Chris Lydon is a journalist, radio host, and observer of human behavior. He also has a deep love for jazz, books, and a good bowl of oatmeal. Chris and I became friends some ten years ago because of his legendary radio show and podcast, Radio Open Source. The first podcaster in the history of the medium, a former reporter for the NY Times, Chris cares a great deal about where we’ve been, as citizens of planet earth, and where we are going.
Over the years it has become a tradition that I come spend some days in Boston, talking with him and participating in his daily life. A tradition that has had a massive impact on my life, a pilgrimage that I dare not miss. At Chris’s kitchen table, eating oatmeal, talking about the world… thats where I love to be. So what better way to start a 2018 of restoration and rebirth…. it’s Chris Lydon and myself.. looking back at 2017 and finding clues about 2018.
A cool wind blew through my tshirt and grey clouds rumbled above my head today, as I scooped water from out the boat. Never the funnest task in the world, I always have podcasts playing in my ears while I balance myself over the boat, keeping my feet from touching the water.
A perfect backdrop for listening to Radio Open Source’s interview with Norman Mailer. I’m often quick to say that I admire Mailer, and look up to him as a writer and a thinker. But as I listened today, I realized I hardly know the man.. and in fact there is much more to admire than I’d previously assumed.
What I liked best was his words regarding ignorance and television. And even his take on George Bush was actually extremely telling beyond the typical criticism you can hear everywhere else. It was about intelligence and admitting one’s mistakes, one’s limitations. Actually if you listen you may hear something even different from the way I summarize it… so you know what to do: listen to it!
