the sky is falling

I never thought I'd say this, but I miss Octomom. I find myself wondering how she's coping at home now with her 14 little seedlings. And I worry about how she's to make a living now that the swine flu has taken over our hearts and minds? The good news about bad news is that it passes quickly. The bad news about bad news is that it is typically replaced with the next 'new' tragedy.

This story of swine is crazy and it's spreading faster than the strain of the virus itself. What's most astonishing is how it is blanketing every ounce of our media right now, and depending on how and what media vehicles you follow it's overwhelming. It's on TV, online videos, newsprint, twitter, facebook groups, blogs, etc. My problem with this news is that when everyone is screaming about it on their respective media channels, as consumers of information, we're not listening to the words themselves instead we're focusing on how it's being said. And all I can hear is tremendous fear and shock. In fact, I wonder how many people on the street today actually even know what swine flu is? This time last week I was shooting a commercial on location, without access to a TV or the internet for 48 hours (now that's shocking in and of itself). When I woke up on Saturday morning it was the first time I heard of the swine flu and I couldn't escape it. I'm not going to lie, it took me a solid 4 days into the frenzy before I even knew what the hell it was. And I'm not trying to discredit the importance of it, but it's hard to know how serious we should be taking this news, especially when 36,000 people die of....how shall I say this...the 'regular' flu in a given year. And there are 15 cases of it in Canada today? And some people that caught it were cured? So, what's a girl to do.

From a pig farm in Mexico to the kitchen sink at my office, the virus and the news of it have spread globally in 7 short days.

Makes you wonder, what's more powerful - our voice or a strain of the influenza virus in pigs.