Borders TV: Captures Ira Glass, Mom & I



So a while back I wrote about my trip with my mom to Borders to hear Ira Glass speak. After the speech/question and answer we got a chance to get our DVD signed and snap a photo. Well it turns out our interaction had what it took to get included in the borders segment. Who knew? Well here is a snip it from the segment you can watch the entire video here.

Another Evening with Ira

Last night my mom and I went to hear Ira Glass speak again, this time at at the Wharton Center on the campus of Michigan State. Bruce and I bought the tickets the instant I heard he would be there because Bruce missed him when my mom and I went to see him at Borders in Ann Arbor. Then Bruce found out that he had to work at WDIV because there was a Pistons game. So of course I called my Mom to see if she wanted to spend another evening with Ira Glass, she said yes. I feel bad that Bruce had to miss him again, but I was glad to have my mom's company.

This is the third time I have gone to see Ira Glass speak, each time I have enjoyed it. Some things about the talk have remained consistent. He always takes times to talk to journalism students. He tells them about "the gap." It's the space between their taste and their actual abilities. I have used this in my classes with my students, and with myself. The other thing he stresses that practice makes perfect (ok maybe not perfect but better.) He says that the only way to get better is by setting goals and deadlines and creating things. I always leave these lectures with hundreds of ideas of things I want to create, now I just need to set deadlines to create them.

He also spoke of the power of narrative. He said that all our English teachers fail us with the dreaded "topic sentence." Yes, he claims, and I agree that good storytelling is often doomed by the driving need to have a topic sentence. We are all taught to write with a "topic sentence" or "thesis sentence" and then follow it up with supporting facts. I wonder if that is why I got a bad grade in 9th grad honors English, my inability to use the topic sentence effectively.

I agree that stories are powerful. I know that is why I listen to his radio show, "This American Life." It's an hour of great story telling. I left his lecture empowered and excited about creating something new. As I approach a new step in my life - 30 years-old - I sometimes think that there aren't many forks left in the road and I am headed in the direction I am headed in for the rest of my life (which wouldn't be that bad.) But then I married this guy named Bruce, who is a dreamer and it has rubbed off on me a little and I wonder, will there be a day when I will work for a show like this American Life - telling stories. Or maybe I will be featured on the show because of my blog writing. So when I left last night I was re-energized thinking there are still great things ahead for me creatively. Maybe a book, maybe I will write for a magazine, maybe I will be an intern at "this American Life." Who knows?

After the lecture (which was 2 hours) we meet my dad at the Okemos Denny's for a quick bite to eat. It was nice hanging out with my parents on a Saturday night in East Lansing. Next week that time I will be in Prague hanging out with Bruce, Meghan & Karyn.

In other news I didn't die at the Flushing Township run, however, I didn't break any land speed records. I average about 9:55 miles. I wasn't last in my age group, which is always positive. We even ran into my Aunt Val. We had fun. Tony and Robert finished in about 2 hours. Way to go guys a half-marathon is a big accomplishment. Next running event for the club is the marathon in Traverse City: Bruce, Karyn and I plan on running the 10k, Robert and Tony will run the full marathon.

An Evening with Ira

So last week I was in Chicago at a G. Love concert, this weekend I was in Ann Arbor with my Mom listening to Ira Glass, host of NPR's this American Life series. So who will it be next week to complete my celebrity tri-fecta.I must admit that I was not a huge NPR fan until I met Bruce. He got me hooked and now I love it - especially the weekend programing and most of all This American Life. Bruce had to work so he was very very jealous of me tonight.

Tonight Ira Glass was at Borders for a talk promoting the release of the This American Life DVD. The radio show hit television screens last year for the first time on Showtime. I actually saw a few episodes because DirecTV who was over charging me gave me three months of Showtime free for the inconvenience - because as we know I am a Sahakian and we DO NOT pay for premium channels!

The evening was an hour question and answer. If you have never listened to This American Life - you should, you can listen on NPR or download the podcasts. The thing I enjoy about Ira Glass is that you feel like he is having a conversation with you, even if you are listening on the radio or in a huge room filled with hundreds of people. The evening was more of a question and answer as opposed to talk. People asked him all sorts of things, like to sing to their girlfriend. He talked about the show and the process of picking out stories for the show. I even asked a question! He was talking about their huge list of contributors and I ask him what it takes to be a contributor - because who knows he made need a contributor from the hit blog: TiVo Changed My Life.

He also talked about how before he was in radio that he was a magician at children's birthday parties and that NPR was not the geekiest thing he had ever done. Which when anyone claims to be a geek, I find them to be a kindred spirit. For instance he was talking about the music he listened to in his childhood, which was during the 1960's - he said a neighbor asked him who he thought was better the Beatles or the Monkeys and he was like I didn't listen to either. "As a Jew in Baltimore I listened to Showtunes, it was the music of my people." (that's not an exact quote but it's close - actually soon Borders will have the video of tonight's talk online because they had an entire crew there filming it.)

Then we lined up to get him to sign our DVD's. When I got a chance to talk to him, he was such a nice person. Sometime when you stand in those lines they shuffle you through like cattle, and the person signing doesn't even have a chance to look up. He was great, taking pictures with people. I told him that we listen to This American Life in my classroom. We talked about which ones we listen to, of course I was nervous and could not remember the theme of the show despite having listened to it several times (it is "Sounded Like a Good Idea at the Time.") But we talked about the stories and what the kids liked. I told him that my favorite and many of the kids favorite was 'Dancing for the Lottery.' Which if you haven't heard it - it's where all these River Dancers decide that if they put positive thinking and energy into their performance of the show River Dance that can lead to them winning the Mega Millions. I think I like it so much because I have been there - especially when I was in a job that I didn't love - we would buy these syndicate tickets and for a night think about what we would do if we one - and how there would be no news on Monday morning because we were all millions and we wouldn't show up to work. But I digress. The coolest thing was that on my DVD that he signed he wrote, "I envy your job!"

I also had my camera ready as usual and I had my trusty mother there ready to take a picture. Needless to say my mother was somewhat nervous, the following are the pictures that transpired.

This is her first picture after I gave her the camera.

This is her second picture when I clearly wasn't expecting a picture to be taken -- so needless to say I wasn't ready and I think I was exclaiming something like "stop." Which amused everyone around us. She claims that this is actually her best picture. You decide.

This is me talking with Ira Glass, ignoring the paparazzi (a.k.a my mom.)

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