NPR & PBS -Couldn't Live Without Them

When she learned that I was a tour guide in a former life, my new friend immediately had to know what was the most amazing sight I had ever seen in my travels. What a great question! I had an impossible time narrowing it down, so I chose a few. My first two words were Crater Lake. It is a national Park in South Central Oregon containing a lake that is a collapsed volcano. Rather than try to describe it, I pulled out a quote that I have kept with me since my trip there. It is by author Jack London – best known for his Alaskan tales and book, “Call of the Wild.” Here’s the quote: ”I thought that I had gazed upon everything beautiful in nature as I have spent many years traveling thousands of miles to view the beauty spots of the earth, but I have reached the climax. Never again can I gaze upon the beauty spots of the earth and enjoy them as being the finest thing I have ever seen. Crater Lake is far above them all.

How can you read that and not decide that you have to see it? That’s what happened to me a while back while watching Ken Burns PBS series “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” Of all his wonderful American stories, this is my favorite, because there is so much more happiness than sadness in this history.

There is no way to describe the shades of blue in Crater Lake or the feeling of absolute awe and bliss upon seeing it for the first time. I expected it to be beautiful, but it belied all of my preconceived notions. It is truly a wonder to behold and creates an aura of serenity I have only felt once before. That being standing on a glacier in Alaska with not a single sound to be heard and turquoise ice all around me.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Ken Burns PBS series I’ve enjoyed: “the Civil War”, “Baseball”, “The Second World War”, “Prohibition”….. largely because I have such a fear that funding for public television and radio will be eliminated if the Republicans win this election.

I try in this space not to be partisan, but today, I can’t help myself. My greatest salvation for driving 45 minutes (and 33 traffic lights) each way to and from work is listening to NPR ( National Public Radio). I have come to know the commentators as though they were my friends. Unlike television news shows where panelists talk over each other trying to be witty, the NPR commentators ask the questions I want answered. And they make the show about the topic and the guest, and not about themselves.

On my way home from work is a program from the BBC called “World Have Your Say.” People from all over the globe call in with their experience and insights about a particular world event. Since listening to this for a few months, I now feel as much like a citizen of the world as I do an American. It is a daily crash course on world events as told by the people who are living them.

One of my mother’s greatest joys as she grew old was watching programs on PBS. I think Masterpiece Theater and Antiques Roadshow were her favorites, as they are now mine. She had so little discretionary income, and yet she gave as much as she could possibly afford to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Many people and foundations are generous, but it won’t be enough to keep this special kind of programming on the air if the government ops out.

One of my most memorable movies is called “The Magdalene Sisters.” Just a small independent movie no one heard much about, but is as gripping as any I have ever seen. I think about it often. The other morning while I was getting ready for work, I dropped my eyeliner when they began an interview with one of the women who worked in and survived the Irish slave laundry. It was wrenching to hear her story, but made the movie and the events so real to me. A citizen of the world.

•By the Way: By Wednesday morning, more than 1,000 participants had responded on Facebook, saying they would attend a march on the National Mall in Washington three days before the election. The so-called Million Puppet March being planned online is scheduled for Nov. 3. It comes after Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's remarks during a presidential debate calling for the elimination of funding for PBS, which airs the popular children's show "Sesame Street."

•Over the course of a year, 91% of all US television households, tune into their PBS member station.

•Federal funding accounts for about 15% of the money necessary to make public broadcasting possible. This is approximately 1/100ty of 1% of the federal budget.