First, I have to say something about the word “podcast.” Helene mentioned that in 2005 is was the word of the year. I can completely understand this. Even now when I type it into a Word document it gets the red squiggle of a misspelled word. It’s simply not one of those words that says much about what it really is just by the sound of it. Frankly, for me, the word “pod” conjures up the images of mushroomy things clustered together (and also the memory of those 1970’s “innovative” schools that were mostly just big open rooms with all the classrooms jammed together without walls…and no one could focus because there were people everywhere and no visual boundaries). So interesting how this word that was almost meaningless a bit over a year ago to most people and is now becoming a part of our vernacular. Perhaps, we’ll be playing with the language even more and within a year we’ll be saying “Let’s cast some pod together down at Starbuck’s later this afternoon?”
In my search through various podcasts (and there are many) I came across Denver Public Library’s podcast of nursery rhymes. Now how is that for partnering the past and the present?! NPR is also podcasting many of its shows, including “NPR Shuffle” which is a combo of many of its most popular daily shows. And who can get too much NPR?