Who is Leo, you ask? He is an 8-year-old boy who lives in New Jersey. He also is interested about the impeachment hearings going on in Washington, D.C. That landed him a spot on The Daily, a podcast produced by The New York Times.
The hearings have started up again today, and will continue for, well, until they are done. Because we are all bombarded by information during every minute of the day, I would imagine that children and teenagers have also learned about the hearings, whether through their parents or their friends or their phones or other devices.
Last week, I was driving to a meeting, and had The Daily on the car radio. It’s a program I enjoy, because the topics are so wide-ranging. When I started the car, I heard the voice of a young boy talking to New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt, who covers national security.
It was not just an interesting conversation, it also was a dialogue that was respectful, informational, and quite surprising in some ways. It also was totally serious, which reminded me that learning happens in strange and wonderful ways, no matter what the age might be.
Producer Bianca Giaever was in charge of this podcast, and was hired to get children into The Daily. What a great idea. After all, history belongs to all of us.
The links below lead to the podcast and a transcription, and to a piece by the producer that offers the back-story of how this came to be. And the image above? That’s Leo’s list of questions about impeachment.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/13/podcasts/the-daily/impeachment-hearings.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/15/podcasts/daily-newsletter-impeachment-leo-latest.html
Chandler in Denver 