This American Life

I missed posting this yesterday. I couldn't access Blogger because I think it was closed for maintenance. Anyway, I'll try to post two entries today.

I wanted to enter a note about the "This American Life" show on National Public Radio (via Public Radio International and produced by Chicago Public Radio). I've enjoyed this show over the years and it doesn't show any signs of letting down. National Public Radio itself is such a relief when you look at the rest of radio. Most of radio is just the same songs repeated over and over or a bunch of angry idiots screaming at each other about politics or sports. But today I'm talking about "This American Life" and its host Ira Glass. Each week he gives a short introduction to the show. I can't say enough about even this small part of the show. He (or the writers) give a short, tantalizing statement about what you'll be hearing on the show. It draws you in and makes it sound so interesting that I can rarely turn away - even if I have something else to do.

The stories have real variety. You're never quite sure if you'll be hearing a professionally prepared story or something prepared by some kids. Or something created as a joke. Two of my favorites were the recently replayed story about the phone message from a college student's mother (referencing "The Little Mermaid") and a story about a new policeman who goes to a house to investigate noises in the attic and finds more trouble than he expected. But they are all little gems of stories. Usually, they only take up a small part of the hour-long show but can take up most of the show if the story warrants it. If you've never heard the show, you should give it try. You can go to the website to find if it plays on your local public radio station and when. I've listed the website in the list of links but here it is again:

http://www.thisamericanlife.com

You can listen to old shows there, too. Back to 1995. The only thing I can fault about it is that I wish there was a better index to the shows. If you're looking for a specific story, you have to remember the theme of the show (most of the hour-long shows have a theme) and then you can read the description of the show to see if your specific story is there. Give it a try. I think you'll enjoy it. If you haven't listened before, you might want to try their Staff Favorites first:

http://www.thisamericanlife.com/pages/favorites.html

If you want to check for you local station and the times "This American Life" plays, go here:

http://www.thisamericanlife.com/pages/listen.html

I don't think you'll be disappointed.