Confession #4,080: I am a podcast junkie. A near-brutal, weekly commute last year forced me to seek alternatives to NPR’s apple-pie programming. Don’t get me wrong: I wish I had Scott Simon’s intelligent, bubbly voice, and who does not wish to be interviewed by Terry Gross, if only for the opportunity to elicit her infectious, on-air laughter with a sly, smart joke, to fall into her sweet, joyful, amused giggle that corrals us, all of us, into one wholesome tribe of clever Americans. One summer, while driving across country, in less friendly, unfamiliar terrain, NPR proved to be a welcomed sign of intelligent life. So, my beef? It’s just that, while Top 40 music can make one dumb, NPR tends to render its listeners immensely smug, “informed,” and homey.
So, I’ve turned to hunting the internet for compelling, downloadable conversations, short stories, news reporting, essays, literary interviews, poetry readings, live performances, and award speeches that would truly agitate my imagination, that often converts the interior of my car into a virtual classroom, concert hall, or auditorium on wheels. With the software Total Recorder from High Criteria, I can even make my own MP3 files out of streaming audio or video files on just about any subject from biodiversity to global philanthropy. I feel as if some of the world’s smartest poets, artists, thinkers, and leaders are suddenly my friends, sitting in the passenger seats, discussing the nuances of their art, politics, or scientific experiments such as Diamanda Galas on the poetry of Cesar Vallejo, Paul Celan, Pier Pasolini, Antonio Machado, and Henri Michaux; Chris Abani on the transformation of communities vis à vis language; James Baldwin at UC-Berkeley in 1974, introduced by Angela Davis; Elie Wiesel on the Jewishness of Jesus or William Faulkner’s Nobel speech.
The podcasts’s distant cousins are the legendary Books-on-Tapes, and the even older Spoken Word LPs, both of which caused alarm early on as to whether or not they would supplant print culture as primary sources of learning and textual engagement. What we’ve discovered, of course, is that each generation’s technology only enhances the reception of a given cultural work or author. Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Recuerdo” is likely to be even more anthologized than other poems because we have that quivering voice of hers in performance to accompany the poem, itself worth reams of future, collegial essays.
Speaking of which, what will future scholars and researchers do with it all? Digital technology will leave behind youtube footage and flickr images of some of our most revered authors, scientists, and entertainers tying their shoes, brushing their teeth, and walking their dogs. There will be no mystery to contemplate; their sources, influences, and childhood traumas will be obvious and unproblematic, quite available to link up to their storehouse of mental images and imaginative ideas; and will such a glut of information slow down over time our collective mental intelligence? Still, how amazing that more of our waking lives can be captured and stored on a server for future consumption. It just all seems overwhelming.
Nonetheless, below is an unranked, non-exhaustive list of my top resources for podcasting pleasure. I hope you enjoy as much as I do. And please, add your own.
TedTalks
PEN American Center
Lannan Foundation Podcasts
Academy of American Poets
UBUweb
WGBH Forum Network
KQED The Writers Block
World of Ideas
Nobel Banquet Speeches
BBC Poetry Out Loud
BBC Radio 3
ps: I am putting in a special plug for PEN American Center’s 2007 Beyond Margins Awards ceremony podcast. It’s soooo good.
Major,
Thanks for this post and these links, some of which are definitely news to me! Along with the dreaded commute, let me add the regular appointment with the treadmill to the list of “top ten reasons to download (poetry) podcasts”… : )
Peace,
Evie
Welcome to the blog, Major. Good to have your voice and your vision here.
major,
good looking out on this list of resources.
here are some others i am enjoying–
From the Fishouse
http://www.fishousepoems.org/
The Eclectic Word hosted by Victor D. Infante
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onword/blog/2007/10/19/The-Eclectic-Word-hosted-by-Victor-D-Infante-
and a podcast to look out for in the future–
Letras Latinas Oral History Project
http://latinostudies.nd.edu/history/search.php?stype=1&letter=0
looking forward to reading more of your posts.
take care,
oscar
I, too, adore podcasts. They make it possible for me to catch a great reading in Chicago or New York or L.A. or any of the other places so far from my particular ruburb. I really enjoy podcasts of author interviews, too. Blackbird has some good ones. (Incidentally, how are we defining “podcast”– as the proprietary downloadable, or as any online audio available for playback on the Web?)
Major,
Welcome to Harriet! I had no idea another podcast junkie was joining us. Here’s my list of favorites for those who want a tuition-free educaiton and great music recommendations (NY Times popcast):
NT Times “Popcast”–not podcast: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/multimedia/podcasts.html (this is all the podcasts from the NY Times)
Latest Big Ideas Program: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bigideas/
Philosopher’s Zone: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/philosopherszone/
UC Berkeley: http://webcast.berkeley.edu/
Berkeley Groks: http://www.groks.net/groks.rss
Podcasts from City Univ. of NY: http://www.productivity501.com/free-academic-podcast-lectures-spring-2007/107/
Podcasts from Princeton Univ.: http://uc.princeton.edu/main/
Oxford University – http://www.learnoutloud.com/Podcast-Directory/History/Ancient-and-Medieval-History/Oxford-University-Medieval-English-Lectures-Podcast/24004
Stanford Univ: http://edcorner.stanford.edu/podcasts.html
Various universities: http://www.lecturefox.com/
Which headphones do you use?
Emily
Thanks Emily & Oscar. I look forward to worming through these offerings. How could I forget Fishhouse? and also, these favorites:
1. Library of Congress Podcasts: http://www.loc.gov/podcasts/
2. PennSound: http://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/
3. Modern Language Association “What’s the Word”: http://www.mla.org/radio
4. Naropa Poetics Audio Archives: http://www.archive.org/details/naropa
5. Smithsonian Institution: http://www.si.edu/podcasts/default.htm or http://www.folkways.si.edu/search/BrowseBy.aspx?BrowseBy=genre
Dear Evie,
Thank you! Treadmill Listening is its own activity. I’m waiting for that list. (smiles) and when we are done let’s pass it on to some parents, educators, Top 40 radio programmers.
–Major J
Hi Rigo–
It’s good to be here. I’m looking forward to contributing and conversing publicly.
(smile)
ps: I owe you a backchannel.
Hi Robin:
I just visited Blackbird. Fantastic.
–MJ
Echoing Rigoberto — welcome! I’m looking forward to your posts. — Ange
major!
exciting to see another voice i admire on the blog. i’m excited, too, about the podcast postings. i downloaded one from KQED writer’s block site, and listened to the short story on my way to school, and it was a new experience…listening to an ipod (when we assume that everyone listens to music) and a short story, and giggling to myself. it was a nice experience. thank you.
delana.
selected shorts
bbc 4 poet interviews
bat segundo show
Please visit my podcast The Business of Words at http://www.leisuretalk.net. A new interview with a poet is available for download and there is an extenisve archive. Interviews include Cherryl Floyd Miller, Cecilia Woloch, Mike Dockins, Reb LIvingston, Megan Volpert, Robert Earl Price and many more. Cheers.
Greetings, Major, and great to see you on/in this wonderful blog. I am not a big podcast person myself, but I try to keep up with the times in my own slow way, so thanks to you & others for all the suggestions.
Wow am I glad I found this resource! You have no idea what is is like to be isolated in Central Asia without have lots of audible poetry. I will put this right on my links.
Hi, Ange–
Thank you for the welcome. It is wonderful being in your company.
Bloggerly Yours,
Major J
Thanks Collin & Jilly for adding to this growing list.
Greetings, Rachel, DeLana, and Russell. Luddites Beware.
–Major J
Major,
Can I be on the list too?
(I’m not even sure anymore what list we’re talking about, but I wanna be on it!)