god, you are right on. about everything. i think my dad, who’d be 92 this year & tuned me on to you from Sartell & worked for a while up by you @SJU, would agree. i miss your old songs, like ‘my mailbox is open’ & the old lady who went out in the snow to meet the wolves. so happy to be able to still read the Voice of Minnesota down here in Nashville 50 years later.
Dear GK, I think the messages you get arguing that you should or should not write about certain subjects are very funny. Please continue to share and comment on them. Oooops !
I think you are a marvel of patience and good humor with some of your sour correspondents. You’re entitled to be opinionated or political or whatever you feel in the mood to be. After all, they’re being as cranky as they feel like being and it goes both ways. I’m 86, and cheer you on. People know nothing about growing older or are terrified of it. Maybe both. That surely accounts for some of the snide stuff. I say Lay it on! During the pandemic I began experimenting with podcasts instead of writing. (You can publish right away and need no one else's permission!) been doing weekly random 5 minute “buttons” from my inexhaustible Button Box of Memory to a curated assorted mailing list, and whatever the response, it’s kept ME sane, which was the goal. What people really maybe need to know, which you and I certainly know, is you need to keep reinventing yourself to stay alive and vital. (In darker moods I say we’re like sharks, who have to keep moving or they drown.) But I’ve gone on overtime. Keep doing exactly what you’re doing and keep making it new. And long may you wave!
With respect, I (mildly) disagree with Garrison's response to "Don"; it's really important that we read and consider opposing political views, assuming those views are offered thoughtfully, with respect, and in good faith. I think Garrison meets those standards. I'm a liberal and have been one for 50+ years; so far I've seen few reasons for changing. I agree with conservatives that "there is no free lunch" but we can still plan and organize for progress.
I've always looked for and valued intelligent, thoughtful conservative perspectives. Hell, they're often right, and I've often moderated my views as a result.
Trouble is, it is genuinely harder and harder to find those thoughtful, respectful perspectives on the Right.
I appreciate being sent "the post to the host" comments! I admit I have not contributed any money directly to your online writings but I did purchase a couple of your coffee cups that I love entitled "I am a Democrat". I use one myself and passed one on to my Son in law who is also a democrat. I don't however drink coffee but I have enjoyed many cups of tea and hot chocolate from my cup. My wife being she is a Republican hates it and I'm probably lucky it hasn't been destroyed. I'm 71 and at my passing that cup will probably be the first thing to go other than me. I also have bought some of your CD's and DVD's. I also saw you live in Greensboro NC a few years back in a front row seat which I thoroughly enjoyed! Strange story though about that front row seat. My Daughter who lives in Arkansas bought me a ticket to that show knowing how much I enjoy your shows. However the ticket turned out to be to what was probably the worst seat in the house which actually wasn't all that bad. I was seated beside two very nice black women up against the back wall. But just before the show started a lady came up to me and told me they have another seat for me? So she took me down to the front row which had a long row of permanent seats and one wooden chair on the end of the front row. I couldn't believe my luck! I just sat there in awe and disbelief at my good luck through the whole show. My daughter didn't admit to having anything to do with me getting me the front row seat but what ever it was that caused it, I'm eternally grateful for. We can't be right all the time but I'd say 50% or better ain't bad unless your taking a test so I hope you don't quit admitting that you are a Democrat. I really try to avoid politics but it's so hard to do. I'm trying hard not to write anything political but I find myself doing it anyway then going back and deleting most.
I first heard one of your radio shows (a prairie home companion) when I was traveling west across the country back in the 90's on my way from Ohio to Colorado on a Elk hunt. I really enjoyed it and when I returned home I sought the show out on local radio and listened to in many years when I could. I really wasn't a big country music fan but I have always been a big fan of Folk music. I found your show to be soo entertaining, with a great combination of music and humor. I will try to make it a point to donate a little to your website. Your website seems to hint that folks who donate will receive something extra but I can't imagine what as I'm pretty happy with what I'm getting for free. However, I do feel like I owe you something for the great entertainment so I'll see what I can do as it seems only fair.
How can your wife remain a republican with the "GOP" having adopted shameless, open lying and voter suppression as its primary strategies for gaining power? How can she be okay with things like the Big Lie, birtherism and the ongoing effort to purge the party of people who are not 100% loyal to trump? Does she not see the danger that conspiracy theories and the politicization of a pandemic pose to our democracy? Does she just not see or care about any of this stuff? Is she blindly attached to a family tradition of belonging to the party of Lincoln, albeit in name only? What is the attraction of a party that stands for racism and greed? I just don't get it.
Going on 82, I resonate to your aging pieces., and hope for more. Even though your present cohort is shrinking, a collection in yet another book could be enjoyed by those passing through this time in their lives long after you are gone.
Just a note to say that Myfanwy doesn't speak for all of us Canadians. My attitude is that Garrison seems so nice and considerate that he's almost Canadian. Pretty obvious that he comes from a very northern state, for sure. And on the aging discussion: no one said it better than a friend who observed that "life is like a roll of toilet paper - the closer the end, the faster it goes". 'Nuff said. Cheers to you all, and hang in there - better days are coming.
I enjoy reading your material and enjoy all of the material from PHC I recorded every program on tapes and now haven't got a way to listen to them. So Saturdays on computer are so much fun for me!
I feel like having seen, listened, and read your work, I have appreciated the work of the Mark Twain of my era. A perfect day for me was listening to Prairie Home on Saturday night. After 7pm then anyone could disturb me but not before. Years ago with a former girlfriend on the dock in the St.Croix river we had a radio set up. The news had a Lake Wobegon couple visiting the great north. They were on the dock of a lake when a float plane operator hustled them onto his plane. Being good Lutherans they did correct this mistake but allowed themselves to be put on to the plane. As you told this story angry black clouds rolled in. We had to grab our chairs and radio off the dock and run for cover. By the time we got re set indoors the story was ended. For that one I had to come up with my own ending. Still a perfect story. Thanks so much. You are a national treasure.
Ever since about 1976 when 4 of us back-to-the-landers bought a wood-stove heated hunting shack and 60 acres in the Shawnee Nat'l Forest of Southern Illinois, I've been listening to you. We had no TV, telephone, indoor bathroom, or siding on the 4 room house, but we had glorious trees, music we made around fires, lots of friends, clean water in the creeks, hilarious fun, adventures, and hard work, and we had the radio - where we heard you every week. We even all bought Powdermilk Biscuit T shirts (I still have). I'm also still living on that remote land, retired and writing in a beautiful landscaped cedar house where my husband and I raised 4 successful children who all flew the coop, and living successfully far away. I'm a big fan of yours. Heard you twice telling stories at the auditorium at SIUCarbondale from which I retired as an academic. I've bought lots of your CD's to listen to on long car trips. You are a master. I don't like hearing people give you advice about what to write or not write. You just keep doing, writing, and saying whatever you feel. You've already done 10 times more than most people to lift others' spirits and make them think. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Once we reach our mid-70s there is certainly a greater awareness of our mortality, the fact that we have entered the "Twilight Zone" of our lives, a phase where we realise that we better get a move on if we want to achieve everything on our bucket list.
I was born in 1939, not long after my birthplace, Tilburg in the south of the Netherlands, was invaded by the Germans, in the upstairs family home of my parents' bookshop. After the war my parents divorced and our mother took the 5 of us children to the then Netherlands East Indies to join her new husband who became our stepfather. When the Indonesians declared themselves independent my parents in 1950 took us to Australia , the Promised Land, where they struggled to clothe, feed and educate us, but they did, for which I became so incredibly grateful as both parents had to foresake their academic careers to take on several menial jobs.
After 20 years working in Papua New Guinea I returned to Australia and for the next 45 years I had my own business as a bookseller and distributor.
Now retired and aged 81 I look back at a life well-lived, blessed with a gorgeous wife and 5 children, and have started on recording my life story, which I reckon will take me another 10 years or more.
The thing that really keeps me going and strongly motivated are my regular rounds of golf with some good friends. I'm not much good at it but OMG it's so Enjoyable, chasing a little dimpled ball around the golf course is really therapeutic.
My philosophy about golf is that every round I play is just a practice round, until I achieve my Best Ever Score. A metaphor for life that I highly recommend to you and yours...
I fondly remember our morning song fests on the Alaska Cruise. What a privilege. When we sang one of my favorites, "It is Well with my Soul," you came over to help the base section, which made us simply splendid. What wonderful memories! Your personality and all of the great folks you attracted for that voyage and others made it all possible. I believe I sent you a picture of the two of us taken a few minutes later. Blessings, and thank you, David Kingsley
god, you are right on. about everything. i think my dad, who’d be 92 this year & tuned me on to you from Sartell & worked for a while up by you @SJU, would agree. i miss your old songs, like ‘my mailbox is open’ & the old lady who went out in the snow to meet the wolves. so happy to be able to still read the Voice of Minnesota down here in Nashville 50 years later.
GK, my hubs and I absolutely love everything you write. Please keep it coming!
Dear GK, I think the messages you get arguing that you should or should not write about certain subjects are very funny. Please continue to share and comment on them. Oooops !
I think you are a marvel of patience and good humor with some of your sour correspondents. You’re entitled to be opinionated or political or whatever you feel in the mood to be. After all, they’re being as cranky as they feel like being and it goes both ways. I’m 86, and cheer you on. People know nothing about growing older or are terrified of it. Maybe both. That surely accounts for some of the snide stuff. I say Lay it on! During the pandemic I began experimenting with podcasts instead of writing. (You can publish right away and need no one else's permission!) been doing weekly random 5 minute “buttons” from my inexhaustible Button Box of Memory to a curated assorted mailing list, and whatever the response, it’s kept ME sane, which was the goal. What people really maybe need to know, which you and I certainly know, is you need to keep reinventing yourself to stay alive and vital. (In darker moods I say we’re like sharks, who have to keep moving or they drown.) But I’ve gone on overtime. Keep doing exactly what you’re doing and keep making it new. And long may you wave!
Your goodness shines through everything you write about. Thanks for your insight. I always feel better after reading your thoughts.
With respect, I (mildly) disagree with Garrison's response to "Don"; it's really important that we read and consider opposing political views, assuming those views are offered thoughtfully, with respect, and in good faith. I think Garrison meets those standards. I'm a liberal and have been one for 50+ years; so far I've seen few reasons for changing. I agree with conservatives that "there is no free lunch" but we can still plan and organize for progress.
I've always looked for and valued intelligent, thoughtful conservative perspectives. Hell, they're often right, and I've often moderated my views as a result.
Trouble is, it is genuinely harder and harder to find those thoughtful, respectful perspectives on the Right.
I appreciate being sent "the post to the host" comments! I admit I have not contributed any money directly to your online writings but I did purchase a couple of your coffee cups that I love entitled "I am a Democrat". I use one myself and passed one on to my Son in law who is also a democrat. I don't however drink coffee but I have enjoyed many cups of tea and hot chocolate from my cup. My wife being she is a Republican hates it and I'm probably lucky it hasn't been destroyed. I'm 71 and at my passing that cup will probably be the first thing to go other than me. I also have bought some of your CD's and DVD's. I also saw you live in Greensboro NC a few years back in a front row seat which I thoroughly enjoyed! Strange story though about that front row seat. My Daughter who lives in Arkansas bought me a ticket to that show knowing how much I enjoy your shows. However the ticket turned out to be to what was probably the worst seat in the house which actually wasn't all that bad. I was seated beside two very nice black women up against the back wall. But just before the show started a lady came up to me and told me they have another seat for me? So she took me down to the front row which had a long row of permanent seats and one wooden chair on the end of the front row. I couldn't believe my luck! I just sat there in awe and disbelief at my good luck through the whole show. My daughter didn't admit to having anything to do with me getting me the front row seat but what ever it was that caused it, I'm eternally grateful for. We can't be right all the time but I'd say 50% or better ain't bad unless your taking a test so I hope you don't quit admitting that you are a Democrat. I really try to avoid politics but it's so hard to do. I'm trying hard not to write anything political but I find myself doing it anyway then going back and deleting most.
I first heard one of your radio shows (a prairie home companion) when I was traveling west across the country back in the 90's on my way from Ohio to Colorado on a Elk hunt. I really enjoyed it and when I returned home I sought the show out on local radio and listened to in many years when I could. I really wasn't a big country music fan but I have always been a big fan of Folk music. I found your show to be soo entertaining, with a great combination of music and humor. I will try to make it a point to donate a little to your website. Your website seems to hint that folks who donate will receive something extra but I can't imagine what as I'm pretty happy with what I'm getting for free. However, I do feel like I owe you something for the great entertainment so I'll see what I can do as it seems only fair.
Terry
How can your wife remain a republican with the "GOP" having adopted shameless, open lying and voter suppression as its primary strategies for gaining power? How can she be okay with things like the Big Lie, birtherism and the ongoing effort to purge the party of people who are not 100% loyal to trump? Does she not see the danger that conspiracy theories and the politicization of a pandemic pose to our democracy? Does she just not see or care about any of this stuff? Is she blindly attached to a family tradition of belonging to the party of Lincoln, albeit in name only? What is the attraction of a party that stands for racism and greed? I just don't get it.
Going on 82, I resonate to your aging pieces., and hope for more. Even though your present cohort is shrinking, a collection in yet another book could be enjoyed by those passing through this time in their lives long after you are gone.
Just a note to say that Myfanwy doesn't speak for all of us Canadians. My attitude is that Garrison seems so nice and considerate that he's almost Canadian. Pretty obvious that he comes from a very northern state, for sure. And on the aging discussion: no one said it better than a friend who observed that "life is like a roll of toilet paper - the closer the end, the faster it goes". 'Nuff said. Cheers to you all, and hang in there - better days are coming.
Whatever you choose to write or say or sing, I continue to be happy to read and/or listen to!
I enjoy reading your material and enjoy all of the material from PHC I recorded every program on tapes and now haven't got a way to listen to them. So Saturdays on computer are so much fun for me!
I feel like having seen, listened, and read your work, I have appreciated the work of the Mark Twain of my era. A perfect day for me was listening to Prairie Home on Saturday night. After 7pm then anyone could disturb me but not before. Years ago with a former girlfriend on the dock in the St.Croix river we had a radio set up. The news had a Lake Wobegon couple visiting the great north. They were on the dock of a lake when a float plane operator hustled them onto his plane. Being good Lutherans they did correct this mistake but allowed themselves to be put on to the plane. As you told this story angry black clouds rolled in. We had to grab our chairs and radio off the dock and run for cover. By the time we got re set indoors the story was ended. For that one I had to come up with my own ending. Still a perfect story. Thanks so much. You are a national treasure.
Ever since about 1976 when 4 of us back-to-the-landers bought a wood-stove heated hunting shack and 60 acres in the Shawnee Nat'l Forest of Southern Illinois, I've been listening to you. We had no TV, telephone, indoor bathroom, or siding on the 4 room house, but we had glorious trees, music we made around fires, lots of friends, clean water in the creeks, hilarious fun, adventures, and hard work, and we had the radio - where we heard you every week. We even all bought Powdermilk Biscuit T shirts (I still have). I'm also still living on that remote land, retired and writing in a beautiful landscaped cedar house where my husband and I raised 4 successful children who all flew the coop, and living successfully far away. I'm a big fan of yours. Heard you twice telling stories at the auditorium at SIUCarbondale from which I retired as an academic. I've bought lots of your CD's to listen to on long car trips. You are a master. I don't like hearing people give you advice about what to write or not write. You just keep doing, writing, and saying whatever you feel. You've already done 10 times more than most people to lift others' spirits and make them think. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
A writer is someone who is persistent in finding a word or phrase that communicates their thought or feeling perfectly. It's a very wonderful thing.
Hi Garrison,
Once we reach our mid-70s there is certainly a greater awareness of our mortality, the fact that we have entered the "Twilight Zone" of our lives, a phase where we realise that we better get a move on if we want to achieve everything on our bucket list.
I was born in 1939, not long after my birthplace, Tilburg in the south of the Netherlands, was invaded by the Germans, in the upstairs family home of my parents' bookshop. After the war my parents divorced and our mother took the 5 of us children to the then Netherlands East Indies to join her new husband who became our stepfather. When the Indonesians declared themselves independent my parents in 1950 took us to Australia , the Promised Land, where they struggled to clothe, feed and educate us, but they did, for which I became so incredibly grateful as both parents had to foresake their academic careers to take on several menial jobs.
After 20 years working in Papua New Guinea I returned to Australia and for the next 45 years I had my own business as a bookseller and distributor.
Now retired and aged 81 I look back at a life well-lived, blessed with a gorgeous wife and 5 children, and have started on recording my life story, which I reckon will take me another 10 years or more.
The thing that really keeps me going and strongly motivated are my regular rounds of golf with some good friends. I'm not much good at it but OMG it's so Enjoyable, chasing a little dimpled ball around the golf course is really therapeutic.
My philosophy about golf is that every round I play is just a practice round, until I achieve my Best Ever Score. A metaphor for life that I highly recommend to you and yours...
I fondly remember our morning song fests on the Alaska Cruise. What a privilege. When we sang one of my favorites, "It is Well with my Soul," you came over to help the base section, which made us simply splendid. What wonderful memories! Your personality and all of the great folks you attracted for that voyage and others made it all possible. I believe I sent you a picture of the two of us taken a few minutes later. Blessings, and thank you, David Kingsley