WHILE WE'RE TOSSING NPR PLAUDITS:

Two other especially good recent moments from NPR:

Terry Gross had Sarah Vowell on Fresh Air, talking about her new book: The Partly Cloudy Patriot. Ms Vowell is apparently a history buff, though she wasn't enamored of the subject in school. Ms Gross asked why that was and Ms Vowell responded (pardon the rough transcription from memory):

Well, they try to tell you to study history so you don't do that repeat it thing. But, frankly, that's just not useful to me--I'm not going to invade Russia in winter.

I think they should tell you that we study history because it's filled with really cool stories and it helps you to understand that you're a part of something larger and ongoing.

We couldn't agree more. There's a bizarre PC tendency to treat historical figures and events as if they were free floating. Thus, Columbus is condemned for not being sufficiently solicitous of Native Americans. But teach about him in context--what was there before him, what did he hope to achieve, what debt do we owe him, what behaviors of ours will likely be condemned in the future (whether abortion or being carnivorous)--and tell his amazing story and you can help kids realize that they are part of a great chain of being rather than mere atomized individuals.

MORE:

*EXCERPT: Sing Loud from The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell

*INTERVIEW: with Sarah Vowell (Nathan Rabin, Onion AV Club)

*ARCHIVES: "sarah vowell" (Mag Portal)

Then, on Morning Edition today, Bob Edwards was talking to Frank Deford and asked him about soccer. There's a special dundgeon in Hell reserved for Mr. Deford and everyone else involved in the dreadful movie Everybody's All-American, which gave us the concept of "Letting the Tiger Out of the Cage", but he's very good on the topic of soccer (again pardon the transcription):

FD: It's not that I hate soccer, though I do, but that Americans hate soccer, and I've tried writing about why that is.

BE: Well, why is it?

FD: Americans don't want to see people kick a ball around. We want them to use their hands, which are what separate us from the beasts of the field.

Maybe that's why we're #1, why we're the world's only superpower.

Such sentiments nearly redeem him.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 19, 2002 1:10 PM