Regarding a July 1, 2002 Radio Interview

by Eric Chaet

Matt, of Michigan Talk Radio, called. Wanted me to be interviewed, this p.m., for National Hitchhiking Month. I said yes—how many people would be interviewed, how long would I be on the air? About 5 minutes, to be interviewed at 2:20 (EST), by Bill Vogel.

I looked up Michigan Talk Radio (started Jan, '01) on Internet, & Bill Vogel. 35 stations throughout Michigan. 3-7 EST, The Captain (Bill Vogel) & crew, wacky bits, callers, games, celebrities, spoofs of VIPs, humor, off-beat.

2:20, got a call. I corrected pronunciation of Chaet (rhymes with ate, bait, fate, rate), was asked to hold. Guys were talking about schedules, crunching potato chips.

Then Bill Vogel's voice, "Today, Eric Chaet, author of People I Met Hitchhiking on USA Highways!"

I said, "Hi, please buy a copy of the book while I'm still alive."

An appreciative chuckle. "How old ARE you?"

"About 7,000."

"About 7,000?" (Sudden attention.)

"Yes."

"How much of that time were you hitchhiking?"

"About 5 years."

"Five years?"

"Yes."

Capt. & sidekick went into a thing about how they had always been afraid to hitchhike, told by mother never to—"Me, too," I said—& had driven past hitchhikers without picking them up.

"So have I," I said. "When I hitchhiked, I always tried to make eye contact with as many drivers as possible. I think I'm a good person, & I hoped that other good people would recognize me."

Capt. said he'd picked up a FEW hitchhikers, with big packs, obviously going somewhere. "Not guys with duffel bags & big tattoos!" (Laughter.) "Is it fun to hitchhike?"

"Mainly not. Sometimes. About the same as when you're not hitchhiking. Mostly it's waiting & waiting, while people pass you by, & you feel terrible, rejected. But sometimes someone will stop for you, & they have to be brave to do it—or very foolish—& kind. So you meet some of the bravest & kindest poeple you'll ever meet. And you meet foolish people in any case—hitchhiking, or going to work every day."

Lots of agreement noises from the captain & sidekick. Captain reading from Internet blurb: "A hitchhiker criss-crosses America stapling cloth, silk-screened 'signs' to utility poles, winter and summer, year after year, frequently stopping to work at a variety of jobs. He meets people. Some explain what they are doing, and some ask him to explain what he is doing."

"What did the signs say?" he asks me.

"'You're Like Me in This Respect, What You Do Has Its Effect.' 'Seek Truth, Develop Capacities.' 'Help One Another Succeed.'"

"Like fortune cookies without the cookies."

"Yes! Fortune cookies—definitely without the cookies!"

"Reminds me of a Kung-Fu adventure I saw."

"Yes! Like Kung Fu!" (I was relieved that they were thinking & articulating for me.)

"Or Johnny Appleseed, sowing seeds!" (Laughs.)

"Yes! Like Johnny Appleseed!"

"Why were you hitchhiking?"

"Well, I got stuck. I couldn't get done what I was trying to do, & I had no money. So I silk-screened signs, & started hitchhiking, & stapling them to posts."

"And what were you trying to do?"

"Change the United States."

"Change the United States? The people? The government?"

"Yes."

"Yes, the people? Yes, the government?"

"Yes, the people & the government."

"Did it work?"

"It isn't over yet! Right now, I'm hitchhiking with you!"

"How can someone get a copy of the book?"

"Ask at your local bookstore, or ask your librarian."

"Sum up, in about 10 seconds."

Pause. (Ten seconds!) "Good, kind people are precious."

"Yes! Eric Chaet, author of People I Met Hitchhiking along American Highways" (or some such approximation).

—End—
(reconstructed in hours immediately afterward; probably about 90% accurate)

Copyright © Eric Chaet 2003