Sources of information

Cook and I both had encyclopedia sets as children.* I remember picking up random volumes and just leafing through them, marveling at How Very Much Information There Is In the World. My kids, of course, can just leaf through the internet any time they please, but they also have fingertip access to an extraordinary variety of information concierges who tell them what information is important to know.  Skipper has been watching not only Stephen Colbert, but also a lot of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, which means that she is constantly surprising me with her knowledge about things like SLAPP suits and biased jury selection. (This knowledge has been relevant because of the presidential election and the fact that we've been watching The West Wing.**) She listens to podcasts when she runs, and she often sits on the porch for a little while afterward, cooling down, staring off into space while listening to a podcast about volcanoes or what it's like to be the organist at a baseball game. So much information, so many potential guides to point us to what's important and what's not. I don't know how any of us can organize it all,  but I guess I'm glad that John Oliver is one of Skipper's teachers in her remote schooling life. 

*Cook's family's encyclopedia set was procured by Mrs. Big Cook from a stranger in a parking lot. Cook doesn't know any more details than that, and I have secretly built it out in my head into an elaborate adventure during which she wears a fedora.

** Skipper started watching it, and then Duchess discovered that it's leaving Netflix at the end of December, so now Skipper is watching a LOT of it. She calculated she'd have to watch more than 5 episodes a day in order to finish the series, and I don't think she's going to make it, even though she skips an occasional boring-looking episode. The West Wing is also prompting her to consider all kinds of questions. What's "Don't Ask Don't Tell?" What's Kashmir, and why are India and Pakistan fighting over it? Why should a president do fundraising calls inside the residence instead of the office? Why doesn't C.J. get more respect?