In New York City, a homeless family’s life is chronicled in the Times. In Boston, an outcast Chechen family’s psychological unraveling is told in the Globe. Award-winning level of journalism. Better than any books I’ve read this year.
NY Times‘ series focuses on an 11-year old girl in Andrea Elliott’s exposé, “Invisible Child. Girl in the Shadows. Dasani’s Homeless Life”. Named for the bottled water because it represented wealth, Dasani treads above the depths of an urban shelter. With many siblings and incompetent parents, Dasani at her young age keeps them all from drowning completely. She is miraculously smart and talented. It serves her well but also works against her as she feels responsible to keep her family afloat. Hard to predict whether her wits will be enough to escape the obstacles of their needs and her environment.
Boston Globe’s “The Fall of the House of Tsarnaev”, tells two stories of two brothers. I dubbed them at the time, Brothers KaramazOff, April 24, 2013. Boston Marathon bombers. A spiral of bad luck, degenerate genes, and failed dreams with a pinch of radical religion turn anger into terrorist violence.
Side Trek . NYC 