Post to the Host

Mr. Keillor,

I know you’re all “Mr. Cheerful” these days, and I can appreciate that, but I was also glad to learn that you occasionally experience regret, anxiety, and dread like the rest of us. I was beginning to think you are in denial about what’s going on around you. God (if she/he/they exist at all) must be very disappointed in us, and I can’t believe that drinking a little grape juice and eating a little wafer can do much for us as a human race. I don’t believe that Christianity has improved the world; in fact, it seems to have created a population of judgmental, self-righteous bullies who think there’s only one way to heaven. I used to be a Christian (Catholic) but gave it up for Lent.

Chris C.

So you say. My response would be the Beatitudes, which you can google, and you’ll find yourself in the first beatitude: Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. GK

Garrison,

As a white, heterosexual woman approaching 70, I’ve been working on making friends with younger folks, and one new friend happens to be a 30-year-old transgender female. I’m gaining perspective and am learning about how much we really have in common, and we’re both learning about each other’s struggles. Are you friends with many people who have an alternative lifestyle? It takes effort to befriend those who are not like us, and I’m so grateful for my new friend.

Anna

St. Paul, Minnesota

My idea of “alternative lifestyle” has nothing to do with sexual preference or gender, but with people who choose to follow a calling that has a high risk of failure — to be a writer, devote oneself to music, paint, etc. — out of a sense of possessing a gift that can bring beauty/meaning/grandeur to the world, a gift for which one is grateful. It’s not about identity, it’s about hard work. I married a person like that: as a teenager, she felt a calling to be an orchestra musician and play classical music and she worked as a freelancer for years, sometimes on the edge of poverty, and loved her life. I don’t think I know any transgender females but I’m sure that if I did, our friendship would be based on something other than gender identity. Maybe we’d share a fundamentalist upbringing, or have a similar sense of humor, or maybe we’d have worked in radio, or love Pearson’s Salted Nut Rolls. GK

GK,

In 2014, you did a Joke Show in Minneapolis. At the end of the show, you took about five minutes to tell the final joke. The punch line used the word shit. It was broadcast live. The next day on the repeat the word was bleeped. Did you think better of yourself or did the administrators make the demand? I thought it was better with shitthan without.

Brandon

I don’t remember the joke but the editing would’ve been done by MPR, not by me. GK

Garrison,

Over and over, you state that at your age you have given up activism and you want to step aside and leave it up to the young to set the path. I agree this will be their world to live in, but it would be nice to hear if you support their endeavors in efforts supporting women’s reproductive decisions, global warming crisis, and gun control. At your age, you can still be a role model.

Kathryn K.

They don’t need a role model, they’re quite independent and smarter than that, and if they did have a role model, it would be a major pop star, it wouldn’t be me. I go out in front of audiences that include anti-abortion people, Second Amendment people, people who don’t give a rip about global warming, and my job is to make them happy. GK

GK,

When are you coming to visit us in Sioux Falls?

Mark

It’s Friday, March 3, on my calendar. GK

Garrison, 

I read your piece about finding tranquility at 4 a.m. and I’m happy to see someone else who likes that hour of the day. I used to think I wasn’t a morning person, that I was a night owl, but then I realized that what I like is the darkness. And the quiet, whether it’s early morning or late night.

The Saturday mornings when I awake at 4 a.m. and do laundry in peace and quiet are often the best part of my week.

Yes, laundry. As I get older (I’m 57) I’m trying to find the happiness in the little things.

Cheers,

Bob Sassone

I am not allowed to do laundry in our home because I refuse to iron sheets and the woman in bed with me claims that wrinkled fabric keeps her awake at night. So when I get up at 4, I sit and write. The writing has plenty of wrinkles in it, which, I believe, is what makes it interesting. GK

Hello,

Is there any chance that Mr. Keillor’s episode of Finding Your Roots will ever be aired? I (and many others) was so looking forward to seeing it. I was so upset when they pulled it. It must still exist somewhere. Thanks.

Cathi

I don’t think it will. I’m an old Anglo male from the Midwest and I don’t think that the PBS folks find that of interest. I don’t care one way or another. I wouldn’t watch the episode if they showed it. GK

Dear GK,

I love reading your columns, especially the ones related to aging and being cheerful. I’m about to turn 65 years old, and this is causing a bit of depression and anxiety. I saw my own parents deteriorate over time; one died of Alzheimer’s disease at 84, and the other of old age at 100, and neither was pleasant. Time seems to be moving faster these days and I don’t like it. As someone who is 80, how have you come to accept the inevitable decline and discomfort that happens as we age? You seem to have a good attitude about all of it, and I need a dose of what you have. Please help.

Judy

I am a proponent of cheerfulness as a practical choice and making that choice every day that you can. I avoid the news and I stay away from politics and I enjoy friendship and I love reminiscing with classmates and family. I find local history fascinating and the stories of ordinary people. I feel useful when I listen to a friend talk about his or her problems. I am not useful reading about the culture wars or the aggressions of China. I hear from young people seeking help and guidance and I can be useful there. I am a comfort to my sweetheart or so she says. And I often unload the dishwasher. I am still trying to tell stories to audiences and make them funnier. Humor is a high bar but it begins with getting up in the morning and determining that this will be a good day no matter what. GK

Garrison,

I was sorry to learn of your anxiety-filled night last Saturday. Your comments brought to mind a poem by Wendell Berry that you once shared with your listeners/readers on The Writer’s Almanac. I have held it close to me ever since and feel it would have been a comfort to you in your anxious time. I am certain that many of your readers would appreciate your sharing it with us once again.

The Peace Of Wild Things Wendell BerryWhen despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound, in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time, I rest in the grace of the world and am free.

Coleman Hood

Bishop, Georgia

That’s all fine for Mr. Berry but I would never lie down where the wood drake rests on the water, certainly not in January in Minnesota; I’d rather sit in a car in a parking lot. I’m sorry you focused on the anxiety; I only mentioned it so I could talk about going to church that morning and hearing the hilarious reading from Micah. I hate the Berry poem and can’t remember what I ever saw in it; it’s fundamentally dishonest. Wild things do not live in peace: they eat each other and fight for territory. You missed the point of the column: it was about cheerfulness, not anxiety. GK

I am a close friend of Naomi Childers in Fort Lauderdale. I am sorry to tell you that at 89, she passed quietly in her sleep last week. She and I were so looking forward to seeing you this February at Broward Center. Be well and know that she loved you.

Valerie Viglione

I’m so sorry to hear that. She was the sister of my college friend Arnie Goldman and I was looking forward to meeting her. She was a good soul who became quite close to her brother in his late troubled years. I lost touch with him when he moved to Australia and now, alas, I have lost touch with her. This is what happens in one’s 80s: you keep losing people. Thank you for letting me know. GK

Hello, Garrison.

What happened to the Lake Wobegon house, the red stool, and the stage rug at the Fitzgerald Theater? I miss the stool and the rug at the streamed shows.

Thank you,
Beth

I think they’re in a warehouse somewhere. The Fitzgerald was sold to a concert promoter and I guess it’s used for concerts but I haven’t set foot in the place for many years. It was owned by MPR, which trashed the place and trashed me and Prairie Home and I don’t revisit painful places. GK

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