I enjoyed how this piece follows the author's transformation pre and post transplant. The texture of his voice changed over the course of the piece. The best part is when he compares the Karmapa to the X men to the Buddhist teacher!
I enjoyed this piece mainly because of the involvement of the Karmapa and how he shapes the progress of an otherwise simple story. This piece shines brightest during the narrator's insights on faith, and during the interview segments.
I would like to hear this piece on the radio because I believe it is both interesting and professionally produced. I enjoy human interst pieces, and "His Holiness" is a very personal and engaging story that goes straight for your ticker.
I've had this one in my bookmark list to listen to for a while. Wow, it is so much better than I guessed a first person piece about liver donation could ever sound. The story is amazing and the telling and production is just so smooth and real. Makes me almost want to donate something....blood will have to do for now.
Has this really not aired nationally! Unbelievable. Airing and hearing this will positively touch people positively. Positive.
While there is always room for spiritual enlightenment in every life, there is rarely an opportunity to hear how it manifests in someone's way of living and giving. "and me" in the title reveals what is important in all the interpretive values we place on our beliefs.
A friend who allows to be given to is also blessed. That her life was felt more abundantly through the mechanism of a donor organ, is a profound hope in cell consciousness and the will to be!
Not only is this piece a gentle blessing to the soul of giving and the practice of feeling grateful for the opportunity, it is a warm background to the mundane task of an everyday event. It is this mundane task we wish to make better that allows us a listening to radio in the first place.
That my dish soap looks like sand on the beach this evening, is just because of Mr. "and me". Thank you.
This is an inspiring piece that appeals to the root of our nature as humans. It is stories like these that call people to stop and reflect about their own priorities. The narrative was easy to understand amid the technical details of kidney disease and transplant. Also, as a follower of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, I feel the Buddhist ideas were expressed well. Many times western depictions of Buddhist beliefs conjure images of mystics or shamans, but I think this piece would be received well by a general audience.
A compelling, satisfying, and narratively complete exploration of a moral mystery--the donation of a human organ to an unrelated friend. I say moral mystery, because the narrator's choice flies in the face of evolutionary theory--those textbook calculations of enlightened genetic self-interest--wherein a 50% risk of death is worth it to save a brother, a 25% risk to save a cousin, and so on. (No one mentions this gene-saving calculus within the piece, but the fears--and resentments--of the narrator's mother are certainly motivated by deep innate feelings of connectedness.) What makes the piece work is that the narrator displays no trace of self-congratulation--his willingness to subject himself to the risk of death and the certainty of pain comes across a mystery to himself. His Holiness the Karmapa remains an off-mic minor character, albeit one who makes the crucial decisions that drive the story.
A well-produced piece--the ordinary-guy-voice narration, the underlying beds of moody pop music, the location recordings--all are used well.
This is a tremendous piece of radio--somehow it manages to take a topic that could easily crash over into sentimentality and make it instead deeply deeply moving, because the narrator has managed to think so clearly about what it all means. In fact, it would be a great piece even if there were'nt a Karmapa involved--he's almost a shaggy dog in this story. I think no listener will complain that this is too long--it's the kind of lovely thing that one wishes were on ATC every night.
[redacted]
Posted on September 21, 2004 at 06:48 PM
| Permalink
It wasn't so much about HH the Karmapa as it was about the author's own process of coming to donate a part of his body to a friend, and the consequences for himself - unexpected - of having done so. A window into the inside of this decision process and the reactions of others as well as his own reactions.
I would like to hear this one - a 4 I would say. It describes well the intersection between secular and religious thinking, and the generosity driving the decision provides a very personal counterpoint to much of the current public discourse.
At one point in this lovely, lovely work of grace about fear, faith, and kind-heartedness, the narrator asks: “What good are your beliefs if you don’t live by them?” Well, that’s a big question, especially when a Buddhist teacher passes on word from His Holiness the Karmapa that no, it’s not such a great idea for Belinda to donate part of her liver to her long-suffering sister. Their friend, the narrator, describes seeking the Karmapa’s advice: it was “as if we were catholic and our priest had like a bat-phone connection with the pope.” The liver-donating narrator, who has no strong belief system to guide him, tells this amazing story beautifully, without a touch of self-aggrandizement, and with great tape from the Buddhist teacher, the two sisters, and his own concerned mother. The music choices feel very personal and flow nicely under the narrative. An interview with the doped-up narrator three days after the surgery, and enough but not too much medical detail, keep the piece grounded in reality. Transplants are no small acts. But what is most moving and what will stay with me for a good while is the narrator's sincere feeling of gratitude. Find a place to air this, day or night, to remind your listeners that sometimes people are really something…
Comments for His Holiness the Karmapa and me
Produced by Dan Moulthrop
Other pieces by Dan Moulthrop
Rating Summary
10 comments
Caitlin Pine
Posted on March 04, 2005 at 12:24 PM | Permalink
Review of His Holiness the Karmapa and me
I enjoyed how this piece follows the author's transformation pre and post transplant. The texture of his voice changed over the course of the piece. The best part is when he compares the Karmapa to the X men to the Buddhist teacher!
Mark Ristaino
Posted on February 21, 2005 at 11:19 PM | Permalink
Review of His Holiness the Karmapa and me
I enjoyed this piece mainly because of the involvement of the Karmapa and how he shapes the progress of an otherwise simple story. This piece shines brightest during the narrator's insights on faith, and during the interview segments.
I would like to hear this piece on the radio because I believe it is both interesting and professionally produced. I enjoy human interst pieces, and "His Holiness" is a very personal and engaging story that goes straight for your ticker.
Dan Whitmore
Posted on December 31, 2004 at 08:02 PM | Permalink
Review of His Holiness the Karmapa and me
A simple story beautifully told.
paul cheevers
Posted on December 01, 2004 at 12:20 PM | Permalink
Review of His Holiness the Karmapa and me
I've had this one in my bookmark list to listen to for a while. Wow, it is so much better than I guessed a first person piece about liver donation could ever sound. The story is amazing and the telling and production is just so smooth and real. Makes me almost want to donate something....blood will have to do for now.
Has this really not aired nationally! Unbelievable. Airing and hearing this will positively touch people positively. Positive.
Thanks.
Sondra Sneed
Posted on November 23, 2004 at 02:46 PM | Permalink
Review of His Holiness the Karmapa and me
While there is always room for spiritual enlightenment in every life, there is rarely an opportunity to hear how it manifests in someone's way of living and giving. "and me" in the title reveals what is important in all the interpretive values we place on our beliefs.
A friend who allows to be given to is also blessed. That her life was felt more abundantly through the mechanism of a donor organ, is a profound hope in cell consciousness and the will to be!
Not only is this piece a gentle blessing to the soul of giving and the practice of feeling grateful for the opportunity, it is a warm background to the mundane task of an everyday event. It is this mundane task we wish to make better that allows us a listening to radio in the first place.
That my dish soap looks like sand on the beach this evening, is just because of Mr. "and me". Thank you.
David Taylor
Posted on November 17, 2004 at 07:10 PM | Permalink
Review of His Holiness the Karmapa and me
This is an inspiring piece that appeals to the root of our nature as humans. It is stories like these that call people to stop and reflect about their own priorities. The narrative was easy to understand amid the technical details of kidney disease and transplant. Also, as a follower of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, I feel the Buddhist ideas were expressed well. Many times western depictions of Buddhist beliefs conjure images of mystics or shamans, but I think this piece would be received well by a general audience.
Dave O'Meara
Posted on November 11, 2004 at 10:40 AM | Permalink
Review of His Holiness the Karmapa and me
A compelling, satisfying, and narratively complete exploration of a moral mystery--the donation of a human organ to an unrelated friend. I say moral mystery, because the narrator's choice flies in the face of evolutionary theory--those textbook calculations of enlightened genetic self-interest--wherein a 50% risk of death is worth it to save a brother, a 25% risk to save a cousin, and so on. (No one mentions this gene-saving calculus within the piece, but the fears--and resentments--of the narrator's mother are certainly motivated by deep innate feelings of connectedness.) What makes the piece work is that the narrator displays no trace of self-congratulation--his willingness to subject himself to the risk of death and the certainty of pain comes across a mystery to himself. His Holiness the Karmapa remains an off-mic minor character, albeit one who makes the crucial decisions that drive the story.
A well-produced piece--the ordinary-guy-voice narration, the underlying beds of moody pop music, the location recordings--all are used well.
Bill McKibben
Posted on November 11, 2004 at 09:31 AM | Permalink
Review of His Holiness the Karmapa and me
This is a tremendous piece of radio--somehow it manages to take a topic that could easily crash over into sentimentality and make it instead deeply deeply moving, because the narrator has managed to think so clearly about what it all means. In fact, it would be a great piece even if there were'nt a Karmapa involved--he's almost a shaggy dog in this story. I think no listener will complain that this is too long--it's the kind of lovely thing that one wishes were on ATC every night.
[redacted]
Posted on September 21, 2004 at 06:48 PM | Permalink
Review of His Holiness the Karmapa and me
It wasn't so much about HH the Karmapa as it was about the author's own process of coming to donate a part of his body to a friend, and the consequences for himself - unexpected - of having done so. A window into the inside of this decision process and the reactions of others as well as his own reactions.
I would like to hear this one - a 4 I would say. It describes well the intersection between secular and religious thinking, and the generosity driving the decision provides a very personal counterpoint to much of the current public discourse.
Well produced and paced also.
Sydney Lewis
Posted on August 31, 2004 at 03:19 PM | Permalink
Review of His Holiness the Karmapa and me
At one point in this lovely, lovely work of grace about fear, faith, and kind-heartedness, the narrator asks: “What good are your beliefs if you don’t live by them?” Well, that’s a big question, especially when a Buddhist teacher passes on word from His Holiness the Karmapa that no, it’s not such a great idea for Belinda to donate part of her liver to her long-suffering sister. Their friend, the narrator, describes seeking the Karmapa’s advice: it was “as if we were catholic and our priest had like a bat-phone connection with the pope.” The liver-donating narrator, who has no strong belief system to guide him, tells this amazing story beautifully, without a touch of self-aggrandizement, and with great tape from the Buddhist teacher, the two sisters, and his own concerned mother. The music choices feel very personal and flow nicely under the narrative. An interview with the doped-up narrator three days after the surgery, and enough but not too much medical detail, keep the piece grounded in reality. Transplants are no small acts. But what is most moving and what will stay with me for a good while is the narrator's sincere feeling of gratitude. Find a place to air this, day or night, to remind your listeners that sometimes people are really something…