George, your post reminds me of the many, many “soft-lede” stories our local newspapers have written about poor public-university students having to (gasp!) work while attending college. I’m surprised that the online versions of those stories aren’t paired with sound files of lachrymose violins. Remember that tear-soaked, 800-page compendium of whines that the UNC Student Government Association published a couple of years ago?
I spoofed that book and the sob-story “news” writing here (leading off with the travails of Manfred Weinlaud III and Justin Anguish).
