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Comments from the week of 07.01.24

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Dear Garrison,

What do you think of Louisiana’s decision to post the Ten Commandments in public schools and Oklahoma’s decision to include Bible instruction?

Maggie

The Ten Commandments would be a fine subject for study, not just posted on the wall for people to ignore. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” is worth attention and the one about keeping the Sabbath Day holy — is football holy? And honoring your father and mother — what exactly does that mean? The name of the Lord God is taken in vain every minute in a public school in Louisiana: will the Ten Commandments stop that? We shall see.

As for Oklahoma, this is a showboat decision by Pharisees and they’re hoping a court will strike it down. Coming up with Bible instruction that satisfies Christians of all stripes and Jews is a tangled web indeed. The schools should teach children to read so they can study the Bible on their own. GK

GK,

I read your column yesterday and felt that I needed to make a response regarding your representation of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. I wonder if you went to more than that one meeting … ever. We are not a glum lot! And we’re not a group of people sitting around, whining about our parents, or about our inability to drink. We look for solutions and find a loving supportive community in our meetings. I feel you do a disservice to Alcoholics Anonymous and recovering alcoholics everywhere when you disparage the meetings. I have been sober over 44 years and found the greatest joy in my life, helping others live life without the benefit of alcohol or other substances.

God bless,

Debbie Spencer

Thank you for the correction. I apologize to you and to other AA people, including some old friends of mine. I never attended AA because I had that mistaken impression of it — that it was people holding their emotionally distant fathers accountable for not affirming their identity, and so I simply stopped drinking. Set a date and quit and have been sober since. My daughter was four at the time and what powered my decision was the dread of her seeing me drunk. In due course, I discovered the beauty of sobriety is the discovery of early mornings without the hangovers. Onward. GK

For a good few years I used to listen to the Prairie Home Companion and became a devotee. Then the BBC stopped broadcasting it. Subsequently I met a Texan on a Canadian train and he turned out to also be a fan and has sent me, and a friend, frequent examples of your wonderful writings over the last few years. I had given up any thoughts of ever seeing and hearing you in person then along came the great news that you are coming to London (the original, not one of the many in the New World).
I now have three tickets for myself and a few friends and can’t wait ... thank you for flying so far.

Trevor Jones
Dorchester
Dorset
England

I’m looking forward to London in October along with Dublin and Edinburgh. I think I’ll talk up the advantages of old age, make a pitch for formal verse — limericks, sonnets — sing a few ballads like “Frankie and Johnny” and “Oh, Susannah,” toss out some American poems, tell stories about my hometown, and find a few songs that the whole crowd can sing. My father’s people came from Yorkshire, the village of Skelton, and my mother’s from Glasgow. Neither expressed any longing for the homeland, nothing like what the Norwegians and Swedes felt. GK

My granddaughter, Ava, just turned 17. When she was born, her mother, Amanda, listened to Garrison Keillor tapes all during her labor because, she told me at the time, that his voice kept her calm and hopeful.

Diane Dempster

I hope I get to meet this young person someday. My great-nephew Diogo was born a day after his mother came to my show, and he is now a year old and when he hears my voice he looks at me with intense curiosity. I’ll sing “Tishomingo Blues” for Ava and see if it calms her down or if it just makes her seasick. GK

Good morning and Happy Fourth of July!
You’ve spoken many times of your fundamentalist upbringing in the Plymouth Brethren. I have been researching my genealogy and discovered a branch who came to America from Germany in the 18th century. Their religion was listed as German Brethren, otherwise known as Dunkards due to their belief in baptism by immersion. Is this the same Brethren religion in which you were raised, or perhaps an offshoot?
Tammy Cuevas

The Plymouth Brethren were British believers who broke with the Anglicans, the state church, in hopes of forming a body closer to the church of apostolic times. John Nelson Darby was one of the early leaders and teachers and he came to America proselytizing in the mid-19th century. He was a Calvinist, he interpreted Scripture literally, embraced the doctrine of dispensationalism, was a leader of the Exclusive Brethren as opposed to the “Open” Brethren, and produced so many volumes of Bible commentary that Brethren were quickly exhausted trying to understand him, and the confusion about JND’s teaching led to a long series of schisms, so that Brethren these days tend to exist in small scattered assemblies. They are good people but in my experience they tend to be a joyless lot, more focused on correctness than gladness. But yes, they do baptize by total immersion. GK

How blessed you are to be able to still go on stage and display your talents! When the time comes, and of course it will, I pray that those who care about you will lovingly and gently steer you away from the stage of then-indignity and toward your ever-dignified walk near and around your private home and family.

Hartwell Harrison

I’m aware of people watching me from the wings, but I’m also aware that I feel looser and freer onstage than back in radio days. This is the beauty of cancellation; it frees you from self-importance. I like winging it. The bookings extend into 2025 and we shall see how the long tour in August goes, ten solo shows in the Northeast. I had an incident of aphasia a year ago and my neurologist upped the dosage of Keppra and that seems to have solved the problem. But we take it month to month. GK

I read your columns regularly. Sometimes you hit a high mark, sometimes not. This time I was not merely surprised but shocked that you could be so far off the real issue. You quote a headline that says Trump won the debate and Biden appeared “hesitant.” First, I saw many headlines after that debate, but never that one. Second, Trump was his usual awful self, spouting ridiculous lies, but Biden was not just hesitant, he was hopelessly, pathetically, and clearly not up to the job of confronting the threat Trump represents. You then proceeded in your column to excoriate the beast that Trump is, ignoring the real possibility that supporting Biden as the best choice for the Democrats is the actual “silliness” you assign to those who reported on the event. I hope that this lapse on your part is merely due to distraction and that you simply haven’t been paying adequate attention to our situation. After all, even at your own advanced age your schedule is apparently quite full: writing, performing onstage around the country, and traveling. These are at least some of the distractions that divert your attention from the looming reality of the election now a few months away. Instead of reminding us of what a wretched specimen of humanity Trump is, (who needs reminding at this point?) I think you could add your voice and words to the crisis that is Joe Biden’s candidacy. You and he are of similar ages. You seem to still be with it. Joe, sadly, has lost it, and it’s obvious.

Malcolm Fordham

I respect your opinion. I stated mine, but of course we’re both watching events as they develop. I’ve heard a very sensible argument that, at this point, it’s too late to throw the question to an open convention, that Biden must resign the presidency and let Kamala Harris be the nominee, with no wasting time. I do think a Trump second term would be a disaster for the country. The man is out of his mind. I wish more responsible Republicans would step up and say so. GK

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