Dowload/listen to this week’s episode here.
This week’s edition of Smile Politely Radio once again ventures out of the studio and into the welcoming embrace of Mike N’ Molly’s beer garden in Downtown Champaign. Coinciding with the release of Smile Politely’s Anthology (collecting selected articles from the site’s first four years), the show is packed with good stuff.
Urbana’s mayor Laurel Prussing was kind enough to join us on the show to talk about her years in office so far, her plans for the future, and a wealth of Urbana-Champaign related trivia and facts. Among other things, she discusses the redevelopment of the Lincoln Hotel, roundabouts, the trends in urban development, parking tickets, and how Urbana got its name. She even announced her plans to seek re-election in 2013.
In honor of the anthology release, we spoke with a couple of authors about their articles featured in the book. First, Brenda Koenig discussed her series of articles on trash in recycling in Champaign, where we’re at now, and how she came to write the stories in the first place. Then we talked to Anna Barnes (above) about her article on crunchy dill pickles, one of the most popular articles in the site’s history.
Quizmaster Chris dropped in with questions for the mayor and for our editors, as well as some trivia and prizes for the crowd.
And your hosts John and Jason do an incredibly poor job of covering the Olympics opening ceremony (without a television anywhere in the vicinity).
So if you missed the outdoor experience, grab a cold one at home and listen along to the podcast. It’ll be almost the same thing, but without prizes. And contact us to find out where to get your hands on a copy of the anthology, hot off the presses.