Use Your NPR Voice!

Until last week, I didn't know I had one. (BONUS! Cartoonapalooza #2!) WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BY PETER MOORE

IF YOU’VE BEEN PAYING ATTENTION TO THIS SPACE in the last month, you’ll know that I just started a gig providing humor, commentaries, and animations to Front Range National Public Radio. Americans of a certain age and mental cast have been listening to NPR voices for decades—starting with Garrison Keillor on a Prairie Home Companion and rolling on through Terry Gross and the Iras (Flatow and Glass) and Kai Ryssdal and Peter Sagal. When I listen to the midday news, I sing along with the radio: “From NPR in Washington, I’m Lakshmi Singh.” And now I’m one of those voices too—however halting and tiny, compared with those vocal giants! I can hear them in my head, but could I make those sounds come out of my own mouth? Last week I had the hilarious and freaky experience of hearing my NPR producer reproduce those dulcet intonations while reading a script I had written. Then I attempted my best impression of her doing her best impression of me. It was like learning a new language! I so hope …