Waldina

The list of authors of frequently and recently banned books reads is very similar to the New York Times Best Seller list: Alexi Sherman, Dr. Seuss, John Green, Hermann Hesse, Aldous Huxley, Toni Morrison, John Steinbeck, Anne Frank, Alice Walker, Stephen Chbosky, William Shakespeare, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Kurt Vonnegut, Augusten Burroughs, and J. D. Salinger. Access to their works is being fought by small fringe groups that want to censor what you can experience. Their agendas vary, but are similar in their desired outcome: control of knowledge. No one is requiring them to read Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss, but they want to stop you from having the choice of reading it. Do not let scared small-minded individuals create your world. Fight censorship!

The list of authors of frequently and recently banned books reads is very similar to the New York Times Best Seller list: Alexi Sherman, Dr. Seuss, John Green, Hermann Hesse, Aldous Huxley, Toni Morrison, John Steinbeck, Anne Frank, Alice Walker, Stephen Chbosky, William Shakespeare, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Kurt Vonnegut, Augusten Burroughs, and J. D. Salinger. Access to their works is being fought by small fringe groups that want to censor what you can experience. Their agendas vary, but are similar in their desired outcome: control of knowledge. No one is requiring them to read Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss, but they want to stop you from having the choice of reading it. Do not let scared small-minded individuals create your world. Fight censorship!

"The Swing Years and Beyond" September 27, 2008 

The Swing Years and Beyond was a radio program on KUOW, an NPR station from Seattle. It began in 1968 and was hosted by then-KUOW program Director Don Wirtz before he handed the reins to Bill Snoopy who became the first to hold the position long term. In 1979 Cynthia Doyon took over the hosting duties, and in 2003 Amanda Wilde hosted until the last show on February 25, 2017.

There is a generation of Seattle residents that spent at least some of their Saturday nights listening to a thoughtfully curated playlist of music from the 1920s to the 1950s. I was able to connect with Amanda Wilde and offered to make one of her shows available for fans to download. Then, my scouring of the internet turned up two other shows available and have added them here.

"The Spectral Bride" - CBS Radio Mystery Theater - September 26, 1974

Plot:  After having moved on with his life to the point of re-marrying, a man forces his former wife's father to bring her back to life using a self-made formula.

"The Deadly Blind Man's Bluff" - CBS Radio Mystery Theater - September 25, 1974

Plot:  In a terrible mishap, a riveter loses his eyesight. While he keeps up his physical strength, he slowly goes on a downward spiral emotionally. Besides that, his apartment is within earshot of his former construction site, making him feel much worse. The police warn the riveter and his wife about an escaped murder convict in their area, and a meeting between the two is preordained.

Today is the 85th birthday of the father of the Muppets: Jim Henson. I do not have a time in my life when his brilliance was not in it. I was raised on Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, there was never a time when I didn’t know kermit. The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://waldina.com/2021/09/24/happy-85th-birthday-jim-henson/

Today is the 125th birthday of the writer Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. It should come as no surprise that I enjoy his work, his narratives, and his unapologetically messy life. Risks. Chances. Consequences. His life story is a cautionary tale of underutilized talent, gigantic love, and addiction. I have the last sentence of The Great Gatsby tattoo’d on my left forearm, it is also his and Zelda’s epitaph. To me, it means less about escaping from your past and more about knowing the path from it will be a struggle, but we keep moving forward. Until researching his birthday, I had no idea that The Great Gatsby had been made into a film five times over the last 90 years (1973 being my personal favorite). The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

"The Fort Ord Case" - Candy Matson - September 23, 1949

Candy Matson is a radio program on NBC West Coast that aired from June 29, 1949, to May 20, 1951. It centered on Candy Matson, a female private investigator with a wry sense of humor and a penthouse on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco. The program was notable for having a striking female character "without a trace of squeamishness" as well as a veiled gay character in Candy's best friend Rembrandt Watson.

"Island of the Lost" - CBS Radio Mystery Theater - September 23, 1974

Plot:  A middle-aged man travels to an isolated island to surprise his young beloved. But he is afflicted by uncertainty in their relationship and starts doubting himself.

"The Allison Gray Case" or "The Fortune Teller" - Candy Matson - September 21, 1952

Candy Matson is a radio program on NBC West Coast that aired from June 29, 1949, to May 20, 1951. It centered on Candy Matson, a female private investigator with a wry sense of humor and a penthouse on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco. The program was notable for having a striking female character "without a trace of squeamishness" as well as a veiled gay character in Candy's best friend Rembrandt Watson.