A Sunday mix

The New York Times has an interesting article today on the Lascaux cave paintings -- although from the title, "Fungus Once Again Threatens French Cave Paintings," one would not immediately expect to be intrigued. However, the article does an excellent job of presenting the most significant information up front. The first paragraph begins by explaining why the threat of fungus is notable to those who know about Lascaux (it's the second in a decade) and why the cave paintings are notable, for the benefit of those who have never heard of Lascaux. The second paragraph rounds up all the possible causes of the growth of the fungus, and the rest of the article goes on to explore these options after it provides more historical background on the caves.

The Boston Globe uncovers a "suicide crisis" in Massachusetts prisons today in a series of articles that investigate how and why so many inmates are killing themselves while in prison. The main article is broken down into sections for easier reading. It begins with a thoughtful and steadily paced lede that nonetheless maintains a sense of suspense from the beginning, pointing first to the shoelaces a man used to hang himself before revealing all the reasons he should not have been left unattended with something that could be made into a noose. Prison physicians and officials, inmates and their loved ones all sound off on the problems behind the rising suicide rates with comments on prison culture in general and their own particular situations.

The Washington Post has an interesting article today on a transgender tv host in India. It begins by using an element of surprise to turn its description of an attractive, popular, feminine host on the revelation that the person is actually a transgender male. The article then describes the atmosphere in which Rose will be assuming her job, but it holds the most interesting details till the very end. The article notes that it was British-imposed Victorian manners that made alternate sexualities so taboo in India, an illuminating fact that I would have liked to learned earlier in the piece. But I was even more surprised (pleasantly so) to see that the newspaper article ended with a real conclusion: "As the city's best-known fashion photographer clicked away, a popular 1980s song by Foreigner played in the background -- 'I've been waiting for a girl like you.'" It's a great detail, one that might have been used in the lede, but instead it is saved to wrap up the article gracefully, feature-style.