Political drama is in high gear this autumn. We certainly have a full schedule of it right now in Washington. In London, too. (Now, if you stop to think about it, there is political drama going on all over the world, but being attuned to most stories requires reaching beyond the main storylines provided by major media.) As part of our “Breaking Issues” series, on Wednesday the Clarke Forum is sponsoring the panel discussion “Brexit: Where it Stands, What it Means”. This will be an informative event and we are privileged to have three outstanding scholars participate (Mark Duckenfield, from the US Army War College, Oya Dursun-Özkanca, from Elizabethtown College, and Ed Webb, from Dickinson). The news on Brexit changes daily, and sometimes hourly. Years ago, it made sense to talk about the “news cycle” but for some time now the cycle has evolved into a ceaseless avalanche. For many of us, the news avalanche can sometimes overwhelm us, to such an extent that we either take a break or suffer the negative health consequences. In this context, the Clarke Forum can offer a truly important counterbalance. Some brief time to stop consuming news so we can start to reflect on it. This reflection is essential to our well-being. We become not only better informed, but better positioned to be receive future news with less anxiety. And I believe it can even help us become more empathetic.
