Field Guide To Every Segment On NPR, Part 1
By Mitch Berg
SCENE: Ari SHAPIRO is interviewing Yvette SMITH, who runs a popcorn stand in Milwaukee, Wisconsin .
SHAPIRO: So Yvette – tell us the secret of making great popcorn outdoors?
SMITH: I only use peanut oil, but with a little dash of coconut oil thrown in to keep the smoke level down. That way I get enough heat to keep the flavor sealed in.
SHAPIRO: Sounds delicious.
SMITH: It is! Thanks!
SHAPIRO: Tell us about your clientele?
SMITH: Just a cross section of everyone in the area. Bankers, college students, workers from Harley Davidson, families on their way home from school. Pretty much everyone.
SHAPIRO: So – you are a genderqueer woman of color. Tell us about the impact that has on running a popcorn stand?
SMITH: Well, Ari…
August 4th, 2023 at 12:19 pm
Tell us you listen to a little too much NPR without telling us you listen to a little too much NPR.
August 4th, 2023 at 3:35 pm
“I only use peanut oil,
wait a second, is Smith properly licensed and insured?
Does Smith have a big warning sign on the popcorn stand about the peanut content?
How many people have suffered anaphylaxis after eating the delicious popcorn?
August 5th, 2023 at 8:14 am
Yup! It always comes down to race and gender at NPR.
August 5th, 2023 at 10:33 am
Jdm – if you think you have to listen to a lot of NPR to know that this is how NPR sounds, you clearly don’t listen to any NPR.
Because you don’t have to listen to a lot of NPR to know that this is pretty much all NPR.
August 5th, 2023 at 10:34 am
^^^ I made reformulate this as “Berg’s Paradox”
August 5th, 2023 at 11:10 am
you clearly don’t listen to any NPR
You got me.
August 5th, 2023 at 12:07 pm
Jdm recommended Schlicter’ book “People’s Republic” for example of post-divorce America. Just read it. Thanks. Jdm, good book. I endorse the recommendation.
August 5th, 2023 at 12:17 pm
You’re very welcome, big guy. The next one, Indian Country, is actually more relevant to the discussion that took place the other day but the first one sets the environment in which all the books take place.
August 5th, 2023 at 2:34 pm
My weekend station is WNCW which is housed in a little college in Spindale, NC…about 20 miles from my compound.
Its great on Sat and Sunday;/local bluegrass all day. BTW, if I’m listening to bluegrass, so is everyone within 1/2 a mile.
But it’s a college station. Which means its an NPR station.
I hear NPR news, and laugh. Then on Monday, switch channels..
August 5th, 2023 at 2:35 pm
Tbh, I’m digging post holes right now, with bluegrass playing
August 6th, 2023 at 9:00 am
What happened to that POS who ran into a car full of Somali girls and killed them, the guy who had rented the Escalade at the airport to run drugs up to Minneapolis?
I thought stories about bad behavior by sons of politicians was supposed to stay in the news cycle. Memory hole suck this one in, too?
August 7th, 2023 at 7:25 am
Sounds about right, however I have zero interest in ever listening to that tripe.