Sincerely,
Lewis Ableidinger
Kensal, ND
Lewis, My retirement is in the near
future, not the distant, and I hope there will be a successor.
I’d hate to think that this old ship would simply go into
drydock. I’d want to think that someone younger, funnier,
brighter, would want to leap in and have this chance to entertain
people. I love the show. I love it for all sorts of reasons that
have nothing to do with me. Mainly I love it for the audience.
Anytime I meet people who listen to the show, I run into so all
these gentle, capable people with amazing stories. But maybe the
show is fatally compromised by its association with me and Lake
Wobegon. I wish it weren’t so. At the moment, however, the
show is at the mercy of Minnesota Public Radio, a major broadcasting
corporation, and if I retired, its future would be decided by
a clutch of vice-presidents who only know what they tell each
other, and what they would do with this show is very sorrowful
to imagine. They would take all their audience statistics and
turn it into a turkey loaf sandwich. I would like the show to
be sirloin steak, with some caviar, and calamari, and parsnips,
and a crème brulee.
Mr. Keillor,
Now that you have a growing reader in the house, are you planning
any children's books? I have two special grand - godkids that
I would love to introduce to the wonderful world of Lake Wobegon,
or any other magical place hidden in your brain.
Jayne Brooks
Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Dear Jayne, My little girl loves books,
adores books,
but she doesn’t adore my books so much as she adores Richard
Scarry’s and Maurice Sendak’s and a lot of others. Lake
Wobegon isn’t a fit place for children, it’s too scary.
Better they should read about monsters and ferocious beasts.
Dear Mr. Keillor
I live in a Chicago suburb and still shovel snow
in the winter. By that I mean that I don't use a snow blower,
or as I describe it, I am a "shoveler", not a "blower".
I always try to get out either very early or very late when the
"blowers" aren't out stinking up the place and making
a racket so I can enjoy the beauty of the winter while sweating
in my own driveway. I often wonder if the old (and young) guys
in Lake Wobegon are shovelers or blowers. It would be nice to
feel like I had some company
Ross Sweeny
Dear Mr. Sweeny, We
have both blowers and shovelers in Lake Wobegon, and of course
each feels superior to the other. The shovelers feel that they
are the original pioneers and the upholders of tradition, and
the blowers feel that they get the job done and are therefore
able to devote more time to the good things of life. I do not
take sides in this matter.
Dear Mr Keillor, I am writing to you from New
Zealand where we are fortunate enough to hear your radio show
on our own National Programme. When are we going to experience
you 'in the flesh'? A trip down here I know would be recieved
wonderfully by those of us who can only glimpse your sense of
the world as it once was and perhaps as it is still in isolated
communities.
Elisabeth Balderston
Waiorongomai
New Zealand
Dear Elisabeth, I am permanently
stuck here in the Midwest
and have no intent to travel anywhere so far as New Zealand. I’ve
only heard good things about New Zealand, but that doesn’t
affect me. I’m a retrograde person. I am a throwback. I’m
a St. Paul guy.
Mr.Keillor,
You have written much about dogs. I was wondering if you had one?
Keith
Lawrenceville, Georgia
Dear Keith, Never.
Not since I was a kid. My child is terrified of dogs. And in her
behalf, so am I.
