the Times April 27-30

Monday
One article that caught my eye right away was the one about Hungary. It is interesting how much Hungary has been in the news lately: it isn’t one of those countries that you would expect to read about in the Times but has showed up pretty consistently over the semester. Unfortunately, it has shown up for some pretty depressing reasons. This time it is because of attacks on the Roma people who live there. Attacks against the Roma people are getting more and more common, though violence against these people is not new. When I was in Budapest, I learned a little bit about the prejudice that people have against the Roma, and apparently it is something that has been there consistently for a long time. It just seems to be getting worse, almost as if people are blaming them for the economic problems.
Another big story today is the story about the swine flu. Yesterday a health emergency was declared, though there does not seem to be a whole lot of information yet. There are only 20 cases in the US, which seems sort of a low number to declare an emergency. But I guess it makes sense since there have been a bunch of cases in countries near us. The end of this article inside the paper had a nice map that I thought was helpful: it showed the locations of the cases of swine flu. It’s cool to have graphic like that to help make a story clearer.
There were a couple religion-related stories today, which is sort of unusual. The one on the first page discussed something that seems almost like a church for people who don’t believe in God. Then there was the one about gay marriage in New York. It was interesting to read about the tension between faith and politics, and it will be interesting to see which wins out in New York.

Tuesday
There is an interesting story on the front page about the developing cyber warfare. The internet is a weapon you don’t really think about all that much when thinking about the United States military. But it makes sense that the military would start to use this tool more and more as it becomes more highly developed and has more potential to help with war efforts.
There was a small start to an article on the first page that discussed swine flu, and this opens up to a two-page spread inside the paper. I think this is good, because swine flu is big news and the Times is doing a pretty good job of looking at it from different angles. There is the story about the teenagers in NY who may have brought the flu back with them from Mexico, there is the story about what the Obama administration is doing about the outbreak, there is a neat question and answer story that answers questions that readers had about the swine flu, and then there is a story about the World Health Organization and its response to the flu. The map that I mentioned from yesterday’s paper reappeared and was updated with slightly higher numbers. But I think that the Q & A story was especially helpful, as it broke down good information into reasonably sized pieces, and therefore was reader-friendly as well as informative.
There was another gay marriage story today as Iowa began to allow same sex couples to be married. This story talked about the lack of protest and hoopla as the state began to allow these marriages, and it makes me wonder what the scene will be like tomorrow in NH as our own same sex marriage bill is voted on.

Wednesday
Yet another swine flu story makes it to the front page. This one talks about the boy who may have been the first swine flu case. I feel sort of bad for this little boy, who is getting all this publicity for being sick, and almost being blamed for this spreading health threat. He doesn’t seem to mind, but his mother says that people are blaming her son and she thinks they are wrong. This story again leads to a two page spread on swine flu inside the paper. The topics today include the pork industry, the search for a vaccine, a couple media stories, the new health secretary, and growing cases of the flu in NY City. One of the stories on the media talks about the tension the media faces between letting people know what is going on and causing a panic or alarming people unnecessarily. I think that this is an important article because it describes what could be happening right now with the swine flu. I think that the Times has been doing a pretty good job of covering the issue fairly without being alarmist, but I think that there are other media outlets that have been more alarmist than factual. This could lead to people who don’t have the resources to get the Times or a similar paper to simply be frightened by the talk of the swine flu and not know what to do about that fear.
One interesting story on the front page that I noticed was the one about colleges not using cafeteria trays. This is interesting because one of our dining halls does “trayless Tuesday” where people are encouraged not to use trays on Tuesdays (as the name so aptly suggests). It was interesting that this particular trend was mentioned in the article. I thought that the point of not allowing tray use was just to encourage people to take less food, but this story mentions also cutting back on water costs as this leads to fewer dirty dishes. I think that is a cool benefit, and maybe it will encourage me not to find the ever-elusive Tuesday trays.

Thursday
The front page is sort of depressing today, with a couple stories on the likely spread of the swine flu, and a story on the ever-worsening economic situation in the US. The economic story does mention a hopeful future if people start spending more, which would be very nice to see. But this story does serve to remind us that even amid new crises like the swine flu, the old problems are still here as well.
On the swine flu front, the first death from swine flu in the US was reported yesterday, though it is important to note that the victim was someone from Mexico, not from the United States. One of the stories in today’s two page spread brought up the link between the flu and the economic recession. Since the economy is going down, there is less money for health care, which leads to less work for doctors, which means more layoffs in health care departments, which means less people prepared to help out with a major health crisis. That seems like it should be a cause for concern, but hopefully the flu will not reach the point where we cannot contain it with the health professionals that are working right now. But that also brings up another point: if this swine flu spreads and more and more people have to pay to see doctors, with the economy benefit? Sort of morbid thought. According to the ever-helpful swine flu map, there are now cases in both Massachusetts and Maine, but not yet in NH!
New Hampshire made the paper in a different story, because the State Senate passed the same-sex marriage bill. The bill now needs to go back to the House for a vote because it was amended in the Senate, and then it will be up to Governor Lynch to decide whether or not to sign the bill into law. The article mentioned that if Mr. Lynch does not want to actually approve the bill but is too scared to veto it, he could just let it become law without doing either. I think that would be the wimpiest thing ever. If you’re governor, it’s your job to make hard decisions like whether or not to allow the definition of marriage to be changed by people who want same sex marriages. Not signing the bill would have the same effect as signing it, but just do it in a way where it suggests that Mr. Lynch does not want to admit responsibility for his actions.