For Father's Day, stories of dads who are utterly human in scale.
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Prologue
Leah remembers when her parents got divorced and her dad, a farmer in North Dakota, moved to an apartment in town. It was cramped and ugly, and it had a Murphy bed that made a horrible creak when you brought it down from the wall. It was the first time she'd seen him look vulnerable, and not at all the heroic can-do guy he once was to her. At some point, of course, every dad comes down off the pedestal; it's just that some do it more gracefully than others. This, she says, was too early, too sudden. (6 minutes)
Act One
Driving The Divorcemobile
A collection of small stories, all on the the theme introduced in the prologue—the first few months after the divorce, and suddenly, your parents are less composed, more flawed, and more human, than perhaps you've ever seen them. (13 minutes)
Song:
“My Dad” by Paul Petersen
Act Two
And If That Diamond Ring Don't Shine
Ian Brown explains the lengths a normal dad will go to give his daughter a memorable birthday party, including a birthday stunt so crass that he and his wife shocked all their friends. Ian Brown is the author of Man, Medium Rare and Freewheeling, and the host of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's program Talking Books. (13 minutes)
Act Three
Legend Of A Bankrobber's Son
Nick Flynn tells the story of his father, who was never on a pedestal. His father abandoned the family soon after Nick was born. Nick never knew him. Until one day, after Nick had graduated from college and started working at a homeless shelter, his father showed up needing a bed. Nick Flynn is the author of a book of poems called Some Ether. He's working on a book about his father. (23 minutes)
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Act Three: The Moment Dad Left
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Act Three: Dinner
To end this show about parents and children at mealtime, a story about what happens when children have to become the parents.
Act Three: The Call Of The Great Indoors
Every week, Chelsea Merz has lunch with a homeless man named Matthew, in the same restaurant.
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