Sam Ahn was irritated at me the last time I posted something like this. Sam, you are free to stop reading now with no hard feelings.
There was an article in the NY Times yesterday on page 1 above the fold, accompanied by a photo I won't be surprised to learn wins a Pulitzer prize. My rule of thumb is if you see something in the news that is still in your head a day later it's probably worth noticing.
The story was written by Dan Barry, formerly an NYC metro reporter who is apparently a rising star at the paper. He was sent to New Orleans in the immediate aftermath of Katrina and filed a series of articles, almost daily, that made you think Graham Greene was channeling him from the beyond. They were that good. His reporting is now limited online to Times subscribers, which means many of you will not be able to read the article or even see the full photo. It is cropped to just Resha Kane's head and a hint of her father.
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/us/04land.htmlHere is my synopsis ---
You start with the picture. It is at the upper left side of page 1 and grabs you with such immediacy that you immediately read the article instead of going to the leads on the right side. The focus is on a young woman on the verge of tears looking intently at a man. The man is her father and he is seeing her off to the airport to join the Army. She is in the Army, actually, and expects to be deployed to Iraq. She embraces the mission. She is 18 years old. His hands are on her shoulders and he is speaking to her intently. IMO everything that can be said about parents and what they feel for their children is encapsulated in that picture.
A subtopic in the article was about a group called the Bullhead Patriots who accompany, on motorcycle, local military kids who go off to war or return from it. They do a parade every time. The leader of the group said they have done six funerals and two welcome homes. They escorted Pvt. Kane, 10 months removed from her senior prom, off to the airport.
Come home safe, Pvt. Kane.
