The little guy in the shop around the corner Amazon has hired a half-million new workers during the pandemic to bring its work force to 1.2 million, so I read in the New York Times, the newspaper that has elected Joe Biden president despite his losing Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada, but on the odd chance they may be right, I am now going to walk a few blocks to Gold Leaf Stationers to buy my pens and paper rather than go online. It’s a romantic notion, I know. Gold Leaf is a small store run by an Ethiopian immigrant, Fasil Yilma, and so there is a story behind it, whereas Jeff Bezos’s story is sort of beyond me. What do you do with your weekend when you’re worth $189 billion? Fasil works at his shop; that’s what he does. He carries the writing materials I need and he also will print stationery with my name across the top. In the age of texting and email, it’s a sweet gesture to write cursive with a pen on an 8-by-5 sheet with your name at the top. A graceful touch of the past, just as small shops are. Most of us started out small. I did. I put myself through college, working in a scullery and a parking lot, and I got a radio job working the morning shift and I wrote fiction in the evenings, and out of that I made a career that gave me a lot of fun. I wasn’t the son of a retail tycoon, wasn’t burdened by privilege and resented by classmates, didn’t need a security man to follow me around school. So I have something in common with Fasil that goes as deep as race or religion, or so I believe. He and I are kin; Jeff and I are not. Read the rest of the column >>> |
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Holiday Highlights Rejoice! For the rest of the month, the Garrison Keillor Facebook page will be filled with holiday highlights from years past including a YouTube playlist of favorite holiday songs and sketches (to be updated with new content throughout the month) plus a few bonus gems including a never-before-broadcast "News from Lake Wobegon" story. So, enjoy this tale from our show in New York and be sure to visit our Facebook page for holiday-themed poems, articles, songs, sketches, and stories, all posted and updated several times each day. We hope everyone has a great holiday season! Watch the NEW Lake Wobegon story >>>
Watch the holiday YouTube Playlist >>>
Follow our Facebook page >>> Remember to tune into the classic A Prairie Home Companion show every Saturday evening at 5pm CT (the link will appear on our Facebook page at that time and on our website for your listening pleasure).
This week, our fearless truck driver Russ Ringsak will negotiate the anarchy of Manhattan traffic to double park the big rig on West 43rd, thus beginning the annual holiday run at The Town Hall in New York City. Guests include legendary cabaret singer, pianist, and musical anthropologist Michael Feinstein, Metropolitan Opera Tenor Raul Melo, and singularly soulful jazz vocalist Inga Swearingen. Also with us, The Royal Academy of Radio Actors; Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Fred Newman, The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, and The News from Lake Wobegon. It should be a great show, so mark your calendar and be sure to join us! Listen to the show >>> |
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"Your Writer's Almanac has been even more calming, enlightening, and enjoyable throughout this pandemic lockdown." –Margaret G.
This season, we are grateful for the joy of simple things: loved ones, comfort food, daily routines, and of course, poetry. It's been a frightening and strange year, and it felt more important than ever to continue to offer The Writer's Almanac, a daily dose of literature and stability.
As usual, donations from listeners like you constituted the primary way we covered our program costs: payments to poets; recording sessions at the studio; labor costs of research, writing, and audio editing; subscriptions to distribution channels, and more.
This holiday season, we humbly ask that you give to The Writer’s Almanac. With your help, we are hoping that we will be able to keep producing the program at least through April 2021, and possibly beyond that.
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Lake Wobegon From the Archives...1981 Last week saw the release of the second installment of our "From the Archives" series dedicated to vintage monologues from A Prairie Home Companion. In “From the Archives: The News from Lake Wobegon, 1981,” the Christmas story is re-told Lake-Wobegon-style. We also hear the first telling of the classic Living Flag story as the residents create a human flag on Main Street. Plus: updates about the Whippets; visits to the Chatterbox Cafe, Our Lady of Perpetual Responsiblility, and the Sidetrack Tap; plus stories of bachelor farmers, the Bunsens, Tollefsons, and other characters you have come to love in Lake Wobegon. It's a collection you will treasure!
This collection gathers together 21 stories that originally aired in 1981. Get the CDs >>>
Download as mp3s:
Disc 1 - January thru May >>>
Disc 2 - May thru August >>>
Disc 3 - August - December >>> Downloads are also available from Amazon, iTunes & other digital retailers |
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ORDER BEFORE December 16th for holiday delivery
This gem of wisdom from Leaving Home, Garrison Keillor's best-selling book of Lake Wobegon stories, is for every parent, grandparent, and teacher––anyone, really, who cares deeply about children. Without a doubt, these eight simple words are a big reason all children in Lake Wobegon are "above average." Quotation is etched on a substantial glass weight and packaged in a lovely gift box. Made in the USA. 4" W X 3" H X 3/4" D. Get the paperweight >>> |
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| "It's Christmas at the old radio show, a sweet time when the lords leap and the pipers pipe and the Hopeful Gospel Quartet sings and J.S. Bach struggles to write his Oratorio and Scrooge learns the Meaning of Bah-Humbug and Pat Donohue plays a blue 'Silent Night' and the shepherds watch their flocks and Jessica burns the lobster bisque and everyone sings 'O Little Town of Bethlehem' with a whistling chorus."
Gathering together highlights from the early '90s, this collection of favorites from the show will become a family treasure that you will visit with every holiday season! Listen to a sample >>>
Purchase A Prairie Home Christmas >>> |
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