5 Comments

I'm not sure PHC's audience was into Bob Dylan as much as Garrison would have us believe. I suspect any guest could draw the audience away from the show's routine features for a moment or two at least. Dylan's drawback was probably his price.

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PHC (a belated reply to your writing of George Floyd in March)

Just finished reading 'Still thinking of George, wishing I'd known him.' As an avid fan of your writings, this piece was every word a soulful blessing to George Floyd. Thank you!

P.S. My mom passed when I was young. My dad hired a housekeeper who looked after us (3 kids). As a tadpole, I envisioned a special light surrounding her. As the youngest I hung on to her apron strings as if she were my mom now. Your mention of George and his upbringing in the Houston projects reminded me of where Florilla lived. On occasion I would ride with her across town and stay the weekend. I didn't realize until some years later, she always gave up her own feather bed to let me bed down. It was truly a cloud nine. Many times I would hear her humming a gospel and like clockwork, on Sunday she and I would walk hand-in-hand to her Baptist Church close by. I was a small white dot in the sea of her congregation. The love vibrations and hymn jubilation were electric. I cherish her and memories of her warmth and love. Thank you for a very enjoyable reminiscence.

Regards of best ...Robert

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Wondering if Garrison is watching Atlantic Crossing and what he thinks of the storyline.

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I taught high school in Los Angeles for almost 30 years. For many years when the tardy bell rang for period 1 at 7:25, I would tune into The Writers Almanac. The familiar music signaled the beginning of the best five minutes of the hour. The kids and I shared those minutes as audience and many times I’d hand out copies of a poem we had especially enjoyed. Thank you for the poems, the music and enriching my lesson plans.

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Although I grew up in Minneapolis, I moved to the west coast of Canada in the 70s and so missed the weekly dose of PHC but we raised our kids on the tapes and CDs of the "News" and so GK became sort of a fun uncle to the family. We got to see GK in Vancouver once on stage and, of course, we read the books. GK&Fs seems a great way to keep up now. In Canada for years we had Stuart McLean and his "Vinyl Cafe" on CBC to go along with Garrison's "News from Lake Wobegon." I wonder if Stuart and Garrison ever compared notes on how the radio creates communities and good stories have their timeless magic.

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