Phone Messages

Phone Messages

By Paul Mason FotschSociety & Culture
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Phone Messages episodes

  • 9 Court Appearance (mom 2)
    In this week's episode, I discuss an incident that took place near the University Apartments in Hyde Park leading to my appearance in a Chicago courtroom.
    11 min
  • 8 Librarian (Kevin)
    This week I discuss the desegregation of Minnesota schools in the 1970s. I also describe the open school design of Longfellow Elementary in St. Paul. Finally, I highlight the recent initiative by Mayor Melvin Carter to eliminate fines at St. Paul public libraries.
    8 min
  • 7 Injured (unknown 1)
    In this episode I examine the history of telemarketing and robocalls--from a 1942 Popular Mechanics article describing an auto-dialer to efforts by the FCC to address the recent resurgence of robocalls.
    4 min
  • 5 Savitri's First Message
    In this episode I recall my time writing for the Grey City Journal and discuss the hymn that inspired the title of GCJ. The lyrics by Edwin H. Lewis were inspired by Chicago's 1893 Columbian Exposition and became the University of Chicago's alma mater.
    4 min
  • 4 FIrst Outgoing Message (Outgoing 1)
    This week’s episode leads me to discuss the “ship of fools” allegory from Michel Foucault’s History of Madness, a brief history of Illinois Central Railroad and the nineteenth century California writer Bret Harte.
    7 min
  • 2 Mom's First Message (Mom 1)
    This episode contains a message from my mom. Since last week was my explainer episode, this is the first actual message I play. The twenty second message provides a nice insight into my mom's personality.
    3 min

About Phone Messages

From the publisher's feed

This podcast will play and discuss old phone answering machine messages. In the late 1980s, while living in Chicago, I selected certain messages to be duplicated using a double cassette recorder. Playing them back leads me to explore the intersection of personal history and the larger social and cultural context through the lens of an outdated technology.