Thursday, March 29, 2007

Check Your Local NPR Listings For My Selected Shorts Debut – Immediately!

Yaugh! I would have posted this sooner, but it seems I had the dates wrong. The Symphony Space site has it listed for the week of March 31 – April 6, but I’m getting word from folks that they’ve already heard it. Apparently this week, NPR’s Selected Shorts is airing my story “Football.” Since this program airs at dozens of different times around the country, you’ll have to poke aroundtheir site to find out what time it airs in your town. Strangely, it does not seem like it’s going to be aired in Chicago anytime soon... but, if this is the case in your city as well, I’m pretty sure you can also stream it online! I wish I could be more helpful than this and provide one tidy link but right now it’s all I’ve got so please take some time to look at your local listings online cuz I really happen to like this story a lot and I think you will too. Sorry this bulletin is so long.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Selected Shorts airs on WNYC in New York on Saturdays and Sundays at 4pm Eastern Time, 3pm Chicago time. You can listen to the live stream from their website, www.wnyc.org. Saturday will be a repeat of last Sunday's show, and the new show (with your story, I believe) will air on Sunday, April 1. Hope this helps!

hypatia 370 said...

It's Saturday nite at 7:30 and I just listened to "Football" over KERA in Dallas. It was a lark; we're never home on Sat. night and I'm NEVER hand washing dishes. Yet here I was, washing, looking out the window at an impossibily beautiful spring evening, listening. I was thrown back in time to the wishes and dreams I once had for my life. Made me wistful and weepy all at once. Then my hot husband grabbed me round the waist and said, "Put on your sweater, baby, it's a beautiful night; let's go catch some sky", reminding me again of the magic of love. Thank you for adding to it with your wonder-full story. All This Heavenly Glory indeed.

Anonymous said...

Hypatia, that is so nice! And it was so beautifully written!

Anonymous said...

I was just in my car on my way home listening to NPR and hear the reading of your wonderful short story, "Football". Having reached my garage only halfway through the reading I sat there, sweating in the Austin heat in my car, to hear it to the end. And when it ended and I sat there smiling with watered eyes I waited so I could hear the name of the author again so I could do a google search.

This is where I ended up and I noticed that I had the opportunity to leave you this comment and tell you how wonderful I thought the story was and how much it moved me. It's also a beautiful reading of it.

I hope I can find a stream of it on the NPR website so I can send a link to it for my mother and father to hear.

Thank you for the story.

Peter Greenstone

Anonymous said...

while peter sat in his car, I stood in my kitchen, which doesnt have a window like hypatia's... so i stared at the sink. beautifully written, moving. with no papaer handy, i had to write down the author and reader on my hand. looked up martha lavey who read it as if it were her own. spent a bunch of time on her steppenwolf ensemble page, before i came here... i loved it and it stuck in my head

peter, you can listen to it again as i have here www.wnyc.org/shows/shorts/episodes/2007/04/01

oh, and doing a complete 180,
i agree, dick in a box is the best music video ever
-sorry, that should probably have been on a totally different comment

connolly said...

I was driving home on this Sunday evening at about 5:30 bemoaning the fact that, yet again, my HS newspaper students were behind on the newspaper that I, yet again, spent an entire weekend working with them on. This means that, yet again, I will not be able to pay my creative writing students the attention they deserve. In fact, they are finishing their last pieces, and I haven't even decided what we will be writing next.

Then I had one of those wonderful moments in life when theuniverse and my thoughts come together (how wonderfully narcissisitic I am). Out of my car stereo which was, of course, tuned to NPR came your wonderful story "Football."

I realized that this was the perfect model for our next writing exercise. Many of my students are seniors, and this is the time of year where they, yet again, are losing their minds.

As they near the end of the school year, I can't think of a finer piece of writing to use to push them into being simultaneously introspective and forward looking, nostalgic and realistic, literary and honest.

Thank you, and you might be getting some comments from some of my students as we work through this process.

I would love to have them send you some of their work that is inspired by this piece, or any commentary you might want to share with these young writers about writing it.

Please feel free to email me, and thank you for making feel like a writer and a teacher, yet again.

-Matthew Connolly
Journalism and writing teacher, Akins HS, Austin Texas

mconnoll@austinisd.org

connolly said...

Sorry about some of the muddled grammar in that last post. I should have proofed my work.

Elizabeth Crane said...

Matthew, Peter and Brian, many many thanks for your kind words. You made my night!

Jimmy B said...

Normally, crying on the 31-Balboa bus is something I would not blog about. Not that I have ever blogged about anything before.
I was and still am profoundly moved by this story. I cannot wait to ask for Elisabeth Crane's collected stories at my local independent bookstore. Thank you so very much.

Elizabeth Crane said...

Thanks so much, Jimmy B. I can't even say how much all these kind words mean to me.

Anonymous said...

Hi,
My name is Bart. I heard the story "Football" on the radio today. WXPR is in the middle of their spring fund raiser. I would LOVE to read a text copy of the story, "Football."
I'm almost tempted to transcribe the story myself. I'm thinking of those who are unable to hear the stream. Is there a complete work in which this short story is contained?
Email:Bart_vanderpuy@hotmail.com
Band: myspace.com/smokelessandeatmorefruit
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=99068606

Unknown said...

jeez, this song reminded me (as I stood in a Bastrop TX pasture) of domestic death, suburbia, false hopes, gender stalemates, pusillanimous conformity, microcosmic minutiae, 1st world classicism, and of love, that wispy haunted breath of eagerness for now in the next.....WELL DONE CRANE< KUDOS< APPALAUSE< ENCORE?!

Thank you!

So good....

lostern@gmail.com

aubrey rose said...

I fear that I am a little behind on the comments since the story "Football" ran so many months ago, but I only found this page tonight.

Whenever I, as a writer, occasionally need inspiration, just listening to the reading of "Football" on my iPod puts me right back into the writing frame of mind.

Really, quite a beautiful story and a beautiful reading. I just wanted to thank you for the motivation.

Unknown said...

I too landed here after just listening to "Football" and looking it up on Google. I just heard it 10 minutes ago on public radio here in San Jose. I'm trying to find a recording of it so I can listen to it again and share it with others.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful! I think you can find it online on the Selected Shorts site.

Anonymous said...

Okay. Not only did I have the honor of also hearing the reading of "Football" while driving home this afternoon and not only did I experience one of my favorite life happenings- art in written form that cause paradigm shifts and the way I view my life- but I also now have the pleasure of reading the above comments from people who took all of my words about this piece right out of my mouth. There's something even more rewarding in knowing others reacted to the story just as I did...what a bonus. Thank you, Elizabeth, for reminding me that I can look at my life's struggles as unwanted experiences to be avoided and resisted at all costs or I can see them as all part of the big picture of my time here on earth and embrace them as I would many necessary colors of a beautiful tapestry. All of those wished for things in your story....yeah, I want them too.

Anonymous said...

Wow, Anonymous, thank you for such kind words. It knocks me out to know that you and others have not just appreciated the story but had such a wonderful experience of it. Writing in and of itself is fantastic, and knowing that I'm reaching people this way is like a whole big can of frosting on that cake.

Sarah C said...

Elizabeth, I just listened to your short story 'Football' on NPR last evening. I am from a very small town in Utah, it is so amazing to hear this wonderful story and to relate to it. That you are able to connect people through your words is amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed it. BRAVO!!

Anonymous said...

Oh, thank you so much for saying so, Sarah! Seeing as how it's from the perspective of a city girl, I really appreciate that.

Anonymous said...

Listened to "Football" on the way home from the Dunn Loring Station on the D.C. Metro. It reminded me of my hometown (Enid, OK) and some of the life I ran from and also miss at the same time. The story also hit me at a time in which I have committed to simplifying my life. The story reminded me that not much more is as appealing as a simple life lead fully, with thoughtfulness and thankfulness. Alas, thanks!

Kip
Washington, DC

Anonymous said...

I just heard "Football" last week on the road to Austin. My wife and I laughed about this oddly specific fantasy, and then I misted up a little bit. For those who missed it, it is currently available for download:

http://www.learnoutloud.com/Podcast-Directory/Literature/Short-Stories/NPR-Selected-Shorts-Podcast/24001#podcastlink

I'm glad I found it.

Elizabeth Crane said...

Aw, thanks so much, Dave! And thanks for the link.

Anonymous said...

I listen to NPR sometimes in the office and my co-workers can hear. We replayed the podcast of your story a few times for the people who had missed it, because we all enjoyed it so much.