Aloha Everyone,
J.J. and I are back in California. While we were away from the U.S.A., we had a limited access to Headline News, General News, Sports News, Business News, Weather News, Travel & Entertainment, etc. In one sense, we are happy to be insulated from news whose contents do not usually benefit us.
For Eric Hagerman, November 8, 2016 became a life changing day. This was the day this 53 years old former corporate executive decided to exercise his self imposed “blockade”. He swore that he would avoid learning about anything that happened to America after this date.
According to Mr. Hagerman, it was going to be for a few days. But at the time this interview took place, it’s been more than a year. He knows almost nothing about American politics. He has “become shockingly uninformed during one of the most eventful chapters in modern American history. He is as ignorant as a contemporary citizen could ever hope to be.”
Mr. Hagerman chose to live alone on a pig farm in southeastern Ohio. He stated “I’m emotionally healthier than I’ve ever felt”. The Blockade has made him question the very value of being fed each day by the media.
Mr. Hagerman’s current passion, which will be his life’s work, is to restore some 45 acres of land on the site of a former strip mine which he purchased. He plans to restore it, protect it, live on it and then preserve it for the public. Mr. Hagerman has come to believe that being a news consumer doesn’t enhance society. He also believes that restoring a former coal mine and giving it to the future does.
“I see it as a contribution that has civic relevance that aligns with my passions and what I do well,” he said.
Source: The New York Times
By Sam Dolonick
March 10, 2018
Aloha -- Cathi
