becky sarwate

It’s been a crazy week for the BeckySarwate.com team in so many positive ways. We’ll have more to share regarding those developments soon. It’s also been another busy news cycle. Here’s a few stories that might have escaped your notice during this first week of spring.

• As this week comes to an end, the world continues to grieve and try to come to terms with the horrific terror attacks in Brussels, Belgium. The images being shared via the media are disturbing and heartbreaking, but necessary in order for people to feel the impact of something that happened “over there.” Yet as someone often critical of mainstream media, I notice gross disparity in covering similar world events. I’m willing to bet many didn’t even know about two terror attacks that took place in Turkey just days before the events in Brussels. We are Paris, we are Brussels, but we are not Turkey?

• My hometown of Chicago has experienced some high-profile, diverse sports coverage of late. First, the Chicago White Sox Adam LaRoche child fiasco, then Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon balanced the negative equation by announcing his cool team dress code policy. While those stories captured attention, something was brewing in the world of professional tennis. Indian Wells tournament director Raymond Moore took a Stone Age view on the success of women in the sport, summarized in this disgusting quote: “They are very, very lucky. If I was a lady player, I’d go down every night on my knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were born, because they have carried this sport.” Mr. Moore, you are formally invited to crawl back to the Mad Men era from whence you came.

• This week, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have been trading barbs about who and what is fair game when it comes to battling in the American political arena. The one thing the two men seem to agree upon is that their wives should be left out of it, that their right to remain above the fray should be protected. It’s so important to Trump and Cruz that they can’t seem to stop talking/tweeting/beating us over the head. Meanwhile, the rights of an entire group are being threatened in the state of Georgia. A bill is headed to the Governor in the Peach Tree State that would allow religious officials to refuse to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies. The law would also permit tax-funded groups to deny services to the LGBT community. Has Georgia learned nothing from the PR disasters in Arizona and Indiana over similarly malicious legislation? The good news is, powerful corporations like Disney plan to stop doing business in the state if the bill is signed. Trump and Cruz might not stand for much, but Mickey Mouse champions equality.

What stories from this week do you think deserve more attention?