What I'm thankful for

During the holiday season it's always nice to take a minute to think about what we're all thankful for in our lives.

I am thankful for my family and friends, the people who are such a part of my life. I am thankful for a life that is full of joy, and people that make each day a wonder. I am also thankful for the opportunities I have at this point in my life, my education and all the things that I have the opportunity to accomplish.

As is tradition in a Molly Jackson blog I now pose a question to all of you: what are you thankful for? What in your life makes you truly happy? Please take this question seriously because once one realizes what they're thankful for it makes appreciating those things that much better.

I wish you all a happy and safe holiday...enjoy!

How informed are we?

I was writing a research paper for a class today and came across some statistics that were a bit shocking to me.

I was writing about how uninterested young people seem to be when it comes to the news. The younger generation (generally thought to be 18-24 year olds) is so "tuned out" to what's going on in the world. I was reading the book Tuned Out by David T.Z. Mindich and he talks about how our democracy is on the brink of failing due to young people's attitude toward political news.

Mindich uses some statistics that were actually kind of sad; in 2003 40 million people tuned in to the finale of American Idol to watch Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard sing it out, while 37 million people tuned in to watch the final Gore/Bush debate in 2000. Kind of sad huh?

Once I chose to write this blog I then decided to go back and look at how many people voted in the 2004 election. The voting eligible population in 2004 was 202,746,417. Now how many people do you think voted? 75% maybe a little less? In 2004 the total turnout was 123,535,883 (or 60.93%). That means that 79,210,534 eligible voters never made it to the polls.

So I thought I'd pose a question to all of you (this one is kind of a toughy): Can you name one state representative from District 7? Do you know where District 7 is? If you don't know either one of these, I'm throwing you all a bone with this last one: Who is the governor of New Hampshire?

I ask you all to take these questions seriously. Please don't google the answers. Don't ask your friends or your parents. Just try and answer the questions on your own. Feel free to answer back here or you can email me at jacksonm@fpc.edu. I just would like to see what kind of answers you all come up with.