A Civil Session

When it was first suggested that we do a podcast in conjunction the HoCo libraries Choose Civility Symposium I wasn't so sure it was a good idea. Paul and I both view the Choose Civility in Howard County effort with a fair degree of skepticism. On the other hand, it was an opportunity to have a freewheeling discussion about civility with Andy Green from The Sun, Korva Coleman from NPR, and author and investigative humorist, Henry Alford. That was too tempting to pass up.

We talked about civility in politics, the press, Facebook, old TV shows and email. It was more fun than I’d hoped. This was first time we've had three guests at the same time and somehow everyone managed to get equal time. I credit that to having a professional broadcaster in the group.

I also screwed up by calling Andy "David" at least once. I’ll chalk that up to the fact that maybe I was bit tired after a day that started at 5 AM. We didn't start taping the show until a little after nine last night. In keeping with the civil tone of the evening, Andy took it in stride and never said a word. When I listened to the show this afternoon I was embarrassed, to say the least. I can't imagine Korva making a gaffe like that. Sorry Andy.

Since it was late, we deliberately kept it shorter than usual. This episode is is only 26 minutes long. You can listen, to what may be our most civil podcast yet, here.