Selected Shorts – “A Simple Solution”

Date: December 25, 2025
Host: Meg Wolitzer
Featured Stories and Performers:

• “Top of the Food Chain” by T.C. Boyle, read by Zach Grenier
• “Carapace” by Matthew Ryan Frankel, read by Philip Estrera
• “The Suitcase” by Meron Hadero, read by Renée Elise Goldsberry
• Interview with Meron Hadero

Episode Overview

This episode of Selected Shorts, hosted by Meg Wolitzer, explores the theme of problems and solutions—how simple fixes can cascade into complex consequences, and how seemingly mundane dilemmas can reveal deep emotional truths. Through three short stories and an insightful interview, the episode guides listeners through tales of environmental havoc, familial mourning, and the tangled logistics and emotions of diaspora.

Key Discussion Points & Story Highlights

Opening Reflections: The Double Edge of Simple Solutions

[01:01–03:45] Meg Wolitzer

• Meg Wolitzer introduces the idea that “Sometimes big problems have simple solutions, and sometimes simple solutions cause big problems.”
• Opening with a quote from H.L. Mencken, she sets the stage for stories where interventions—however well-meaning—unleash unintended effects.

Story #1: “Top of the Food Chain” by T.C. Boyle

Performance: Zach Grenier
[03:45–16:26]

Synopsis

• A civil servant recounts a well-intentioned but disastrous malaria eradication effort in Borneo, launching a domino effect through the ecosystem—mosquitoes, caterpillars, geckos, cats, rats—culminating in plague and a (literally) sky-high cat drop.

Notable Moments & Quotes

• On ineffective pesticides:
  “We might as well have been spraying with Chanel Number five for all the good it did.” (Zach Grenier as civil servant, [03:50])
• On culture clash:
  “You've got to realize this is Borneo we're talking about here, not Port Townsend or Eamonclaw.” ([04:30])
• On unintended consequences:
  “No one could have foreseen the consequences. No one. Not even if we had gone out and generated 100 environmental impact statements.” ([05:20])
• On the butterfly effect:
  “The chemical… had the unfortunate side effect of killing off this little wasp… that preyed on a type of caterpillar that in turn ate palm leaves. Well, with the wasps gone, the caterpillars hatched out with nothing to keep them in check. Chewed the roofs to pieces.” ([06:15])
• Memorable imagery:
  “The day we dropped those cats. Oh, you should have seen them, gentlemen, the little parachutes and harnesses… Cats in every color of the rainbow… all of them twirling down out of the sky like great big oversized snowflakes.” ([13:30])
• Closing irony:
  “So what I'm saying is it could be worse. To every cloud a silver lining, wouldn't you agree? Gentlemen.” ([16:15])

Insights

• The story wryly links human intervention, ecological fragility, and bureaucratic denial.

Story #2: “Carapace” by Matthew Ryan Frankel

Performance: Philip Estrera
[17:38–23:45]

Synopsis

• At a grandfather's funeral, three crabs become central to the family’s grieving ritual, blurring lines between the living and the dead, tradition and change.

Notable Moments & Quotes

• Setting the scene:
  “Three crabs attended my grandfather’s funeral. Atlantic blues. They picked at a lump of chicken inside a milk crate trap...Their antennae stroked the poultry with a delicate, oblivious air.” (Narrator, [17:38])
• Legacy and memory:
  “If the man hadn't died, his memorial might have killed him.” ([18:20])
• Communication and loss:
  “They had their own language, I knew, alien and impenetrable as a mind whose body had abandoned it. Having only known my own life, how could I hope for communion with the dead?” ([21:50])
• Dissolving boundaries:
  “Desperate, I decided to become a crab...I released my words at last. I hoped the sounds were inhuman enough to reach him.” ([22:45])
• Final line:
  “My family perceived none of this. Instead, they saw me bow and whisper to the shellfish. ‘I’m here. I’m here.’ Evening came. We butchered the crabs and ate them.” ([23:36])

Insights

• The story poetically captures the struggle for connection across language, culture, and mortality.

Story #3: “The Suitcase” by Meron Hadero

Performance: Renée Elise Goldsberry
[27:02–56:01]

Synopsis

• Saba, a young Ethiopian-American, navigates a farewell gathering in Addis Ababa where loved ones plead for precious suitcase space to send gifts and necessities back to relatives in the U.S.—each request layered with personal history and emotion.
• The story unfolds as a comic and poignant negotiation over what—and who—makes it across borders.

Notable Moments & Quotes

• On city chaos and returning home:
  “[Saba] was 20, a grown-up and wanted to know that on her first ever trip to the city of her birth, she’d gained at least some degree of independence and assimilation.” ([27:07])
  • Saba’s attempt to cross a busy street—eventually taking a $15 cab just to make it across—becomes a symbol of cultural dislocation.
• Suitcase as symbol:
  “Saba knew this suitcase wasn’t just a suitcase. She’d heard—there was no DHL here, no UPS...An empty suitcase opened up a rare direct link between two worlds.” ([30:30])
• Family arguments and the zero-sum packing dilemma:
  “If you don’t send this bread, Konjeet, your family will still eat bread.... My niece had a difficult pregnancy. You have to take this gun fo because if you don’t take it—well, there is no way to get gun fo in America.” ([36:39–39:14])
• On longing and connection:
  “Forget about the third [loaf]. I don’t want to ask too much of you, even though I am an old lady who has not seen her grandchildren in—oh, I don’t, who knows how long? But these two loaves of bread must stay in the suitcase. Two loaves for my three grandchildren, so they know I am thinking about them, that I have not forgotten them.” ([41:15])
• Epiphany and sacrifice:
  “She pushed this empty suitcase to the center of the room. ‘Dear friends, neighbors, and relatives,’ she said in forced Amharic, looking at the confused expressions that confronted her. ‘Please, now there is room for it all.’” ([44:00])
  • Saba gives up her own things, only for others to promise to keep them until she returns—highlighting the cycle of migration and longing.

Insights

• The story is a vibrant tapestry of community, obligation, and the bittersweet cost of connection for immigrants and their families.

Author Interview: Meron Hadero with Meg Wolitzer

[56:01–59:38]

Key Insights

• On story origins:
  “There was rumor that there was space in a suitcase… I remember standing in that room with this Raisin Bran and these yoga pants… thinking what I’m seeing here isn’t really what the meaning of this moment is...There was so much emotion and so much loss and this feeling of distance. And it struck me that this is what Diaspora feels like.” (Meron Hadero, [56:35])
• On character and conflict:
  “They have to be distinct in this story because, you know, they’re fighting for space. The kind of premise, structurally it’s a zero sum problem... When Khonjeet is asking Saba, please bring these three loaves of bread, you know what she’s saying, but not saying is really important... I haven’t seen my family for decades. I’m lonely and it’s painful being left behind.” ([58:35])

Memorable Quote

• Meg Wolitzer: “You can’t provide a sense solution unless you’ve really identified the problem, which is often not what you think it is.” ([59:38])

Timestamps for Major Segments

• Intro & Story context: [01:01–03:45]
• “Top of the Food Chain” (Boyle/Grenier): [03:45–16:26]
• Meg Wolitzer commentary: [16:26–17:38]
• “Carapace” (Frankel/Estrera): [17:38–23:45]
• Commentary and break: [23:45–25:16]
• “The Suitcase” (Hadero/Goldsberry): [27:02–56:01]
• Interview with Meron Hadero: [56:01–59:38]
• Closing thoughts: [59:38–end]

Episode Tone & Takeaways

• The episode captures Selected Shorts’ signature blend of humor, empathy, and literary craft, bringing to life stories that are “sometimes funny, always moving.”
• Each work teases out the gap between the obvious problem and its underlying complexities—whether through ecological misadventure, family mourning, or diasporic negotiation.
• The tone moves from brisk satire (Boyle), to poetic yearning (Frankel), to familial chaos and emotional generosity (Hadero).
• The title’s “simple solution” rings with irony: what seems straightforward—eradicate mosquitoes, pack a bag, say goodbye—so often unspools into layers of consequence, culture, and connection.

Memorable Quotes (with Attribution & Timestamps)

• “We might as well have been spraying with Chanel Number five for all the good it did.”
  — Zach Grenier (as civil servant), [03:50]
• “Desperate, I decided to become a crab...I released my words at last. I hoped the sounds were inhuman enough to reach him.”
  — Philip Estrera (as narrator), [22:45]
• “Saba knew this suitcase wasn’t just a suitcase...An empty suitcase opened up a rare direct link between two worlds.”
  — Renée Elise Goldsberry (as Saba), [30:30]
• “I haven’t seen my family for decades. I’m lonely and it’s painful being left behind...bring these three loaves of bread so there is that connection.”
  — Meron Hadero (author), [58:35]

For Listeners Who Haven’t Heard the Episode

• This episode of Selected Shorts turns the act of problem-solving into a literary adventure—revealing that simple solutions rarely stay simple, and every attempt at connection or fixing things echoes out in unexpected ways.
• Whether you’re drawn to witty environmental fables, elegiac meditations on grief, or warm, tangled family drama, there’s something universal and deeply human in each story.
• The episode closes on a poignant reminder: sometimes a suitcase is just a suitcase, but sometimes it’s a whole world of longing, generosity, and hope—carried from home to home.