Comments for Meow House Theatre http://meowhouse.net so many dirty little faces in your filthy little worn-out broken-down see-through soul Tue, 22 May 2012 01:19:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 Comment on Armadillos I Have Known by meowhouse http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45764 meowhouse Tue, 15 May 2012 23:22:59 +0000 http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45764 Hi Julianne, I don't think anyone is trying to kid anyone. Everyone here has said how disturbing and horrifying the story is. I certainly have, ever since, listened carefully for "this is fiction" disclaimers on NPR, which I never did before hearing this one. I was extremely disappointed in them for a long time following the hearing of it. As you can tell from here and if you have read any of the comments on Facebook, just about everyone was very dismayed at hearing it, even once they knew it was not true. I do think that the ending - which was absolutely NOT what I expected - makes it a powerful story. But, as memorable and emotionally manipulative as this story was, it is not an experience I would care to repeat. Hi Julianne, I don’t think anyone is trying to kid anyone. Everyone here has said how disturbing and horrifying the story is. I certainly have, ever since, listened carefully for “this is fiction” disclaimers on NPR, which I never did before hearing this one. I was extremely disappointed in them for a long time following the hearing of it. As you can tell from here and if you have read any of the comments on Facebook, just about everyone was very dismayed at hearing it, even once they knew it was not true.

I do think that the ending - which was absolutely NOT what I expected - makes it a powerful story. But, as memorable and emotionally manipulative as this story was, it is not an experience I would care to repeat.

]]> Comment on Armadillos I Have Known by julianne sawinski http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45763 julianne sawinski Tue, 15 May 2012 22:46:59 +0000 http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45763 this story, real or not, is disgusting and sadistic. who are you guys trying to kid? I was so disappointed in NPR all around. Probably will be way more careful about what i listen to now, wouldnt want to hear this type of nonsense and pure evil again. this story, real or not, is disgusting and sadistic. who are you guys trying to kid? I was so disappointed in NPR all around. Probably will be way more careful about what i listen to now, wouldnt want to hear this type of nonsense and pure evil again.

]]> Comment on Armadillos I Have Known by meowhouse http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45571 meowhouse Mon, 07 May 2012 23:53:56 +0000 http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45571 Hi Kathleen, you're welcome - it does have that power of staying, doesn't it? I haven't forgotten it for 5 years! BTW here is a link to the whole episode and the TAL transcript - I don't think they had a transcript when I first posted this but it's there now. Or you can listen to the reading again, if you can manage to. I actually have not listened to it again, although I have read it, because it was so painful the first time. I know I will still cry even though I now know it's fiction. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/154/in-dog-we-trust Hi Kathleen, you’re welcome - it does have that power of staying, doesn’t it? I haven’t forgotten it for 5 years! BTW here is a link to the whole episode and the TAL transcript - I don’t think they had a transcript when I first posted this but it’s there now. Or you can listen to the reading again, if you can manage to. I actually have not listened to it again, although I have read it, because it was so painful the first time. I know I will still cry even though I now know it’s fiction.

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/154/in-dog-we-trust

]]> Comment on Armadillos I Have Known by Kathleen http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45569 Kathleen Mon, 07 May 2012 23:37:58 +0000 http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45569 I too heard this piece this past Saturday while driving to drop off my dry cleaning. I sat in the car riveted til the end of the story. I didn't know it was fiction either since I shut off the car when it ended so I could bring my laundry in. It stayed in my mind so much I wanted to search through Google to find it - and here it is! (I tried on the TAL website but they didn't have it. I didn't realize it was a few years old). Thanks for posting! I too heard this piece this past Saturday while driving to drop off my dry cleaning. I sat in the car riveted til the end of the story. I didn’t know it was fiction either since I shut off the car when it ended so I could bring my laundry in. It stayed in my mind so much I wanted to search through Google to find it - and here it is! (I tried on the TAL website but they didn’t have it. I didn’t realize it was a few years old). Thanks for posting!

]]> Comment on Armadillos I Have Known by meowhouse http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45522 meowhouse Sun, 06 May 2012 11:56:16 +0000 http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45522 Eric - thanks for that link. After the story excerpt, there is part of an essay by Udall telling how he came to write a story about an armadillo. It seems he himself actually has been fascinated by them since he was a kid and he wanted to write a story about them but knew he couldn't just make it a story about a guy who loves armadillos since nobody would get that, unless they also loved armadillos, and there are, naturally, few people who feel the same. So he had to make it a story about desire and longing and regret. That is where he really hit it right. He said it was the easiest story he'd ever written. Eric - thanks for that link. After the story excerpt, there is part of an essay by Udall telling how he came to write a story about an armadillo. It seems he himself actually has been fascinated by them since he was a kid and he wanted to write a story about them but knew he couldn’t just make it a story about a guy who loves armadillos since nobody would get that, unless they also loved armadillos, and there are, naturally, few people who feel the same. So he had to make it a story about desire and longing and regret. That is where he really hit it right. He said it was the easiest story he’d ever written.

]]> Comment on Armadillos I Have Known by meowhouse http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45521 meowhouse Sun, 06 May 2012 11:44:33 +0000 http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45521 Oh Tony! I know what you mean. When I heard it, I guess I didn't realize that TAL ever featured fictional stories. I listened a lot but not to EVERY show and I guess I had only ever heard what I thought was the regular kind of story they did - i.e., first-person true narrative events. So when I heard this one - coming into the broadcast right at this story and not hearing any intro that might have been done at the very beginning about it being a fictional story - I was just so horrified and shocked. I don't remember now if I heard the whole story or if I too got in mid-reading. ... I believe I had a similar feeling to yours - hoping that nobody in another car would see me and wonder just what was going on with that lady in the next lane whose face was all wet and scrunched up. Oh Tony! I know what you mean. When I heard it, I guess I didn’t realize that TAL ever featured fictional stories. I listened a lot but not to EVERY show and I guess I had only ever heard what I thought was the regular kind of story they did - i.e., first-person true narrative events. So when I heard this one - coming into the broadcast right at this story and not hearing any intro that might have been done at the very beginning about it being a fictional story - I was just so horrified and shocked. I don’t remember now if I heard the whole story or if I too got in mid-reading. … I believe I had a similar feeling to yours - hoping that nobody in another car would see me and wonder just what was going on with that lady in the next lane whose face was all wet and scrunched up.

]]> Comment on Armadillos I Have Known by Tony W http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45515 Tony W Sun, 06 May 2012 03:33:46 +0000 http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45515 I don't listen to TAL all that much, but if I'm in the car when it comes on, I listen. But somehow, I heard the story of Otis when it was originally air and again today, May 5. Both times, I managed to join it in mid-story and not know it was a work of fiction. Today, I listened in horror, somewhat remembering the story but not enough to remember that it was fiction. This is an incredible story. As the story wound to it's conclusion, I sat in my car in front of the rental house, where I was returning to do finish some work. I cried. I was trying to figure out what I would do if my tenant came out and saw me in my tears. Fortunately, he did not and no one will ever know this middle-aged man was crying over a fictional armadillo. I don’t listen to TAL all that much, but if I’m in the car when it comes on, I listen. But somehow, I heard the story of Otis when it was originally air and again today, May 5. Both times, I managed to join it in mid-story and not know it was a work of fiction. Today, I listened in horror, somewhat remembering the story but not enough to remember that it was fiction.

This is an incredible story. As the story wound to it’s conclusion, I sat in my car in front of the rental house, where I was returning to do finish some work. I cried. I was trying to figure out what I would do if my tenant came out and saw me in my tears. Fortunately, he did not and no one will ever know this middle-aged man was crying over a fictional armadillo.

]]> Comment on Armadillos I Have Known by eric http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45513 eric Sat, 05 May 2012 21:05:08 +0000 http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45513 Google books link: http://books.google.com/books?id=da0S-_2k-6kC&pg=PA237&lpg=PA237&dq=brady+udall+otis+is+resurrected&source=bl&ots=rxiWIndAIA&sig=fFBTKu52W9dggSdiiwB-xMFLL0w&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uZSlT-O_HMqLgwe8zsnfAQ&ved=0CGcQ6AEwCA Google books link:

http://books.google.com/books?id=da0S-_2k-6kC&pg=PA237&lpg=PA237&dq=brady+udall+otis+is+resurrected&source=bl&ots=rxiWIndAIA&sig=fFBTKu52W9dggSdiiwB-xMFLL0w&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uZSlT-O_HMqLgwe8zsnfAQ&ved=0CGcQ6AEwCA

]]> Comment on Armadillos I Have Known by eric http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45512 eric Sat, 05 May 2012 21:04:47 +0000 http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45512 "Otis" was also published recently in a collection of "coming of age" stories, and from what I can see in the Google Books preview, the story ends as it did on TAL. So he clearly changed it, to make it a lot darker, I guess. You're right, a lot of the story's power comes from appreciating just how weak and helpless that poor, stupid armadillo is. It wouldn't work with a clever, resourceful pet at all. “Otis” was also published recently in a collection of “coming of age” stories, and from what I can see in the Google Books preview, the story ends as it did on TAL. So he clearly changed it, to make it a lot darker, I guess. You’re right, a lot of the story’s power comes from appreciating just how weak and helpless that poor, stupid armadillo is. It wouldn’t work with a clever, resourceful pet at all.

]]> Comment on Armadillos I Have Known by meowhouse http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45511 meowhouse Sat, 05 May 2012 20:12:24 +0000 http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45511 Hi Eric, they probably got the transcript idea from me! ... I'm glad they put one up; there wasn't one 5 years ago when I first heard this. I'll have to go look at the TAL site and check it out. I so agree with what you said - this is a story about regret and sorrow and trying to overcome the feeling of being powerless by exacting one's power, whatever that is, over someone else. I don't know if you read the original version that was published in Story Magazine - I had a link up but it's dead now - but it was not so dark and disturbing. I still wonder why Udall changed it for the broadcast. Hi Eric, they probably got the transcript idea from me! … I’m glad they put one up; there wasn’t one 5 years ago when I first heard this. I’ll have to go look at the TAL site and check it out.

I so agree with what you said - this is a story about regret and sorrow and trying to overcome the feeling of being powerless by exacting one’s power, whatever that is, over someone else. I don’t know if you read the original version that was published in Story Magazine - I had a link up but it’s dead now - but it was not so dark and disturbing. I still wonder why Udall changed it for the broadcast.

]]> Comment on Armadillos I Have Known by eric http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45510 eric Sat, 05 May 2012 19:46:15 +0000 http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45510 Thanks so much for your transcript, although it seems TAL has also has one up. I'll bet yours is better. Thanks so much for your transcript, although it seems TAL has also has one up. I’ll bet yours is better.

]]> Comment on Armadillos I Have Known by eric http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45509 eric Sat, 05 May 2012 19:44:25 +0000 http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45509 I just heard the story on TAL and, though I knew it was fiction, it also moved me tremendously—resonating with things in my own life, I guess. How dumb animals can mean more than clever ones, sometimes, and things like that. It's disturbing, and the ending really threw me for a loop. Was he really going to go there? Mainly I've just been crying and crying. It also says so much about loss and memory and missed chances. I just heard the story on TAL and, though I knew it was fiction, it also moved me tremendously—resonating with things in my own life, I guess. How dumb animals can mean more than clever ones, sometimes, and things like that. It’s disturbing, and the ending really threw me for a loop. Was he really going to go there? Mainly I’ve just been crying and crying. It also says so much about loss and memory and missed chances.

]]> Comment on Armadillos I Have Known by meowhouse http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45508 meowhouse Sat, 05 May 2012 19:18:10 +0000 http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45508 Hi Marcia and bluidshay - I didn't realize NPR broadcast this again today. I am still moved by this story and actually think of the story often. I was, like you, incredibly affected by this piece when I first head it and I still am. I am glad it's been on the air again and I'm glad more people are moved by it. Hi Marcia and bluidshay - I didn’t realize NPR broadcast this again today. I am still moved by this story and actually think of the story often. I was, like you, incredibly affected by this piece when I first head it and I still am. I am glad it’s been on the air again and I’m glad more people are moved by it.

]]> Comment on Armadillos I Have Known by bluidshay http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45507 bluidshay Sat, 05 May 2012 18:19:08 +0000 http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45507 Hi, I was directed to this site from a Google search on "Otis the Armadillo." Like the author of the article, I was horrified and appalled at this story airing today on TAL until the disclaimer at the end. There I was on Park and Main, ready to disembark the car and retrieve some cash from the bank, but I was riveted by the narrative. By the time Donald tried to drown Otis I was sniffling, I had tears running down my cheeks when Donald was killed and Otis was saved by the vet, and the ending had me sobbing out loud, BAWLING at the injustice done to this poor armadillo. I was ready to reach for my cell phone and call the police to have someone track down this psychopath, but then I heard the disclaimer. "This was a work of fiction...no armadillos were harmed in the creation of this story." As a fictional story, it's awesome and riveting, but when you think it's true it's incredibly disturbing!! Hi, I was directed to this site from a Google search on “Otis the Armadillo.” Like the author of the article, I was horrified and appalled at this story airing today on TAL until the disclaimer at the end. There I was on Park and Main, ready to disembark the car and retrieve some cash from the bank, but I was riveted by the narrative. By the time Donald tried to drown Otis I was sniffling, I had tears running down my cheeks when Donald was killed and Otis was saved by the vet, and the ending had me sobbing out loud, BAWLING at the injustice done to this poor armadillo. I was ready to reach for my cell phone and call the police to have someone track down this psychopath, but then I heard the disclaimer. “This was a work of fiction…no armadillos were harmed in the creation of this story.” As a fictional story, it’s awesome and riveting, but when you think it’s true it’s incredibly disturbing!!

]]> Comment on Armadillos I Have Known by Marcia http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45505 Marcia Sat, 05 May 2012 18:03:05 +0000 http://meowhouse.net/2007/11/30/armadillos-i-have-known/#comment-45505 I just heard this on NPR, Sat. May 5, 2012. I also found it so powerful that after hearing it, I immediately googled it as I want a copy. I will place it with my important papers. NAMI should consider passing out out a few copies. I just heard this on NPR, Sat. May 5, 2012. I also found it so powerful that after hearing it, I immediately googled it as I want a copy. I will place it with my important papers. NAMI should consider passing out out a few copies.

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