Cute little piece. Nothing especially special. A ripe topic dispensed with in a straight-forward manner. And -- hoping not to sound like a snob -- the "H" is silent in "homage."

This is a mildly interesting piece, though we don't get much of a sense of the personality of the guy who is the center of it. It may be because he is not that interesting. The only reason I come to that conclusion (rather than suggesting that the piece is not more interesting because of some fault of the reporter) is because mid-way through the piece we hear from another mascot and that guy is very engaging. Some technical points: The natural sound does not have much presence and there is a really nasty edit right near the top. Overall, I wish the reporter had gotten out of the way. She seemed to be trying to impose some sense of attitude on the piece. I would have loved to have heard her try to put this same information across without being such a personality in the story. She almost over-shadows poor Tim who -- as I mentioned is not the most sparkling personality.

Great sociology lesson. You learn a lot. But as a radio piece ... To my ear, it's a bit too much me, me, me (the reporter, that is). My thoughts. My impressions. They gather around me and shout out answers to my questions. As a listener, personally I'd much rather hear the kids. I didn't hear two kids speaking in a row until 4:30 into the piece. Then there's the section with Josh, the kid who wants to go to public school so he can meet girls. Let me hear Josh, please. Why does the reporter tell the whole story? I can see doing that in a newspaper feature, but the great thing about radio is you can capture someone's voice and, with it, their emotions and let THAT tell the story. This is a valuable slice of life that few of us know. I wish I could have experienced it with less of a wall put up between me and the individuals covered.

This is a standard, public radio news piece that offers one scintilla-more of information about the young people who back Howard Dean, over-and-above what you probably already know. I have to say that what struck me most was: For a piece about people who are devoted to passionate, energetic music, there could have been more passion and energy. There's one nice piece of tape with a woman giving a pep talk to the Punx For Dean and she sounds as if she’s near tears because she is so excited that that people drove all that way to help out (she may be the same passionate woman who appears at the top of the piece, but neither woman is ever identified). But all the other people interviewed have a sort of flat, matter-of-fact delivery. To me they sound bored. Maybe they're just exhausted from campaigning, but they just came across as flat. Also, the clips of live music sound like they were recorded from a spot very far away from the speakers. That also diminishes the energy. This is a good start, but could use the hand of a firm editor.

This is the sort of module they used to run on commercial AOR stations back when all the GMs were on coke and all the DJs were smoking pot. You don't hear this sort of thing anymore. Funny is in the ear of the beholder. But you know what they say, "If I can make just one person laugh ... well then I need to do a little better."

OK, how geeky would it be of me to point out that "This American Life" is a PRI show. It's no skin off my nose -- I'm not the person running PRI's branding campaign. But still, I'd hope that at least on public radio we could get it right. As for the piece, I like it a lot. It's a great topic that public radio is afraid to tackle. It makes light of who our listeners are but with no malice whatsoever. It's produced in an unconventional manner that is very appealing. I didn't find the last story as compelling as the producer obviously did (I'd have shortened it), but that's a quibble. And you know what they say about opinions.

A cute, little interstacial piece that sounds like the 70s -- when "anything went" on public radio and people felt free to experiment. One could see using this at the close of an hour or as a transition between pieces.

Would have loved to have heard more of the candidate and less of the reporter. The candidate is very engaging and lively.

This piece is absolutely delightful. If you are allowed to re-use it (I notice that she SOQs out by saying "For the Savvy Traveler") do! The young narrator strikes just the right balance between cynical and adorable and the "adults" are a hoot.

People expect to turn to public radio and hear what they won't hear anywhere else. THIS is a piece that you would not hear anywhere but on public radio -- a window into a life that we would never see otherwise. At first the raw nature of this put me off. I thought it was staged. But within minutes I realized it for what it was -- an incredibly valuable contribution to our understanding of others.