Before
you start shooting now, just remember: the last words here are “love” and “hope”.
So, it’s all good. And I am now all reformed! Or about to be.
So, I
used to absolutely hate NPR! I know, I know – but remember: no shooting, yet. The
slow pace of the reporting, the old voices, the sentiment that their topics are
always so serious, so grim, so dry. No “juice” coming out of NPR. No
sensationalism. Just pure, dry enunciation. I could never really fully admit
that the topics were as much “boring”, but I had zero patience for the style
of reporting they do. So I would nix the station simply on the format with no
regard to the substance!
All
this changed when I moved to Utah, and my commute has bloated to more than an
hour one way, at times. The radio options are pretty slim here. You have a
couple of “standard” FM radio stations, classic rock, country, this-and-that
“new” music, and your local talk radio, which is owned by the LDS church –
biased, misinformed, sensationalist, predicting the end of the world almost
every half hour and totally embarrassing, at times.
But luckily, there is NPR. One day, forced
into a corner by all the poor choices on all the other stations, I switched to
it on my lunch break, which I took sitting in my car, at the time. They had an
author on, Janet Reitman, talking about her book “Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion”.
That
was the first sip of the kool-aid in this dry media desert. I was hooked – by
the information, and depth of the discussion and by how much more informed and
enlightened I felt. I could not go back to work! I was in a trance.
Almost a year
later, after listening to many a programs on music, communism, mating of snails,
politics, contests of livestock auctioneers, Kosher food, a variety of social
discussions, I can say I am quite getting used to this little gem of
programming speaking softly, and still slow, from my dashboard.
They are
sometimes biased, and a little annoyingly conservative, at times (after all,
they are human, and Americans,
you know!), but they keep it interesting! They tackle topics that scholarly
college professors would tackle and you feel a bit elated by rising above the
ordinary with their observations on people, life, religion, etc. They keep me
learning! And boy, I have so much to learn, still – as we all do, of course!
They keep the Alzheimer’s away (I hope), as they challenge my attention, my
opinions, my brain.
I am not in the
mood for it all the time, as a true fan would be, but I always feel more
intelligent (really) after I listen to them. And I keep coming back, every day,
as to my supply of “smart pills”.
I love that they
use good grammar and full sentences, that they say “I have given”
instead of “I have gave”. They use
words like “connubial” and “bacchanalia”, which were so dusty, back in the back
of my gray matter, somewhere. I smile, drive along and feel a few minutes, a
few words smarter. I am finally so happy that they are there for me, to fill my
empty commute time with interest, culture and insight. Man, how we need this
kind of solid, timeless education for our young folks! Away from the poisons of
today’s cheap and cheesy entertainment and reality junk that ruins our society!
One thing that
still puzzles me: NPR is sponsored, amongst others, by … The Poetry Foundation. First
question is: wow! In the era of The
Jersey Shore, in America, we still have
a poetry foundation, and apparently, they have money?! The second one is: do
they have enough to sponsor anything?! One art supporting another tells
me that all might not be lost in the human world. At least not yet!
