My grandmother was from Oklahoma and she used to say, “Elijah, some people are just plain crazy.” According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 26 percent of Americans suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder, but only a fraction of those people—about six percent—are unemployed or considered disabled. That leaves 21 percent working and living regular lives. They are our coworkers, our teachers, our friends, our parents. And if you dig it, tell Ira Glass!
Retraction and Full Disclosure: Flatmancrooked removed the audio, RAUDIO #4: A Profile - Whitey, per the demand of Christopher Erickson, the author who was profiled and featured in the article. A segment of the audio profile (8:13) contained clips of Christopher Erickson reading his work for which Flatmancrooked had received verbal but not written consent to use. Christopher Erickson stated he initially began to work with Flatmancrooked per the advice of the former Poetry Editor, Joe Wenderoth. Erickson demanded that all work, both audio and print, be retracted after Wenderoth left Flatmancrooked in February, 2009. We apologize for this inconvenience and invite our listeners to preview the next episode of Flatmancrooked RAUDIO below.
February 4th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Bam E! I love all of it. The production is great. The Outro hooks me for the next one and of course the story was bananas. Can I download it on itunes?
February 4th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Great find in this story… Elijah!
Looking forward to the next installment
February 6th, 2009 at 4:25 am
I admire the courage it must have taken for the young woman to tell her story. It would seem that by most external measures, she is a functional, if not productive, member of society. However, I dispute the definition of what Mr. Jenkins calls “normal crazy”. I would argue that an unemployed person with a diagnosable mental disorder, while unfortunate, could easily be called normal crazy - particularly in our current economic climate. Similarly, ‘crazy’ person with a job, a spouse, a home, children, is not necessarily ‘normal’ or functionally ‘crazy’. Despite possessing many of the trappings of a ‘normal’ life, these people may be - indeed the young woman in the story may be - to quote Elijah’s granmother “just plain crazy.”
February 17th, 2009 at 7:23 am
i love you mer and i’m so glad you sleep better now.