The New York Times takes an interesting approach to examining ethnic diversity in the U.S. by looking at the U.S. Census Bureau's ranking of popular last names. The Times and Census Bureau officials theorize that this is the first time in history that Hispanic names have reached the top 10. Comments and analyses intriguingly range from an increased willingness to embrace ethnic heritage by today's youth to the frequency with which certain names occur for particular ethnicities. One fact struck me that the article passed over: there are four million names held only by one person. I imagine there could be many intriguing stories behind this, too, and perhaps some would have been relevant to the scope of this article.

The Washington Post provides the recent history underlying Bush's response to Musharraf's current behavior in Pakistan. The article traces the roots of Bush's current inaction back to the world leaders' first meeting in 2001. The analysis relies on factual information and comments from those close to the President, but it still manages to go beyond the news to give readers some context within which to understand current events.

I'm not so sure how I feel about The Boston Globe's article on Geri Denterlein and her book The Power Chicks' Guide to Boston. First of all, it's in the Home/Lifestyle section. It strikes me as more than a little ironic that an article about empowering women in the business world is relegated to the "Home." I'm willing to concede that this might just have been a matter of newsroom politics, but it still seems somewhat inappropriate. The article also takes a few things for granted. It doesn't discuss the term "power chick"--did Denterlein coin this phrase, or do people actually use it? (And if people do actually use it, how old are they? It sounds a bit dated to me.) It also fails to explain why Denterlein felt it necessary to write a book specific to Boston. Aside from which charity boards to join in the city, it sounds as though the rest of the advice about networking could apply to any locale.