gotta find a new place where the kids are hip

Sep 21

Ira Glass got drunk with Rachel Maddow, woke up smelling of vomit (Yahoo)

LIFE I LOVE YOU.

Sep 15

THANK YOU BABY JESUS.

Jul 4

This American Life Ep. 107: The Trail of Tears

One of my favorites. It’s gorgeous and HYSTERICAL.

For the July 4th holiday weekend, writer Sarah Vowell and her twin sister re-trace the “Trail of Tears” — the route their Cherokee ancestors took when expelled from their own land by President Andrew Jackson.

May 29

Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg by Malcolm Gladwell

She’s a grandmother, she lives in a big house in Chicago, and you’ve never heard of her. Does she run the world?

This article changed my life. Not even kidding. I read it in Ira Glass’ “The New Kings of Nonfiction” when I moved to New York and didn’t know anyone. That changed quickly.

I just re-post it every now and then for mass consumption.

Apr 29

Ted: On Being Wrong (via Jess Hodge)

Beautiful. How being wrong is incredible if you “rediscover wonder” and the beauty of the moment when you think (she quotes Ira Glass) “I thought this one thing was gonna happen, but this other thing happened instead.”

( I also like how she sums up our views of people who don’t agree with us, we assume they’re 1. Ignorant. 2. Idiots 3. Evil.)

Mar 31

cubicle amusement

i have a desk job. used to be a history major. i read a lot of articles.

— Mystery vs. Evidence (The New York Times) An atheist ponders on religious folk.

— Parenting by Gays More Common in the South, Census Shows (The New York Times)

— Mississippi Leads Country in Mixed Marriages (The New York Times) This is a video, and it made me cry.

— Why a breakup feels like a punch in the stomach(MSNBC) Research is showing that the same part of the brain that handles romantic and social pain is closely related to the same part that handles physical pain.

— Heartbreak hurts people physically too (USAToday)

— Acetaminophen For Mental Health Relief (Psych Central)

— Can animals be gay? (The New York Times) A surprising study on animals with homosexual tendencies…

— Gay or Straight Animals? (Psychology Today) … a look at the Times article and what this means for the choose-to-be-gay debate.

— Let the Kids Rule the School
(The New York Times) What happens when a school lets a bunch of teenagers create their own curriculum, and strangely succeed.

— Ira Glass & Company on Long Form Storytelling (New School/ProPublica) It’s Ira, and he interrupts the interviewer to do his own interviewing, so I mean.

— Glenn Beck vs Christ the Liberator (Huffington Post) Catholic socialism vs. the far Right.

Mar 15

This American Life Episode 413: Georgia Rambler

In the 1970s a reporter named Charles Salter wrote a column for the Atlanta Journal called “Georgia Rambler.” He’d get into his car, head out to some small town, and ask around until he found a story. This week, nine of us go to Georgia to try it out for ourselves, in small towns all over the state.

One of my very favorite episodes of one of my favorite things on earth.

Mar 2

This American Life: 81 Words

The story of how the American Psychiatric Association decided in 1973 that homosexuality was no longer a mental illness.

1973 was only 38 years ago. That explains a lot. History shows that things can change, but getting rid of collective baggage takes a while.

Feb 2

“So then what you have to just tell people to just tell you stories. If you listen to our show carefully, you’ll hear me constantly coaching people: “And then what happened? And then what did he say? And what did you say? And what did she say?… It’s like what happens in therapy. And that’s what you’re going for, because at the heart of every story is some unresolved something expressed in scenes and images and characters. And then I’d cut away all the other stuff and then you’d have this perfect little gem, perfect little object.” Ira Glass (On making radio) Somehow This American Life manages to make everyone, from minutemen in the desert to anal academics seem like drinking buddy fodder.

Jan 31

Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg by Malcolm Gladwell (The New Yorker, January 11, 1999)

She’s a grandmother, she lives in a big house in Chicago, and you’ve never heard of her. Does she run the world? Everyone who knows Lois Weisberg has a story about meeting Lois Weisberg, and although she has done thousands of things in her life and met thousands of people, all the stories are pretty much the same.

This article changed my life. I first read it in The New Kings of Nonfiction, edited by Ira Glass, when I moved to New York. I didn’t know anyone, and didn’t know that my tried and true methods of meeting people in college — join lots of things, don’t be afraid to invite people before they invite you — would translate in the real world. This article basically said that works in real life too. I quote this like it’s a doctrine. It might help you out.

Nov 21

My obsession with this show could probably spawn a TLC special. Thao wrote the funniest Christmas song to include a lyric about Type 2 diabetes.

Oct 8

“Most people aren’t great storytellers in general, but if you stumble on the thing that really means something to them, you’ll get a great story out of them. This is one of the insights of therapy, actually.” Ira Glass, On Air and On Error: This American Life’s Ira Glass on Being Wrong.

Aug 26

“I try to make things fascinatinger.” Ira Glass, in this interview. (via jmmbb)

Aug 13

This American Life: 20 Acts in 60 Minutes

If you’ve never listened to This American Life, you should start with this episode full of 2-5 minute stories. You will be amused.

Jan 2

My proudest moment of 2009.

drumroll…

Walking past Ira Glass by accident on the street, scrounging a lucid thing to say with only 2 seconds to prepare (“good work Mr. Glass”), his reply (“oh! thank you!”), and successfully not collapsing until after he walked away.

So proud of myself! Yesss! That totally beats the jobs I got and the Ebola outbreak I squashed and that drowning puppy I saved.