NYT April 27 - 30

Monday: I pick up all 4 newspapers during the week but don't read them until Thursday and it was interesting to see how articles about the swine flu got bigger and bigger and then BAM front page news worthy. I think the best part about these articles are when they make maps to show how many cases have been reported - just from Monday to Thursday the maps have gotten bigger and the numbers increased dramatically. I really can't believe this is happening to our world. Talk about a reality check. / The article about the government handing out masks everywhere? I mean, really, what will a mask do against a new deadly flu virus that has taken only days to spread world-wide? UGH it's so creepy to think about.
Tuesday: The swine flu has made it to the front page but only a side bar. I like how Obama is handling it though - saying that it's cause for concern but not panic; way to mark the nearing of his 100th day in office! / That picture certainly caught my attention; there's a plane in the sky... flying (what looks like) into a building. Hmm. Made me remember how much I forgot about September 11 and how the presence of terrorists are still very real even if we aren't impacted by their actions everyday.
Wednesday: The article on the front page about the poppy fields in Afghanistan is kind of sad. I mean, these farmers work so hard to plant these crops and care for them - it says in the article that this is one of the biggest incomes for Afghanistan and the damn Taliban are going in and ruining it. I think that's terrible - in a state with such turmoil everywhere people are trying to turn their lives around; this is what's happening to all their hard work? Ugh. Not okay. But at the same time - drugs aren't the way to go to start a life - but I think it will be too hard for the US to go into every poppy field and destroy it so.. I don't know how I feel about it - I don't think its the right way to go about changing the country. / The picture of Edgar Hernandez, the first case of the swine flu this year, he seems so innocent. All these articles about the swine flu are A) freaking scary.. and B) just like the ongoing articles and side bars we've been doing in class about JAWS. It's neat to see it in action in the paper but terrible what the topic is about..
Thursday: I'm not even looking at anything unless it has something about the swine flu in the title. Honestly. It's now a world-wide pandemic. I was watching the news the other night and seeing all the news about this flu was like I was watching a horror movie - real real. I'm not sure if you've ever seen that 90's movie about the monkey disease that went into humans and killed half the world population? Well I saw that as a kid and was scarred ever since.. although this isn't nearly as graphic.. or terrible.. it reminded me of it. Scary thought. / The war photography found from the Spanish Civil War was a cool article. It was refreshing to read amongst all the swine flu. / I then went directly to page A14 to read the rest of the articles and side bars about the swine flu. I want to know as much as I can about this unknown sickness that's doubling in cases everyday.