The Rest of the World

It seems like Americans have been completely caught up with what's going in this country. It has even gotten to the point where they have no clue what's going on in the rest of the world. I'm not sure if that is anything new but it feels like it is getting worse.

And I'm not just talking about your regular American-centric media coverage. Recent events have consumed all the attention in the media, in our conversations and entered into every facet of our lives, here in the U.S.

After arriving at Penn and living here for 4 years now, I distinctly notice the all-consuming and inward-looking worldview that exists throughout the majority of this country.

It is hard to even keep up with what's going on domestically:

• Virginia Tech coverage dominated for awhile but things have surprisingly moved on fairly quickly and hopefully will allow VT students the space to get things back to normal.
  
• Military scandals and cover-ups
  
• Gonzales under fire
• Old-fashioned showdown between Bush and the Democratic Congress
• And much more: Investigations into Karl Rove, Angelina renames her kid, etc...
  

Recently, I've been consumed by US domestic news and politics. So I thought I would spice things up a bit and run through some major events happening around the world. Most of which you could have conveniently read in today's New York Times

• Boris Yeltsin died and thousands gather to mourn him
• The French Elections: A final showdown between Sarkozy and Royal
  
• Claims of fraud surround Nigerian election
  
• Bhutans Learn to Vote and here is the Bhutan Wikipedia link
  
• Mexico City Legalizes Abortions
  

To me, this only reinforces the need for the UA and Penn to continue to provide free copies of the New York Times around campus. This past month, it was really great to see everyone reading it around campus and I want to see that again on campus in the fall.

~BT