Giving is the reward

I am no longer a public radio freeloader.

I listen to NPR a lot. It's the No. 1 preset in my car. It's the first button I hit when flipping around the stations and usually the place I settle when I've gone through the others.

During the spring fundraising campaign, I called in and got a bald cypress tree. My Local and I went in on it so that we could plant the tree at his new house. We were supposed to pick it up April 14 or 15 at the conservation center.

I got a text message April 16 from him:

"weren't we supposed to go pick up that tree?"

The rest of the message chain went like this:

"yep."

"so when do we need to go do that"

"yesterday."

Great. The tree, the tangible enticement, the final reason we donated that amount, we forgot to go pick up. This is why I don't have kids.

With our prize so easily forgotten, I realized the real reason we ultimately ponied up the cash: the good cause. So there we have it, $100 for a tree we may never see and radio programming we'll listen to every day. A good cause.

Speaking of good causes, the University Players will have another cabaret to raise money for future trips, conferences and auditions. The cabaret will deviate from previous ones, usually held in a restaurant downtown with hor d'oeuvres and such.

This one, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, will be in the Rust Flexible Theatre with no food or drink, but only a $2 donation -- a meager fee to see our up-and-comings.

"L'Art Pour L'Art," or art for art's sake, features comedic scenes and monologues, musical theater songs and dances, tap, contemporary and more from students whose talents will disappear from local stages for the summer.

One performer pitched it as the "students last chance to perform," but it's your last chance to see them, too.