Need a News Fast

All that comes to mind this morning is a list of topics I don't want to write about: Trump firing James Comey, Director of the FBI, with Nixonian undertones of a power grab; undercover ICE agents wrestling with / arresting undocumented immigrants inside the Denver courthouse; thunder and hailstorms wreaking havoc on the Denver area (keeping kids, cats and parents awake at 1:00am); my failure to abstain from chocolate after only a week of self-denial.

Sometimes it's all too much. At book club on Monday night, our group discussed the novel Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20170404-station-eleven), which deals with a mysterious virus that wipes out over 90% of humankind. I recommend the book, though the vaguely realistic-feeling tragedy and resulting dystopia unsettled me. One of the questions asked by our hostess: "Does the situation in the book feel realistic? If so, how does it affect you?" My response was yes, and it would be worrisome if I didn't try to block it out, along with 95% of what passes for news these days.

In the book, people seem most affected by the inability to travel further than their feet can carry them, and by the lack of communication with humans outside of a 2-mile radius. The book club wondered what it would be like to be without any knowledge of what was happening in the world, to be isolated and removed.  Part of my brain thought that sounded heavenly. Let me focus on my little kingdom of home/garden/family, don't tell me that Mexico is now the second most dangerous country in the world (behind Syria), or email me the list of natural disasters from Canada.

Laura Ingalls and her family, living less than 150 years ago, would only get newspapers days or weeks after printing, would have outdated news at best, and nothing to worry them beyond weather, crops, and local gossip. I don't think those were "good old days," and don't want to go back to that time, but a fast from news - especially those dire headlines - would be most welcome.