Oddysseus of the Airwaves

ODDYSSEUS OF THE AIRWAVES
I can’t decide which grabbed me the most, Jennifer Vogel’s perceptive style or T.D. Mischke’s peripatetic journey—both the literal aimless search and his dedicated exploration of life’s nuances at the “cutting edge” [“Old-Fashioned Cutting-Edge Radio,” July]. The daunting journey of Vogel through the maze of Tommy’s cortex seemed at times bound not to find an exit—and yet she did. In the end we see a variation of the everyman/woman theme. It’s that combination of luck, serendipity, and the pervasive drive to find the right niche: a quiet place—a nest to explore and to emerge as the adult without losing that precious whimsy of the inner child. In that reservoir of curiosity and fantasy too often hidden from the world, Mischke invokes the “tapoceta tapoceta” of Walter Mitty, or perhaps he is more akin to Robin Williams’ Good Morning, Vietnam. Then for contrast we see the emergence of another facet of this performance artist: The Iconoclast. One can only congratulate this versatility. Add his refreshing honesty amid the current cacophony of phony snake-oil salesmen on the air and one finds a budding renaissance man. T.D.’s odyssey

“on the rods” conveyed me to a distant place: the 1927 front-page story in my hometown Daily News relating my three-day sojourn at age twelve with the 101 Ranch and Wild West Show. It was only one of several later extended departures by freight train and hitchhiking in search of the golden dream of an acting career in Hollywood. I finally found my niche in a book on the shelf of a World War II troop ship. We were part of a convoy headed for the European front. The book was Where Do People Take Their Troubles, by Lee R. Steiner. It opened a window to the then-new field of clinical psychology. After the war and thirty very satisfying years in that profession, I am still intrigued and continue to explore the drive and motivation of the “fledgling’s” irrepressible inner forces. Mischke’s tale exemplifies the essence of the rite of passage shared by countless pilgrims. Unlike some less fortunate others, his tour landed him in a good place thanks to his unique, unfettered talent.
Eugene Kline
Minneapolis