One of my favorite things about the UC Berkeley microfilm room is the way that every morning the staff makes poster-sized color copies of the front pages of major English-language papers from all over the world and posts them on the walls across from the information desk (and elsewhere).

In mid-January, world headlines were focused on the protests in Tunisia, and as I stood in the entryway of the microfilm room studying the various front-page stories on the issue, I noticed that the man standing next to me and reading the same pages, had an incredibly troubled (sad, concerned, despondent) expression on his face. Though I cannot say for sure, I have a feeling that this story I was scanning from the perspective of an interested foreigner from half a world away was a lot more personal for him.

8-Rock