Skip to main content

A brand new old me.

I used to be that guy who knew the news. Really, really knew what was up in the world.

Like, every day I'd read the Washington Post, The New York Times, stuff from the Guardian, and various news/analysissy blogs. I was a Journalism hopeful at the time, so these things were basically mandated reading. (I was also eagerly avoidant, then, and so this was a wonderfully purposeful means of killing time.)After I failed that journalism class, that habit fell by the wayside.

But I've always missed it. Partly, that wonderful feeling of being knowledgeable; partly, also, that ability to explain important things/current events to other people. I felt I had a grasp on the world around me, which for a out-and-out space cadet like me is something kinda mind boggling.

I'm not sure why I never quite picked up the habit/news-bug again. I think I always thought it'd be such a time commitment (indeed, reading even just the A sections or frontpages of all dem papers can get a bit intense...) or maybe I simply forgot to.

Yesterday, I spent maybe 30 minutes, or a bit more, following some links from my twitter feed to some articles--and almost instantly tasted some of that old, familiar in-the-know-ness. It felt so good; I've been only vaguely, occasionally aware of the goings on recently I haven't been following, that have gone on developing and happening beyond my awareness. Even following up just a bit on only a few of them, as I did yesterday morning, felt so awesome.


I don't know if I'll get back to my old level of insane news-fever, but I do think I've found an easier way to keep current.

It used to be I had the front page RSS feeds for all those news publications in my feed reader, and I'd scroll through it on my laptop and read the ones that interested me. Using a feed reader actually isn't all that bad a method--you always know you're following sources you trust, that you've personally selected.

But for now I think I'll settle with the news feed widget I put on my phone yesterday. It brings in top stories in various categories from virtually all the same sources--and even a few others I don't mind reading terribly, either--and does so simply.


I hope that spending even 10 or 15 minutes a day browsing what's up will be enough to keep me on top of my smarts/satisfied. That's not too hard, right? Soon enough, I'll be all impressive & knowledgeable all over again, just like I used to be; soon enough, I'll be explaining what's going on with OWS or in Congress or in whatever completely overblown and ridiculous scandal is big.

I suppose I might want to look closer at why that feeling is so alluring, so satisfying. Knowing what's going on and having people come to me like some news analyst. Perhaps it's a need to impress or have someone(s) rely on me; maybe it's even a desire to feel somehow superior.

Frankly, though, at this point I just don't want to get left behind by the goings on of the world anymore. I think I'll just focus on that for now.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Or just tell me what you think.

Other things that might interest you...

On aging, and fear.

To begin with, I’m not sure you’re aware of it, but I’m middle aged. Oh? What gave it away? Using a blog as my primary literary medium?¹ Hm. But in fact, the APA defines 35 years as the end of “young adulthood.” Yeah. I found out via some shitpost on twitter when I was already 35, so it didn’t sit well with me then either. But my worries about aging began much sooner than that. See, even in my 20s, I feared I’d been wasting my life. I’d struggled with school and life and everything since graduating high school, arguably sooner, and nothing seemed to be going anywhere meaningful . I felt I had a limited social life, a dead-end job, no money, no great travels, a limping love life; I was, generally, a loser, wasting away... There were none of the usual hallmarks of success or happiness. And that scared me. Would my life have been worth it if I continued in this direction? Would it have been a “life well lived” by the end? So, this is my existential struggle. Even now, as I lurch ever nea...
Post a Comment
Read more

Changing lanes.

I was driving home in some traffic last night when I drifted, in my mind, a long way back (about 20 years) to high school. I was caught in one of those periodic traffic slowdowns as I floated back; you know, those waves of congestion that seem to pass backward through the columns of cars in each lane. (I've heard they start because someone switches lanes, and in response, a rippling emergent slowness travels backward and outward as the cars behind it accommodate the change, one by one.) What drew me back to those younger days was that, back in high school, similar phenomena of congestion took place in the halls between classes, when eddies of young humans would get caught in and around those clumps of those chatting by lockers or retrieving books. Occasionally, backups would occur when groups of people got caught in these eddies, or collided with other groups by the lockers, and slowdowns would ripple back from there. Maybe it's not exactly the same, but as I drove it seemed si...
Post a Comment
Read more

Oatmeal is tasty.

{slurps up berry-oatmeal-deliciousness} Indeed. I need to work on rebuilding a morning schedule. I can be zombie-like enough that I'll waste a perfectly good morning, and have often slept through many. And, really, it's such a useful time of day.
4 comments
Read more