An Evening with Diane Rehm

For our two year anniversary Shane and I went to see Diane Rehm in the Lebanon Opera House. First of all, she looks and acts so much more vital than she sounds. For anyone who doesn't know who she is, Diane hosts her own show (The Diane Rehm Show) on NPR and about a decade ago she was diagnosed with Spasmotic Dysphonia so when she talks it is very slow, and she sounds like she's about 200 years old. But as she pointed out, this slowness of her speech really forces her guests and listeners to really listen and digest what is being said and not to just jump to the next comment. Diane has met so many influential people in the world, it was really great to hear a bunch of stories about her experiences.
I will say, though, that we were probably the youngest people there by about 40 years. I'm glad that we could "represent" her younger listenership, and that all the oldies knew that there are young people out there that listen to her as well. I wanted to ask her a question, because half of the evening was devoted to asking her questions, but the people with the microphones were not using their brains that evening. An example...for the last questions, Diane shouted "A woman! A woman! We've only heard from one, get a woman!" so what do they do? Hand the microphone to a man! They promptly took it away and gave it to a woman when they snapped back to their senses but it was very frustrating. We were sitting in the very last row (by choice) so the odds of me getting my question in were quite slim! We sat in the back because we brought Oliver with us so we wanted to be able to dash to the exit if he decided he didn't want to be there anymore. He was a complete angel, though! It really was a blessing; for all of you that have seen him in church and have seen how he can't get through the first half hour with out being taken out, he made it through the entire hour and a half!
To conclude, I would really encourage everyone to listen to The Diane Rehm Show on NPR daily from 10-12. The first hour is political, the second hour she interviews authors, doctors, artists, etc. On Fridays is the Friday News Roundup which is a good way to get your week's worth of news in a a two hour block!