Comments by Sydney Lewis

Comment for "Invisible Ink: Note to Sixth-Grade Self"

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Review of Invisible Ink: Note to Sixth-Grade Self

Note to half-century self: get that Orringer book. A ninety-something year old friend of mine often says, “It’s the little things,” and this beautifully written story is full of acutely rendered details that pack a wallop. Brought me back to sixth grade and the Eric Cassio of my class. Well-read by the author, nicely scored by the producer -- though the music almost overwhelms her soft voice in the first few minutes, eventually a good balance is struck and music and voice dance together. Laid out in a series of scenes: school, dance class, gym, the mall, etc. The agony of young self-awareness beats your heart. The narrator says of her mom, “When she asks you how your afternoon went, lie.” Oh, yeah. This is excellent programming for adolescents and their parents, and anyone else who has ever suffered ostracism and survived.

Comment for "Rev. Jesse Jackson: Slavery, Capitalism, and Business Ethics."

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Review of Rev. Jesse Jackson: Slavery, Capitalism,and Business Ethics.

It’s always enlightening to hear the engaging Reverend Jesse Jackson’s take on things. As an active participant in making history, his perspective on ours matters. He starts off low key, but righteous outrage expands as he expounds on such ethical questions as: how can we be so wealthy and have 44 million without health insurance? His main point is that “fairness and sharing are the keys to lasting prosperity.” He reminds us that America was founded on the economics of apartheid, its first business slavery, and it’s a mere fifty years since all were deemed equal. As always, pithy and quotable: “We can lead the world by our values, not rule it by our guns…Right is might, might is not right,” just one example of many. Timely airing now, because as he stresses, who gets elected determines who gets what. “Your budget is a value,” and lately we’ve been valuing the wealthy.

Comment for "Walking High Steel: Mohawk Ironworkers at the Twin Towers"

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Review of Walking High Steel: Mohawk Ironbworkers at the Twin Towers

I missed this when it first aired on NPR, but am grateful to hear it now. Lots of ground artfully covered in short time. Excellent music and the sound of the wind accompany great voices talking about everything from the high-wire ironworker experience, to the stress of families left on the rez all week, to the building of the WTC –– “You’re kind of in this air that nobody’s ever been there before” –– to their destruction. A worker from Ground Zero speaks of cleansing himself with tobacco water, but in some way carrying those killed with him. This piece picks up one particular aspect of those towers and carries it well.

Comment for "Witnesses to Terror: The 9/11 Commission Hearings"

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Review of Witnesses to Terror: The 9/11 Commission Hearings

Compelling, cogent, chilling are just the first three words that spring to mind as I sit, stirred and stunned by a beautifully produced testament to the power of radio. From Deborah Amos’s calm narrative presence to the astute reporting of Catherine Winter, the acutely effective choice of tape excerpts, and the rare but fitting use of music, this hour honors the commission’s intent to focus our attention on what happened that day, and how it came to happen so that we can deter it from happening again. If you didn’t follow the hearings in their entirety, or haven’t read the report, this is essential hearing. And even if you did, this serves to compress an immense amount of information into something you can hang onto, and it’s great radio.
American Radio Works is peerless at organizing complicated material. In this case, the material is divided into three main segments: the hijackers plotting and entry, the military response, and the response on the ground. The ingredients include synopsis, specifics, witness testimony and raw tape. Like an opera escalating in emotional impact, the hour gathers steam. Unbelievably weak visa requests are honored, though we hear from an Orlando customs inspector who turned back a Saudi Arabian, likely the 5th hijacker for flight #93 whose passengers managed to overwhelm the hijackers. The inspector says “…he gave me the chills.” The section of tape involving an oddly calm- sounding flight attendant on #11 relating several stabbings in a call to the airlines office blows your mind, as does the moment-by-moment description of a Keystone Kops-like air control and military response – fighter pilots chase the wrong plane, a hijacked plane spends 36 minutes flying undetected, and on and on and all of it wrong, wrong, wrong. The final section continues the theme of failed or erroneous communications costing lives. The sole known escapee from the impact zone describes diving under a steel desk on the 81st floor as a plane wing slices into his office door. He is saved by a man whose comrades flee up the stairs instead of down, and perish. Security guards tell fleeing people in the second tower not to evacuate, the building is secure. It all adds up to utter, deadly, chaos. The grace coda is the seared-lung voice of a man struck by a fireball of jet fuel offering a plea that the findings not be ignored, hoping they will “help build a safer, more secure tomorrow for all of us and that by doing so will help bring peace to all of us and our children.” One more time…this is great radio.

Comment for "His Holiness the Karmapa and me"

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Review of His Holiness the Karmapa and me

At one point in this lovely, lovely work of grace about fear, faith, and kind-heartedness, the narrator asks: “What good are your beliefs if you don’t live by them?” Well, that’s a big question, especially when a Buddhist teacher passes on word from His Holiness the Karmapa that no, it’s not such a great idea for Belinda to donate part of her liver to her long-suffering sister. Their friend, the narrator, describes seeking the Karmapa’s advice: it was “as if we were catholic and our priest had like a bat-phone connection with the pope.” The liver-donating narrator, who has no strong belief system to guide him, tells this amazing story beautifully, without a touch of self-aggrandizement, and with great tape from the Buddhist teacher, the two sisters, and his own concerned mother. The music choices feel very personal and flow nicely under the narrative. An interview with the doped-up narrator three days after the surgery, and enough but not too much medical detail, keep the piece grounded in reality. Transplants are no small acts. But what is most moving and what will stay with me for a good while is the narrator's sincere feeling of gratitude. Find a place to air this, day or night, to remind your listeners that sometimes people are really something…

Comment for "Stencil Pirates"

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Review of Stencil Pirates

Some might find stencil art offensive, but in this well-recorded interview, an articulate artist explains the process involved in creating what he calls “art messages,” and his philosophy of offering an unexpected art experience to people who don’t necessarily visit galleries or museums. There’s risk involved in this less-than-legal endeavor, but as he points out, these days, many forms of public expression are risky. Interesting profile, and the sound of the spray can is so sharp you can practically smell the toxins. Good “fill” length.

Comment for "Norman Mailer Interview"

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Review of Norman Mailer Interview

Lydon and Mailer, what a fabulous pairing. A shared love of language, and interest in cultural investigation make for a fast-paced, intelligent and fascinating twenty minutes. The conversation is filled with pithy insights into the essential makeup of the presidential candidates, the country, and the perishable nature of democracy, among other matters. Snappy quotes abound. Production notes offer a few of the many highlights. The length is long for morning or afternoon NPR, but it’s so worth airing, in two parts if need be. Lydon ends by saying it’s been “a pleasure and a privilege to talk…” as it is to listen. This is a must air.

Comment for "The Parents of PFC Nick Spry"

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Review of The Parents of PFC Nick Spry

This is a very sad acapella duet (though you can practically hear cello accompaniment) in memory of #538 on the list of American hearts stilled in our so-called preemptive war against Iraq. Nick was just eight months out of high school when he left these shores. The tears in his mother’s voice, the wrung-out calm in his father’s are powerful reminders of the torture so many family members undergo while waiting for their soldiers to come home. It is all the sadder to hear that both parents felt in their heart of hearts that Nick would not return. A fitting ME or ATC drop-in length.

Comment for "Olympic Puppeter"

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Review of Olympic Puppeter

Having missed the opening ceremonies, I can’t testify as to whether the profiled puppeteer’s touch was apparent. This straightforward conversation/report focuses on the puppeteer’s background and approach to pageantry production. It’s timely if aired right quick, of local interest to Philadelphians, and includes an insightful comment on how ill-thought-out pageants can go awry.

Comment for "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too!"

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Review of Tippecanoe and Tyler Too!

Nicely produced piece on convention history that includes a sentence about looking through the rear end of a pig, (not literally, of course). This brings to mind many wry comments about conventions upcoming and past, all of which I will spare you. More to the point, this foray backwards is a pleasant balance for coverage on present day conventions, so expensively packaged for both viewer and attendee.

Comment for ""109 on 9/11""

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Review of "109 on 9-11"

Friends who live in lower Manhattan have given me heart-stopping renditions of their experience of 9/11. Still, these voices from 109 Washington, a couple of blocks from the World Trade Center, knocked me for a loop, put my stomach in a knot, brought tears to my eyes. The first segment sets the scene from a neighborhood point of view. We get a sense of how things were before the towers existed, and a feel for what it was like living in their shadow. The narrator, who lives in 109, acquaints us with the other eight in a relaxed, friendly, downright neighborly way. We get to know their voices, and a little about them and how they came to live at such an odd outpost from normal Manhattan life. We hear about their morning activities the morning of September 11, and the surreal quality of all that followed the very loud sound that drew them to their windows, onto fire escapes, down to the street. One man, speaking of the north tower, describes it as looking like “a garden torch and somebody had lit the upper part of it. And I don’t think anyone thought the tower would fall or anything else would happen.” Some residents clung together, or found each other through the dust. Eddie, from apartment 13, was already at work in New Jersey, unsure whether his building was still standing. One of the women, Lesley, from 7, I believe, describes being on the street when the second building fell, turning to see “a rolling wall of solid debris...and you didn’t know if it was going to reach you.” It’s wonderful to have an audio oral history from a diverse mix of humans who that day shared a street address, and now share an experience beyond imagining. There’s a books worth of detail contained in this hour of woven voice. The plaintive sounds of the rooftop chamber concert the cellist in apartment 9 organized a year later are used sparingly, but to good effect. While this is not the most highly polished production, that somehow feels just right. It’s beautifully put together and a valuable, moving way to remember that day in New York, this or any year.

Comment for "Hungry March Band"

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Review of Hungry March Band

Reverend Billy likes ‘em, and I sure do wish they wandered around my neighborhood. A marching band blasting through the summer’s humid heat pumps the heartbeat a notch faster. I could have used a little more full out brass blast, but the band volume is lowered to allow for good visuals-providing descriptions. Already aired, but such pleasant summer fill-in fare, could stand to be aired more than once.

Comment for "Proust, cattle and self-governance"

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Review of Proust, cattle and self-governance

Could not resist the title and glad I didn’t. There’s the school of hard knocks, and then this, the school of hard work as portrayed in a beautifully produced, fast-moving montage that captures the essence of a very unique college. A handful of students, a teacher, and the former president articulately discuss different aspects over sound-rich tape bed and student composed music. It all works and winds up with this powerful statement by one of the students: “It’s really strange to have schools that say their mission is to serve society, is to help the world, is to train future leaders, that are training their future leaders to sit around in their pajamas in the dining hall and have underpaid people of another color bring them their food. That just doesn’t seem legitimate.” Damn right. Air any time cause it’s real good radio and says a lot about class in America without ever using the word.

Comment for "Texas Delegate Diary: Nick Lawrie and Karl-Thomas Musselman Day 1"

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Review of Delegate Diary - Nick Lawrie and Karl-Thomas Musselman

Two young, rabid Austin (former Deanic) delegates remind us why, despite lobbyists, big donors and done deals, delegates bother to herd into convention halls. These two breathlessly convey a touch of excitement their jaded elders often lack.

Comment for "Oklahoma DNC Delegate Diary: Mark Ashton and Stacy Loeffler, Day1" (deleted)

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Review of Oklahoma Democratic Diary 07-25-04 (deleted)

So much convention coverage involves known political or media voices interpreting every last iota of confetti, it’s a refreshing eavesdrop to hear a couple of regular delegates describe their experience of the Democratic convention as it's winding up.

Comment for "Aprendemos Juntos (We Learn Together)"

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Review of Aprendemos Juntos (We Learn Together)

Good attempt at transcending dryness of typical academic research by offering the heartbeat of real life via strong assortment of interviews. While about school, issues of racism, immigration, and difficulties accepting diversity are woven throughout. The kids’ voices make the piece, despite occasional slow flow of narration-interview-narration. But narrator has comfortable presence and script offers helpful description and vivid details of town, school, as well as economic, and cultural concerns. A couple of involved adults balance the kids’ interviews just fine. Music, when it appears, is a plus, as is the livelier tape gathered at the sole Hispanic graduate’s party. I realized how caught up I was when I gasped, “Oh, no….” on hearing, well, I won’t tell you, you’ll just have to listen. I wished this was a bit more polished, but forgive any lack of artistry because of its earnestness and the tender respect given the kids voices. No neat conclusion reached, no happy ending. Still, a valuable half-hour from a public radio land most associated with Garrison Keillor. Fine pick for start or end of high school year, youth or diversity programming

Comment for "Serving 9 to 5: Correctional Officers' Diary"

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Review of Serving 9 to 5: Correctional Officers' Diary

Sgt. Camel, who opens and closes a beautifully orchestrated medley of prison guard voices, has the demeanor of a stern, but concerned school principal. He describes the care he takes of his uniform because “90% of the job is looking the part.” The beginning of his 27-year career pre-dates the onset of prisons as one of America’s main growth industries. A newly hired 23-year old female guard, fresh from managing fast food joints, says, “It’s just like working in a factory.” An African American male guard describes the shock of looking up three stories, “and all that you see are young black faces. You realize that this is where the fathers are, and the sons are, and the brothers are…”

The details offered by these very expressive voices move smoothly over a sound bed of closing cell doors, bouncing basketballs, training film tape, guard and prisoner exchanges. The ambient sound is perfectly placed to support, but not compete, with the voices. We’re taken from day’s start to its end, and in between, given fragments of experience: a guard whose pepper spray fails her, a cell search, the disgust an officer feels at masturbating inmates, an officer’s paranoia in the real world, the shock of a guard recognizing a new inmate… her son. And the incarcerated feeling inmates own and guards visit. Excellent programming for urban or rural markets, as this growth industry often connects the two. You can’t beat this brand of non-narrated story telling for bringing you close to pure experience.

Comment for "The Basement"

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Review of The Basement

More wry smile humor than laugh aloud. Strong voice, good monologue. Listening plunked me down in a small theater, spotlight on a man, for a comfortably paced, four-and-a-minute reflection on hauntings in life. This would be a welcome respite from haunting news of the day come early evening.

Comment for "The Children of Logan"

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Review of The Children of Logan

In this installment of Borten’s series, A Sense of Place, the producer offers a-study-in-contrast style portrait of her childhood neighborhood from the forties through the end of the century. Both the neighborhood and Borten’s perceptions evolve –– her first effort took place in 1989, and she returned eleven years later. Borten’s kaleidoscopic approach makes for a rich half-hour.

Tape of Jewish immigrants, who, escaping from Hitler’s version of homeland security, eventually found sanctuary in the Logan neighborhood echo off later African American residents, who sought sanctuary in the stability of home ownership, and Hispanics who followed. But the literally unstable Logan area ground led to houses sinking, even abandoned, and the accompanying societal woes of troubled inner city neighborhoods. Then there were the hazards behind closed doors, which one family poignantly shares.

There are great details of life during the war period, woven with music of the time, and compelling tape of residents throughout the years. At moments, not thinking about the title, I wasn’t sure where the piece was heading –– was it about environment? Memory? But a sense of this place, this neighborhood, seen over time, demands a certain amount of non-linear, spider-webbiness. In the end, the piece is about survival, and the survival of children is of paramount importance, then, now, always.
Program any time.

Comment for "RN Documentary: The Best of Times, the Worst of Times - War and Memory"

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Review of RN Doc: The Best of Times; the Worst of Times. (War & Memory

In my father’s Brooklyn neighborhood of brownstones, there was a Korean War vet local kids referred to as “the ducker.” He wandered the streets, muttering, and when a plane flew overhead, he’d huddle in the nearest doorway, shaking, terrified. The community accepted his fragility, even the kids knew not to mock or disturb him. A Vietnam vet friend who served in the infantry, less traumatized, but no less, in Professor Winter’s phrase, “shadowed for life,” by his experience found the ambiance at home somewhat less sympathetic. This interesting, nuanced documentary brought both men to mind. In it, Professor Winter offers insights on the interplay between society’s framing of any war and how its survivors remember and tell their stories, particularly in wars lacking a national consensus. His comments are interwoven with interviews from Dutch veterans of the war in Indonesia, a conflict soldiers were told was a war of liberation. They discovered otherwise. The interplay makes for a textured conversation – the thoughtful professor speaking in general, the veterans recounting their painful specifics. This piece on war and memory is thought-provoking. Would be an obvious choice for Memorial Day or other war anniversaries, and given our current war, extended duty for reserve soldiers, and controversy over treatment of prisoners, well worth airing right now.

Comment for "4th of July Fireworks"

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Review of 4th of July Fireworks

Oh yeah. Humorous (and more) 4th of July diary. Anderson very skilled at creating a slightly off-center reality that feels like life as we know it, just tweaked a notch. Great fast pace makes this feel like a wicked speedy ping-pong match for the ears. Anderson considerately provides two versions, music bed under one. I liked that one -- the pumping music mixed so well, it wasn't one bit distracting. But stations skewing toward older ears, without would work well. At 3:28, perfect drop-in for 4th weekend.

Comment for "Father's Day Tribute: Fix'er Up, Dad."

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Review of Father's Day Tribute: Fix'er Up, Dad.

Excuse me while I grab a tissue here. This one got me good. My dad's gone, so it doesn't take much, but my guess is such a tender tribute would have choked me up no matter what. We get a strong feel for the kindness of the father through the description of his loyalty to broken things, and through the writer's sincere appreciation for his father's loving ways. Though the writer never alludes to the difficult news he had to share with his fundamentalist parents, we can guess. Play this for father's day. Play it any time to remind us all to be big of heart and gentle with each other.

Comment for "Kentucky Dairy Farming and Kenny's Country Cheese"

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Review of Kentucky Dairy Farming and Kenny's Country Cheese

I picked this to review because I was in the mood to hear some cows mooing, and while there's less of that than I'd hoped, there's lots of well recorded sound I wasn't expecting: banging and clanging, milk flowing into vats, assorted work sounds, a radio in the background and Kenny talking while he's laboring. It all adds up to an enjoyable audio visit with some real folks talking about the family business. Kenny's mom tells us why and how he switched from pure farming to making cheese, Kenny talks about why the change is gratifying, and the time flies by. No narration, and none needed. Skillfully edited, well paced. Have to listen to the rest of the Kentucky-based series. Might just make for a good summer series for other parts of the country. And hey, these folks are still MAKING something in our service-industry lanscape, and that's a good thing.

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Review of Common Sense Computing (deleted)

You pretty much have to tie me down before I'll pay real attention to web information, so I appreciate this clear, visual explanation of autonomous systems, ethernet bandwidth, and stuff like that. Though listed as 4:07, the piece is actually 2:06. For tech savvy types, this is kindergarten material, but there are scores of folks like me who use the internet with nary a clue as to how it all works. Narrator sounds young, which is fitting, really. Could be nice little drop-in series as a public service to old geezers or new users.

Comment for "Michael Durant Survivor of Blackhawk Down" (deleted)

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Review of Hans Blix on "Disarming Iraq" (deleted)

Those following events leading up to the Iraq War won't find anything new, but it's always valuable to hear Dr. Blix's rational, coherent opinions about the inspection process, “pre-emptive war,” and the crucial importance of accurate, or at least extremely convincing intelligence. This is a phone interview, but the quality is decent. The interviewer allows him to answer at length, and we get a little more than the ME, ATC allotted time for these kinds of interviews. Though listed at 14:02, the actual interview ends at 12:25.

Comment for "Japanese American World War II Draft Resisters"

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Review of JA Draft Resisters

Imagine being relocated to an internment camp based on your race, and then drafted to fight for the country that incarcerated you behind the internment camp’s barbed wire fence. Then imagine saying no. This timely feature on Japanese American resisters gives us a surface feeling for the atmosphere of the time, and certainly draws one’s mind to our current preemptive anti-terrorist detention techniques. Clean production, good reporting.

Comment for "Hard to Say"

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Review of Hard to Say

Poignantly titled, this sentimental journey, under which a big band version of the song plays, would be perfect for Valentine’s Day or an Alzheimer-related moment. Ed, ninety at the telling, gently shares, through brief, visual details, a portrait of his second marriage and of his wife’s deteriorating condition. His subtle optimism as he says, “I live here alone at the time,” hooked me right off the bat. He describes building their kitchen so they’d have plenty of room to dance, and we hear in his happy chuckle how much they love to move together. His wife now lives in a facility, but is still present enough for the dancing to continue. This is a journey –– beginning in the kitchen, moving to the facility, and ending with the “hard to say” allusion to an unknown future. The ending feels a little abrupt, but otherwise, it's a lovely 6-minute slice of humanity.

Comment for "Mystery Train"

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Review of Mystery Train

The excellent music mix supports, even elevates this finely-observed remembrance -- an emotionally painful exchange between three young people. The producer wonderfully captures the complexities of love and sex, self-respect, and a whole bunch of other stuff in a very short time. Her imagined endings to the train ride successfully round off what comes before. Excellent pick for youth-geared programming, but parents of teens might want to listen up as well.

Comment for "Willard"

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Review of Willard

Very good oral history-esque portrait of a unique company town. Interviews with townsfolk, former staff members, and even a patient provide great details and make the place come alive. One of the staff, cleaning up after the psychiatric center closed down, offers a compelling description of finding an attic room filled with 400 suitcases – the personal belongings of former patients, containing everything from sweaters to FDR campaign posters. We hear about the gravedigger patient, the long-time staff member who kept only one memento from his time in this “haven for incurables,” and conditions good and bad. The producer writes well, the piece flows along. This is a valuable snapshot of a certain place in time, and a particular method for treating the mentally ill. The talk ends at about 12:00 – there’s a long music trailer that can easily be faded as needed. At this length, hard to program into NPR slots, but if you’ve got a mix-slot, or special programming on mental health issues, include this.

Comment for "Part 5: Democracy (1990-1994)"

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Review of Part 5: Democracy (1990-1994)

My heart is almost too full for words to find their way to the page. I’ve only heard this last part of the series and can’t wait to hear the whole thing, start to finish. So much resonates from South Africa’s newly birthed democracy to our own aging one. In this episode, the producers brilliantly weave sounds from pivotal moments involving the discussions, negotiations, tribal war, assassination, and finally the election and inauguration. I remember crying as I watched TV coverage of South Africa’s first election, of the long, long lines of people standing in the hot sun. Those powerful images returned while hearing the voices contained in these fabulous twelve minutes of great radio. Timely airing all year, because it’s their government’s tenth anniversary. But also because after the debacle that was our last election, it’s good to be reminded that the right to vote is a precious, hard fought, hard won privilege. Referring to their first election, a male voice, probably that of Desmond Tutu, says: “I wondered to myself, what is it about casting a vote?” What indeed.