News

So, what happened? I mean with me and the news. Suddenly, I can't spool up any interest to follow the presidential election. I can't for some reason find range on the situation in Syria. Nor can I seem to focus long enough on either the fiscal cliff or ongoing healthcare debate.

My goodness, I'm a teacher. Don't I need to follow the news so I can answer kids' questions. Or, deep down inside, do I know that things will pretty much be where I left them when I return to the grind in September.

It's a shame the Phillies aren't any good, and it's a shame I can't start following football else I'll start wishing away my summer. I seem to have a lot of found time on my hands.

But then again, I still read my newspapers each morning. Should I shut that off for a week like I've done in previous summers.

I still keep looking for news on the Penn State scandal. Perhaps I'm just hunting for something, anything, that might mitigate the hideous details brought forth in the Freeh report. Quick opinion check: statue - let it remain; football program - suspend it for a season. Perhaps I'll later be able to articulate why I feel this way. Just not today.

But I'm here on a beautiful night sitting on my porch. All I can hear is the occasional dog bark. Oh, wait, my son is laughing at something. I hear that. An air conditioner nearby is humming. My kids are wonderful, though a bit ornery in that middle-of-the-summer fashion. My wife is beautiful. We're all healthy. All those tempests that our 24/7 cycle covers seem so remote, as if they are in teapots thousands of miles away. I like this.

It's the midpoint of the summer. Perhaps I ought to declare summer 1.0 over and summer 2.0 underway. I like that. Maybe there should be more books and less news. It doesn't seem to matter too much to me anyway.

Okay, that does it. Effective now, at 9:00 pm EDT I am imposing a one-week news blackout on myself. Let's see if everything is where I left it next week at this time.

Odds are, it probably is.