Saving Daylight, Losing Sleep

I don't know if I will ever get used to Daylight Savings Time. Having lived much of my life in Indianapolis, I did not know DST for much of my childhood and adolescence. Indiana is one of two states not to observe DST. My first real clock-changing experience came when I was in college in Evansville in 1995. (Evansville is in Indiana but, because it is a hub city for parts of western Kentucky and southern Illinois, observes the time-keeping practices of neighboring states.) Now I've been playing with clocks for a decade, and I still can't adjust to that lost hour in the spring. I've overslept (granted, only by a half hour or so) every day this week, and I don't feel remotely rested.


I understand the reasoning behind adjusting the clocks to get an extra hour of daylight. I do not, however, understand why we switch back and forth every six months. Why don't we just shift time zones so that we are always on the time schedule that gives an additional hour of daylight? Why turn our clocks back so that, during the winter, the sun sets at 4:15?


Anyway, the powers that be in Indiana feel a need to return to Daylight Savings Time. Mike Mullins, my source in the Indiana legislature, has been keeping me abreast of the debate. Here is a list of articles from IndyStar.com.