Meg Wolitzer

Several of the stories on this program were part of a show we presented with Cash Arts and Utah Public Radio, KUSU-FM.

In the first, a comic duel between a woman and her garden.

In the second, a border crossing reveals outer and inner landscapes.

In the third, mastering one of the elements.

And in the fourth, the upside of bad weather.

Humorist Jenny Allen, the author of the collection Would Everybody Please Stop?

Reflections on Life and Other Bad Ideas, has mastered the art of disappointment.

You name it.

Boyfriends, tie-dye, slumber.

She's tried it, it hasn't worked, and she wants to share her pain.

This time, it's her garden.

How doth it grow?

Well, let's just say, time to go to the supermarket.

Reading this essay about Allen's not-so-green thumb is Kirsten Vangsness, best known as computer whiz Penelope Garcia on Criminal Minds.

She is also an accomplished playwright, performance artist, and podcast producer.

Here she is with Jenny Allen's Garden Growing Pains.

Kirsten Vangsness performed Garden Growing Pains by Jenny Allen at the Ellen Eccles Theater in Logan, Utah.

I'm Meg Wolitzer.

I really enjoyed Allen's trope here.

It's bad enough that everything is freakish or non-existent.