Headline News

My generation of Americans is often called the MTV generation, but I sort of prefer to think of myself as the CNN generation. While many of my classmates probably did get home from school and immediately turn on MTV, I came home and immediately turned on CNN, especially Headline News. My mom tried to make heads or tails of this, finally decided that I just admired the afternoon anchor, Lynn Russell. Which of course I did, she was great, smart and beautiful, had this subtle way of lifting an eyebrow if the report was worthy of some suspect. She was a former police officer that had become a news anchor, one cool chick. But that was not really why I watched it every single afternoon, all through highschool. Rather, I was really rather obsessed with the news, I thought the news was downright fascinating. I think my mom began to understand this, the afternoon we sat together and watched the collapse of the Berlin Wall, and I cried and cried. I was a pretty young beach going teenager, I should not have cared so much, but I did. Then my sister clued into this, when news broke of the U.S. invasion of Kuwait. I was so angry, I was so upset, I said something about sovereignty and the U.N. and my sister was just baffled, why was I so upset? Thought maybe I was worried about excessive casualties or something, but that was not it. It was just the principle of the thing that bothered me.

Last time I was in California, I noticed that Headline News had changed its format. It no longer gives only the top news stories every half hour. Now there are hour long shows on special topics, like one on Hollywood happenings and a financial hour. And of course Lynn Russell is gone. I got a little sad to not see her there, smiling at me, at 5pm.