free variable

I sometimes wonder what draws people to become rabid followers of Sarah Vowell, who is occasionally amusing but seems to inspire near-ecstatic devotion disproportionate to the quality of her work. I suspect that her fan base is mostly comprised of people who love the sound of Yeardley Smith’s voice as Lisa Simpson but find the animated lass insufficiently smug. In any case, her riff on sitcoms and Thanksgiving was fairly entertaining.