The Writer's Almanac
March 2017 has been deemed a month for suggesting podcasts to friends. Many of the heavy hitters in the industry have embraced this mission, centered around the hashtag #TryPod (NPR has the scoop here). In addition to calling out friends with recommendations when I post this blog to social media, I'm writing a couple features to highlight a podcast that does not qualify for my weekly review. These are excellent shows that are simply too frequently released for me to rank and critique on an episode-to-episode basis, but certainly merit attention. First up: The Writer's Almanac from American Public Media.
I never thought I would have the stamina to keep pace with a daily podcast, but when said podcast is a joyfully sleepy five minute meander through poetry and literary history the pleasure is all mine.
Admittedly there are some days that evade my grasp, and I've been able to make peace with the missed shows without obsessing over catching every installment - peace of mind not easily found in an oft-released podcast. The sort of information conveyed through The Writer's Almanac would probably be compelling enough on it's own to garner support from this listener. Add to that foundation Garrison Keilor (of public radio and specifically Prairie Home Companion fame) and his even-tempered sonorous tremble and it's hard not to tune in 7-days-a-week.
While this podcast is essentially just a man reading a poem and a selected bibliography, it is also the foundations of a society being revealed, retold and contextualized with almost grandiose subtlety. Much like the fictional Lake Wobegon about which our narrator opined weekly on Prairie Home Companion (before ceding the reigns to Chris Thile in mid-2016), The Writer's Almanac is both of a time apart and utterly relevant in our modern world. Birthdays of biblio-centric figures from the annals of our cultural past might appear to be banal footnotes, but in reality they hold such incredible importance to a free and creative society. Literature has never been so thrilling!
Whenever flashes of digital absolutism surface in my mind, I turn calmly to this daily reminder to slow down and set the worries to rest along with my agency to enact any sort of enormous change. Individual actions speak volumes, and the very practice of daily communion with The Writer's Almanac sets me up to find a balance. I find great joy in listening to this podcast in it's digital format, and it would be altogether difficult to consume such a product with steady regularity in the absence of technology.
It's astounding that all of these thoughts enter my mind courtesy of a very lightly editorialized work. Of course there is the inevitable decision about which poem to choose and which people to spotlight, but in my estimation everything appears to be equitably spread across the spectrum of race/gender/age/notoriety. A good deal of the names that grace the podcast resound in familiarity, but there are also quite a few that I have not previously encountered. This balance is difficult to strike, and perhaps a closer look at the demographic breakdown would reveal some disparity. One might argue that it simply doesn't matter, that statistics and parity are for the workplace or something with a larger implications. The Writer's Almanac does boast 2.4 million weekly listeners, and so it is perhaps a conversation worth pursuing.
At any rate, this show provides a stabilizing dose of routine in our presently rocky jaunt through time and space. From the greeting at the top of the show that references the date (surprisingly necessary some days!) to the classic sign-off, Keilor and American Public Media are always welcome in my home. The immortal words that end each show are a bit poetic in and of themselves: "Be well, do good work, and keep in touch." This mantra is an excellent model for how to live life. Prioritize self-care while creating something to be proud of, all the while knitting together relationships to foster a sense of community. It's simple but elegant, obvious and yet profound - a perfect complement to a podcast that inhabits those same juxtapositions.
Check out the show online here: http://writersalmanac.org/
Subscribe to the daily audio feed here: http://writersalmanac.org/podcast/
I never thought I would have the stamina to keep pace with a daily podcast, but when said podcast is a joyfully sleepy five minute meander through poetry and literary history the pleasure is all mine.
Admittedly there are some days that evade my grasp, and I've been able to make peace with the missed shows without obsessing over catching every installment - peace of mind not easily found in an oft-released podcast. The sort of information conveyed through The Writer's Almanac would probably be compelling enough on it's own to garner support from this listener. Add to that foundation Garrison Keilor (of public radio and specifically Prairie Home Companion fame) and his even-tempered sonorous tremble and it's hard not to tune in 7-days-a-week.
While this podcast is essentially just a man reading a poem and a selected bibliography, it is also the foundations of a society being revealed, retold and contextualized with almost grandiose subtlety. Much like the fictional Lake Wobegon about which our narrator opined weekly on Prairie Home Companion (before ceding the reigns to Chris Thile in mid-2016), The Writer's Almanac is both of a time apart and utterly relevant in our modern world. Birthdays of biblio-centric figures from the annals of our cultural past might appear to be banal footnotes, but in reality they hold such incredible importance to a free and creative society. Literature has never been so thrilling!
Whenever flashes of digital absolutism surface in my mind, I turn calmly to this daily reminder to slow down and set the worries to rest along with my agency to enact any sort of enormous change. Individual actions speak volumes, and the very practice of daily communion with The Writer's Almanac sets me up to find a balance. I find great joy in listening to this podcast in it's digital format, and it would be altogether difficult to consume such a product with steady regularity in the absence of technology.
It's astounding that all of these thoughts enter my mind courtesy of a very lightly editorialized work. Of course there is the inevitable decision about which poem to choose and which people to spotlight, but in my estimation everything appears to be equitably spread across the spectrum of race/gender/age/notoriety. A good deal of the names that grace the podcast resound in familiarity, but there are also quite a few that I have not previously encountered. This balance is difficult to strike, and perhaps a closer look at the demographic breakdown would reveal some disparity. One might argue that it simply doesn't matter, that statistics and parity are for the workplace or something with a larger implications. The Writer's Almanac does boast 2.4 million weekly listeners, and so it is perhaps a conversation worth pursuing.
At any rate, this show provides a stabilizing dose of routine in our presently rocky jaunt through time and space. From the greeting at the top of the show that references the date (surprisingly necessary some days!) to the classic sign-off, Keilor and American Public Media are always welcome in my home. The immortal words that end each show are a bit poetic in and of themselves: "Be well, do good work, and keep in touch." This mantra is an excellent model for how to live life. Prioritize self-care while creating something to be proud of, all the while knitting together relationships to foster a sense of community. It's simple but elegant, obvious and yet profound - a perfect complement to a podcast that inhabits those same juxtapositions.
Check out the show online here: http://writersalmanac.org/
Subscribe to the daily audio feed here: http://writersalmanac.org/podcast/
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