I loved this piece! Fun and entertaining, very well mixed and produced. Most of the song clips feature the name of the state but it's also organized in alphabetical order so it's not that difficult to figure out which song belongs to which state. The individual state song pieces are also very enjoyable. The stories include some basic and quirky information about the state (motto, capitol, bird). In my home state of Ohio, who knew we had an official state fossil? Consider broadcasting these on election day. If you plan to do special local election night coverage, try using the medley piece (perhaps 30 seconds at a time) to fade in and out of NPR and your local election coverage. Of course, this assumes that the producer allows using parts of the piece at a time, perhaps in lieu of the usual music beds this piece can be split into one minute intervals for station breaks during election night coverage. Or perhaps it can air in its entirety at the end of your election night special. We'll all need a break and a little bit of humor by then.

This is the type of story that public radio does best. It takes its time to build a relationship between listener and subject matter then dives into some powerful issues. It's not a story about the science of autism but rather a piece about the people touched by the illness. Thomas's parents are the only voices in the story, but they're very articulate and open about their feelings and offer some poignant anecdotes about dealing with their son's problems. The obvious choice would be to use this story as a companion piece to a health or science story, but it would also be excellent paired with a show such as "Parents Journal" as an example of the challenges of parenting today.