This American Life

A word on a show that is a complete treasure and a gift to our world: This American Life broadcast via NPR and produced by Chicago Public Radio. It's hosted by Ira Glass, and each week they give you an hour of thoughtful amazing ideas and stories. Rarely am I ever disappointed, and more often than not reduced to tears by the narratives of our better angels and our dark hearts, of the depth of our humanity's best and worst intentions.

Two weeks ago, this tale of the life of a female chimpan- zee, Lucy, who was first purchased as a pet by a Connecticut couple, and then repatriated with a group of other chimps on an island in Gambia west Africa. It's 29 minutes of absolutely transcendent listening.

This week the entire hour was devoted to the change by the American Psycho- logical Association in 1973 of the status of homo- sexuality from a mental illness to a natural variation of speciation. It exposes the particulars of this culturally mind-shattering event through the voices and memories of some of its key players. Three of whom have actually passed into ancestry since sharing their thoughts for this story. You can listen to it on line if you missed it on the radio.

What impressed me most was the idea that the initial classification of homosexuality was based upon the effeminate stereotype of the "sissy" man. In particular, the idea that such a person is the result of an absent father and an overbearing mother. As I thought about that I wondered why a sea of trained researchers with expertise in human psychology never seemed to asked the question in reverse. I mean, besides that fact that gay men come in all shapes and sizes and personalities, why did they assume that the parents caused the child to become what he was, versus the child causing the parents to behave in the way they did? It's just a thought. But that's what I love about This American Life, it gives me so much to think about!