All posts in the 'Radio Series: Childhood' category

May 20 2008

Scenes from Childhood: I Must Be from Another Planet

Published by Ginna under Audio, Radio Series: Childhood

The first public radio series I ever produced was made possible by the first grant I ever got, from National Public Radio’s Satellite Program Development Fund in the mid-eighties. As I remember, the award totaled $10,000 and the project took three years.

I love this series, but I am still mortally embarrassed by the name I came up with: Skip Through the Shadows: Scenes from Childhood. I’ve always sucked at making up titles. You see, I was trying to convey the idea of both the agony and the joy of childhood.

I gathered well over a hundred hours of interviews around the country, mostly with everyday people but also with a few luminaries. My strangest pairing of interviews consisted of an afternoon with John Waters in Baltimore and a meeting in Pittsburgh the next morning with Fred “Mister” Rogers.

Fred Rogers & Ginna Allison

I also interviewed Appalachian singer-songwriter Jean Ritchie, blues legend Brownie McGhee, Big Bird’s inventor Kermit Love, Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji, and some others. Another of my heroes, Dr. Benjamin Spock, wrote a little testimonial about how much he liked the series.

Producing these programs was a true descent into— I don’t know, but it was very dark in there for a couple years. I guess that’s why I made up the project in the first place. It’s the anti-Hallmark look at childhood in all its despair and magic.

There are ten programs, each about seven-minutes long. I was lucky enough to get them all to air on NPR’s All Things Considered, most of them even in the prime spot: the closing piece of the daily ninety-minute show.

I also won a couple awards, including an Ohio State.

Here is the first program, called I Must Be From Another Planet. You will hear many voices, including a few from my own private life: my grannie, my first-grade daughter reading a story that I wrote in first grade, my dad interviewing three-year-old me about my imaginary friend “Tinna,” and me singing with my friend Maria, accompanied by Dad on guitar. Here’s a secret: you won’t ever know it while listening because of the tapestry of voices, but it’s really all about me and my own pain. T’is the artists’ prerogative.

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Jun 17 2008

Scenes from Childhood: When the Bell Rings

Published by Ginna under Audio, Radio Series: Childhood

Draco the Dragon and Spittin’ Willy. The sissy, the shrimp, the scholar and the bully. Meet them in this glimpse into the classroom and the playground.

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May 24 2008

Scenes from Childhood: Skating on Thin Ice

Published by Ginna under Audio, Radio Series: Childhood

I wonder how many times I heard the warning: “Ginna, you’re skating on thin ice!” This episode explores the joys of getting into trouble.

You’ll hear:

  • John Waters talking about his favorite game of imagination, “Car Accident”
  • A young me threatening to spank a car’s tires, and an older me watching home movies with my parents
  • Jean Ritchie on getting a whipping from her father
  • My grannie remembering her revenge on her governess
  • And o’ so much more

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Backward in Time »