STAYING IN TOUCH

I recently wrote about the Clinton/Obama choice, and about how we felt about each of the candidates. Someone later commented on that post and said “You are not in the US now. You have no ideal of the currents for Obama…….” And that got me to thinking…..are we really out of touch? Even with television and internet, how much are we missing by living in Italy?

Art’s the news junkie in our house, and if the television is on, chances are it’s turned to one of the news channels. This isn’t unique to our life in Italy; it’s always been this way. Personally I’d put on some music, but Art puts on CNN. We also have CNBC, BBC and SKY news from Britain, and even….FOX news. We tape the CBS and NBC nightly news broadcasts, watch “Meet The Press” and catch up on political mishaps with Jay Leno. All in all, I’d bet that we both watch more news now than we ever did in the states.

We have an RSS feed to the New York Times and read several other newspapers online, including of course the Louisville COURIER JOURNAL. Friends and family often send us links to news articles of interest and give us their take on the situation. Given all of this, I wondered: does this really mean we know what’s going on in the United States?

If we were living in the states, let’s say in Louisville KY, we’d certainly know the political climate there. We’d understand what was going on locally and why. We’d know the back stories that might not make the headlines, and have some context in which to frame the situation.

BUT……what about the national scene? Would we really have any insight into what was happening in California, Florida or Boston? Or would we have to rely on what we read in the paper, what we saw on television, or what friends in those places told us? We might have more news sources to choose from, but overall I think we’d still have to rely heavily on the media to keep us informed. Choosing which media to believe and which to discount might be the biggest challenge.

And so, after careful review I have to say that yes, I do feel well-informed about the presidential primary, and about the news in general, even though we live in Italy. Living in Italy gives us the added bonus of getting the European perspective on the United States. I also think we get more news about the rest of the world, news that somehow gets lost in the shuffle, at least on the network news shows.

Being so far away from the states, from friends and family, from things we grew up with and from situations (like politics) we’re familiar with, it’s good to know that we can stay connected. Whether it’s a phone call to friends in Seattle or our kids in Louisville, a quick email from friends in Boston or Texas, or news from an online newspaper anywhere in the country, it’s good to know that YES, we definitely are in touch with what’s going on, both in the United States and in the world.