Letter to Chris Hayes

Up with Chris Hayes letter

Chris, how can you do this to me?  My weekends have been such a respite, tranquil, devoid of news and commentary because there was little worth watching or listening to, and now, there you are, inviting yourself into my house, gathering with your friends around my table, and with coffee and pastries yet.  Has a person no peace?

But thank you, thank you, for this wonderful, informal format and the caliber of your guests, and mine.   And the variety of topics discussed.   Of course, there are problems about those donuts, but I actually join you there, on Sunday morning at least, when I make my mad dash out for the Sunday papers and my weekly treat, one donut.  “Mad dash” is putting it mildly, I have to drive 14 miles into Romney, the county seat of Hampshire County, in West Virginia, and stop in Sheetz to pick up the Washington Post and New York Times, paying a premium for these papers way out here.  I have to make it by 7:30 a.m., because they only lay in three copies of NYT, and I have to be early to get a copy.  Last Sunday I picked up the last copy, and the last custard-filled-chocolate-iced donut, and made it back in time to settle in a comfortable chair and join you and your friends—our friends-- coffee, donuts and all.

A real problem is developing, because after a dearth of progressive commentary on tv for lo, these many years, I now find myself DVRing a full lineup (from 3 to 11 p.m)  on msnbc every evening, whereas once upon a time there were only Amy Goodman,  Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert, and then airamerica on xm radio.    When my children gifted me with satellite tv, in 2004, the first thing I did was watch O’Reilly and Hannity, to see if they were really as bad as I had heard; they were, and I never tuned them in again.  Which is strange, because demographics would have it that I would listen to them, and not to you, Olbermann, Maddow, Hartmann, Uyger, Schultz, and the rest,  because I am an 80-year-old mother, gramma, and ggramma, as well as retired teacher.   We are supposed to follow O’R and his ilk.  Where did I go astray?

I didn’t even discover msnbc till Keith Olbermann did a Special Comment in 2006, and it blew me away.  I have been a fan ever since, and have watched in awe as first one and then another wonderful  and provocative commentator is added to the list. 

Anyway, thanks for helping me take pleasure in going astray.  Keep up the good work. 

Warmest regards,

Gramma Windy