Wednesday, July 22, 2009

More Women's Health Issues

One hallmark of the show was our dedication to health issues. This show comes to mind, let's go to the tape...

Jen: And finally in the news this hour, Apple announced today that it has developed a breast implant that can store and play music.

Mack Man: Whoa, whoa, whoa! A what??

Jen: a breast implant that can store and play music. The iBooby will cost from $499 to $699, depending on cup and speaker size.

Mack Man: Incredible!

Jen: Yes, this has been hailed as a major social breakthrough, because women are always complaining about men staring at their breasts and not listening to them.

Mack Man: Continuing with our medical theme this morning across the way there Ceri is with Dr. Joe Mengele, a local gynecologist.

Ceri: Thanks, Mack Man. We are emphasizing women’s health issues this month, and I want to thank Dr. Mengele for being with us this morning.

Dr. Mengele: Thank you, Ceri. As my grandfather, Dr. Josef Mengele used to tell his patients back in Germany, at the Auschwitz Clinic, this is for your own good and won’t hurt a bit.

Ceri: This is a very important issue, isn’t it?

Dr. Mengele: I cannot stress the importance of women’s health issues enough, Ceri.

Ceri: But a lot of women are really afraid to come in for their exams, aren’t they?

Dr. Mengele: Yes, they are but they shouldn’t be! It’s like the case of one of my patients who was having a problem and was very scared about it and quite concerned but when she finally came in we were able to figure it all out without a lot of trauma.

Ceri: What happened?

Dr. Mengele: Well, a middle-aged woman came in for her appointment, and she was very sheepish.
“Come now,” I told her. “You've been seeing me for years! There's nothing you can't tell me.”
“Well,” she told me, “this one's kind of strange Doc.”
“Let me be the judge of that,” I said.
“Well,” she began, “yesterday I went to the bathroom in the morning and heard a plink-plink-plink in the toilet and when I looked down, the water was full of pennies.”
“I see,” I said.
“That afternoon I went to the bathroom again and, plink-plink-plink, there were nickels in the bowl!”
“Hmm. Go on,” I bade her.
“That night,” she continued, “I went again, plink-plink-plink, and there were dimes and this morning there were quarters!” She began getting really agitated at this point. “You've got to tell me what's wrong with me! I'm scared out of my wits!”
“There, there, it's nothing to be scared about,” I assured her. “You're simply going through the change!”

Chrisman, Jennifer Mack Man and Ceri: the Radio Show That Saved Humanity. New York: Random House, 2031

Monday, July 20, 2009

When The Riots Began

American society was just going down the dumper. Everything was spiraling out of the control. But hey...it made for some exciting radio! One instance that comes to mind are the Missouri Southern State University riots...


Mack Man: Welcome back to the Mack Man and Ceri show.

Ceri: Hello!

Mack Man: Our own Jennifer Chrisman is in the field, reporting live on the riots at Missouri Southern.

Ceri: Jen! Are you there!

Jen: (audio recording reveals that Jen is literally shouting over the noise of sirens, what sounds like gunshots, some explosions and people screaming and shouting) Ceri! I’m here on the campus of Missouri Southern State University, where the riots are in full swing! (sound of a helicopter gunship flying low overhead) You’ve never seen such a commotion!

Mack Man:
Why is this happening?

Ceri: What happened to spark these riots??

Jen: Believe it or not, it started in an economics class!

Mack Man: What??

Jen: Yes! Dr. Duane Britski, of the University’s Economics Department, conducted an experiment to see if socialism works. With me now is Dr. Britski. Good morning!

Britski: Good morning, Jennifer! I have to admit that flak jacket and helmet look good on you!

Jen: Well, thank you, Dr. Britski. I thought they were a little large on me, but the accessories seem to be working.

Britski: Indeed they are! (a loud explosion is heard)

Mack Man: Hey! Forget the fashion show!! What in tarnation started this riot??

Jen: Oh, yeah. Sorry. So what was it you did, Dr. Britski, that started the riot?

Britski: Well, Ceri, I was trying to teach the class the basic elements of Capitalism, but I was getting a lot of flack from the students.

Jen: Flack? What, they don’t like Capitalism?

Britski: No! They insisted that Socialism was the wave of the future. No rich, no poor, everyone the same it would be the great equalizer of society.

Jen: So what did you do?

Britski: I said, Okey dokey, we will have an experiment that I call “Obama’s Plan.” What we did was we averaged everyone’s grade.

Jen: What? You averaged everyone’s grade??

Britski: Yes, everyone got the same grade. We averaged it, so no one would get an “A” but also no one would fail.

Jen: So what happened?

Britski: So we had the first test, and all the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.

Jen: So I’ll bet everyone was happy about that!

Britski:
Well, to tell the truth the students who hit the books and studied hard were, well, kinda upset while the students who sluffed it off and studied very little were quite happy. Jen: So what happened next?
Britski: Well, so here comes the second test. The students who had studied little, studied even less this time and the ones who had studied hard decided it was time for their free ride so they studied little and everyone got a D! Nobody was happy! (the audio tape has the sound of a helicopter flying close overhead) So when the when the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

Jen: Whoa!

Britski: The scores never increased as the bickering, the blaming, the name-calling and finger pointing all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. I flunked the whole dang class. I told them that’s how their precious socialism works: it punishes those who work and redistributes their wealth to the lazy and undeserving. And that’s when the riots began...

Chrisman, Jennifer Mack Man and Ceri: the Radio Show That Saved Humanity. New York: Random House, 2031