What's Going on in the World?

It turns out I’m a huge hypocrite.  I have an older brother who will be graduating from college this spring and I vividly remember giving him flak when he would come home from school and my mother would say, “Can you believe that cloud of volcanic ash hovering over Europe right now?” and he would stare at her blankly, unaware of this global news event.

            Both of my parents are journalists, so it’s safe to say that the news was a pretty important thing in my household growing up.  We all watched it together and discussed it with some regularity, and the rest of us were continuously shocked that my brother always came home for breaks without any idea as to what’s going on in the world.  “Don’t you read a paper or watch the news or at least check online sites when you’re at school?” we would all ask.

            Now, here I am, on my very own college adventure, and, as much as I hate to admit it, I couldn’t tell you a single national headline from the past month.  I’m admitting my fault here and making a call to my fellow collegiate learners to stay informed.  I know everybody’s busy and we all have our things to do and we get so easily distracted, but at least once a week, during those moments when you’re on your laptop searching for nothing (we all do it), check out msnbc.com or usatoday.com or whatever source suits your tastes.  We all need to know what’s happening in this world, because that’s part of what keeps us together in our local, national, and global communities.