Audio Chimera

Why do some toys become obsessions? This was true of the Cabbage Patch Dolls, the craze during the time I worked at Toys 'R' Us.

The transition from College Professor to retired college professor takes in more than the addition of the word "retired" and the subtraction of the capital letters in the title. One's life may downsize—but how does a creative artist maintain professional and creative work without the resources one had before? Here's my take.

Mrs. Malaprop is a character in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's 1775 play The Rivals. She attempts to sound intelligent and sophisticated but uses the wrong words. This is something that comedians, such as Norm Crosby, have used successfully, but it also happens to real people. Here are some of the malapropisms that I presented to my Intro to Theatre students when talking about Restoration Theatre and Mrs. Malaprop.

A tale I've often told—the problems of getting my PhD from the UC Berkeley Department of Dramatic Art. I truly became a scholar and director as a result of being in the program, but as I explain, it could have gone a lot more smoothly.As I was recordoing Episode #51, I kept talking and talking... It went long, so I broke the story up into two parts.And this is another experiment in non-scripted storytelling. Let me know what you think! 

A tale I've often told—the problems of getting my PhD from the UC Berkeley Department of Dramatic Art. I truly became a scholar and director as a result of being in the program, but as I explain, it could have gone a lot more smoothly.This is another experiment in non-scripted storytelling. Let me know what you think!

I recently found out where the term "Poster Child" started (hint: polio). Then I wondered what I might be a poster person for, and realized there are three health issues I automatically try to get people to deal with" So here they are! (Spoiler alert: Colonoscopies, Retinal Detachments, and Skin Cancer Checks.)

Season 5 includes new intro and outro music composed by John Rust; find him on YouTube as soundofrust. This episode of Audio Chimera contains episode 2 of Kid Again, my audio drama series that debuted in AC episode 44. Mike has suddenly found himself 14 and back in Catholic School, and pushing the boundaries of what he can say and do since he remembers his adult life. He meets Abigail who is intrigued by his questions about abortion as expressed in religion class.After the KA episode, I have a few comments about my own views on abortion, which oddly enough, echo my own.

People in academia often get asked, why are you retiring? What will you do with yourself? But there is more to life (and academia) than teaching, and I felt the need to enumerate them. I once thought I'd work till 67, like my mother did, but now I'm 65 and making room for the next person. How things have changed since I was a student, both with students and with academia in general. Now if I could just be sure that I am not retiring into a front row seat for the apocalypse and the end of the world.

So frustration will quickly send me into an angry outburst. But for me, the important thing in that I recover quickly. Step on my tail, I yowl, and then life returns to normal. How do I know I've mellowed over the years? I can tell by the way I have changed in my attitude toward directing and rehearsals. Sometimes, you just have to laugh—and other times you just can't stop it!

The topic of migration has been hotly debated. Let me weigh in, with my opinion informed by visiting some Central American countries on a cruise with the new love of my life, Joyce. (This also suggests moving from widower status to committed relationship status, courtesy of online dating.)

Yes, I get all professorial and linguistic on my audience in a background discussion of pronouns, what they are, and why the use of preferred pronouns are a source of confusion for me in the new century.

I wrote an audio series called Kid Again, about a man who suddenly finds himself 14 and back in his 9th grade classroom. He's not sure if he's dreaming or time traveling, but decides that he can have a lot more fun this time around if it is real. We put the episode together by having the actors record their lines and then assembled the dialogue with added sound effects. My hope is that this will help with the GoFundMe so we can continue to create the rest of the 10 episode series.

I've always been interested in audio drama (once called radio drama). During the pandemic, I chose the audio drama format for my usual university theatre production, and am also working on a series called "Kid Again." After some background info on those, I  include the short play "In the Refrigerator" which I have subtitled "A Comedy of Revenge." Since the pandemic has chased all back into our homes, we have to find new ways to collaborate. So I cast this piece with people I knew, and asked them to send me recordings of their lines. (I recorded one person using Skype.) I then put it all together in GarageBand, adding music (composed also in GB) and sound effects, many from a free site called Soundjay.com. So here it is, another of my written works, rescued from the filing cabinet of time.Note that during the podcast I call this episode #44. #43 is in script form and I need to record it AFTER I take my recording studio out of storage post-move.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, I offer some observations on people's behaviors during such an event, relaying personal reactions (yes, my anxiety), people's responses (yes, hoarding), and some suggestions for proper behavior (like, let's treat this like we're all in it together!).

In my Intro to Theatre courses I like students to DO theatre, and so I include the Making Theatre Project which has them, in groups, create a 5-minute play. There are times when the results are tepid, but sometimes they are terrifying. More frequently, they are just funny.

Memory is a gift the past gives us. And when it fails we struggle. In this recycled episode of my defunct podcast, "A Leg Up for Caregivers," guest Brenda talks about her mother's struggles with memory--and Brenda's eventual solution to deal with her mother's Alzheimer's. This episode suggests a useful technique in dealing with those with this dreaded disease.

Unlike Hank in the Eugene O'Neill play The Hairy Ape, who is clearly i need of belonging to something greater than himself, I am not a joiner. But here are two stories of me joining in, one an organization (Mensa) and another while attending a singles event.

As an AM DJ I played records, did some news and weather, but mostly played a lot of tapes--and Orioles baseball games. In between (and sometimes during them), I took calls from many listeners, including a young woman with, I think, a crush on me, and other strange agents. This is of course while constantly changing formats with each new ratings book and each brand new program director. It was a fun job, but not without its challenges, especially in the midnight to 6am graveyard shift.

After attending a Podcast Movement conference, and scoffing at the idea of creating s second podcast (who has time??), I did exactly that. A Leg Up 4 Caregivers was going to be for sudden caregivers. But then that time issue resurfaced. However, rather than totally abandon that podcast, I am resurrecting parts of it here in Season 4 (which features a shorter intro!).

Eye health is so important, and when we ignore the warning signs, we could lose our vision. When I first had problems, I panicked, but it turned out it was not vision-threatening. And then when it was, I assume it wasn't. What a mistake! The tale of discovering a retinal detachment, and surviving the surgery and an intense bout of despair.