quiet please, i'm listening

What I'll be doing here, mostly: listening. mostly to the radio. notes, reactions, observations, rants. Fewer rants than anything else, I hope.

Latest listening: too much NPR. Out of habit. There's a lot of stuff there I love, but there's more out there, as I was reminded last month, at the Third Coast Festival in Chicago.

What I meant to post last weekend:

Lately I have been listening to Speaking of Faith, a public radio program that has often annoyed me. Why? Because there really is something about the way that the host, Krista Tippett, handles it all. Of course we expect a certain handling, a certain honoring of the topic. It's faith, it's ephemeral, there are few facts to be had at the end of the day, it's not something to be held tightly to. I still don't really like listening 100%, and I won't become a regular, but I've been doing it more lately. just hold on to it a little more.

But here is the main thing: yesterday, she spoke with Studs Terkel. Legend. He was occasionally patronizing (or perhaps a touch forgetful at 90-something) when he asks her (the host of a show about faith), you know what an agnostic is, don't you? She says yes. He says: a cowardly atheist.

I'm sure that's an old little joke and I have just not heard it before, but it made me laugh.

(also, i think i am listening to ATC weekend as i write and someone has been asked to hold a slinky to the mic. it sounds like things, soft little metallic things, sliding around. it makes me happy. i believe this bit is all about the choices for the toy hall of fame, which included the cardboard box, which made me very happy as a kid and happy now to know that, as always, the most simple is the best, for toys and the rest).

Next time: personal equations