100 Days of Gladness: Day 34
My earphones are the secret weapon to everything from housework to exercise to having a long conversation with someone who needs me. I love my earphones.
They’re responsible for my being a good partner, one who cleans up the kitchen every night — thoroughly, till it shines. The secret is putting on the right music or podcast in my ears.
For a long time it was “The West Wing Weekly,” a podcast I loved about a show I loved fiercely. The hosts: Josh Malina (who starred in West Wing and hence knows all about it) and Hrishikesh Hirway (who knew nothing about West Wing, but is the host of another podcast called Song Exploder). In addition to great guest appearances by all the stars, the writers, producers, and actual political figures in positions portrayed by the actors, it provides delicious background details about the making of the show. Plus, they’re hilarious.
Other favorites of mine (in the podcast world) are “Death, Sex, and Money,” “This American Life,” “Radiolab,” and “In Pod We Trust,” “Poetry Unbound,” “The Moth,” and “On Being,” to name only a few. So. Any one episode could last me an entire kitchen, complete with uber clean countertops and a fully dry- and wet-swiffered floor.