Madge Weinstein: Cancelled Friendships and Thus and So

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Mark Fonseca Rendeiro
In Amsterdam
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Madge Weinstein
Calling from Chicago

Legendary podcaster and esteemed political commentator Madge Weinstein returns to the program to update the gentle audience on what life is like when there are vaccines for covid but people somehow still manage to make each other sick.

Yeast Radio is my favorite podcast.

Eat This Hot Show may have ended.

Pod Save The Queens in about “The Crown”

538 isn’t really related but Madge mentioned them.

Leanne Kubicz: The Kansas City Covid Story

During this time of Corona around the world, there are some stories you hear over and over; political manoeuvring, some scientific explanations, the occasional story about a medical worker in a well known metropolitan area. Then there are the stories you will rarely hear: about cities with less than 1 million people, about professions like librarians – who play an essential role in daily American society during non pandemic times. Today on the podcast we hear from my good friend Leanne Kubicz in Kansas City, Missouri; about her work as a librarian and what happens to her city and members of her community when a pandemic comes to town.

Hear more from Leanne on:

Driving the Garden State Parkway South

Still retracing my audio steps from the recent United States visit, this time on the Garden State Parkway, looking out at all the cars and development and whathaveyou. Listen in as I simultaneously dodge dead deer while giving a socio-political analysis on the state of the states.

Christopher Lydon: What 2019 Tells Us About 2020

Somehow the end of a year (and a decade this time) doesn’t feel right if I don’t find myself at the dinner table in Boston sitting across from Christopher Lydon. The voice of the world’s first podcast, he’s been my north star ever since I started this thing long before itunes had podcasts or NPR knew what to do with the internet. As luck- or perhaps fate– would have it, Chris and I have become close friends over the years and the annual “where are we, what happened, where are we going” podcast conversation are among my most favorite rituals. (right after oatmeal, working on an episode of ROS with Mary and the team, and a historical walk around a neighborhood of Boston).
This year we can’t help but talk about the socio-policial state of the world, as well as the environmental crisis we continue to march towards. Then there’s music, books, conversations that have been important to us which may shed some light on why all this is happening and what there is to appreciate or condemn when all is said and done. Lastly, as good friends surely will, we take time to appreciate one another, as we both arrive at landmark decades when it comes to age and wisdom.
Listen in and stay for the whole ride for what is an honest and heartfelt conversation… to end one year and welcome in another.

Outbursts, Setting Things on Fire and other Non-Japanese Behavior

Phone booth being used as a toilet? Bicycles being thrown into rivers? Vending machines being driven into by cars? Today on the podcast, the great Matthew Dons riffs on the many things that just could not happen in Japan. Yet, actually happen in this world. Get those ears ready for a treat!

The Fog of Rural Virginia

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Photo by Jimmy Emerson, DVM via Flickr

I didn’t see the sign that would have said “Welcome to Virginia” accompanied by what I assume is still the “Virginia is for lovers” tag line. All I saw along busy Interstate 77, through the pouring rain and looming fog, were some impressive hills that caused our fragile little compact car to wince as its engine revved in search of some non-existent muscle.  I was hoping to see the sign as an indicator of progress, as we passed hour number 7 on what should have been an 8 hour drive, but the large dark figures that began to line the road were sign enough: we’ve arrived in Appalachia, sacred region of culture, lore, and some crazy beautiful nature. Of course as far as the highway is concerned, it’s just more asphalt with slightly better scenery for the next 6 hours.

And so it was, that the day before Christmas eve a little car with New Jersey plates struggled its way to a beautiful town called Luray, Virginia. To visit friends, rest, but also to get a quick glimpse of what life is like there; another world that seems cut off from most everything, at least in my head.

Arriving in late evening in a rural American town in the mountains of Virginia, what you get is an extremely silent and still atmosphere. The craziest thing one can see are the winding roads and the tasteful Christmas lights decorating main street. Shops seemed to have closed hours ago, while the windows of closed restaurants still reveal some condensation from customers who were very recently enjoying a meal. Luray is sleepy at night, but there are plenty of signs that when the world wakes up tomorrow, this place will be busy.

photo by Rory Finneren via Flickr
photo by Rory Finneren via Flickr

There is nothing quite like waking up in a perfectly silent farm house made of stone and wood surrounded by nature and little else. Not too surprisingly, next to the bed of this fantastic bnb, there is one of those artificial noise machines so you can listen to the wind or some soothing white noise, if silence is too off-putting to fall asleep to.  Looking outside I see the vast green of forrest and fields that last night were nothing but shadows around my headlights. Scanning the horizon I see a house or two and wonder if those far away neighbors wake up the same way every day. Or maybe they just curse life and get on with it.

Sadly there is only time for oatmeal, tea, a quick walk around the building to listen to the rustling of leaves in the wind, water from a nearby stream, a cow or two somewhere nearby. We take it all in as quickly as possible, as the highway is a-callin’ and Christmas in New Jersey waits for no man (or woman). Driving past the farm houses, some in excellent condition, many abandoned, I can’t help wonder what happened to those people. Did they move away in search of more profitable work? Did they die in their now dilapidated homes, no one to take over and fix things up. How many family lines ended here?  – This was not surprisingly  followed by another typical line of thinking: what would it be like to take up residence here? Would a fool like me feel at home making a life next to Shenandoah National Park? Would every day be interesting and rewarding in some way? Wait, what am I talking about.. isn’t the grass always greener somewhere else? Don’t we typically trade good and bad aspects in one particular place for a set of mixed circumstances elsewhere? Is this part of being human, in the end? Few of these questions will ever get an answer. They are mostly just sparks in an over active imagination. But when you spend even only a few hours surrounded by such peace and beauty… sparks sure do fly.