Selfies in Crossfire
Not a lot in the news to inspire and hearten me at the moment. You? As far as I am concerned, it has been one of the most painful news cycles in recent memory and the fractiousness of social media made me dial back my own presence in the virtual spaces that have become my stomping grounds. I maintain that knowing what is happening in the world is a civic responsibility, but sometimes fulfilling that simple act is wearing. Made more wearisome, of course, by my awareness that I enjoy a luxury not known or experienced by so many thousands of people living with, living through, living and dying amidst the throes of war, atrocity, earthquakes, epidemics. The luxury of finding the news exhausting. Amidst stories of ebola, of bodies falling out of the sky, of Gaza , Gaza, Gaza, this photo of a grinning woman on the BBC news page caught my attention: The photo seems to suggest, "Look at me. I am smiling. So there." Actually, that is pretty much what this selfie, like