"The Show of Delights"

17 February 2020: I actually listened to this episode of This American Life yesterday and found it, well, delightful. It was the perfect thing to listen to on a late Sunday afternoon. And today, as I've been moving through a busy Monday, it keeps replaying in my mind in all the best ways.

"Ask a Very Grown Woman"

4 May 2017: "Because even the worst advice from a friend comes with a second message and that's just 'I got your back.'....She had my back. I had hers. Which in the end, of course, is more important than anything." --Ira Glass, remembering his friend, Mary.

I am behind on my This American Life episodes, but found myself quite moved by this one, including the great segment with comedian Chris Gethard and his dad and the fun part in the beginning on the "Ask a Grown" videos. This show gets some flack for being kind of predictable in its tones and structures, but boy, do they do what they do really well.

[I did skip the segment about Trump supporters getting angry with the Dallas journalist because I just couldn't bear to hear from them on a day when this administration is about to celebrate both taking away health care from people and signing a horrifying "religious freedom" order. I know that's not the most healthy response in a democracy, but I need a break.]

"Mom Jokes"

18 January 2016: What a fun long weekend it's been! Each day, I spent lots of time with some of my favorite people. Today I was back in Rockville for a bit, having lunch and playing a game at Tim's house. As I drove home, I listened to the latest episode of This American Life. The segment below, featuring the awesome Tig Notaro, made me laugh out loud as I drove.

[For some reason, I can't link to the specific segment--but the Tig segment is Act II. You should listen to Act I, though, too. It's so fascinating--more memorable and important than the rest of the episode. It's just that Act II made me laugh more.]

"This is Just to Say"

I am pretty darn excited to teach a couple of William Carlos Williams poems in ENGL 204 on Friday--even more excited than usual. First, we'll discuss the venerable wheelbarrow poem, but I'm really excited about when we get to "This is Just to Say." After some discussion, I'm going to play this segment from This American Life, which talks about the poem and then includes a bunch of terrific riffs on it. Then we're going to write our own "This is Just to Say" poems. I even found a cool template on the NCTE website.

Yeah, it's not an incredibly innovative plan, but I can't help but look forward to it. Should be fun!