Public Radio and an Inspirational Author

I try to run 5 miles every other day.  We have a YMCA membership but the thought of running in place on a treadmill or 50 times around on the track is not at all appealing.  I'm definitely an outside runner!

I run on a sidewalk alongside a busy highway.  I don't often use my i-pod/i-phone because I like to run with my own thoughts.  Every once in a while though, I am in the mood for something other than what's running around in my head.  Surprisingly, I don't listen to music.  I am a talk radio runner.

I usually use my "I Heart Radio" app on my i-pod/i-phone to tune in to public radio stations all over the country.  Earlier this week I listened to WNYC and a guest on The Leonard Lopate Show has stuck with me since then. 

Her name is Anna Badkhen and she was speaking about the book she had written The World is a Carpet:  Four Seasons in an Afghan Village.  Her interview is available on the WNYC website.  Here is the link  www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/2013/jun/05/ 

In the book, and in her interview, she "traced the creation of a new carpet as it is woven by the women and children in the remote village Oqa".  She is a former war correspondent who has returned to Afghanistan a number of times because of the people, their traditions and the beauty of the land.  I was drawn in by her story but also her voice.  I found myself running farther than I had intended so I could keep listening. 

Her book has definitely made it to my "must read" list and if I ever win the lottery, I will start a business that would let these women and children sell their rugs directly to consumers so they can earn a livable wage.  I was shocked, but not surprised to hear that they made a pittance on rugs that sell for $10,000. 

I think I will be running more often with my i-pod/i-phone if I can listen to such interesting people as Anna Badkhen. 

"Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul."  -Thomas Merton