NPR Kneads My Neck

[Unless I'm pinned to my mattress staring at the ceiling totally stressed out at 4:30 in the morning, my day's routine usually begins by being gently awakened at 7:00 by the civilized, blue-state tones of National Public Radio. Renée Montaigne, Steve Inskeep and the local news folks (especially Joe McConnell with MetroTraffic) have become as essential to those 45-60 minutes before leaving the Downtown Aparment as coffee, deodorant and hair gel. I listen to it on the dusty, crusty, and functional alarm clock my friend and coworker Gina gave me for a going away present when I left Santa Barbara in 1996.]

[This morning, I lay in bed extra long to listen to NPR's funny and charming story of Bush's visit to Canandaigua, N.Y., just south of Rochester, to defend the hamhanded Medicare drug "benefit" to a handpicked Republican western New York audience. Shrub was sort of a Guffman character in the piece, which focused on how a small town's routine is upended when the President visits. I've been to that area of New York, and have known too many Rochesterians to count. It was delightful hearing that nasal Lake Ontario accent again on my clock radio. It was also pleasant to have That Man In The White House relegated to the buffoon-like supporting role he so richly deserves while the Canandaigua High School drama department warmed up the crowd with selections from their upcoming production of The Music Man.]

[I know I'm fooling myself, but something about the whole thing made me feel over some sort of hump with regard to this long national nightmare. I know it ain't over, and in a larger sense it never will be (Mark Warner or Hillary Rodham Clinton or Russ Feingold - none of them will save us), but this morning kneaded that knot of political tension that's been at the nape of many of our necks since 2000.]

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