I Hate This...
I've been a huge Chicago Public Radio junkie lately. They're playing a lot of radio plays and new music shows. Today I woke up for my ritualistic noon dose of This American Life. Afterwards, they played a radio play called "I Hate This (a play without the baby)," a one-man show by David Hansen which chronicles his and his wife's experience of having a stillborn child.
For a sunny Saturday afternoon, this was a wonderful and painful thing to listen to. It transitions from before, after, and during the actual birth, which offers a lot of opportunities to discover what, and how it happened. I went through a lot of the same things when I lost my mother a few years ago... anger, blame, sadness, all those little "coincidences", and finally, gaining perspective of what what actually happened. About a year ago I picked up a graphic novel bluntly titled "Mom's Cancer," which I couldn't really read more than a few pages.
What strikes me most about this stuff is the humor, which may be a reaction to those who are writers and artists, and is pretty rough if taken out of context:
"...but we can say it was brought on by severe high blood pressure which may or may not have been caused by that hag, your boss, John Malkovich's terrible accent in 'Shadow of the Vampire', or the fact that David entirely failed to properly care for your physical and emotional needs while you were pregnant.
There was amniotic fluid in his lungs, which suggests that as a result of oxygen starvation in the womb, he attempted to take a breath.
I will pause for a moment, to let the true horribleness of that fact to sink in... hmm hm hmmmmm hm hmmmmm..."
Everyone has a different reaction to these events, but finding humor in them can be a strange and complete release. I can't explain it too well, so I highly recommend listening to it, especially if you've dealt with loss. It's available for free off his site.
In other radio play land news... ChiPubRadio started playing "The Play's The Thing" out of L.A. on Saturday nights. Last week there was a live reading of M Butterfly with John Lithgow playing Gallimarde. This week is "Orphans" with John Mahoney playing... uh... the old guy.
For a sunny Saturday afternoon, this was a wonderful and painful thing to listen to. It transitions from before, after, and during the actual birth, which offers a lot of opportunities to discover what, and how it happened. I went through a lot of the same things when I lost my mother a few years ago... anger, blame, sadness, all those little "coincidences", and finally, gaining perspective of what what actually happened. About a year ago I picked up a graphic novel bluntly titled "Mom's Cancer," which I couldn't really read more than a few pages.
What strikes me most about this stuff is the humor, which may be a reaction to those who are writers and artists, and is pretty rough if taken out of context:
"...but we can say it was brought on by severe high blood pressure which may or may not have been caused by that hag, your boss, John Malkovich's terrible accent in 'Shadow of the Vampire', or the fact that David entirely failed to properly care for your physical and emotional needs while you were pregnant.
There was amniotic fluid in his lungs, which suggests that as a result of oxygen starvation in the womb, he attempted to take a breath.
I will pause for a moment, to let the true horribleness of that fact to sink in... hmm hm hmmmmm hm hmmmmm..."
Everyone has a different reaction to these events, but finding humor in them can be a strange and complete release. I can't explain it too well, so I highly recommend listening to it, especially if you've dealt with loss. It's available for free off his site.
In other radio play land news... ChiPubRadio started playing "The Play's The Thing" out of L.A. on Saturday nights. Last week there was a live reading of M Butterfly with John Lithgow playing Gallimarde. This week is "Orphans" with John Mahoney playing... uh... the old guy.