“Blah blah blah…public radio–very reflective.” This week’s vintage selection, inspired by Chicago’s own Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, is a montage of the many ways that radio can flexibly describe the human condition in the form of 20 Acts in 60 Minutes. They say the best way to get along is to mirror communication patterns, so here’s our short take on the show, in a series of haikus.
Act 1
Starlee Kine faces
almost fame with B-Actor
Mensch ends up uncouth.
Act 2
Existential angst
Man sees femme fatale. She was
Not memorable
Act 3
Hear aural Craigslist
Community radio
Real culture revealed
Act 4
Right near the beach there’s
A fresh sight from Nantucket
Fat ladies surfing
Act 5
Scallops clapping
We the audience listen
on Martha’s Vineyard
Act 6
Gross lunchroom story
Good student journalism
Turned off of pudding
Act 7
Drunk Crazy Fearless
Another side of Penguin
Shows a shy, soft side
Act 8
A dog has its day
On This American Life,
His confirmation
Act 9
Woman holds collar
Looks at husband like a pet
This man is so whipped.
Act 10
Courting in grammar
Anxiety of the game
Love, a battlefield
Act 11
Considering call
On the john at the airport
–David Sedaris
Act 12
Little kiddies lie
Even recounting reruns,
Don’t even know it
Act 13
Boys don’t understand
Eating while babysitting
Is a non-issue
Act 14
Chicago hotdogs
Vienna Beef is life blood
But how are they made?
Act 15
Rakoff misjudged the
writing based society
Oops (the Internet)
Act 16
You see him a lot
In the office and outside
But what is his name?
Act 17
Man versus nature?
No, In this scenario
Man imitates swamp
Act 18
Sex Drugs Coco Puffs
Rock and Roll and TV shows
Pop culture mirrors
Act 19
Cadets follow rules
Struggle to become robots
No emotion sir
Act 20
Naughty teenage girls
Who made their mamas cry, sing,
Now make tears of pride