounds strange, huh?
Lewin compares Berea to the also well-endowed institutions such as Harvard ($35 billion), Yale ($23 billion), Stanford ($17 billion), Princeton ($16 billion) and Amherst College in Massachusetts where he actually interviews the president of the college, Anthony Marx who defends the college's spending habits. He interviews a good variety of people on the topic including administrators and students from Berea and several financial experts from different universities along with Marx.
His article is overall done very objectively though that's hard because Berea appears to be the messiah of universities and the rich Ive leagues, no matter how many perfectly logical explanations they give for not following Berea, still look no better than money grubbing corporations next to Brera.
Lewin leads with a brief history of Brera, noting it used to be a "poor, white mounteering school" back when it started 150 years ago, and he ends with a comment from Larry Shinn, president of Berea who says some liberal arts colleges choose to spend the money they should be using to give fiancial aid to low income students to build fancy rec centers and coffee shops.
"Is it just a way for colleges to keep up with the Joneses?" Shinn asks of these colleges.
Amen, sir.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
'100 months to save the planet'
BBC
Just what I need. Another environmentalist group telling me this planet is doomed.
"According to the Green New Deal Group , humanity has only 100 months to prevent dangerous global warming."-- this is not only another scary fact, it is also the lead to this very newsy story. This group claims that we need to invest a lot of money into renewable energy and "green jobs." The group is named after Roosevelt's "New Deal" from the U.S. depression in the 1930s.
The writer (who is unnamed) does not directly interview anyone (this article is a bit of a stub), but instead just goes into the group's history briefly, their goals and some famous members.
It ends where it started with a not-so-uplifting statement from the group saying in 100 months the Earth will hit a "runaway" climate temperature that will be "unacceptably high."
Just what I need. Another environmentalist group telling me this planet is doomed.
"According to the Green New Deal Group , humanity has only 100 months to prevent dangerous global warming."-- this is not only another scary fact, it is also the lead to this very newsy story. This group claims that we need to invest a lot of money into renewable energy and "green jobs." The group is named after Roosevelt's "New Deal" from the U.S. depression in the 1930s.
The writer (who is unnamed) does not directly interview anyone (this article is a bit of a stub), but instead just goes into the group's history briefly, their goals and some famous members.
It ends where it started with a not-so-uplifting statement from the group saying in 100 months the Earth will hit a "runaway" climate temperature that will be "unacceptably high."
Friday, July 18, 2008
Fashion Police: Flint Cracks Down on Sagging
By Jessica Bennett and Mary Chapman
Newsweek
Oh those kids. It looks like new Flint, Mich. police chief David Dicks is cracking down on fashion. He has told his force to arrest any guy who sagged his pants to much for "immoral self expression."
Bennett and Chapman open up their article with a antecedote of Jayson Miguel noting how he is at risk for arrest while minding his own business just because he is sagging his pants.
They interview Miguel as well as several other Flint residents who have differing views on the new code. They also interview the president of the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union who strongly opposes Dicks new measure. They fail to actually interview Dicks himself and gather his opinion and quotes via "a local paper."
They also go into a history on sagging and how it became a fashion trend as well as how it relates to Flint, one of the poorest towns in the U.S.
Bennett and Chapman end where they started with a quote from Miguel again who notes "It's just a style, man."
Newsweek
Oh those kids. It looks like new Flint, Mich. police chief David Dicks is cracking down on fashion. He has told his force to arrest any guy who sagged his pants to much for "immoral self expression."
Bennett and Chapman open up their article with a antecedote of Jayson Miguel noting how he is at risk for arrest while minding his own business just because he is sagging his pants.
They interview Miguel as well as several other Flint residents who have differing views on the new code. They also interview the president of the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union who strongly opposes Dicks new measure. They fail to actually interview Dicks himself and gather his opinion and quotes via "a local paper."
They also go into a history on sagging and how it became a fashion trend as well as how it relates to Flint, one of the poorest towns in the U.S.
Bennett and Chapman end where they started with a quote from Miguel again who notes "It's just a style, man."
Mandela celebrates 90th birthday
By Audrey Brown
BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7512700.stm
Brown's birthday tribute to the late Nelson Mandela mainly comments on post-apartheid South Africa. Brown leads off with a statement from Maldela when he became president of South African in 1994 where he promises to unite the torn Africa.
And Mandela succeed in leading South Africa out of a much anticipated civil war, but the effects of apartheid are still seen there today. Brown interviews activists and victims of racism to give a brief overview of where South Africans believe their country is today. She states overall that while there definitely has been improvement since the fall of apartheid, South Africa still struggles with severe racial inequality.
She ends her article on a somewhat upbeat note with a quote from an 18 year old white girl who was raped by a black man who says that she still isn't angry with black people, despite her trauma, because of an award she recieved from black church members presented with serenity.
BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7512700.stm
Brown's birthday tribute to the late Nelson Mandela mainly comments on post-apartheid South Africa. Brown leads off with a statement from Maldela when he became president of South African in 1994 where he promises to unite the torn Africa.
And Mandela succeed in leading South Africa out of a much anticipated civil war, but the effects of apartheid are still seen there today. Brown interviews activists and victims of racism to give a brief overview of where South Africans believe their country is today. She states overall that while there definitely has been improvement since the fall of apartheid, South Africa still struggles with severe racial inequality.
She ends her article on a somewhat upbeat note with a quote from an 18 year old white girl who was raped by a black man who says that she still isn't angry with black people, despite her trauma, because of an award she recieved from black church members presented with serenity.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Calm Down or Else
By Benedict Carey
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/health/15restraint.html?em&ex=1216353600&en=6d55f52176b0a005&ei=5087%0A
Carey's article is definitely a nightmare for any parent--especially parents of children with mental disabilities. He talks about public school lack of resources and properly trained staff to deal with children with mental disabilities whose disruptive actions, which, in several cases, turned into a deadly encounter.
Carey leads off not with a story but describes the situation that parents see, "The children return home from school confused, scared, and sometimes with bruises on their wrists, arms or face." This is scary and all, but where Carey truly sucks the reader in is the second paragraph where he quotes the parent of a child with Asperger's Syndrome, saying his son thought his special ed teachers were going to kill him.
Carey interviews several different parents of children who have been injured by special ed teachers attempting to restrain their kid during a breakdown. He also interviews principals and other faculity from schools who mainly say that lack of funding and a flood of parents pushing their kids with mental disabilities into public schools are the cause of the sad stories we're hearing about.
But Carey truly nails his objectivity in his ending quote from a professor of special education at the University of Nebraska who notes the catch-22 of the entire situation by citing the example of two sets of Iowa parents who both recently sued their children's schools for the death of their children, one couple said their child was killed because he was restrained while acting out, and the other couple said their child had run off and drowned because he was not restrained enough.
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/health/15restraint.html?em&ex=1216353600&en=6d55f52176b0a005&ei=5087%0A
Carey's article is definitely a nightmare for any parent--especially parents of children with mental disabilities. He talks about public school lack of resources and properly trained staff to deal with children with mental disabilities whose disruptive actions, which, in several cases, turned into a deadly encounter.
Carey leads off not with a story but describes the situation that parents see, "The children return home from school confused, scared, and sometimes with bruises on their wrists, arms or face." This is scary and all, but where Carey truly sucks the reader in is the second paragraph where he quotes the parent of a child with Asperger's Syndrome, saying his son thought his special ed teachers were going to kill him.
Carey interviews several different parents of children who have been injured by special ed teachers attempting to restrain their kid during a breakdown. He also interviews principals and other faculity from schools who mainly say that lack of funding and a flood of parents pushing their kids with mental disabilities into public schools are the cause of the sad stories we're hearing about.
But Carey truly nails his objectivity in his ending quote from a professor of special education at the University of Nebraska who notes the catch-22 of the entire situation by citing the example of two sets of Iowa parents who both recently sued their children's schools for the death of their children, one couple said their child was killed because he was restrained while acting out, and the other couple said their child had run off and drowned because he was not restrained enough.
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