My name is Sterling Smalley. I am the host and producer of Worthless And Free. Thanks for visiting my new website, podcast, blog, and eventual Coffee mug store! You can learn more about the podcast in the about section, but here I want to tell you a bit about me.
Let me start by saying how good it is to see you here. Probably. You see, I can’t see. So when I say it’s good to see you here, it’s always a figure of speech. I am not a war veteran. I did not fall on two precisely placed spikes. I didn’t do something noble for a blind girl in Michigan. It’s just your average everyday genetic disorder. I have two blind parents, a kind of blind sister, and a totally unblind daughter. She was born so I could finally get all this mail read.
For me, everything about being blind falls into one of two columns. Totally miserable experiences, and funny ass shit. I point this out to warn people that my perspective may draw from it a bit too heavily sometimes, and I’m sorry for that. But just like JFK’s love of raisins, it’s a defining characteristic of mine. I’ve found that lots of people find blindness to be one of the more interesting cripplements around, so maybe we can just beat this horse cadaver to a fine fleshy powder together.
My blindness probably has a lot to do with my love of radio. Not that radio in your living room with the huge glowing screen, the one in your car that you turn on and ignore. I love radio so much in fact that I want in. Making podcasts is basically pretending to be on the radio. The problem is that I have no credentials, almost no experience, and think more and more that most of the media I absorb is a huge waste of time.
I used to care a big ol’ bunch about the news and politics. I also listened to news magazine type sludge, watched presidential debates, and had opinions of issues. It was a slow process, but I eventually found I was nothing but irritated by it all. So for a couple of years now, I have had almost no idea what’s going on in the news. My politics can now be summed up in one sentence. Anyone who aspires to hold office in the modern United States is a lost cause.
I know some folks take their politics very seriously, and I love talking to those people about my jumping ship. It comes down to a few things I can’t seem to get a good answer about. Like the fact that everyone still seems fine with the electoral college being the way we pick the President Idle winner. You know, the system that brought us everyone’s least favorite president ever. When I was in high-school, we had Bill Clinton’s blow job debacle. Lots of time spent on that one. The collective pat on the back we all gave ourselves in 2008 for finally hiring a black guy. And I think there might be a couple more things. I’ve kind of forgotten that a political structure is even in place. Believing in this system after 236 years of consistent failure seems dim-witted to me. It’s just not compelling. I now only check in with my local paper and news outlets to find something to laugh about.
A sure sign that you may be reading something written by an ego in sweat pants, or at least a writer, is when the person quotes them self. Which reminds me of something I need to clarify.
Earlier I said that “most of the media I absorb is a waste of time”. Here are the exceptions that keep me passionate about creating something myself.
Le Show
Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!
Radio Lab
This American Life
The Moth
Snap Judgement
Transom
Wow, only seven. I’m leaving out the sports stuff of course because you would label me a “jock”; further damaging my validity as a radio producer.
So, to sum up. Blind guy, thinks pretty much everything is silly, might put together some show or something.
Stay Tuned.
