Good-news Wednesday

The headlines in the mainstream news are disheartening: “Cyclone Kills 85 in East India,” “Iceland Evacuates Hundreds As Volcano Erupts Again,” “Strong Earthquakes in Western China Kill at Least 400.” But picking up the Positive News, delivered yesterday by my off-the-grid brother, is a perk-up call: “A Peacewalker Follows Her Dreams,” “Climate of Cooperation,” “Café Gives Laptops a Rest,” ”Meditation Teacher Saves 20,000 Bees, “Barefoot Solar Engineers Brighten Lives,” “The Secret Society of Happy People.” You can’t make this stuff up, so it must be true.

All the good news that's fit to print

So my brother sent me yet another example of niche journalism: Positive News, which has good news only. It's like the Onion—on Prozac. Witness these headlines: "Peaceful Nation [New Zealand] Leads the Way," "What Does Love Mean?" "Victory of the Common Spaces," "The Theory of Fun Works!" "Hospital Workers Support Each Other," "Change Is Possible Among Inmates," and so forth. Consider the logo: "Another World is Possible" (note lowercase "is," which subtly undermines the optimism). Somehow, I found it depressing rather than uplifting.