Pants Suit

The NPR program "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me" got a lot of mileage out of this story as far back as at least two years ago. Perhaps they will get some more!

Ex-Judge's Lawsuit Thrown Out
Pants Plaintiff Wanted Job Back

By Del Quentin WilberWashington Post Staff WriterWednesday, July 29, 2009

A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit brought by Roy L. Pearson Jr., the former D.C. administrative law judge whose $54 million lawsuit against a dry-cleaning business generated international headlines.


Pearson filed the suit in May 2008, alleging that the D.C. government broke the law in refusing to reappoint him to a 10-year term as an administrative law judge.


The decision not to reappoint Pearson followed media reports describing Pearson's lawsuit against Custom Cleaners, which he claimed had misplaced a pair of his pants.


The District's Commission on Selection and Tenure of Administrative Law Judges cited Pearson's temperament and prudence on the bench in not giving him the job. Administrative law judges hear cases involving city agencies and commissions.


In his lawsuit filed in the District's federal court, Pearson alleged that the commission was retaliating against him for exposing internal problems to the D.C. Council and for filing his lawsuit against Custom Cleaners. Both actions, Pearson said, were protected by the First Amendment.


He also claimed that the commission did not give him a fair chance to fight its decision.


In a 37-page opinion issued Thursday, U.S. District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle rejected all
of Pearson's arguments. She characterized Pearson's lawsuit against Custom Cleaners as a "personal vendetta."


Pearson, who represented himself in federal court, also lost his lawsuit against the owners of Custom Cleaners, which closed under the weight of legal bills. He could not be located for comment Tuesday.

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Multimedia from Boston.com: Suffering from 'roid rage'

I have seen this style out of the New York Times but not too much from Boston.com- it is interesting to see Dan Shughnessy commenting on the issue of David Ortiz's drug abuse above his article on the same topic... it is kind of redundant and I think it shows a little bit of growing pains for Boston.com's multimedia, but it's great to see them expanding their use of it!

Exclusive Interview

Leave it to my favorite columnist to address a question that I have been asking lately: Why is every interview with a highly public and oft-interviewed person an exclusive interview?

When someone says, "An exclusive interview with THIS PERSON, tonight at 8 pm, only on THIS CHANNEL," does that simply mean that that is the only inteview the person will be granting at that specific time?

That is the only way that an interview with Barack Obama could be considered exclusive, it would seem.

Now, if someone were to say, "An exclusive interview with J.D. Salinger," then I would believe that it was genuinely exclusive.

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Piece on Randall Terry in The Washington Post

I am a bit behind in posting this piece, which I have read at least twice since it was published. One's opinion of Randall Terry is inextricably linked to one's view of abortion. However, pro-choicers might at least admire his tenacity, and according to this article, pro-lifers worry that they give their movement a bad name.


The lede and the quotes are great, but it was particularly enlightening to learn about the man behind the dolls smeared with fake blood. He is a convert to Catholicism who has four children, among whom are two adopted children and a foster child. His adopted son came out in 2004, leading to estrangement but eventual reconciliation. An adopted daughter and foster daughter each became pregnant out of wedlock, and the later converted to Islam.

And he has recorded two CDs, one gospel, the other country & western.

Very, very interesting.

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Great Photos

I love these two photos, and I think they're important for different reasons.
I feel like we're always seeing negative statistics and articles related to African Americans and education, which always bothers me. I like the first photo of the little boy because it belies racial stereotypes and generalizations, actually showing the opposite of what we typically see in the media.



I like the second photo because - aside from being an awesome photo from an aesthetic standpoint - it blends the past with the present. It shows the way in which technology has changed over the decades.

food for thought

In this unique photo of the sky being dark and black half way over the Mexican territory and bright and clear over the American lands  speaks volumes of the content of this article. This photo undoubtedly complements the subject; as to how everything seems more beautiful beyond the Mexican border for the thousands of illegal immigrants traveling to States every year. 

Take a close look at it!

Family Learned over Internet that son was killed

When does media go too far?

Thinking back on our discussions about ethics and the importance of media, this article really got to me and made me want to share it with you guys.

Here too, pictures play an important albeit absent role. The article itself speaks about images and the raw information and emotions they affect.

Standoff

The picture, appropriately on an Oklahoman newspaper, shows the OU player in an imposing stance against the perennial nemesis Texas' player.

Horse chases down cellphone-using driver

An officer rode Marshmallow the horse to nab a reckless driver--someone on a cellphone.

(Rumor has it that Marshmallow was privileged to read the Dept. of Transportation cellphone studies completed in 2003.)

For my "local paper", I've been following the New Haven Independent (I moved from there a couple of years ago but still follow the news.)

This week a black New Haven police officer debuted a book to help minorities interact with the police. Given the Gates arrest, it's good timing for the book.

Here's a sentence from a recent blog post on the book:

"What you need to know is if the police come up short on communication skills, it will not result in the officer going to jail. You will be the one to pay the price! So pay close attention!”

What Price Journalism?

This is an interesting article in Time Magazine about the different ways the media might have us pay for the news, given the free availability of it due to changing technology and ever-increasing citizen journalists.

Repentance and Surrender: A Pictorial Illustration

A complete news item done in pictures.

Beverly students get crash course in safety - Beverly, MA - Beverly Citizen

Beverly students get crash course in safety - Beverly, MA - Beverly Citizen



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Crash Course Photo Impact!

This photo really made me want to read the article but more importantly, it likely got some attention from the teenage population because it depicts a "prom gone bad" scene. The photo promted me to read a story that I may not have otherwise read.

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"Reporting for Narrative: Ten Tips" from Mark Kramer

This blog is not a confessional. But... having a heck of a time with this feature. Wrote myself into a corner with an ill-conceived topic and then very little access. Oh no!!! So, I've cracked open a copy of "Telling True Stories" a collection of super-short essays from non-fiction writers published by the Nieman Foundation.

I am posting this hoping it will help anyone else who is struggling. The directly quoted list below only has his main points, check out the book for more explanation/tips.

Mark Kramer's 10 Tips

1. Before selecting a topic, think carefully about what will intrigue readers.
2. After selecting a good topic, secure good access. (I botched this one big time!)
3. Find the unfolding action that will provide the narrative line.
4. Find hints of character in he action.
5. Find the right scene details through careful sensory reporting.
6. Pinpoint your subjects' emotional experience, not your own.
7.Rigorously research your story's context: Save most of your research for late in the reporting process. At that point you only have to find the right information for your story. If you research too early, you have to find out everything (wow, can I learn from this!)
8. Late in the drafting process, crystallize the point of your story.
9. Very late in the writing process, refine the difference between your views and your subject's views.
10. Cherish the structural ideas and metaphors that come to you while you are reporting.

Gates Says He is Outraged

Also in sticking with the Prof. Gates theme, I thought this picture was particularly relevant. It was in the Washington Post today. The picture is great because the issue of race is involved in this event and the picture justaposes a black police officer standing in front of Gates with three other white cops. Does this picture make you immediately think of race inequality then say if it had been a picture of just Gates and the black officer, or just Gates, etc?

I also really like the title of the article "Gates Says He is outraged by arrest at Cambridge Home" No...really?? Look at his face!!!

Quote on Blade Runner

How much did the movie Blade Runner get right? Don't know ? Well, the folks at BBC did some investigative reporting to answer that question. Here's a link to the article entitled,
"How much of Blade Runner has come true?" I'm especially intrigued/enthralled/frightened by this quote. "The movie raises this wonderful question: how do humanoid creatures feel about having been created by us and how do they deal with their human-made limitations?"

Are we ready to discuss this yet? I'm not sure, but Dr. Anne Foerst, an AI researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Lutheran minister, who uses Blade Runner as a teaching aid... thinks we are.

Mixed Signals

This was on the front page of today's Ssan Diego Union Tribune. What interests me about this article and its relation to the picture is that I think they are sending mixed signals. The article is describing $15 billion in program cuts, but the room seems to be smiles all around???

Iranian citizens use of electronics as a political tool

It seems the outside world can only understand what is happening during the aftermath of the Iranian presidential election through electronic devices. As seen in the tweets of thousands of people protesting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reelection and through the gory iconic photographs and videos on mobile devices of Neda's death, the new symbol of rebellion in Iran. The photograph along this article is of a protester taking a picture of herself on a cell phone camera to arrange a protest. The article is interesting, but the photo speaks louder to me in understanding the transmission of communication in this muted country.
Here's the link to the BBC article entitled Arrests in new Iranian protests.

New research finds newspapers are popular, trusted source for news

No pictures, but a reassuring story.



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Evolution of Journalism

"The web has turned us all into content creators, publishers, and influencers. Social media has created a new ecosystem for the distribution and consumption of information. But, there's a problem: that ecosystem is built on a foundation of free content. As ad revenue all but disappears, traditional news and online media organizations are feeling the pain of giving something away for free."- Mediabistro

Last night, I volunteered for a mediabistro event with a panel discussion on the evolution of journalism. Here's a little bit about what was discussed:

Newspapers and magazines are in a lot of trouble. Since the net is free, everyone who is in the new world of journalism will need to learn how to compete with free.

Should content be free?

NY Times is thinking of charging a monthly fee of $5 for use of their website, which will set the standards for other news based websites.

How do websites survive if they are free?

Through advertisements. Advertising is a robust business. Media could learn from the porn industry because at least they know what they are selling.

Or through having fundraisers and paid networking events like NPR.

Twitter is free and an excellent way to advertise. It doesn't have a business model itself, but can be a very useful tool for small businesses.

What can freelancers do on twitter?

Tweets extend whose in your networking view.
Being genuine is important when tweeting.

"Do what you do best and link to the rest"

Be open, link to a story and give a little bit of own perspective.

Tweeting is a powerful way to find sources.

Huffington Post is a great example of a blog that combines aggregated information and original content.

Future Predictions from Panel about Journalism:
Newspapers will be reliant on their digital platforms.
Print will still remain.
News organizations will be far more specialized.
Many sources will be curated through several channels.

Careless Words: BBC's use of "terrorist"

I ran across this while reading about the Mumbia gunman trial,

This link spells out the BBC's editorial guidelines on the us of the word "terrorist":

Guidance - Terrorism, Use of Language When Reporting

"Our credibility is undermined by the careless use of words which carry emotional or value judgements. The word "terrorist" itself can be a barrier rather than an aid to understanding. We should try to avoid the term without attribution".

source: BBC, Our Approach

Bike Crackdown Snares African Peacemaker

This reminded of today's Henry Louis Gates arrest story.

In November, New Haven police shoved around Dapo Oyewole, a Yale University World Fellow, after he rode his bike on the sidewalk.

The picture here indicates the "happy ending" of that incident. The story is interesting because police continued to treat Oyewole badly even though Oyewole was apologizing for his infraction. The switch in police attitude happened only when he mentioned "Yale."

Lede:
Three police officers ran after Dapo Oyewole as he cycled down the sidewalk. Before he knew what was happening, he was shoved, shouted at, threatened with arrest, ordered to sign a $75 ticket and then served with a summons — until the cops discovered he was an African scholar visiting Yale.

full article: Bike Crackdown Snares African Peacemaker

"Ugly ATM" photo

This is a photo from a New Haven story titled "Ugly ATM Gets 60 Days."

Lede:
Ali Yaglidere, owner of an ATM accused of blocking a sidewalk, heard the complaints of a displeased alderman: We don’t want this “hunk of metal” on “our Madison Avenue.”

Nutgraf:
Yaglidere, along with Attorney David Avigdor (at right in photo), came to ask the committee at its meeting last Thursday night for permission for the ATM to remain. They argued that the machine is a source of vital income for Yaglidere during tough economic times and that the ATM is less of an obstruction than many other sidewalk obstacles nearby.

Harvard Scholar's Arrest Stirs Race Debate

This is the booking shot released by the Cambridge Police Dept, from the arrest on July 16, 2009. It's interesting to think of the different outlook one takes on an article that includes a black and white mug shot, versus one that includes a color close up picture of the person. I think in these pictures you can see the pensive look in his face and his annoyance, if that is not understating the emotions of the incident. NPR did a good write up on the incident, covering the racial debate surrounding Gate's arrest.

Harvard Professor Arrested

In discussing the effects of photos strategically placed in articles, what does this close-up portrait of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. do for the article? It is the only one, appearing at the top, with the caption:

"Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was arrested last week on a charge of disorderly conduct."

It is a hard news lede article, and goes into as much detail as they can about the incident that took place at the home in Cambridge. Other information, like Gates Jr.'s credentials, appears only at the end, delaying information about his prominent position.

How is your opinion of this man affected by the article's structure, the presentation of the available information, and the photo? Pretty interesting, don't you think?

The Illustrated Man

Body art from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Solar Field?

What image does this bring to mind? What might a solar field look like? Why publish this photo in a depressed Ohio community with unemployment tipping into 10%?

Dogs in the Library

So far, I am finding many articles that would have benefited from a photograph but do not have one. Anyway, this picture sure makes the library seem like an exciting place for at least a few youngsters in the summertime.

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Local Paper Picture

Hmmm, how is the picture gallery important to the article? See for yourself!



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Picture

This is not a local story from a local paper, but like I said in a previous post, I am a Watergate junkie. Maybe this lovely file photo in a Washington Post article will take the sinister edge off of the word for those who have never seen the hotel (and maybe attract a few buyers).



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Major Cities' Plummeting Crime Rates Mystifying

I thought this was a great trend story in The Washington Post this morning. Good news, less people are dying across the USA, the reason: no one knows! They speculate the economy & technology have something to do with it, although Dallas & Baltimore have increased crime rates. I thought that they did a good job speaking to their community about how the police officers are working more effectively together now, and though this could be blown up to a larger national story, they do a nice job keeping it local.

The lede was good, it made me want to keep reading:

Police Chief Roberto L. Hylton said that since he took over the department in September, there has been a more defined mission about how to attack crime.

picture posting #2

This is a lovely, eery shot of wildflowers surrounding gravestones in Galveston, Tx. Galveston was trashed by a hurricane last year and is now getting "back to business as usual." Galveston is considered to be a historical town in Texas and a tourism magnate.



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picture posting

I love to see anything Texas Hillcountry. Funny to me how Texans are always trying to bring anything that is famous elsewhere in the world and implement it somewhere in that big state.

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My test of a good photo is one that either complements or contradicts the emotions you feel while reading an article or a photo that enhances or changes an image the article or title has created.  

Two examples of this were on the BBC on -line site.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8157745.stm

UK set to take back Brazil waste

The contents of the containers were clearly of UK origin The UK is working with Brazilian authorities to return more than 1,400 tonnes of toxic waste to Britain, the Environment Agency has said.

When I opened this photo and saw the face masks and rubber gloves I could almost smell the rotten garbage.  I had sensory overload and a bitter taste in the back of my mouth.  How dare those English transport toxic waste to the third world!

The second photo I liked was http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8152346.stm

German children blighted by poverty

In the German capital, Berlin, 36% of children are considered poor By Steve Rosenberg  BBC News, Berlin When I saw this headline, German children blighted by poverty, I was expecting to see a bunch of children sitting on a rubbish dump - not some well fed kids sitting watching TV surrounded by antiques.  I loved the irony.

Iraq veteran lets the games, and healing, begin

This is a really touching feature article from today's Los Angeles Times. It uses the "blocking" meathod to tell the story and it follows a similar pattern to "Fight! Fight! Fight!" except for using a real "kicker" at the end of each segment, it uses a thought provoking quote... one that really paints a picture for the reader.

The reporting for this article is really well done, and I loved the lead, it was extra ominous:

Reporting from Spokane, Wash. -- Cpl. Anthony Alegre's unit knew the Humvees they drove through the streets of Ramadi, Iraq, were woefully under-armored.

They stuffed sandbags in the doors, but when roadside bombs turned the sand into shrapnel, they began wedging pieces of metal and wood around their seats. No use. The car bomb that hit Alegre's patrol on May 29, 2004, killed three of his fellow Marines and left four pieces of metal in his brain.

See Sarah Palin Run

I couldn't help but laugh when I saw these photos that accompany a transcribed interview with Sarah Palin that is linked in Parker-Pope's article. The article and interview are interesting, but the photos definitely make the story, or at the last the read, worthwhile.

The NYtimes article:

See Sarah Palin Run, by Tara Parker-Pope

The jump:

I'm a Runner: Sarah Palin, by Dan Simmons for Runner's World

Nudism okay for kids?

I think that the first two pics in this article pretty much sum it up without words. It doesn't hurt that the kid is cute and I laughed out loud..

Of course, it's a much more serious article than that and the pictures are more light-hearted; it would probably be a very different reaction if the photographer had captured some 13-year-old frolicking around (yikes)...


-Tina

Feature Story

An ingeneous feature story that uses diagrams for illustration purposes.

Ever think all that all your junk could be art?

I found this online NYTimes feature article interesting. It's accessible and relatable. Any one of us could be this artist showcasing "stuff"- Everyone has a story. Ordinary items become art in Song Dong's presentation at the MoMA.

The Collected Ingredient of a Beijing Life

The Museum of Modern Art’s multistory atrium seems designed to hold monuments. But at the moment it’s filled with the distinctly ungrand contents of one person’s everyday life.

Great News Story

I think this article is a well crafted news story- it gives a lot of information upfront without over doing it and it has a strong lede and great exlpanatory nut graf:

Workers who quit smoking, lose weight, and eat right could have their health insurance premiums cut by as much as half, possibly saving them thousands of dollars per year, under a measure inserted with little notice this week into the Senate healthcare overhaul bill.

The move represents a potential breakthrough on one of the most controversial elements of healthcare overhaul: how to get Americans to improve their well-being without turning government into a medical version of Big Brother.

Under the plan, individuals would have a strong financial incentive for jumping on a treadmill or signing up for smoking cessation classes, moves that would not only prolong their lives but also reduce the financial burdens of behavior-related disease on the healthcare system.

http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2009/07/15/healthcare_bill_offers_workers_incentive_for_healthy_lifestyle/

Blog tries printed version, fails

Did anyone see this story in the NYTimes -- saw it in the print edition yesterday? Trying to find the link, but cannot. About a blog that attempted a print edition, only to fail

journalist dismissed for lack of web traffic

This piece is an object lesson of my prior entry -- a lack of mouse-clicks for a once heavily-trafficked columnist leads to his dismissal.

"News outlets lead blogs by 2.5 hours"

Article with more computer-generated data points to add to our conversation about digital v. print journalism and the length of the news cycle.

Of special note in this piece, is the use of journo jargon: such as 'meme' -- defined as "frequently repeated short phrases" such as last Fall's "lipstick on a pig".

Media researchers use algorithms to track the use of memes and mouse-clicks for certain stories. One compelling implication of this -- that volume of consumer mouse-clicks/data-searches could drive coverage instead of editorial oversight.

"A Flash of Memory" Great Quote

Here's the piece I chose. Sure it's a opinion piece, but it's a damn good one filled with simple language explaining an awful event. The author is a fashion designer who survived Hiroshima. Inspired by Obama's campaign to seek security and peace in a world without nuclear weapons, Issey Miyake decided to tell her story. The best quote in this piece is the description of how tramatic it was for her as a seven-year-old to experience firsthand the aftermath of a atomic bomb. "When I close my eyes, I still see things no one should ever experience: a bright red light, the black cloud soon after, people running in every direction trying desperately to escape — I remember it all." This line resonates deep with me. It shows that Miyake as a senior citizen is still dealing with the stress of surviving such an awful event and how it will most likely always haunt her.

"On Web and iPhone, a Tool to Aid Careful Shopping"- Good Example of a Nut Graf

In this article, "On Web and iPhone, a Tool to Aid Careful Shopping" the opening paragraph tells us why the story should matter by griping our attention through a question. How do we really know the products we use aren't toxic? The article continues to intrigue the reader by focusing on how this Iphone app. came out of the inventor's concern with his daughter's health. The story then follows by answering the 5 W's. It's an interesting read, I must have sent it to ten family members.

"the mechanics of firefly sex"

(For some reason the link box above is not accepting the URL that I am pasting into it.
HERE it is.)


I think that this is a perfect example of the kind of story that people (including me) miss out on by not having a whole print paper in front of them to flip through page by page, as Angelia was saying in class last Thursday.

Note how the author did not clean up the repeated use of "like" by the 36-year-old woman who is quoted.

(The lede has caused the 1997 song "Beetlebum" by the English band Blur to be stuck in my head all day!)

In a Flash, Summer Love Is All Over Washington
Amorous Fireflies Get Boost From Wet Weather

By David A. Fahrenthold
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 11, 2009


This is that strange, sweet part of summer when life stops for a beetle's behind.

On a June night in Bethesda, a woman blast-e-mailed her neighborhood: "Go outside RIGHT NOW. Look into the dark." At a park in Arlington, a man clicked one flash from a penlight and waited for an insect to signal back.

This is firefly season in Washington, the best and brightest in several years. Scientists say a wet spring has made a lightning-bug-friendly region even more so, and hordes of the insects are now spending the last days of their lives floating over lawns and blinking in treetops.

In the daytime, most fireflies -- there are about 2,000 species of them worldwide, 200 in the United States -- look like a second cousin to the junebug. But at night, chemical reactions produce a glowstick light from their abdomens, each tiny bug worth about 1/40th of a candle.

This spectacle holds even more magic if you know what they're saying....


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The Legacy of Colorism

I was not familiar with the word colorism until I saw this article, although I was aware of the concept to which I would learn that the word refers.



DeNeen L. Brown, the author of this piece, took the death of Michael Jackson as an opportunity to address the very serious issue that she calls "the crazy aunt in the attic of racism" through and examination of history, sociology, literature, and popular culture.

Here is the opening, and I high recommend reading the rest of the piece at the URL:

Through the Past, Darkly: The Legacy of Colorism Reflects Wounds of Racism That Are More Than Skin-Deep

By DeNeen L. Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 12, 2009

Colorism is the crazy aunt in the attic of racism.

It's best not to mention her in polite company. Or if you find it necessary to talk about her at all, do it in whispers among relatives and people who already know about her.

On June 25, when Michael Jackson died, there she was again: colorism, that sub-category of racism and prejudice based on skin color, staring us right in the face.

By the time Jackson died, he was perhaps whiter than any white man that you know. Those who looked at the constant stream of replayed televised interviews, at the pale skin, the thin lips painted red, the straight hair, saw in his face the psychological wound that has scarred so many in the black community.

You line up his album covers, from "Got to Be There" when he was 13 and brown with a big-tooth grin, to "Off the Wall," when he still had a beautiful nose and a big Afro, to "Thriller," when his skin was still beautiful brown, but his nose was smaller, to "Bad," when his nose was even thinner and his skin was white. You trace your finger over the transformation, looking for a clue as to why the lips changed, the nose became more upturned, the brown skin faded until it was bleached beyond recognition.

"He is an over-the-top manifestation of that undercurrent in the black community," says Alice M. Thomas, associate professor of law at Howard University. "If you are light, you are all right. If you are brown, you can stick around. If you are black, get back."

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guidestar database: researching non-profits

Hi,

I found this useful. There's a database called "Guidestar" for researching non-profits:

http://www2.guidestar.org/

From campus I was able to access the "premium version" here:

http://www.library.hbs.edu/go/guidestar.html

For many organizations, it includes IRS Form 990 showing all the revenues, expenses, etc.

For one non-profit I was interested in, I saw that the compensation for the top 6 people was over $1 million--with the President making $350,000--which seemed high to me. (That org has about $31 million in revenue, $9+ million of which goes to payroll.)

The Investigative Reporter's Handbook

After Prof. Herrin's greenlight, I bought "The Investigative Reporter's Handbook". Cracking it open was like that scene from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" -- where the bad guys peer into the Ark of the Covenant and are blinded. Wow. It is chock-a-block with research techniques and sources. Maybe a little too much wattage for me right now (and a little too much responsibility -- the implications to digging, uncovering and finding things seem overwhelming), but wanted to pass it on for anyone interested in this sort of thing.

Great feature

Try to stop reading after this lede from the NYTimes, Saturday Profile.

About a holocaust survivor, reformed and rescued hooligan and current international lawyer.

"PARIS -- A feral child still lives haunted within him, Samuel Pisar says, and mocks all his fitted suits, lovely furnishings and worldly success."

What Meacham said

I admire change and I know print journalism is in trouble. I really like Jon Meacham. I really like weeklies. I really like Newsweek.

But...

Um, true confession...

Liked Newsweek.

Past tense. Yes, liked.

No, didn't cancel my subscription. Hey, who doesn't love sounding smart at parties after reading Fareed Zakaria (and the rest of the pages and pages of analysis), but is it me? Where is the news? I miss the old Newsweek.

Thoughts?

Feature or Memoir?

One day on a subway car filled with about 30 people, the writer sees a teenaged passenger slap her 4-year-old child. A pregnant pause. Then another slap. And another. And another. What would you do? What did the writer do?

Hint #1 -- the writer is a former social worker.

Hint #2 -- this piece is really part of a blog. But it is the truth. It happened. And even though the scale is small (not news), the piece's strength is taking something we all (unfortunately) have seen during the course of our day, entering it into the public forum of journalism and have us, the reader, reconsider it's scope and our role.

Written as memoir, I posted it here anyway. It's a piece that encourages the reader to think of how they intersect with their own community. In my opinion, one of the most interesting things journalism has to offer. Thoughts?

Heroin in Vacationland

A fine piece of investigative journalism published in the L.A. Times, but of local interest. The fifth paragraph, I think, should be moved up to serve as the lede. (I think that I made this exact same criticism about another piece that I posted. Perhaps I do not understand or fully appreciate the strategic value of that portion of a story.)

COLUMN ONE
Small-town cops in coastal Maine face a big problem

The coast of Maine is a long way from Mexico, but to drug cartels it's an emerging market for heroin and cocaine. Just ask the band of detectives on the front lines.

By Scott Kraft July 10, 2009

Reporting from York, Maine — The obituary in the York Weekly was heartbreaking.

Just 17, Bethany Fritz was a high school senior hoping to study art at the University of Maine. She lived in an affluent coastal community of tidal pools, winding roads and thick stands of maple and oak. She loved her family and friends, her two cats and her dog, Farleigh.

Unmentioned was her cause of death: an overdose of heroin.

"We were completely flabbergasted that someone could get heroin here," said Sarah Lachance, one of Bethany's older sisters. "We thought heroin was something only junkies in the city did."

New England may be thousands of miles from the producers and brutal drug enterprises of Mexico and Colombia. But a busy pipeline from Mexico resolutely moves heroin and cocaine to emerging markets as far away as coastal Maine, where more and more addicts fill courtrooms, jail cells, treatment facilities and morgues.

"It's just unbelievable what we've seen here," said Edward Strong, police chief in nearby Kittery. "I can remember when people around here didn't know what the word 'heroin' meant. Now, it's everywhere -- cheaper, more available and demand is high."



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Staged Police Raid in Quiet D.C. Suburb

Here is the opening:


D.C. Residents Do a Double Take After Witnessing Staged Police Raid for Movie
By Dan MorseWashington Post Staff WriterWednesday, July 8, 2009

Kelly Craven was reading a children's book to three toddlers in the basement of her Northwest Washington home when a frantic call arrived from a neighbor.

"What's going on outside your house?" the neighbor asked. "There are police running around with guns."

When Craven and her Takoma neighbors learned that a crew was filming a staged police raid, they were not amused. They also have a piece of advice for filmmakers and off-duty police officers: If you're going to act out such a dramatic scene in a residential neighborhood, let people know beforehand.

"I was terrified," Craven, who babysits for children in the neighborhood, said yesterday.

The production crew from Silver Spring-based Sirens Media had hired off-duty Montgomery County officers last week to film a "dramatic reenactment" for a documentary called "Prison Wives." Officials with the company acknowledged yesterday that residents were not properly given a heads-up. News of the reenacted raid was previously reported by WJLA-TV (Channel 7) and the Washington Examiner.

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"The Coffin Was Too Confining"- Feature Story Example

With all the vampire craze going on, I thought it would be appropriate to find a story on the one who started this kooky trend, Anne Rice. Ms. Rice is known for writing "Interview with a Vampire", amongst other seemingly gothic novels. Her life has changed since the death of her husband of 41 years. His death influenced her to move out of New Orleans where she spent all her life to San Diego. Though, the biggest change is in her writing from blood thirsty vampires to a series of books on the life of Jesus Christ.

This article warrants for being a great example of a feature article. According to Roy Peter Clark a feature story should "illuminate lives lived in our time", "take advantage of expanded set of language and narrative strategies," and have the foundation of being a "human interest" story. This story hits upon all these points. Without further ado, here's the link for "The Coffin Was Too Confining." Click here, the article from the New York Times.

A happy follow-up to a sad story

A 61-year-old ex-con, who was pinched for lifting two Belgian flower boxes worth $8,000 from Tom Brady [stats], is now on the street panhandling to repay the New England Patriots [team stats] QB.

When I read this story in the Boston Herald on Friday, I hoped that everyone would boycott the Patriots if Brady insisted on collecting. I also hoped that people would help the poor guy out with some spare change, but they probably wouldn't if they knew that it would go to a multi-multi-multi-millionaire star athlete instead of to a guy who isn't sure where his next meal will come from.

Then I read this today. Great news, but I still hope that Brady never sees a dime of it and that the judge dismisses the charges.

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A Sweet Feature

In Ohio, where I am from, they have had Tim Horton's and Kohl's for a very long time. I am always surprised when people in big cities, like Boston and NYC, have never heard of such places. It looks like the Big Apple will be getting a taste of Tim Horton's soon.

I like the ominous, tongue-in-cheek lede.

================
July 10, 2009
The Morning Doughnut? The Choices Are Getting Complicated

By PATRICK McGEEHAN

Having weathered an incursion by Krispy Kreme from the south, Dunkin’ Donuts is about to meet an invader from the north in New York City’s next battle of the doughnut chains.

Tim Hortons, a Canadian purveyor of doughnuts and coffee that has won a wide following, is making a sudden entry into the city.

Between Friday night and dawn on Monday, the Riese Organization intends to convert 13 Dunkin’ Donuts stores into the city’s first Tim Hortons restaurants, including early-morning, high-traffic shops like the one in Pennsylvania Station and another next to the New York Stock Exchange. The switch may surprise regular customers of the shops, said Dennis Riese, chief executive of the Riese Organization.

“You take down one sign and put up another,” Mr. Riese said. “The biggest challenge will be to get New Yorkers to know what Tim Hortons is.”

(continued on the URL)

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Bad lede, but "nobody is unhappy to see an ice cream truck."

It started as a joke.

Well then it must have remained one, right? I mean, what are the chances that "it" was taken seriously and proved to be a worthwhile venture? That never happens. I think that I will continue reading so as to find out what the joke was and how it remained one.

What?! "It" was taken seriously and proved to be a worthwhile venture! Well knock me over with a feather.

Okay, so I think that the lede is stale, maybe even a jello lede. Disregard it, however, and it is a fine story about good old-fashioned summer entrepreneurship.

I would have suggested that the fifth paragraph ("At a time when the recession...) be rewritten to serve as the lede.

====================
Good-Humored Entrepreneurs Getting the Cold Shoulder From the Economy, Pals Venture Into the Ice Cream Business

By Martin Ricard Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, July 9, 2009

It started as a joke.

Jake Sendar and Timothy Patch, two high school buddies home from college for the summer, would soup up an old family minivan and sell ice cream to kids in the neighborhood. Just for fun.

But no one seriously thought they would do it. Now, it's probably safe to say the two 19-year-olds, who started their business last week with nothing more than ambition and a rickety old van, have proved their doubters wrong.

"I was saying all the time that we couldn't have better summer jobs than selling ice cream," Patch said yesterday. "Because nobody is unhappy to see an ice cream truck."

At a time when the recession is eliminating most traditional summer work for teenagers and young adults, these young vendors have found their niche, leaving jobs at the mall, movie theaters and fast-food chains to older workers.

Sendar, of Potomac, first thought of the idea a month ago, after his mother suggested he get a job selling tart frozen yogurt for the District-based salad chain Sweet Green, which had just launched its frozen yogurt truck concept. Sendar was home from Vanderbilt University and working at a neighborhood pizza joint two days a week.

But Sendar said he didn't like the sound -- or taste -- of tart frozen yogurt.

He remembered that Patch, who lives in the District's Palisades section, had a well-worn, cobalt-blue Volkswagen Eurovan that had been passed down from his parents. They and their buddies used to pile into it for road trips when they attended Georgetown Day School in Northwest. So Sendar asked his friend about the idea.

"I realized it was totally doable," Sendar said.

Patch, skeptical at first, agreed. But he said it didn't sink in that they were actually going to sell ice cream out of a truck this summer until they left Sears with a commercial-grade freezer.

"That was when I realized he really was serious," Patch said.

For the past week and a half, the two have been traveling around town learning the ropes of the ice cream truck business -- and grossing $200 to $400 a day.

First lesson: An ice cream truck business needs more than just frozen treats to get rolling.

Without any knowledge of the industry or mechanical skills, they learned that with some spray paint, stickers, a few powerful batteries for the freezers, rubber mats, a loudspeaker, appropriate ice cream truck music and a good tuneup, they could make it happen.

They took out the back three rows of seats in the van and replaced them with rubber mats and the freezer. They bought a boat seat for the person who sells the ice cream to customers. The pair drained their savings, about $3,000 total, to outfit the vehicle.

And you can't have a Eurovan-turned-ice cream truck without a cool name. So they came up with Cool Kids Ice Cream.

"Our first idea was the Dream Team," Patch said, pointing to the logo on the side of the van, a pair of white Ray-Bans with a D.C. emblem and an ice cream cone in the lenses. "Then we thought of C.R.E.A.M. [Cash Rules Everything Around Me], like the Wu-Tang Clan song, but that wouldn't have worked."

They also faced the bureaucracy that dispenses vending licenses, which, Sendar said, presented one of their most formidable obstacles. After multiple trips to the offices of city regulators to fill out forms, the business was finally legal.

The height of Sendar's frustration came when he had to give the name of the business to an outsourced phone operator from another country.

"I had to spell out 'cool kids' like 30 times," he said.

They also learned that it's not necessarily a good idea to drive an ice cream truck downtown -- too few customers, too much traffic, nowhere to park. So they usually confine their route to Northwest neighborhoods.

On most days, Sendar said, business has been brisk.

Their best spot has been Turtle Park in Tenleytown, where at 3 o'clock they usually catch a rush of kids from summer camp craving ice cream.

Their offerings include all the Good Humor favorites, which they buy from a wholesaler in Maryland, and sometimes homemade ice cream.

Yesterday, they were met by Ferrall Dietrich, 42, and her 4-year-old son Michael, who after purchasing a bubble-gum-flavor snow cone, clapped his hands excitedly.

A few minutes later, Sendar and Patch learned their next lesson. Another ice cream truck pulled up behind them and started taking most of their customers.

No worries, they said, it comes with the territory. If the summer venture works out, they plan to expand next year.

"I don't know," said Sendar, seated in the boat seat. "I think it would just be cool to get another Eurovan."

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feature story: "The Cost Conundrum"

I enjoyed this Atul Gawande feature article on health care economics. "Health care economics"--those three words are enough to put me to sleep. The examples in the article made the topic interesting as well as accessible. Below is the first paragraph and beginning of the second paragraph:

It is spring in McAllen, Texas. The morning sun is warm. The streets are lined with palm trees and pickup trucks. McAllen is in Hidalgo County, which has the lowest household income in the country, but it’s a border town, and a thriving foreign-trade zone has kept the unemployment rate below ten per cent. McAllen calls itself the Square Dance Capital of the World. “Lonesome Dove” was set around here.

McAllen has another distinction, too: it is one of the most expensive health-care markets in the country. . .

How will journalism survive if it's free?

If you have a 1/2 hr, listen to this fascinating discussion on NPR about how journalism will survive in the internet age....

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Great Feature

The curious incident of the straight-A student


http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/jul/04/autism-asperger-s-education-society


This is a feature from The Guardian and made their 10 most popular list for a number of days in a row (who knows if this a good indicator of great journalism or just an indicator of popular culture).


I was drawn in by a interesting lead and the title


When Alex Goodenough was 13, his English teacher asked his class to write the first chapter of a novel. Alex began writing his, and after chapter one he thought he might as well carry on. He kept writing and writing - about space-faring aliens killing each other - and when the day came to submit his work, he handed in 97,000 words. An entire novel.

What also keeps you interested is simply the subject. Alex is a genius and that in itself is a very appealing topic. Then there is the politics of how the schooling system and society rejects him. But despite this the article is full of triumph: mother's love, undeniable academic achievement and then finally a place at Cambridge.

My take away from the article is that fantastic subject matter always triumphs. Another example of a fantastic subject matter is the recent article in CNN.com "Survivor still haunted by 1971 air crash". Just as the 14 year old girl was rescued from the recent French air crash, CNN finds this 1971 survivor and tells the story we all want to hear. What's it like to survive a plane crash? Good piece of detective work and a gripping account.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/07/02/germany.aircrash.survivor/index.html

Great quote

Roger Federer Unbuttoned.



http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/opinion/09iht-edcohen.html



Roger Cohen, a New York Times columist, writes an amusing piece on Federer's near perfect performance and appearance at Wimbedon. Whilst briefly dwelling on Federer's superhuman qualities he balances the picture with some discussion of Federer's recent hissy fit at a Miami tournament when he broke one of his rackets.



Rather than use a quote from Federer on the incidence (which he possibly couldn't get), Cohen effectively used a quote (see bold below) from a fellow NY sport's writer to build some humour into the scene.



My colleague Christopher Clarey wrote then that it “was like watching the owner of a health food store start fumbling through his desk drawer for a long-lost pack of cigarettes.”



I think it was unusual not to quote the subject of the story but it worked because Clarey is an authority and it was funny. Given the whole article was tongue in cheek and opinion it worked.



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What's the point of a blog?

I'm a housewife sitting here in Finland and this is my first experience with a blog, but so far I feel like I'm at a dinnerparty where 16 people are speaking and nobody is listening. Except perhaps Jeanne. Is the point of a blog to have a dialogue or just to get your point off your chest to fulfil the grade requirement. We've posted 67 blogs and so far there are around 5 comments. Should we try to engage a bit more or is the idea of a blog not to set any rules?



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another feature story!

The good thing about this feature travelogue is the way it incites interest through the first hand experiences of the author. Enjoy :)

The Mountain of Mountains
How do you crack the code to K2, the darkest, deadliest peak on the planet? If you're a climber, have the courage to accept that you're bound to fail, and the wisdom to know that failure has its own rewards.

By Kevin Fedarko

	Don't look back; Rick Ridgeway, Foreground, and John Roskelley, members of the first American expedition to summit K2, ascend the northeast ridge in 1978. (Jim Wickwire)

THE AFTERNOON I STUMBLED across the human leg bone at the bottom of K2, it was one of those flawless days you almost never see in the Karakoram. The light was radiant, the wind was calm, and the air at 16,000 feet—sharp and clear as etched glass—seemed to lift and intensify the hulking black mass of the world's second-highest mountain, which erupts in a single, unbroken thrust to its ice-armored 28,250-foot summit. 

It had taken the better part of two weeks to get here, the heart of the high peaks in the Pakistani region of Baltistan, 800 miles northwest of Everest. When I arrived in late summer, the tail end of K2's climbing season, there was only one team left on the mountain: Hector Ponce de Leon, a 36-year-old Mexican climber who has summited Everest from both the north and south sides; his fiancée, Araceli Segarra, a 33-year-old Spanish alpinist who doubles as a fashion model in Vogue and Elle; and Jeff Rhoads, a 49-year-old American filmmaker who has worked as a mountain guide in Utah. The group would eventually be turned back by exhaustion and bad weather, 4,300 feet short of the summit. 

K2 base camp—a lunar landscape of shattered rock sitting atop a river of moving ice—was all but deserted, with only a few Pakistani porters and an American woman named Jennifer Jordan. A 45-year-old journalist and filmmaker, Jordan had been in camp since June, monitoring the progress of Rhoads, her boyfriend, and working on a documentary about the five women who have summited K2—not one of whom, she pointed out, is alive today. We talked a bit about the history of K2, a subject Jordan has studied deeply, and then she asked if I might like to take her "tour of the dead." 

We started up the Godwin-Austen Glacier, which cuts along the foundation of the mountain's immense southern face.

As we walked, Jordan told me about the postmortem K2 performs on the climbers who perish here. The ridges and escarpments of this peak are so sheer that the dead are rarely entombed on the mountain itself; most are scoured off by avalanches and rockfalls, and when their bodies hit bottom they become encased in the glacial field, where they are slowly torn to pieces. 

"It's kind of like a bread mixer," Jordan observed as we picked our way around thin crevasses and frigid pools of Windex-blue meltwater. "The worst of the violence is the avalanches, but there are also the years of tearing and crushing in the glaciers. The movement churns them up in summer, back down in winter. Appendages get torn off in the disgorging process. When they surface, they're almost all headless, because that's the weakest link in the body. Mostly you find legs—very few arms." 

The summer of 2002 had been unusually warm, so the dead had risen in large numbers. Six weeks earlier, Jordan had uncovered traces of Dudley Wolfe, a wealthy American playboy-cum-mountaineer who in July 1939 was stranded at 26,000 feet on the southeast ridge and vanished, along with the three Sherpas who tried to rescue him. They were the first climbers to die on K2. Jordan found some of Wolfe's equipment—including a mitten with his name on it—plus 30 of his ribs and vertebrae. Over 64 years, his bones and gear had traveled a mile and a half down the Godwin-Austen, averaging about four inches a day, before resurfacing. 

At the moment, our attention was fixed on a small piece of delicate purple cloth that had recently emerged from the ice. 

"Wow!" Jordan exclaimed. "Now who would wear something like this up here? A woman." Jordan surmised it might be a piece of Alison Hargreaves's clothing. 

In May 1995, Hargreaves, a gifted 33-year-old British mountaineer, completed the first undisputed female solo ascent of Everest without supplemental oxygen. Her intent was to summit K2 next, and then Kanchenjunga, the world's third-highest mountain, later that same year. But on August 13, after reaching the top of K2 in clear weather, Hargreaves and five other climbers were plucked off the mountain by a gale-force wind. "She was blown right off the summit ridge somewhere near that huge serac," Jordan said, pointing to a massive block of ice near the top and tracing Hargreaves's probable trajectory. "The thing is, we could be right on top of her." 

We resumed walking, passing sundry bits of gear—a rack of pitons, an oxygen cylinder, a boot—until we reached the arm of a wool shirt lying on the ice. "This has got to be one of the Spanish guys," she said, referring to one of the climbers who died with Hargreaves. Earlier in the summer, Jordan had found his body, minus his head, and reburied him in a crevasse. "The skin was like burned leather," she said. "Dark brown, but not black. He hadn't been in the ice for long, because he still had his hands and his feet. Well...a foot." 


You couldn't get any more nonchalant or dispassionate about human remains, and initially it seemed morbid and unseemly. But Jordan meant no disrespect. In fact, she was addressing something that sets K2 starkly apart from other great peaks in the Himalayas. All of these mountains have teeth. And all tender the seductive possibility that by venturing onto high, hard, unknown terrain, a climber can touch something within himself or herself that often proves elusive at sea level yet can be powerfully transforming when realized at altitude. On most mountains, this epiphany invariably goes hand in hand with reaching the summit. 

Not on K2. 

The secret to K2 seems to reside somewhere inside the frozen ossuary at its base. As new climbers wade over the remains of so many who came before them, they are reminded of what it is to strive and to fail—horribly—on an 8,000-meter peak, and they confront the question of whether that failure, played out amid the elemental indifference of stone and wind and ice, can possibly have any meaning and inherent worth. 

We were nearing the end of the tour when I blundered upon what appeared to be a hollow stick lying on the ice—an odd thing to find in a landscape without a single tree. I knelt to examine it. 

"Oh," Jordan said. "Your first femur. Pretty gruesome, huh?" 

The ends of the bone had been cut at such a sharp angle it looked like the job had been done with an electric saw. Bits of brown gristle clung to the sides. 

"Welcome to K2," she added with a chilly smile. "There's nothing quite like it." 

feature story

HYDERABAD, Pakistan – Meni and her family belong to a low caste Hindu community that remained in Pakistan after partition. About 10 years ago, they migrated from the Thar Desert bordering India to Umerkot district in the southern province of Sindh. A clan member helped them to find work as tenant sharecroppers in the fields of an important landlord. This arrangement lasted for 8 years.

They took a number of small loans from the landlord for food, medicines and household commodities, as the meagre payments could not cover their basic needs. Each harvest, they were hoping to be able to repay the loans, but for several consecutive dry seasons, the harvest was poor and they were unable to pay back what they had borrowed. Also, the landlord applied an exorbitant interest on the loans and the amount kept increasing. Being illiterate, Meni was not able to question the way the landlord managed the loan. The family was soon deeply in debt.

The landlord put Meni's family under constant surveillance, thinking they would flee. He also refused them any payments, saying they could work just for their meals. Meni and her family were also subjected to numerous humiliations and threats. Apart from the last son, all family members were forced to work in the fields from sunrise to sunset.

In 1999, Meni's relatives helped the family to contact the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). Her family was freed in late 1999 with the help of HRCP. They first migrated to Matli Camp more than 100 kilometres away to live with other families of former bonded labourers. They were working for daily wages of less than a dollar until the landlords raided the camp and kidnapped several families, forcing them back into bondage. Meni and her family managed to escape. Too scared to stay in Matli, they moved to Hoosri Camp near Hyderabad. Life there was very difficult, with no steady source of income. Ordinary expenditures accounted for every rupee they earned and they had to borrow for sickness or unexpected demand.

The ILO started working with the National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) in 2002, providing practical assistance to freed bonded labourer families living in six such camps near Hyderabad City in Sindh Province. Meni attended the meetings in which Social Organizers of the ILO/NRSP project introduced the concept of Self-Help Groups. Meni found this very appealing and discussed with her neighbours the idea of a Self Help Group so that they could provide their children with a better future.

On 17 September 2002, she and six other women formed a Self Help Group called Seeta Ram. The group members joined the savings programme and started saving small amounts regularly in their account. Before that, Meni had benefited from charities from time to time but the main programmes of poverty reduction considered her family and neighbours in the camp a population too difficult to work with to be included in their programmes.

The saving required was not much but, pulled together, it has helped them after some time to face minor emergencies. She did not have to rely on moneylenders every time her children fell sick. Also, she was given a box to save on a day-to-day basis, and not only the day before the group meeting. It had significant positive effects, as her husband also joined her in her saving efforts, and they were able to migrate for seasonal work and continue to save.

Meni and her husband tried hard to think of ways to increase their family's income. The most likely solution was to purchase a goat, which they would milk. She applied for a loan of Rs 3,000 in her self-help group meeting. The group members agreed to provide a collective guarantee and the application was processed. Meni received the loan and bought her goat. She has since almost reimbursed the loan and opened a small shop, with a small stock of sweets, lentils, flour, and other basic necessities. Her income from the shop is less than what she earns as a daily wage labourer, but the shop income has the advantage of being steady and provides income in the off-season when farm labour is not available.

Like 751 formerly bonded hari families (tenant sharecroppers) settled in seven camps in and around Hyderabad City, she benefits from various complementary services from the project. She has access to Medical Doctors (MDs) twice a week when they visit the camp and she can participate in health camps for a greater awareness on health and hygiene, preventive health measures, family planning and other health related issues. She has access to safe drinking water from hand pumps installed by the project with the participation of the communities.

Her children have joined one of the 12 primary level non-formal education centres with 430 pupils. The community members themselves run these schools with technical support from ILO/NRSP and a minimum honorarium for the teachers. She also attends training courses, adapted to her needs – for example, in accounts and book keeping, vocational skills, traditional birth attendant skills, and natural resources management.

This temporary integrated package of assistance aims to provide these extremely poor families released from bondage with an initial boost in terms of income, self-confidence and basic skills, so they will graduate to a level where they can be integrated into longer-term programmes for poverty reduction.

An additional problem faced by the majority of the project's target families is that they do not have national identity papers, and cannot therefore benefit from full legal protection. The community members consider this a top priority. So land was bought by NRSP to resettle the families permanently. The families are now buying these plots from NRSP on a subsidized lease basis and, once they have permanent addresses, will be able to apply for national ID cards and so acquire all the rights that go along with this.

The project is supporting the efforts of the Government of Pakistan to implement its National Plan of Action for the Abolition of Bonded Labour in a wide variety of ways. Rapid assessments of bonded labour have been undertaken in ten different sectors (from agriculture to mining to domestic service). A public poster campaign was implemented by the Department of Labour of the Sindh provincial government to raise the awareness of local elected bodies and relevant stakeholders on the issue of bonded labour. Lawyers have been supported, through the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, to handle bonded labour cases in the courts. Vigilance Committees, formally constituted under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act of 1992, are being trained on their roles and on identification, release and rehabilitation methods.

There is now some real hope for Meni and her family to stay out of bondage, but much still remains to be done in rural Pakistan to make decent work a reality for all.

http://www.ilo.org/global/About_the_ILO/Media_and_public_information/Feature_stories/lang--en/WCMS_075594/index.htm

http://away.com/outside/features/200311/200311_mountains_1.html