The New York Times...has already published five articles about Le's disappearance and murder and the apprehension of suspect Raymond Clark III. The Boston Globe has published at least six stories about the case, and the Washington Post has run at least three briefs from the Associated Press. The Times of London, published five time zones away, can't seem to sate its appetite for Annie Le news. Even the proletarian New York tabloids—the Post and the Daily News—have gone ape for the story.

...besides which, a slew of well-sourced and quick-response articles in the university's paper of record, and, by my count, two cover spots in the Washington Post Express.

My problem with Shafer's piece isn't his gripe that crimes at Yale and Harvard receive undue attention. (They do; always have.) I went to Yale—graduated, even—and Shafer's points are well taken. But what the media critic misses is that, when it comes to murder, the Ivy League's disproportionate share of media attention is part of a larger, and more regrettable, trend.

In D.C., the murders of (say) a white, affluent northwest couple like Michael and Virginia Spevak prompt the kind of media bonanza with which no targeted shooting in southeast could possibly compete. Then there's the case of Alice Swanson, a well-educated, middle-class white activist wired into the world of think tanks and nonprofits. A full year after her death, her memorial was still standing—and when, two weeks ago, the mayor's office removed the ghost bike, people freaked. Of course, as one commenter noted:

The law says the memorials come down they come down. If this was am unsightly teddy bear memorial surrounded by liquor bottles and candles for a gun shot victim you would be petioning the Mayor’s Office for it’s removal.

This isn't just about the media; it's about us and our assumptions. As a paper, we only put murders above the fold when they defeat expectations—sensationally or otherwise. As humans, we perk up when a story elicits a double-take, or forces us to reassess presuppositions that may have been bogus to begin with. Would this story have blown up in the mid- to late '80s? Probably not; New Haven was a lot grittier back then. But if a GWU student were kidnapped, brutalized, and discovered a week later in a wall, I'm pretty sure the event would garner more coverage than the corresponding death of a kid in Ward 8. (Ask Cherkis.)

Just saying. Newspapers have been on this treadmill for a long time. If anything, the Annie Le story is one that deserved to make it.

***

Closing hat-tip: After calling the New York Times "one of several Ivy League house organs," Shafer is wise to acknowledge that at Slate (which fits much the same description), "no Harvard or Yale story proposal will ever be laughed out of a story meeting, no matter how mundane."

Says why.i.hate.dc, which has a photo. Legba Carrefour, get yourself down there, my man!

(Previous ghost bike coverage: 1 2 3 4

Photograph by Darrow Montgomery

More on the ghost bikes

Legba Carrefour left for Dupont Circle at 5 a.m. this morning with a borrowed truck full of white bikes. The Columbia Heights resident, 27, didn't know Alice Swanson, the struck-and-killed cyclist whose memorial was removed from the intersection of Connecticut Avenue and 20th and R Streets NW last month.

But Carrefour, who says he's been two-wheeling through the District since he was 6, says he got "really angry" about the ghost bike's removal, and spent weeks Dumpster-diving, as well as wailing on Freecycle and Craigslist, looking for old bikes. The idea, which he's got a blog for: He'd put up 22, one for each year of Swanson's life, all spray-painted white. As of 10:30 a.m., 16 were still there; Carrefour figures people have nicked them while he's been off gathering flowers to stick on them.

Carrefour has a scar on his right arm from a collision with a cab, and a chipped tooth from a run-in with an SUV. He has no plans to trade his Surly Steamroller. "One, I couldn't get around anywhere. It's fun, it's relaxing, and it's easy. Also I can't afford a car."

He looks at the circle, screwing up his face at the newly placed sign warning drivers to yield to bikes. "If they take it down," he says, gesturing to the bike he's placed where Swanson's original memorial was, "I have a bunch more that are already white."

More photos of the bikes after the jump

A few pics:

Someone just called me, from Germany (!) to say that there are 22 ghost bikes in Dupont Circle today to honor Alice Swanson. Great!

AFTER THE JUMP: Trees, eagles, bells, weird traffic circles, Giants fans, Beatles, Big Star


Yesterday at the circle on the western end of Memorial Bridge, which I have written about before, police were ticketing motorists for an offense I can't quite figure out. (A Park Police spokesperson is looking into it for me.) My totally uninformed take, then: That circle is a magnet for crazy, sure, but it's also the worst-marked and least intuitive traffic hazard in the region. Instead of penalizing people for not knowing what the hell to do there, how about re-engineering the whole shebozzle?

Mosquito farms appearing around trees on Champlain Street NW. I don't have a call out on this one. Anyone know the score?

BIKE COMMUTING TIP: The weather is glorious, and people who had been in hiding from the heat are once again taking their jogging clothes out for walks. This is a concern if your ride, like mine, takes you on bike trails. You simply must have a bell. Local bike stores have fine bells, but Annapolis' Velo Orange offers classy Japanese bells that you can mount to your handlebars or, if you're even a little handy, to your stem. Your bike will look great, and you will receive shrugs rather than glares when you pass people walking in Lycra.

POWERPOP UPDATE: It is a good week to be a sad geezer. While I save up for the mono Beatles reissues, I've been listening to the Big Star box set, which Marc Hirsh did a great job of reviewing/destroying in this week's paper. (Hirsh wrote this marvelous piece for the Boston Globe, and I'm really glad to see him in our paper.) Like Hirsh, I am not convinced of the necessity of this box set, which I should add I got for free so take that for what it's worth. But it has made me re-listen to the Big Star albums I already had, as well as Chris Bell's I Am the Cosmos, which still sounds sooo good.

GIANTS FANS: This is a big week for you. (1) (2) Embrace it. Also: Wemple is one of you. Dumbasses.

EAGLES TERRIFY SUBURBAN RODENTS: Morning Roundup's previously unnewsworthy neighborhood of Del Ray was the site of an eagle attack yesterday, reports Mrs. Morning Roundup, who watched one of the grand birds fall out of a tree and bounce off our sandbox with a baby squirrel in its beak. The eagle gathered itself and flew off with its lunch, leaving behind a bereft mama squirrel, who ran around our yard making weird noises. Circle of life!

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That is all.

Anna Shoup emailed City Paper with news that Alice Swanson's aunt was at the intersection of Connecticut and R streets NW today, where she replaced her niece's memorial ghost bike (which the Department of Public Works removed on Friday) with flowers and a hand-written sign that reads, "Why has the mayor taken the bike?"

D.C. cyclists are planning a local route as part of the national Ride of Silence tomorrow that will pass the places where Alice Swanson and Ian Wolfe died, as well as American Univeristy, where Brent Hurd, killed while cycling in India, taught.

The ride will start at 7 p.m. at the Jefferson Memorial and will be over by 10 p.m. The WashCycle, which planned the route, encourages people to wear a helmet and to bring a black armband to remember those injured on bikes. "If you have been injured while cycling," the site says, "please wear a red armband instead. As we will be riding at dusk you should also bring reflective clothing and lights for your bike."

The Ride of Silence, started by a Dallas-area cyclist in 2003 to honor an endurance rider killed by the mirror of a passing bus, is not sponsored by anyone and it's free. Anyone can participate in tomorrow's D.C. ride.

Photograph of Alice Swanson's ghost bike at the 2000 block of R Street NW by Darrow Montgomery

1. Which WaPo Writers Are Pulling in 230K? by Erik Wemple

2. A Diner/Tryst Yoga Comedy: Plans for 14th and T Revealed by Jule Banville

3. Update: SIX Flagging by Dave McKenna

4. LNS Reality Show Update by Amanda Hess

5. Bolt Bus Is Bunk! by Angela Valdez

6. Allstate Gets a Spanking by Erik Wemple

7. City Paper Softball Team Seeks Real Competitors by Andrew Beaujon

8. 2000 Block of R Street NW, July 9 by Jule Banville

9. The Elusive Metal Shopping Cart by Brianne Downing

10. Isn't Anyone Bothered by the Lara Logan Sex Scandal Coverage? by Angela Valdez

Photo by Flickr user Hello My Name Is Dev

Photograph by Darrow Montgomery

The "ghost bike" memorial for 22-year-old Alice Swanson was installed anonymously where she died yesterday at 20th and R streets in Dupont Circle.

The tragedy is one that hits home for many: for Alice's coworkers and former coworkers, for her housemates in Mount Pleasant, for her friends in D.C. and from college at Amherst, and from home in Northborough, Mass. It hits the many cyclists in this town and anyone who witnessed the accident or its aftermath. It's probably her father, though, who expresses the loss best (from the Boston Globe):

She is so energetic and enthusiastic. She always wants to explore or travel. She’s got a room full of maps here, world maps and things like that. She wanted to travel.

I just feel that she had so many things that she wanted to do—to help people. Now it's not going to happen.

Condolences to all who knew and loved Alice.

UPDATE: WABA (Washington Area Bicyclist Association) to hold a memorial service and press conference tonight at 6:30 near the intersection. Cyclists and others who attend are encouraged to bring bike lights and flowers.