NPR

I love NPR. I know it puts me into the category of #1 dorkus, but I love it. My friend SM says that NPR is something that you only learn to love if you grow up in a foreign family. I think I have to agree. None of my friends whose parents are from the States love NPR like I love NPR. I guess when your immigrant parents come to the country they get the paperwork from the INS and a radio. They proceed to find the first public radio station in the area and for the next 18 years, they subject their children to NPR. Growing up, I hated NPR. My parents took me to school in the morning and brought me home afterwards. In the morning it was Morning Edition and in the afternoon it was All Things Considered. If we happened to get a late start, we had a radio in the kitchen. For a long time, the NPR music was the signal for my dad telling me that I had a choice between Cream of Wheat, Quaker Oats, eggs, or cereal. I hated it. All of my friends were listening to the cool stuff, but my parents were listening ot the news. EWWW. When I finally got a car, I was freed from the clutches of NPR. I listened to whatever mindless drivel that was on the radio. This continued into college. It wasn't until I got to law school that a curious thing happened. I started to listen to NPR! At first it was just a couple times a week when I had morning classes, then I started listening while I ate breakfast. I think it was 3 years ago that it just happened. I found myself looking for the public radio station and actually set it as a preset on my car radio! Now I'm an addict. I have my alarm clock, shower radio, work walkman and car radio set for NPR. I get cranky if I don't hear it and I find myself calling home and asking my parents if they heard such-and-such on NPR yesterday. I think that my parents are secretly rubbing their hands together and laughing that they have succeeded in converting another brown child to loving NPR.