Garrison Keillor chosen for Steinbeck Award

Garrison Keillor, a great Democrat, a great writer, a great American and a great entertainer, has been chosen to receive the Steinbeck Award. I cannot think of a better recipient. Any of you who have not listened to Keillor read his book "Homegrown Democrat" are deprived.

Link

In 1996, with the backing of Elaine Steinbeck, the writer's third wife, the Center created the annual "Steinbeck Award: 'in the souls of the people.'" That phrase from Chapter 25 of The Grapes of Wrath captures the writer's enduring legacy as an engaged artist. From the 1930s on he wrote about "the people," his heart open to the longing, loneliness, despair and triumph of those on the edges. Americans were his people, and his last book, America and Americans (1966) expresses his enduring love for a democratic nation:

(Read Steinbeck's inspirational message, below)

"From our beginning, in hindsight at least, our social direction is clear. We have moved to become one people out of many. At intervals, men or groups, through fear of people or the desire to use them, have tried to change our direction, to arrest our growth, or to stampede the Americans. This will happen again and again. The impulses which for a time enforced the Alien and Sedition Laws, which have used fear and illicit emotion to interfere with and put a stop to our continuing revolution, will rise again, and they will serve us in the future as they have in the past to clarify and to strengthen our process. We have failed sometimes, taken wrong paths, paused for renewal, filled our bellies and licked our wounds; but we have never slipped back-never."

This award is given to writers and artists whose work captures the spirit of Steinbeck's empathy, commitment to democratic values, and belief in the dignity of the "common man." Recipients include Bruce Springsteen, John Sayles, Arthur Miller, Jackson Browne, Studs Terkel, Joan Baez, and Sean Penn.

Congratulations to Garrison Keillor !  

•  tips or below average n/t

  by seesdifferent on Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 09:44:20 AM PDT

•  Thanks for this!

  I saw Garrison Keillor and the PHC show in New Jersey in June 2004. His Lake Woebegoon bit at the end was wonderful. This was just after Abu Ghraib hit and the Bush people blamed the "bad apple" soldiers. In his thoughtful way he struck at the heart of why we should be ashamed of Bush II and his crew.

  by Better Days on Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 10:08:24 AM PDT

•  The Man Who Saved My Marriage

  I always thought my lovely North Dakota Scandanavian inlaws were just a bit odd. They were experts at jello molds, stood and talked a certain way, had very uniform attitudes, and never, never revealed any overt joy or optimism...

  Then I started listening to Garrison Keillor. He is an absolute genius at picking up subtlety.

  And the best bass in 4 part close harmony in the country.

  by MrMichaelMT on Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 10:11:19 AM PDT

  •  not just jello molds

    but jello molds with fruits or occasionally carrots and other vegetables inside

    by guyermo on Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 10:23:34 AM PDT

    •  lemon jello with shredded carrots

      still makes me retch.

      by seesdifferent on Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 12:05:40 PM PDT

      •  Still collapses into mucus when I try it n/t

        by MrMichaelMT on Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 12:39:49 PM PDT

•  I have read Homegrown Democrat

  and have given copies of it to other people to read.  Fantastic book.  

  Congratulations Mr. Keillor!

  by BluejayRN on Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 10:20:29 AM PDT

  •  Loved it!

    Really nails the suburban rednecks-with-money who are the GOP base.

    by Virginia mom on Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 10:48:02 AM PDT

•  Keillor on todays GOP

  The party of Lincoln and Liberty was transmogrified into the party of
  hairy-backed swamp developers and corporate shills, faith-based economists,
  fundamentalist bullies with Bibles, Christians of convenience, freelance
  racists, misanthropic frat boys, shrieking midgets of AM radio, tax cheats,
  nihilists in golf pants, brownshirts in pinstripes, sweatshop tycoons,
  hacks, fakirs, aggressive dorks, Lamborghini libertarians, people who
  believe Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk was filmed in Roswell, New Mexico, little
  honkers out to diminish the rest of us, Newts evil spawn and their
  Etch-A-Sketch president, a dull and rigid man suspicious of the free flow
  of information and of secular institutions, whose philosophy is a jumble of
  badly sutured body parts trying to walk. Republicans: The No.1 reason the
  rest of the world thinks we’re deaf, dumb and dangerous.

  by rapala on Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 10:28:07 AM PDT

•  I bought my first new car in 1984

  completely equipped with (wonder of wonders!!) FM radio.

  I was doing a lot of weekend work back then, and I happened upon PHC on my way home one Saturday afternoon, and listened to it for several weeks on my home-bound commute.

  One Saturday, I got home and said to my wife: "You've got to check this out!" Keillor soon achieved cult-like status in our house. We got the chance to see him when he did his show in Seattle in 1985.

  I saw him give a speech on TV at the Democratic National Convention (1988/92?), and I wasn't a bit surprized to learn that he was a democrat.

  I've got 3 of his earlier books, I haven't heard of "Homegrown Democrat", I'll have to check it out.

  Thanks.

  by bleeding blue on Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 10:35:31 AM PDT

•  Mr. Keillor is a Great American

  I've seen Garrison Keillor perform his Prairie Home Companion, and listened to the show many times.  But let me tell you about the finest performance I have ever seen.

  John Kerry was scheduled to speak to twenty thousand or so citizens of Washinton State in the Tacoma Dome parking lot in the summer of 2004.  He was running about two hours late.

  But Garrison Keillor was on hand and he proceeded to entertain the crowd, totally off the cuff, for about 45 minutes.  There was a story or two, but what I will always remember (and be grateful that I was a part of) is the a cappella (sp?) sing along that Mr. Keillor led.  

  Garrison Keillor led the throng in a wonderful selection of patriotic and spiritual songs.  God Bless America, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, My Country Tis of Thee, The Star Spangled Banner, This Land is Your Land, etc.  He knew every verse of every song, verbatim.  All of us in the crowd knew the tunes, so with Garrison Keillor speaking each line and then leading us in the singing, we enjoyed a genuine love of our country expressed through song.

  It was a great morning to be an American.  And it forever puts the lie to the "liberals hate America" crap that spews from the vermin on Faux News and Talk Radio.

  Because Garrison Keillor knew that love of country and faith in the Constitution was embedded in the hearts of the assembled supporters of John Kerry for President, and called it forth, I believe that he is a superb choice for the Steinbeck Award.

  Because I was there that day, I still believe that the impulses for good that Steinbeck described still exist, and will enable We the People to renounce the Rethuglican Fascism that has so debilitated our nation.

  by ValleyForger on Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 10:44:19 AM PDT

  •  your comment goes directly into the hall of fame

    bravo.

    by seesdifferent on Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 12:08:19 PM PDT

    •  Thank you! n/t

      by ValleyForger on Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 01:51:26 PM PDT

•  It's only since moving to Fl and getting the

  St Pete Times that I've been exposed to Garrison Keillor on a regular basis, he's an absolute genius. He can make you shake your head in disbelief and shake your fist in anger and make you laugh and choke up all at the same time. As soon as I read the title, I immediately thought of this column he wrote about the Minnesota bridge collapse:
  Recipe for avoiding those risky bridges

  Bridges are not supposed to fall down unless there is an earthquake. A person is supposed to be able to drive home on a summer evening and cross a river on a steel truss bridge and not find himself plunging headlong into the abyss.

  Especially not in Minnesota. We are a state of Germans and Scandinavians, people who make up in common sense for what we lack in sheer charisma, and a shabby piece of engineering is an embarrassment to us. Minnesota isn't Uzbekistan.

  The way to get money to fix a bridge is for it to collapse and kill people, and so Congress promptly awarded Minnesota $250 million for the fallen I-35W span. The usual suspects held news conferences to express shock and concern, pledge support, etc. The governor called for a time of healing and he proclaimed confidence in his commissioner of transportation, a large ebullient woman in a bright red blouse. There were prayer services. The Current Occupant came to view the wreckage and to express, in that intense and aimless way of his, his hopes for a better life for us. And then, having raised our hopes, he did not resign from office after all.

  Thanks for the reading list and the great diary, seesdifferent. Looks like I need to make a trip to the library!

  by blueintheface on Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 10:51:27 AM PDT

  •  Brilliant quote

    I don't think Twain could have said it any better.

    by frankzappatista on Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 01:16:31 PM PDT

•  yes, thanks for this news!!!

  We have his tapes of Lake Woebegone and have many favorites.  We used to listen to his program in the car as we white-knuckled it home from my in-laws on icy roads, in fog and sleet.  :)  

  He kept us going and some of his monologues were poignant and some were funny, but all were very wise.

  by cfk on Mon Sep 17, 2007 at 11:38:19 AM PDT