Comments on: Elegy for @oleta of @planetmoney

By: Rapetzel

Rapetzel — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:59:14 +0000

Well said saalon. I share your sentiments and admiration for Laura’s smarts and community building. Thank you Laura- and I look forward to sharing in your next adventure as well.

By: Diana

Diana — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:19:41 +0000

All the Planet Money people are great. I’m not a financial person, but I like how they explain things to me in a way that respects my intellect. Laura will definitely be missed.

By: Jack

Jack — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:50:12 +0000

Agree with all of the above, LC always made me feel like a special part of the community (and drew me into the Twitter crowd). More often than not, Planet Money’s segments seemed like an informal conversation with close friends. I’ll miss Laura and hope that PM continues successfully without her.

As for @oleta, I’ll be impatiently awaiting a tweet announcing her new wherabouts.

By: Brian Love

Brian Love — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:24:08 +0000

Thanks for putting into words much of what I was thinking, although I don’t think as eloquently as you write. It really helped. So have the comments of others here. I can think of nothing that would make this situation better except, as Rob says, Laura gets the role she has proven herself deserving of.

By: Maple Fan

Maple Fan — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:44:25 +0000

Awwww. Now this lovely tribute makes me want to cry. Followed Laura from BPP to Planet Money. She was very kind and patient when she interviewed me right after I lost my job on December 30, 2008. Planet Money was my lifeline, too. I did a followup interview when I got, as Laura put it, “the last job left in Ohio” in February of this year. I could feel her happiness for me over the phone. No matter what she does next, some group or project or program is going to be really lucky to have her.

By: Martha Englert

Martha Englert — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:57:20 +0000

I felt like Laura represented me. She was smart without being glib, informative without being condescending. And most of all, she was fresh in the very best sense. She and Planet Money were a part of my day. I’m taking her leaving as a personal loss.

By: Anesly

Anesly — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:40:40 +0000

When commercial paper froze, I finally started downloading the Planet Money podcast. I’d heard about it–I liked TAL’s “Giant Pool of Money,” and people had been recommending Planet Money to me, but being a contrary sort I hadn’t gotten around to listening yet.

And then, the economy exploded. No one knew what was going on, and whatever it was, _it_ was going on at such a hectic pace. My nerves, like yours, were raw. I was antsy and had trouble sleeping, my mind racing to digest the overload of new information.

Planet Money was my lifeboat too. I used to download the podcast and take it to bed, feeling a bit like a kid sneaking books and radio into bed past bedtime, listen to it, and finally sleep. Even the soundbites at the start of podcast and the music came to have a soothing effect on me. Lady Gaga was my econ-comfort music.

Here’s the thing, though. Planet Money has superb reporting and insight into the nitty gritty of economics, and yes, it’s a team effort, but Laura did something special: she grounded the sometimes rarefied high-level concept discussion; she brought her sense of humor; she actively built a community around the podcast. We really did feel that it was _ours_. Her efforts on the blog and on Twitter brought us together, and there really is no better evidence for her success than your blog post, and the fact that we all feel we may be losing the core of the show.

I hope that wherever she goes next, her special talent is recognized. And I’m sure she’ll do wonderful.

By: Rob Paterson

Rob Paterson — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:34:33 +0000

I share your feelings – I have never met Laura – but we became pals back in the day at BPP when we seemed to be the only 2 people awake at that time. We would chat at 5am with our first coffees like an old married couple – inside joke!

She understands more about how to attract a community than any one I know in media. She brought a warmth and a truth to PM that I think has helped make the show what it is. If the Boys were the Volts, she provided the Watts – the emotional power.

I think that she also got what I think is the Story – the story that is directly about the American People – her material consistently told the story as it is being lived on mainstreet – she has inspired many people to offer up their stories to her and she has noticed stories out in the comments, the Tweets and the Facebook page.

Laura’s greatest asset? She listens! Rare in journalism

I hope that she finds the role that I think that she deserves.

At BPP and at PM she was the “Handmaiden” She deserves a leading role now – she has earned it.