Selected Shorts – "Meet the Neighbors"

Date: August 28, 2025
Host: Meg Wolitzer
Featured Stories:

1. Mr. Woodruff’s Neckties by Tess Gallagher, read by Dion Graham
2. Hoodie in Xanadu by Ann Beattie, read by Kirsten Vangsness

Overview

This episode of Selected Shorts explores the theme of neighbors—those physically closest to us but still, in many ways, strangers. Through two moving and gently humorous short stories, the episode considers the peculiar intimacy and distance inherent in living side-by-side with others. Host Meg Wolitzer frames the stories with her usual warmth and wit, inviting listeners to reflect on the curious ways neighbors shape our lives.

Key Discussion Points & Story Summaries

Introduction: The Mystery and Magic of Proximity

• [00:58] Meg Wolitzer sets the scene, pondering how neighbors can be both unknown and yet privy to the details of our existence:

  "They have access to our lives simply due to their proximity...If we don’t find ways to forge a trusting relationship...things could get very tricky very quickly." (01:38)

• The episode promises stories not of division but of connection, kindness, and serendipity among neighbors.

1. Mr. Woodruff’s Neckties by Tess Gallagher

Read by Dion Graham ([03:57]–[22:54])

Essence:

A quietly lyrical meditation on friendship, grief, and the subtle, everyday acts that bind neighbors together, told through the narrator’s memories of his late, eminent neighbor, Mr. Woodruff.

Key Highlights

• Grieving Next-Door: The narrator observes the widow of Mr. Woodruff slowly dispersing her late husband’s belongings, a neighborly vantage point to private sorrow:

  "Things have been trickling out of the house ever since she began to get a grip on herself." (03:57)

• Acts of Kindness: The narrator recalls the reciprocal gestures—garden advice, lawn mowing, shared grief—that defined their relationship:

  "I told the widow it was no trouble, and it would give me pleasure to mow her lawn, as by now I had read her stories and poems, too..." (12:30)

• The Necktie Lesson:

  • Mr. Woodruff—acclaimed writer, ill at the time—asks for help tying a necktie, an intimate, vulnerable moment:

    "Do you know how to tie one of these?" (16:10)
    "He shook my hand enthusiastically...just like I'd done something for him nobody else had ever done." (17:25)

  • The narrator realizes helping with the tie is a stand-in for many things in life—what we cannot do alone, we entrust to others.

• Symbolic Details:

  • The rose garden, co-planted by the Woodruffs, becomes a symbol of shared labor and eventual loss.
  • The gifted painting of leaping salmon—created while Mr. Woodruff’s friend knew of his illness—reflects joy, sadness, and the currents of life and love:

    "It was all there in that painting, joy and sadness and destiny and friendship and farewell." (19:57)

• Dream Sequences and Legacy:

  • The narrator repeatedly dreams of receiving a necktie from the widow, an ineffable passing of trust and care:

    "It's like I'm receiving a medal after performing in some amazing exhibition of human will and daring." (21:50)

• Closing Reflection:

  • The story concludes with the narrator and neighbor admiring the freshly mowed lawn, caught in a rare moment of peace and appreciation for small rituals that keep memory and kindness alive:

    "A stupendous calm falls over that small corner of the world." (22:40)

Notable Quotes

• "Maybe their minds were mercifully clear of the future. That’s what I hope, anyway." (06:51)
• "I just appreciated the comfortable circumstances Mr. Woodruff had managed to find for himself." (18:53)
• "This peacefulness also seems somehow to have been ready for me. In the dream, I have the sense that Mr. Woodruff is advising me, telling me it’s okay to leave some things to others..." (22:18)

Memorable Moment

• The act of tying Mr. Woodruff’s necktie—subtly comic, deeply poignant—serves as a microcosm of neighborly reliance.

Between Stories: Host Reflections

Meg Wolitzer ([22:54]–[24:40])

• Shares a personal anecdote about forming an unexpected friendship with a neighbor-turned-fellow-writer:

  "Turns out she lives upstairs and is a writer, too. And now we are great friends..." (23:17)

• Encourages listeners to notice the richness in everyday interactions with those living nearby.

2. Hoodie in Xanadu by Ann Beattie

Read by Kirsten Vangsness ([27:01]–[55:08])

Essence:

In quirky, observant prose, the story traces the unlikely bond between Flora, an older woman making a modest living in Key West, and Joe, her reclusive, agoraphobic neighbor with a penchant for elaborate home décor and wild schemes.

Key Highlights

• Initial Observations:

  • Flora has long wondered about 'Hoodie' (her nickname for Joe), who appears withdrawn and enigmatic:

    "If Hoodie had anything much resembling life, you wouldn't know it by his chagrined expression..." (27:31)

• First Encounter:

  • After years of neighborly distance, Joe approaches Flora—thanks, he says, to a new prescription (Zoloft) enabling him to reach out:

    "I'm taking a pill called Zoloft and I find I'm able to extend myself to people now." (31:43)

• Revelation of Xanadu:

  • Flora is invited into Joe’s house and stunned by the vibrant, tent-like “Xanadu” room he’s painstakingly constructed from exotic fabrics:

    "I felt like I was a shard inside a vast kaleidoscope." (35:34)

• Secret Schemes:

  • Flora learns Joe is secretly renting out his wondrous room to celebrities via Craigslist—for $5,000 a night, he offers her the job of arranging flowers for a famous couple’s tryst:

    "It's for rent. Now that it's exactly the way I want it. To be perfectly frank, it's something I hope to interest you in." (35:45)

• Acts of Trust:

  • The two collaborate on the flower arrangements—birds of paradise, anthuriums, proteas—and Flora is paid in cash. There is a whiff of surreal excitement, suspicion, and giddiness.

• Joe’s Agoraphobia:

  • The tension peaks as Joe, anxious to leave his own house during the celebrity visit, struggles visibly with his agoraphobia:

    "I'm agoraphobic, he said. I could go a little way from home, but not really that far." (43:37) "It doesn't seem to have stopped me from feeling that if I go far, I might stop breathing." (43:52)

• Spectacle and Solidarity:

  • Flora and Joe, now thrown together, watch the glamorous guests arrive (and the antics with their white limo and Champagne), but also intimately share soup, warmth, and a kind of unspoken partnership:

    "You miss out on life for years and years and then you meet the guy across the street who thinks you're a genius and you've got money again. And love." (53:51)

• Closing Image:

  • Their shared experience—for Flora, unexpectedly redemptive; for Joe, an overdue connection—culminates in a moment of quiet, contented companionship, hinting at romance, but more so, at belonging.

Notable Quotes

• "He just looked like a fat schmuck. Dot I." (38:54, Joe’s self-conscious humor)
• "This has been quite a day. To be continued...Heroes Also on the second attempt..." (39:49)
• "We raced to the window in unison and closed the curtains, then peeked from either side as if we were hurting this." (48:44)
• "How much do I need to go out gallivanting when I'm happy to take an afternoon nap and am yawning by midnight in even in the midst of a fairy tale." (53:51)

Memorable Moments

• The staged, comical “stakeout” as Flora and Joe spy on the neighbors’ guests with childlike glee.
• The tender, vulnerable sequence where Flora coaches the panicking Joe across the street—an understated triumph of trust.

Notable Quotes & Speaker Attribution

• Meg Wolitzer:

  "What do we really know about our neighbors? ... They’re just strangers on the other side of the fence or wall who found themselves living in our neighborhood." (01:18)

• Dion Graham as Gallagher's narrator:

  "I lit a candle for him at Mass every time I lit one for my wife. He didn’t seem embarrassed at all about this. In fact, he just very quietly said, thank you." (10:16)

• Kirsten Vangsness as Flora:

  "You miss out on life for years and years and then you meet the guy across the street who thinks you’re a genius and you’ve got money again. And love." (53:51)

• Joe:

  “It’s for rent. Now that it’s exactly the way I want it. To be perfectly frank, it’s something I hope to interest you in.” (35:45) “I just look like a fat schmuck. Dot I.” (38:54)
  “I’m agoraphobic.” (43:37)

• Flora:

  “It was hardly love with Joe, but it was clear that even though this was the last thing I expected, it was the way things did conclude for two citizens of planet Earth.” (53:51)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Intro and Theme Setting: 00:58–03:57
• Story 1: Mr. Woodruff’s Neckties: 03:57–22:54
• Host Reflection & Transition: 22:54–24:40
• Story 2: Hoodie in Xanadu: 27:01–55:08
• Closing Reflection: 55:08–57:34

Tone and Style

• Warm, Observant, Wry: Both Wolitzer and the story narrators carry a gentle humor and kindness even amidst sorrow, disappointment, or eccentricity.
• Reflective: Moments of quiet, almost meditative reflection about what binds us as neighbors and as people.
• Intimate: Effortlessly draws listeners into the inner worlds of characters, offering comfort, empathy, and sometimes a dose of whimsy.

Conclusion

"Meet the Neighbors" is an episode about the power of proximity, the beauty of unlikely friendships, and the quiet heroics of everyday kindness. Through the lives of neighbors—famous and ordinary, introverted and bold—these stories remind listeners to look (and perhaps reach) across the fence, the hall, or the porch. As Meg Wolitzer muses, sometimes the greatest discoveries, warmth, or even a hint of magic is waiting just next door.