Getting in Touch with My Midwestern Roots
I’m all American of half Norwegian ancestry, mostly midwestern and a tad southern. This mixture of backgrounds makes it a bit hard for me to identify strong roots, but one constant has been my Norwegian-American great aunt’s steady the-greatest-generation convictions. Thanks to modern communications technology and Garrison Keillor, I can now have those convictions downloaded onto my computer in comedic form once a week.
Though I’ve been listening to podcasts since iTunes 4.9 came out (we’re currently on iTunes 7.1), I did not discover until quite recently that A Prairie Home Companion’s (APHC) “News from Lake Wobegon” segment is available for free via RSS subscription*. I hope this little tip helps if you like to catch up on the news from Lake Wobegon, especially if you live outside the States and don’t have radio access to American public radio.
If you are not American but are interested in learning more about the US than just what you see in Hollywood movies or read in the sensationalist media, APHC would be a good resource, especially if you are interested in learning about the American midwest. As with almost all humor, however, the humor in APHC relies on a strong knowledge of the local culture, so you’d probably have to persevere a long time in listening and gather information from other resources as well before finding many of the jokes particularly funny. Still, I think many people, I’m thinking especially of Chinese people, would be quite surprised by what they learn about the US from APHC, much of which is quite different from the typical Chinese idea of what America is like.
*To subscribe to the “News From Lake Wobegon” in iTunes either search the iTunes Store or do this: iTunes > Advanced > Subscribe to Podcast > URL > OK
March 15, 2007 at 1:06 pm
As a proud Minnesotan, I support this post.
March 15, 2007 at 9:23 pm
And sometimes, even if you understand the cultural references, it’s still not even funny!
March 16, 2007 at 7:55 pm
And why don’t you come down from your ivory tower and explore the concept of “dry humor”?
March 17, 2007 at 2:03 am
Dave, I’m sorry if my post offended you–I forgot to add the crucial smiley face that would have indicated my playful tone.
March 17, 2007 at 2:54 am
Dave, I forgot the smiley again!
Anyway, I forgot to add that I DO listen to NPR and Prairie Home Companion all the time, and agree with Kevin that it embodies a truly noble aspect of America’s roots. Still, I don’t find it all that funny (it’s worth a smile once in a while). I don’t think that’s any reason for you to attack me.
March 18, 2007 at 5:09 am
Don’t worry, I was just feigning offense for the sake of it. It’s actually been a long while since I listened to PHC and as such I’m not particularly defensive about the program.