Thursday, April 30
When I read about Silvio Berlusconi’s “roving eye” I was a little disappointed in Italy. The article says that Italians would rather have the appearance of cheerfulness and opulence that the prime minister “gallantly” acts out than a better country. I read a little more about Berlusconi online afterward and was a little frightened by the way he gilds his policy by exploiting the conventions of operatic Italian culture.
Another Italianate story – doping horses for the Kentucky Derby. It’s kind of sad that the official way of looking at trainers and horses in racing is that millions go into a horse and the investment is protected by taking a horse out of a race if he is likely to sustain injury. The NYTs article paints a different picture, one where pumping horses full of painkillers and performance enhancers like steroids is the norm.

Wednesday, April 29
Surprisingly reassuring stories about the swine flu and shocking stories about the NYPD and NY charity. Nice research into the first cases of the new influenza. Liked having the 5-year-old kid’s cute persona contrasted against the widespread fear. NYTs also did a nice job of showing how meat shoppers incorrectly fear eating well-cooked pork by giving them full quotes and then parenthetically noting that they are incorrect.
The case of Officers Moreno and Mata raping a drunken women that they had been called to escort home was a little shocking. I would like to hear more about the specifics of what happened – a full profile of Moreno including his reasoning behind the rape (would he have raped any drunken women that he thought he could or was there a reason he felt ok with this one? It wouldn’t change the facts of the case but it would be interesting to know how he thinks).

Monday, April 27
Though the swine flu stories were in the back of the A section, it seemed to be a nice, related touch to put the piece on a growing atheist community on the front.
The Hungarian Gypsies, or Roma seem to have the reverse treatment one would not too seriously expect from literature – instead of them stealing babies and killing in the middle of night, it is the right-wingers in their country who do that to them. Very image rich story – the picture of the murdered father and son buried in the same coffin is indelible.