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Comments from the week of Aug. 19

Hi, Garrison.

I have been a micro press publisher for more than 25 years and the decline of book sales across the industry has me concerned, both for myself (I’m less than a handful of years behind you) as well as for the writers of so many books that will not find their readers. This includes my favorites over the years that never made the bestseller list, those gems we try to at least share with friends.

In response to your comment about an English teacher who can’t make his students read: it occurs to me that now children are attached to their screens from nursery school on — not to mention babies who can work their parents’ cell phones! Their interest is in images. I can’t help but wonder if this is causing a decline in imagination. Is it not imagination that carries a reader through a story and into the realm of limitless possibilities?

In my own writing (in multiple genres … a writer gotta write!) I love nonsense verse for children as well as amusing ABC books on multiple subjects from cats and dogs to noses, but as I attempt to get some things into the audio market (the only literary venue growing rapidly), I don’t know if young children can be encouraged to “imagine” along with the words? Thoughts? Losing the ability to imagine seems both sad and dangerous.

Thanks again for so many years of inspiration and joy!

Annette Chaudet

There is so much instant gratification to be found with a computer screen, you can google the Magna Carta, Marilyn Monroe, hear Bill Monroe sing “Uncle Pen,” find out who invented the lead pencil, see a diagram of the penis, read about penicillin, Sylvester Stallone, the Lone Ranger, the Rolling Stones, all in ten minutes, and who needs to pick up a book when you can surf. It’s boredom that moves a person to pick up a book and boredom is disappearing, there’s entertainment everywhere. But the pleasure of writing is in the writing and a writer can survive very well without readers. I used to have thousands of them and now have hundreds and it’s not a problem. People make their own choices. I don’t feel sorry for Emily Dickinson; I think that when she wrote, “I live in Possibility, a fairer house than Prose,” she felt real delight. GK

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Garrison,

Why do you wear red shoes during your live appearances? 

Bill Testerman 

I wear them to signify cheerfulness and compensate for my grim evangelical facial expression that I acquired growing up listening to grim discussions of Old Testament prophecy during two-hour-long Bible study. GK

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Garrison,

I wrote this for a Civil War-era historian friend for his 60th birthday.

When Lincoln went down to Booth’s raging,

’Twas Stanton whose words were upstaging.

So, channeling Ed, 

I offer, instead,

Now you belong to the aging!

Bruce Rogowski

East Harwich, Massachusetts

A writer of limericks named Bruce

Writes lines that are lovely and loose;

He’s top-of-the-class

In East Harwich, Mass.,

Though his references may be obtuse. GK

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I know Florida is not exactly the place to be these days (maybe these years), but I really wish you would come and entertain us in Tallahassee. I am 83 and fear we don’t have enough years left to get Florida worthy of a visit. Maybe you could hold your nose and come anyway. 

Nancy Fischer
Tallahassee, Florida

I have in-laws in Tallahassee who tell me it’s beautiful with tall trees and friendly people, but I only go where I’m invited and so far nobody in Tallahassee has asked me to come, and I’m swiftly getting older. I’m so old now that TSA agents don’t yell at me to take my shoes off and the drivers of airport carts offer me a ride. GK

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GK,

I imagine you’ve met a lot of people in your lifetime, many of those who might be considered famous. If you could choose to visit with someone you’ve never met (past or present), who would you choose?

Marlene Andersen

Past: I’d like to meet the apostle Luke and hear more about what he witnessed and what his life was like; it seems to me that his gospel got shriven and shriveled over the centuries. Present: I’d like to meet Donald Trump under hypnosis that would relax his defenses and his shtick and enable him to give an honest heartfelt account of what in God’s name he is up to. GK

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Dear Garrison,

I’m very glad your heart surgery was so successful but know that many replacement heart valves today are made from bovine tissue. One of the largest makers of heart valves in the world (Edwards Lifesciences) uses bovine tissue exclusively. Please give the amazing cow a little due.

Second, I read a lot, 57 books so far this year and your That Time of Year is one of my favorites of 2023. I’m still chuckling over the description of one of your ancestors who left his family behind on three different occasions to try his hand at gold prospecting and other fruitless ventures: “It was the 19th century when irresponsibility was called ‘pioneering.’” Perfection.

Stay well. Keep writing.

Warm regards,
Beverly Khosh

My replacement valve is porcine, not bovine. I wasn’t offered a choice but I’ve often expressed my gratitude to the pig who gave his life to extend mine and I am trying to make my extended life worth his or her sacrifice. My ancestor David Powell was possessed of curiosity. He was a farmer but he couldn’t restrain his urge to head west. I think that gold was his excuse but I don’t think he was very disappointed when it didn’t pan out. He hunted antelope with the Arapaho, he saw the mountains of Colorado, he served in the territorial legislature and was mayor of Pueblo, he met all sorts of interesting people. He was a progressive thinker and I wish I could hook up with other descendants of his and maybe learn more about him. He’s my hero. Compared to him, I’m a timid recluse. My grandma Keillor was his granddaughter and she was a progressive too, an abolitionist, in favor of equal opportunity for women, a true optimist who believed in science and engineering. If she were alive today, she’d be so proud of her great-great-granddaughters who are forging ahead and she’d be astonished that America has yet to elect a woman president. GK

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Mr. Keillor,

I seem to remember that back in the late 1980s you were hoping to interview Irving Berlin. I know that did not happen before he died, but I wondered if you learned anything special about him at the time. For, in my estimation, he was the greatest songwriter of all time, bar none!

Richard A. Reichle
Maple Grove, Minnesota

I got to attend Mr. Berlin’s 100^th birthday party at Carnegie Hall but I never got to meet him. I did get to sing What’ll I Do? on the show once and, doing a show with a singing intermission, I sing God Bless America and the audience is right there with “land that I love, stand beside her and guide her through the night with a light from above.” How can this be? Even young people know the words. GK

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You are the only other person I know for sure who is taking Levetiracetam. I started taking it in January after having a bilateral subdural hematoma (a brain bleed) in my head. I drove myself to the ER where they did a CT and said, “You need to immediately go to a neurosurgeon.” Dr. Rebecca washed out my brain, said I’d be okay. In rehab Connie (OT) and Devlin (PT) helped me to hold a fork in my left hand and to walk in a straight line, then sent me home.

Jerry Ligon

Little Elm, Texas

Glad you’re doing well, sir. I had a cerebral incident, a very odd sensation in the head, and drove myself to the hospital and escaped without surgery but was put on L. (aka Keppra) and it’s mostly done its work though a month ago, while doing a show in Riverhead, Long Island, I had a slight seizure and stood jaw agape for a couple minutes in front of an audience and ten minutes later felt just fine. Like every other person my age, I have plenty of memory loss, but it serves to keep me focused on today and tomorrow and not worry about the fact that 1947 is much more vivid in my memory than 2017. GK

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Hi, Mr. Keillor.

I’m just curious to know what you thought of President Trump’s mug shot. I think he’ll use it to his advantage. I wonder if all this attention will only make him stronger.

Christine Fallow

I think he was going for Ferocity but what he got instead was Flatulence. The jury will decide. GK

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Mr. Keillor:

It’s none of my business so don’t feel obliged to answer, but what happened that you went through two failed marriages before you arrived at your current happy marriage?

Joe Conroy

Memphis

I grew up in a strict environment that did not tolerate the idea of adolescence, a period of playful romantic liaisons, but pushed young people to clutch a partner as soon as possible. Which I did. Twice. My wife had a normal adolescence during which she formed close friendships, moved around, got the lay of the land, got to know her own mind, and when she met me she settled down and we’re quite settled together. She says, “Don’t idealize me,” and I try not to but it’s hard. GK

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Revisit the Lake Wobegon places and people we know and love—The Chatterbox Cafe, the Sidetrack Tap, the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility, the Bunsens and the Krebsbachs—in this collection of tales from Garrison Keillor.

CLICK HERE to buy the CDs or download the audio.