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Letters: Young birders, disaster relief in Japan

Marketplace Staff Mar 16, 2011
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Letters: Young birders, disaster relief in Japan

Marketplace Staff Mar 16, 2011
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Kai Ryssdal: It’s Wednesday, cue the letters music.

I’m gonna sit right down and write myself a letter.

You know what I love about our emails? I love what we learn about the people who listen to this program.

Arden Hermann-Wilmerth: My name is Arden Hermann-Wilmerth and I am six years old.

Arden lives in Kalamazoo, Mich., where he and his mom write a blog about the birds they see at the feeder in their backyard. They heard our story about the Audubon Society reaching out to young birders, which Arden certainly is. His favorite bird, by the way?

Hermann-Wilmerth: Rose-breasted grosebeak. Because it looks cool?

Other birders wrote to point out that while technology has made birding more appealing to a less-aged demographic, it does need to be used responsibly. Playing bird calls on your iPad during nesting season, by the way, not a good idea.

We spent some time on public radio last week after NPR CEO Vivian Schiller was forced out over those fundraising tapes. When I asked media critic Jeff Jarvis about taxpayer funding for public radio and the possibility that it might go away as a result of all this, he said larger stations would probably be OK; smaller, more rural stations, probably not.

Greg Rossell is the board president at WERU community radio in Troy, Maine.

Greg Rossell: The loss of federal funding means a direct hit of up to 25 percent of our budget. Our coverage area is mostly rural and has limited Internet access, and depends greatly on radio for news, public affairs and entertainment. We offer programming for labor, health, boat builders, Native Americans — all locally produced.

Finally, in response to our story yesterday about corporate disaster aid going to Japan, Tessie Borden wrote from Los Angeles to say this.

Tessie Borden: Not a day later, but only hours after the Japan earthquake surfaced, I went to play Farmville on my laptop and noticed there was already a donate button that incorporates the game, giving folks a permit to plant daikons if they donate money to the efforts.

Whether you play Farmville on Facebook or like me, you just don’t get Farmville, please do take a second to let us know what you think about the program.

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