The last place contestants in the Wear a Great Shirt contest.
Creative freedom, Illinois chillax days, cracker factories, all that newsletter stuff
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Knowing where you’re at when you do a thing and where you’re at is nowhere and everywhere at once
I was in public radio for a long time before I became all about the podcast. And it’s a good move, I’m glad I did it. I’d rather work at Netflix than Blockbuster, would rather be at General Motors than a place that makes buggy whips.
In public radio, I generally had to make shows that were a particular length, usually with breaks built in at precisely timed spots, right down to a fraction of a second. Why is that segment on All Things Considered precisely the length that it is? Because it has to be. You can’t include anymore if you want to. The same goes for network television and probably went for old-timey radio too.
Podcasting isn’t like that. You make a show that is long enough to carry some breaks in it for ads, sure, but there’s mostly a huge amount of freedom. So much freedom that it can be scary. SO scary that it can kind of freeze you up because there’s almost too much to comprehend. I COULD make a five-hour episode. I generally don’t want to, I don’t think what I do would work well at that length, but given the podcasting platform and the fact that I own my show, I could. I could have fifteen guests. I could be the only voice in an episode. There’s no shortage of completely ludicrous routes I could go.
But there I go again, using the word ludicrous.
My point is this, and thanks for staying with this item as long as you have: it is incumbent upon makers of podcasts to recognize how much room for creativity there really is. Following a formula (intro + guest 1 + break + more guest 1 + break + guest 2 + credits) is fine, makes the week more efficient. In that scenario, I’m coloring rather than drawing. I’m Three Dog Night instead of Bob Dylan.
But I’m going to try to take more advantage of the liberation to color outside the lines. To erase the lines. To throw away the paper entirely and build a water fountain instead.
To that end, I’d love to hear your bold ideas for the show. Your “It’s Too Crazy It Won’t Work” ideas. Your ideas that have never been done on a podcast before. This is the only lifetime we have to do them in.
Okay.
Who gets it right, who gets it wrong
Had a GREAT interview today with Linda Holmes of Pop Culture Happy Hour on NPR and Tre’Vell Anderson of FANTI right here on Maximum Fun. We were talking about movies and tv shows that get mental illness right and ones that get it very wrong.
I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by saying Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has traditionally earned a lot of acclaim for being honest on the subject even within the context of musical comedy. I mean, check this out, and watch it all the way through.
On the get it wrong side, we had some good answers too. I was too busy talking to Linda and Tre’Vell to offer my own response. Psycho, a film that perpetuates the characterization that mentally ill people are violent and murderous. Also, it never specifies in what way Norman is a “psycho”, which is not a medical term.
But what do you think? Who gets it right and who gets it wrong?
Leave a comment here if you want or email depreshmode@maximumfun.org.
Hey man, is THIS Freedom Rock?
Illinois students are getting mental health days
No notes or permissions necessary. Okay cool.
Under a bill signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker last month, students who decide to take a mental health day will not be required to provide their school with a doctor's note and will be able to make up any work that was missed on their day off.
"Having this now for all students across the state will be really beneficial, especially with what's going on with COVID," State Rep. Barbara Hernandez, who co-sponsored the bill, told the Journal-Courier. "Many students feel stressed, and have developed anxiety and depression because they're not able to see teachers and friends, and may have lower grades due to remote learning."
When those junior high and high school years were at their roughest, one of the worst parts was the feeling that I was just trapped. That I had to go every day no matter what. Or fake illness or skip and get busted. It felt like prison. This is a better way to do it.
Will some of the students just use those days to goof off and play videogames with their friends? Yes. Because that is the point.
This video is noisy and upsetting:
Nike: The Illinois Public Schools of Corporations
Nike is giving employees a mental health week off.
Matt Marrazzo, a senior manager for the Beaverton, Oregon-based shoe maker, confirmed the break in a LinkedIn post last week.
“Our senior leaders are all sending a clear message: Take the time to unwind, destress and spend time with your loved ones. Do not work,” he wrote. “It’s not just a ‘week off’ for the team … It’s an acknowledgment that we can prioritize mental health and still get work done.
Note that it’s the corporate offices and not the factories where they actually make the shoes. Then they’d come back to a huge factory with a bunch of incomplete shoes piled up on the assembly line.