Well I can see now how easily I lose track of “Mondays” and times to make new posts!

A one-word answer for this blog post would be: the crossword.  I love doing the crossword almost every day, and though I’ve historically been a NYT girl (or the Moscow-Pullman Daily News!), I’ve definitely been a fan of the difficulty levels and themes of the WSJ crosswords.

(Also, Last year, I got an email from United Airlines saying that my miles with them were expiring but I could keep them active with a purchase from their Mags for Miles program, where you pick a magazine or some print publication for 1,000 miles.)

Since those are both pretty lame answers, however, I’ll use this blog post to elaborate on my current relationship with the news in general.

Choosing the WSJ (over say, Entertainment Weekly) was a conscious decision to try and stay more informed.  In general, I’m fundamentally against news.  I don’t see a point in starting my day off by reading about war or death, and my general optimism is challenged when I stay too informed.  But, I think it’s an important part of being a well-rounded citizen, so I do try to stay up to date (I’ve also subscribed to the Skimm daily email update).

To that end, I’ve developed a number of strategies to both stay informed and remain hopeful.

1. I don’t start the day with news.  When I wake up, I get the WSJ and turn straight to the back of section A where I read the one page sports section and cut out the crossword.  I leave the newspaper on the counter and usually read the headlines or an article or two when I get home from work.
2. I supplement any reading I do with podcasts.  News headlines can often be objectively negative, and I need people who are more informed than me to provide context around a situation or describe something in ways that help me understand what the actual implications are.  My favorite political podcast right now is Pod Save America.  The hosts are very pro-Obama/anti-Trump, but my favorite part about the podcast is that they know how the White House runs.  I like the behind the scenes info about who can do what, things that could or could not legally happen, when decisions are made, etc.
3. I subscribe to some positive news and also “non-news” entertainment.  A graduate from my high school promotes good news by sending a weekly Goodnewsletter that shares hopeful stories from around the world (Branden Harvey is also putting together a print newspaper, but the Kickstarter is over and more information can probably be found in the link to the newsletter above).
   1. Non-news entertainment is I’m sure the topic of a future blog post, but some current faves are Scandal, old episodes of Survivor, Parks and Rec, whatever book I’m focused on for my book club (currently Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi), and Tim Ferriss’ podcast.

Time to get back to my crossword!  Mondays are the easy, fun days 🙂

“Live your life as a curious student and you will discover how fascinating it is.” – Elena Ornig

Skagit Valley Tulips, April 2015