Public radio, how I’ve missed you!

I used to love listening to radio on the weekend. Often I’d be cleaning or doing laundry or sorting the schoolwork I had to grade while I listened to Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me, This American Life, Studio 360, sometimes From the Top. Back in my grad school days listening to WNKU (across the river from Cincinnati), I liked the World Cafe for music. Weekdays were for Fresh Air and the news shows.

Since my son was born, radio doesn’t make much of an appearance in our atmosphere at home, and it’s rare that I get to listen to radio while driving. I have not yet joined the 21st century and gotten into Podcasts or really seeking out a whole lot of audio/video media online, either. Mostly it’s just real-time radio for this chick.

But there’s not much time for that, either. If my husband has my son or the boy is with a sitter, I usually want to be writing or doing yoga or something else that doesn’t let me split my brain. But today I had some cleaning and cooking to do, so I got to hear a little of Studio 360 (May 30, 2009). Those folks are so good at painting a picture and making you want to learn more about art — and to make art (visual, literary or whatever) of your own. I particularly liked imagining the photos of Richard Misrach’s new book of beach photos taken over four years from a hotel room, and Miranda July’s short story was pretty cool. The history of Falling Water was interesting, and when I went to http://www.studio360.org/ , I enjoyed hearing the background behind the music of Arlington, VA-based songwriter Thao Ngyuen. My kitchen radio turned on at the tail end of Harlan Ellison’s interview and will have to go back to that one online later.

At any rate, I like feeling like an adult who has some kind of connection to the art world. Didn’t I move to DC in part because of the museums and all the cultural opportunities? Time to get back to the Mall, maybe for a Friday jazz night at the National Gallery.