Post to the Host

Comments from the week of 02.25.24

A necessary sidebar on your remark concerning Kansas senators, in that state’s defense: Sam Brownback wasn’t bad, and most historians would grade Nancy Kassebaum and, of course, Bob Dole favorably. 

As for South Dakota, John Thune — at least — occasionally meanders into respectable and rational thought for a red state Republican. Before him came Democratic US Senator Tom Daschle, who served as Minority Leader.

Would that tube from MSP to Rochester serve primarily as rapid transportation for those headed to the Mayo Clinic for a checkup? Yikes. Even as a provocateur, your plains-baiting thoughts brought a smile to my face. If I’d read that during my year as a Wichita meteorologist, I doubt I would have taken it so well, though.

Yours in shallow thought,

Don Paul

I agree with you and I suppose Sen. Thune had no choice but to endorse the DJ but surely he knows that he will need to explain this to his grandchildren someday and it won’t be easy. As for the tube, I’m told by smart people that it won’t work so probably the Mayo-bound will need to fly or take a bus or be driven. I love Mayo, which, in my experience, combines big-city expertise and small-town amiability. I can make small talk with nurses there and they don’t mind. When you go there to have your chest opened up and your heart repaired, it helps, as they insert the IV, to talk about the weather and your plans for next week. GK

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Mr. Keillor,

My nephew, Adam Kirtley, met you, I believe, some time ago at the Indianapolis airport. You two were the first to arrive at a particular ticket counter. Adam is the chaplain at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, and was on his way home. He told me that he enjoyed much that you do and I, David Kirtley, especially enjoy your tales concerning Lake Wobegon.

Anyway, I will continue to enjoy your “humor and tales” on YouTube and wish you well.

Sincerely, 

David J. Kirtley

This is one of the bonuses of doing a radio show that you don’t know about when you venture into broadcasting, the unexpected friendship of strangers in airports and cafés and hotel lobbies and on the street. They walk up and say, “Are you----?” and you nod and they start to tell you their story. It’s always friendly and usually people apologize for “bothering you” but it’s really no bother. If only Adam had approached me sooner, we could’ve gotten into theology and what it’s like to be a college chaplain and isn’t it harder to be young now than it used to be? I think so. GK

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I would love to see A Prairie Home Companion live in California. More specifically, the San Francisco Bay Area. Thank you.

John Jeremi

I don’t think the show is cool enough to pass muster in San Francisco. The San Franciscans I know are miles ahead of me and I’d be terrified to stand up in front of an SF crowd and talk about a small town in Minnesota. They’d all leave during intermission. GK

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It is early morning and I am, sadly, up with my dogs. I am thinking of wonderful times in my life, and I just have to reach out to tell you that a few Christmases ago I went to your Christmas show at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri. At the intermission you led a sing-along. Your whole show was amazing and touched me deeply. It was damn near a spiritual event. I just wanted to let you know that you have touched my life. I just want you to know that my life is better because you are in it.

John

I love that phrase, “damn near a spiritual event.” That is a keeper. I loved that St. Louis show too and remember the audience singing beautifully and when we sang Silent Night it was so tender and I heard basses and altos and sopranos. And I think we sang It Is Well with My Soul and of course America and Away in a Manger. Most of the people in the crowd knew most of the words. I don’t think that’ll be true twenty years from now, do you? A choir of strangers: what a blessing. GK

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Hello, Garrison.

I loved seeing/listening to A Prairie Home Companion for years, enjoyed your creative work, your voice. The Writer’s Almanac is always interesting to read.

I am a cancer survivor living on Social Security. I make small donations to efforts I consider important to support when I can. But I cannot sign up for ongoing deductions. If you add a one-time option of unspecified amount to your donation box, I will drop a small amount now and then.

Thank you for the doses of humanity and humor you drop into our days.

Kinga Dessauer

Thanks, my dear, but don’t worry about donating. We’re fine. The Substack column is free, as I’m sure you know. Use the donation money to give yourself a butter-brickle ice cream cone now and then or a piece of toast with orange marmalade. GK

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Hello! If the Texas shows were taped, I would buy the CDs!

Ardent Fan 

The Austin show was streamed on video and I suppose it might be offered in the future if they can filter a big grin on my face. I look so somber. I don’t know why. My wife keeps telling me, “Smile!” and when she says it, I do, but she’s busy; she can’t accompany me everywhere. GK

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Hi, Garrison.

What a contrast … reading your account of the degree of courtesy and kindness you experienced in Texas made me wonder for a moment if you had switched to writing sci-fi stories. (Wonder what drugs they put in the water down there?)

I always thought Scranton was fairly civil for a Northeast city, but I think the rot has set in. For the first time, a week or so ago I was checking out at a local supermarket, and the 20-something who totaled up my groceries never spoke a word to me — no hello, no eye contact … she didn’t even speak my total out loud. And of course, no thank you or even the generic “Have a nice day.” I was sorely tempted to mention it to a manager (without identifying her, just a general suggestion that the staff might benefit from a little presentation on customer service) but figured it would go in one ear and out the other. Time to move south, I guess.

Looking forward to your show here in May!
Best,
Patricia McCormack

I guess she was having a bad day. It happens. Next time you go in that store, walk up to her and say, “Your outfit is so cool and I love your hair that way.” At least it’ll make her smile. GK

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Mr. Keillor,

I thoroughly enjoyed your column of 2/29 concerning your mixed feelings for Texas. I, too, am an aging self-righteous liberal, now retired. But I’m not here to debate the good, the bad, and the ugly of my home. I come to praise a Texas citizen, Kris Kristofferson. A true Renaissance man. A brilliant wordsmith who went into acting and gave some memorable performances in films such as Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Cisco Pike, A Star Is Born, Heaven’s Gate, Flashpoint, and Songwriter. Terrific films all. And you, Mr. Keillor, once performed the haunting Casey’s Last Ride on your program. So when I begin believing Texas has lost its grip on reality I recall Mr. Kristofferson’s humble beginnings in Brownsville. If a state can produce a mind, a heart, a soul such as his, it can’t be all bad. Right?

T. B. 

You’re right, of course, and I recall that beautiful song but it’s too sad for me to sing now. I’m too happy in old age to sing those lines about the New York subway, “the fatal echoes of the clicking of the turnstiles and the rattle of his chains” — I love the subway, it’s the heart and soul of the city. I rode the A train from JFK all the way to 59^th Street a week ago and enjoyed being part of the crowd. To me it wasn’t “poison air he’s breathing with the dirty smell of dying,” it was just a train taking me home. GK

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