The Midnight Citizen 230: “The Babbitt” (7/25/21)
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Join Mike in the studio late on a Saturday night…
Where he burns a bourbon-whisky scented candle he made, and wonders when the American “boy†becomes the American “manâ€. Perhaps it’s when he gets his first Boy Scout Handbook? Or maybe when he finds out the Boy Scouts are a sham?Â
Also: memories of the Boy Scouts (all I got from it was a first place medal for the Pinewood Derby, a competition I cheated at); why I quit the Boy Scouts of America; the “manly†art of chandlery (candle making); Mancaves, and the modern obsession with being a “man†in the Teddy Roosevelt/Ernest Hemingway-sense; Sinclair Lewis’s Babbitt novel explored the notions of the American man as a role and facade; Music Break*; the waning days of summer; announcement this week that my 20 year high school reunion will be held in September, but I probably won’t go; signs of aging; a trip to the Video Street Video Store**; another Criterion haul from the Barnes and Noble (Medium Cool, Salesman — both 1969).
*Music Break: “Man Outta Town†by Forget the Whale; “Phone Book and Rotary†by Derek Clegg (album: “The Middlerâ€). All music is played under a Creative Commons License (Attribution, noncommercial, no derivatives) and is available at the Freemusicarchive.org.Â
Video Street Video Store: “Boy Scouts of America†Newsreel (1939); “Super Dave Osbourne’s Wrecking Ball Stuntâ€
Check out the complete Video Street Video Store playlist here!
Check out the website over at mikeboody.com/themidnightcitizen, with links to old episodes on Archive.org, and join the Facebook page! …“Will this stunt be more dangerous than when you tried to mate with the blue whale?â€
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike US License. Attribution by Mike Boody. Released July 2021 on The Midnight Citizen and The Overnightscape Underground.
