I don’t partake of the news much.

This is an abnegation of my responsibility as a citizen of this republic, as a human who by definition lives within society.

It is also a place where you can see my enneagram 5ness come into sharp relief: in the stream of world information, I can clearly see how drop-like my actions and interventions are, so I withdraw. Either from action itself, or from the stream–so I choose the stream.

That said, I still partake news in two ways: the paper edition of the Austin-American Statesman (see, regional more than national/international),

and via my morning alarm, tuned to the local NPR news station.

But I’m not really listening.

What it is, is this: My Sweetie awakens to his alarm at 5:45 each weekday morning, and swiftly shuts it off. I’m awakened, too… these days, my body anticipates his alarm and leaves me in quiet half-sleep from sometime after 5. But I don’t have to climb out of bed, so I don’t.

Still, the chatter of my tasks would wake me in another ten minutes or so if I didn’t have some distraction from my thoughts.

My alarm turns on ten minutes after his. Distraction arrives, bringing another cycle of sleep.

But it’s sleep full of news! Dreams full of news, where my internal symbols merge with images from the previous day’s occurrences… sometimes to striking effect. Though most of the time merely to sur-reality.

What I wonder: how does my unconscious news-listening shape my world?

Am I a better-informed person even without information?