A Glass of Ira

Yesterday was a pretty cool experience for me. I got to meet Ira Glass through my buddy Mark Stern's hard work to bring him to Syracuse University. Those of you who listen to NPR know his series, THIS AMERICAN LIFE. I've been listening to the narrations for years and I love that someone, somewhere, promotes story telling and the lives of we the people. I realized from meeting him, however, that his show works because he has a quirky sense of humor. He said, "Always, always throw something in the story that amuses you and is for your own little giggle. If you aren't having fun, why bother with any of it."

I told him that it was somewhat surreal having this "voice of public radio god" come to life in the form of a physical being at SU. Up until then, he's been this weekly, hour, radio show I download from ITunes every week. I'm not sure if it is good that he is now a three-dimensional being, nor that he has 'hipster' followers as the Newhouse media people pointed out. I sort of like him being a voice that drifts in my head from my earphones.

Either way, it was a memorable opportunity.