Keeping things in perspective with today's news

It is often the work of international correspondents to remind Americans how fortunate we are to live in a thriving Western economy. Today’s article in the New York Times about trash collectors in New Delhi is one such reminder. The article focuses on one woman’s story, humanizing a whole class of people in its specific description of her daily life. The reporter tells how much money Manorama Begum makes and how much she should be paid if everyone whose trash she collected paid her, as well as the many ways in which she tries to use things she finds in the trash as collateral to make up for that lost money and feed her children. The current relevance of the situation is made clear—the government is about to provide trash collectors with gloves, boots and aprons—but the overwhelming effect of the story is to suggest an ongoing injustice in Indian society.

The living conditions presented in New Delhi put American concerns in a different light, but the focus in Washington is still on next year’s presidential elections. The Washington Post’s coverage of last night’s Democratic debate in Hanover, N.H., represents the wide range of topics discussed and opinions offered by the candidates. In its summation of the conclusions, it includes quotes from the candidates that capture the tone of the debate, including an exchange between Senator Hillary Clinton and Tim Russert of NBC over her policy towards using torture to get information, which differs from that of her husband, and comments from all the candidates on their attitudes towards removing American troops from Iraq and their predisposition towards Iran’s threat to U.S. security.

On a far less serious note, the Boston Globe reports on an MIT prank in Harvard Yard, dressing up the statue of John Harvard as a character from video game Halo 3. The article takes a very light-hearted view of the pranks, as do the administrators quoted in it, but it misses out on part of the fun. Where are the quotes from the hacks themselves referred to on hacks.mit.edu? Where are the responses from Harvard students? The incident certainly does not merit a lengthy investigation, but since the Globe is going to devote some space to the prank, it might as well do the story justice.

While one expects MIT students to play offbeat pranks, it comes as more of a surprise to hear a former MIT engineer achieved fame as a country musician. What is even more surprising is that Massachusetts has a Country Music Awards Association. Apparently, though, it does, and according to the Canton Citizen, a 30-year resident of that town has been inducted. George Perkins, who once helped build the first computer at MIT, was recognized under his stage name “Montana Cy” for his contributions to country music. As the Citizen is wont to do, the article tells Montana Cy’s life story, reaching far back to his childhood ambitions, but it does not achieve its usual goal of explaining the contributions the resident in the profile has made to the community, mentioning only briefly the musician’s local performances.

Today's news stories are a varied bunch, but they just go to show the vast differences in coverage by local and national newspapers.