Radio's playing a tune from the country written April 29, 2009

Radio’s Playing a Tune From the Country
Written April 29, 2009


There are some things that are just great about America, and with out them, my country would just kind of suck. Avocados are one of them because we had the great foresight to invite Mexicans to our land. Among other things, this immigration has improved our culinary lot in life. The interstate highway system is another. It was a Department of Defense undertaking, and I still think if we want to keep American safe from any kind of threat, we should improve at home before going abroad. But, the entire point of this blog, rambling though it is, is NPR (National Public Radio…please mentally say this to yourself with the same diction and intonation as they say on the radio.)

NPR has always sort of been background noise in my life. On so many car rides, going places I don’t even remember, I listened intently to All Things Considered. I probably didn’t consider them all, but I did think about one or two. When I needed white noise in my dorm room to study, it was This American Life. Somehow the quiet cadences were mellow enough to work through. But, when I needed a mental break, all I had to do was tune back in and hear stories of shopping malls and blood banks.

A fellow PCV passed along a huge collection of pod casts of This American Life and RadioLab. I didn’t realize how much I had missed a real sense of public life. They debate, discuss, and inform on topics of policy and importance. They also explain the sexual reproductive systems of ducks. I am now the proud owner of over 150 episodes of each, and tickled pink. I basically can have 4 days of NPR on my iPod at any given moment. It’s awesome.

Being here, where access to NPR is a real gift, I am sort of ashamed to admit that I was (and still am actually) a free rider. NPR depends on the support of listeners who value the service enough to pay for it voluntarily. I should have, and I didn’t. But, when I get back to a land where I can access my bank information online, I am donating enough to get that travel mug and tote bag they keep talking about. To all others out there, who listen to NPR with the same giddy thrill and excitement that I do, donate $20, more if you can.