December

The flakes are probably the size of quarters. It's snowing again. It has been a crazy time here in the Windy City. Angela slipped on the ice last Wednesday and broke her lower leg in two places . . . clean through. She was a trooper, however, and we got her in the hospital and into surgery the next day. She is now part human, part robot. Well, at any rate, there are few extra titanium pieces holding her together now. She is not too mobile, but gets around the apartment pretty well . . . stairs are exhausting and the snow-on-ice-on-snow weather patterns, which started this whole thing, makes crutches quite interesting. She won't be leaving the house with much frequency.

This will be my first Christmas in Chicago, usually I travel down to Texas for the event. Well, I am going down to the butcher's this afternoon for the Christmas beast. Oh, and the water was out yesterday due to a bad water pipe. What a week! Maybe today things will calm down a bit.

jason

Radio good, television (meh)

What is it about radio that really cuts through to the story so succinctly? Probably the acousmatic nature of the exchange. You have to visualize it. Radio, and all sound art, by default . . . interactive. You need to bring something to the table. Television, it just sits there . . . puking its audio-visual content. Case in point . . . some really good public radio from NPR/PRI. First, for my father, per your question a few weeks back concerning the economy, a really good explanation in two parts from This American Life, which when it isn't desperately trying to be 'ironic and hip' actually delivers the goods:

Giant Pool of Money

A special program about the housing crisis produced in a special collaboration with NPR News. We explain it all to you. What does the housing crisis have to do with the turmoil on Wall Street? Why did banks make half-million dollar loans to people without jobs or income? And why is everyone talking so much about the 1930s? It all comes back to the Giant Pool of Money.

with the followup:

Another Frightening Show About the Economy

Alex Blumberg and NPR's Adam Davidson—the two guys who reported our Giant Pool of Money episode—are back, in collaboration with the Planet Money podcast. They'll explain what happened this week, including what regulators could've done to prevent this financial crisis from happening in the first place.

And finally, this wonderful bit of radio about Texas and the aftermath of Rita for the family in Galveston. Really good radio from The Story.

Christmas After Ike

It's been three months since Hurricane Ike - one of the most destructive hurricanes to make landfall in the U.S. Like most of her neighbors on the coast near Galveston, Texas, Dana Bethune will be spending this holiday season camped out in someone else's home. Her home was destroyed, and has yet to be rebuilt.

Happy listening . . .

jg