Essay: The News: Living in the Present Tense

Jersey Mother Held in Drowning of Two of Four Missing Children and Reagan Signs Bill to Pay U.S. Farmers Not to Produce Milk. No children. No milk. Nothing connects these items but the newspaper page on which both appear, and the reader's mind, ravenous as Pac-Man, prepared to bite off more than it can chew. In the evening, on television, more stories pile up. Gasoline Leaks Threaten Water Supplies and Sullivan is Electrocuted Despite Pope's Pleas. No water. No Sullivan. No visa: The Reagan Administration Rejects Visa Application from Nicaragua's Interior Minister. So...