Great Moments in Journalism: Anthropomorphism in Astoria
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We were going to go with a piece on penis size from a paper in Australia today, but an article from the Metro section of today's Times proved just too GMiJ-worthy to pass up. After the jump, tragedy on the Turnpike inspires prosody in the paper.
You've heard about the Christmas family, victims of a recent crash near the George Washington Bridge. Times reporter Michelle O'Donnell provides some backfill:
Eight years ago, when Charles Christmas moved in, Theresa Ann Foti's brick house on 27th Street in Astoria, Queens, became a home.
He cooked. She cleaned. He doted. They planted flowers and herbs. When they married and had two daughters, the tiny tricycles and a well-used Little Tikes car made the front yard more vibrant than any lawn could.
So much life, in fact, was lived at the home, where the rambling ivy creeps over the facade and mismatched chairs sit slightly askew on the porch, that yesterday, like a tuning fork, it still hummed with the family's presence — though three of the four were killed in a traffic accident on Monday. The lid of the frog-shaped sandbox looked up expectantly after the morning showers. A fly buzzed in the mint. Potted impatiens had perked up with the rain. A couple of strollers seemed to ache to be unfolded."It's a good family," said a man in a pizza delivery shirt, who slowed his car to look at the house.
But what did the car say?