{"id":5461,"date":"2010-12-11T10:55:59","date_gmt":"2010-12-11T15:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.net\/?p=5461"},"modified":"2010-12-11T10:55:59","modified_gmt":"2010-12-11T15:55:59","slug":"on-scott-simons-upcoming-talk-in-baltimore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/?p=5461","title":{"rendered":"On Scott Simon’s Upcoming Talk In Baltimore"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ScottMy Saturday mornings are regimented. I get up. I fix a cup of coffee. I read the newspapers online. I listen to Scott Simon and Weekend Edition Saturday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(As an aside, a fun story on today’s broadcast was on the dueling atheist-Catholic billboards<\/a> at the Lincoln Tunnel. Wonder American Atheists<\/a> powers, activate!)<\/p>\n

There’s something about Scott Simon’s voice that’s like a violinist drawing out the power of his instrument. There’s something about the poetic way he uses language to draw out the emotions like his report on four Boy Scouts who gave their lives<\/a> to save their fellow scouts when a tornado struck their camp a few years ago. Even when reading his books, like his novel Pretty Birds<\/i> or his memoir Home and Away<\/i>, the “sense” of Simon’s voice is there behind the words.<\/p>\n

The local NPR station, WYPR<\/a>, is hosting “An Evening With Scott Simon<\/a>” at the end of January. Simon will be giving a talk about his new book, Baby We Were Meant For Each Other<\/a><\/i>, which talks about his and his wife’s adoption of two girls from China.<\/p>\n

The thing that puts me off, however, is the price of the tickets — they’re a little<\/i> pricey<\/a> for my budget. Thirty-five dollars for the base ticket (Scott Simon talk and book signing). Ninety dollars for the talk, signing, and a reception beforehand. I must confess, I find that ninety dollar ticket the more tempting of the two pricing tiers, even though I know there are other things I can do with ninety dollars. But I also know, in this day and age, NPR stations need all the financial help they can get.<\/p>\n

I’m tempted to go, though I admit the subject matter isn’t of the greatest interest to me. On the other hand, when Simon was interviewed on other NPR programs about the book (like this interview on Morning Edition<\/i><\/a> from August), it was an experience as moving as any of his best reports on Weekend Edition<\/i>. The gripping hand, of course, is that it’s Scott Simon. How many times in my life will I have the chance to spend an hour or two listening to Scott Simon, live and in person? How many times do I think I could get Pretty Birds<\/i> autographed? \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

I’m going to mull this over. I have a week or two to decide. :h2g2:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My Saturday mornings are regimented. I get up. I fix a cup of coffee. I read the newspapers online. I listen to Scott Simon and Weekend Edition Saturday. (As an aside, a fun story on today’s broadcast was on the dueling atheist-Catholic billboards at the Lincoln Tunnel. Wonder American Atheists powers, activate!) There’s something aboutContinue reading “On Scott Simon’s Upcoming Talk In Baltimore”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[4093,4123,596],"class_list":["post-5461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","tag-life","tag-npr","tag-scott-simon","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5461\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}