I used to read in the bath, but lately, I’ve taken my laptop in to listen to podcasts. I love podcasts, and listen to them far more than reading or watching the telly. It is an activity I can do while walking or knitting or cooking — yay for multitasking!
I find podcast listening so much more enjoyable than reading in the bath because I can let my hands and arms relax, close my eyes, and soak (with a book, I am constantly trying to find a good position to hold the book, get good light, and can never completely relax).
I listen to a WIDE range of podcasts, but lately, the obsession has been Serial.
Like everyone and their mothers, I have been an avid listener to the Serial podcast since its first episode debuted on This American Life (another staple). I am addicted, I admit, even though sometimes I feel pretty frustrated by the presentation of this story. My favorite bits are these little moments which highlight the deep, lots of times flawed, humanity of all the “characters.”
For the few uninitiated, Serial is a series (ha) of a dozen or so podcasts (currently on Episode 9) all on one particular murder which occurred in Baltimore in 1999. Both the person eventually convicted for the murder and the victim were high school seniors.
I find the series especially poignant because I am the same age as most of the people involved in the story. The people who were friends of the victim and the man in jail for the murder are nearly all the class of 1999 high school. I was class of 2000. When Koenig (the creator and main reporter for the series) interviews these people, they are all the age I am now, in their early 30s. Their memories of their time in high school echos mine — all the cultural points, the antics of teenagers at the time. But where they ended up in life may not be the same. Some of them, like me, have had a couple of kids and are living quite eventless lives, moving into mid-life. Some have enduring scars from the incident. One is in jail serving a life sentence. One’s life was ended and frozen forever in 1999. It is so unique and stands out on an emotional level from all the other podcasts in my rotation.
So I look forward to every Thursday evening when I can download the newest episode and listen/re-listen in the tub on weekends.
I hope series 2 will not be true crime (I think they said it wouldn’t be) because there is something quite pervy with getting such entertainment out of a sad and terrible crime.
usheeshobbynook 