Mark Knows It All

I have only heard The Prairie Home Companion radio show a few times over the years. I would be away from home, driving around and surfing the radio dial trying to find something to which to listen. It is an odd sounding program, so it always gave me pause. Then I usually started to laugh, and I was hooked. The bluegrass/country music wasn’t bad either. For those of you not familiar with the program, it is a live radio show produced by PBS and broadcast on NPR, the subject of which is every day life in a small Minnesota town. Garrison Keillor is its originator and host. Because my wife is from a small town (Shiloh, OH, pop: 800), I have observed small town life first hand. It IS different than what many of us are used to. Sitting in the American Legion next to the train tracks, with all the doors and windows open on a sultry August night drinking 50 cent beers, one learns what it means to come from a “red” state. At my wife’s 20th year high school class reunion, I learned how to talk a...