Monday, December 28, 2009

My friend? My friend!

Dear roseanne,

Thanks for donating to Chicago Public Radio and This American Life!

Your employer might double or even triple your contribution. Search for your company's policy and forms via MatchFinderOnline.

Also, if you didn’t check the box requesting “periodic updates and communications from Chicago Public Radio,” you won't be put on mailing lists of any sort. If you did check the box, however, we'll add you to the weekly This American Life e-newsletter.

Thanks, again!

Your friend,
Ira Glass

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Dear Ira and crew,

No, thank you.

Thank you for making me fall in love all over again with the simple art of a good story. You manage to do it several times every week and make it look effortless. I know it isn't, and I know you work really hard. I am humbled, honoured and amazed that something this good could actually be free.

Thank you for making me believe in humanity again. And love. And life. The gentle spirit with which you extract people's words serves as the perfect counterbalance to the meanness I see inherent in most of the media I consume. And it's not just that. It's the humour with which you do it. It's wicked, sometimes, but it's never done with spite. I'm not sure how you pull it off.

No thanks to you for the increasing number of conversations where I will go "Oh that's exactly like this episode of This American Life when...", swiftly followed by "Oh, it's an amazing radio documentary series, not really just about American stuff, I mean it could just as easily be called 'This Life'... oh, you don't listen to the radio? Well, it's free on ... OK, see you/[get interrupted]/[person looks interested but it's clear they are just being polite]".

In this season where there is so much to be thankful for, a nice radio documentary series seems like an odd thing to put on the list. Somehow though, this radio documentary series and everything it stands for sums up the festive, complicated feelings I have at this time of year, and so it seems apt.

So thank you, thank you. Sorry for the schmaltz, but thank you.

from a happy listener.

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breakfast:
a swig of Royal Crown Draft Cola, some cherries and a bierstick.

verdict:
not good. I was stressed.