New York Times Reading Log - 10

One story that I found particularly interesting in today's New York Times was Justin Gillis and Joanna M. Foster's article about the insane weather the world has been experiencing over the last few weeks, or as the article calls it, "weather weirding."  Specifically, the aspect of the article that grabbed my attention was the part about the way in which trees that began to bloom early because of the warm weather may now be in danger because temperatures have dropped so far back down.

Last week, I wrote an article about the odd weather we have been receiving and one of the people I talked to as a source was Ron Christie, a Program Coordinator of UNH Agriculture Resources.  He warned of the weather fluctuation's negative effects on crop growth.  "All of this growth could be killed with a severe frost," Christie told me.  "The big danger is what could happen to fruit trees.  Fruit buds could be damaged or killed.  This could mean significantly lower fruit tree production this year," he said.  I found it very interesting, on a personal level, that my story and the research I did for the article, coincided with today's article in the Times. 

Another story that struck my interest was the front page article about the death of famous American poet Adrienne Rich.  I have read a few of Rich's poems in my literature classes here at UNH.  One that always stood out was her poem, Power.  It's sad to see the passing of such a literary great.

Lastly, I am an enormous fan of AMC's TV series Mad Men.  Like all other fans of the show, I am very excited that Don Draper and his crazy crew of Madison Avenue Ad men are back after a nearly 2 year hiatus.  I loved the season premiere, which aired this past Sunday, and in today's Times, there was an interesting article that appeared on page A20 that revolved around a particularly controversial scene from that episode.  

Evidently, the opening scene from the episode, which depicted a group of immature Madison Avenue employees dropping paper bags filled with water from their office in a high-rise building onto a group of African American protesters in the street, was taken directly from an article on the front page in a 1966 issue of the New York Times.  I thought that was really cool.  Even more interesting is that the reporter who wrote the story, John Kifner, doesn't even remember writing the article after all those years.  It's interesting what years of reporting will do to a person.