Piece Comment

Review of Becoming a Man


Becoming a man features Parris's grandfather who gives some "grandfatherly" advice about needing to "find your mate" before you have sex, and how sex has nothing to do with being a man. At the end Parris quotes an Ivy Baker Priest platitude about the end being the beginning referring to his adolescence. I guess I would have rather liked to hear Parris react to his grandfather's moralizing--does he agree with him? Are the familiar words more powerful because they come from his grandfather? (I haven't reviewed much youth radio, so forgive me if I point out P-pops and over-modulation, but as someone who is used to pristine NPR audio, it was a bit distracting in this piece).