Scott Koblish

NPR's Porch Series Is Driving Me Nuts

Not since the "Great God Bird" song has there been such a jaw droppingly tedious segment on All Things Considered. I wish they'd knock it off, but I guess they have to consider everything... As pointed out in today's episode, my not being from the South might be disabiling my ability to sit through each one of these unbearable segments. Much of the point of the series seem to be that people would gather around a particular porch and talk without saying anything worth remembering enough to discuss in depth 40 years later: no politics; no deep philosophical ideals; no revolutionary cause - just a vague mood of comraderie that adds up to nothing more than a fond remembrance of what the teatotalers must have been up to every evening as the sun set.

I suppose the other thing that ticks me off about the series is that downhome kinda "lost America" that the Baby Boomers are always pining after. Nostalgia always sets me off; the agreed upon history that no one person has ever experienced, but everyone is supposed to remember.

I'm enraptured by 95% of what NPR puts on the radio, but this whole series is too much...

posted by Scott Koblish @ 4:56 PM