RadioLab Podcast

Podcast Segment Transcript

Read more at https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/insomnia-line

Lulu: I want to leave everyone with one more of these offerings, coming from the producer, Annie McEwen.

Fletcher: Hello.

Annie: Hi. I can just see the very top of your head.

Fletcher: Yes.

Speaker 3: Fletcher, hold on a second for me.

Annie: Can you hear me?

Fletcher: Yes.

Annie: Good to meet you.

Fletcher: And you.

Annie: First of all, I want you to introduce yourself. Tell me, what is your name?

Fletcher: What's my name, mommy?

Elaine Boyd: You know what your name is.

Fletcher: Oh, Fletcher.

Annie: [chuckles] Fletcher, such a good name. What's your last name?

Fletcher: My full name is Fletcher Lee Johnson. We live in Cookeville, Tennessee.

Annie: How old are you?

Fletcher: I'm five.

Annie: I wanted to talk to you about sleep. Do you have trouble falling asleep?

Fletcher: Yes, every night, it takes a long time until I go to sleep.

Annie: Why is that? What are you thinking when you're trying to fall asleep?

Fletcher: I'm not thinking of anything. I just really have a lot of energy to stay up at night.

Annie: What would you rather do? What does your body want to do when you're trying to keep it still?

Fletcher: I like to have a dance party, but one night we did that.

Annie: [gasps] You did?

Fletcher: Yes. I just like to have dance parties every night, but I can't.

Annie: [laughs] What do your pajamas look like?

Fletcher: Glow-in-the-dark PJs.

Annie: Glow-in-the-dark PJs?

Fletcher: Yes.

Annie: That's cool.

Fletcher: It's one of my old ones. When I was four, I had a glowing skeleton one that matches where my bones are and now I have bought a new one for a five-year-old.

Annie: Yesterday, on the phone, we talked a little bit about how you dream about monsters.

Fletcher: Oh, I dream about monsters every night.

Annie: What are these monsters? Tell me about them.

Fletcher: Blobby boxing monsters.

Annie: Okay.

Fletcher: There's a lot of other ones that are really scary.

Annie: Is it hard to fall asleep because of the monsters?

Fletcher: Yes, because they're really too scary, so I have to wake up.

Annie: I have that problem too. It's hard to fall asleep and you're afraid of things. Fletcher, I want to ask your advice about something. Tonight we're going to have a lot of people call in to our radio show and they're going to be people who can't fall asleep and they're trying and trying and trying, but they just can't. They're so tired, but they can't fall asleep. I want to know, what advice do you have for them? What do you think they should do?

Fletcher: I was going to sing to them my meditation.

Annie: That's a good idea. Do you want to read me your meditation? Do you want to try doing that?

Fletcher: Yes, I guess so.

Annie: Then we can play it tonight for the sleepy people that can't fall asleep?

Fletcher: Mommy, can I take my shoes off?

Elaine Boyd: Yes.

Annie: I'll take my shoes off too.

Fletcher: Blast off into space. What's a good way to relax? Lay down, close your eyes, lay in a comfortable position. [unintelligible 00:31:26]

[music]

Now imagine you're in space with the stars. Down below is the planet Earth. You can see all the way to your backyard. The blackness of space, the sparkle of the stars. You want lift off to planet Mars. On the way we soak in of all stars and these constellations. You [unintelligible 00:32:43] and the Hercules and the Leos. While you are looking at all the stars and constellations, you take three minutes because it's a lot to take in.

Mars is a long way away, so you float into your spaceship and fall asleep on the floor and dream of all things you want to do tomorrow. You can now start back home and after morning time, you [unintelligible 00:33:54] and you play baseball, soccer and frisbee and go on more adventures. Then you will visit Saturn, the planet with the wings next.

[music]

Jad: Oh my God, Fletcher from Tennessee. You are amazing. I want you to talk to me every night. Lulu, wow. Thank you for taking us on that journey. Also, thanks to Annie McEwen and Rachel Cusick who helped Lulu produce what you just heard. To the entire Radiolab team the Rode shotgun with Lulu all night, screened calls talked to people who called in, Tracie Hunt, [unintelligible 00:34:53], Molly Webster, Annie McEwen, Sarah Qari, Tobin Low.

Lulu: Also, big thanks to Fletcher Lee Johnson and his mom, Elaine Boyd. His Six Feet of Separation, the publication by and for kids where we found Fletcher's sleep meditation. Thanks to Chris Collin, Alice Wong, LeVar Burton, musician Wes Swing, Kelley Libby, Karen K. Ho for her great tips on how to fall asleep and to Jin Wang who helped with reporting for this show. Finally, a big shout out to our friends at Reply All who do a mean Collin show.