What I learned from Ira Glass
Oh, hi friends!
I recently went to a talk by Ira Glass, host of This American Life. It was called Seven Things I’ve Learned.
I learned a lot from his learnings.
Here’s a cheat sheet:
— It’s normal to be bad before you’re good. He worked at NPR for eight (!) years and was still terrible at writing for radio. (He played an early clip to prove it.)
— Make a lot of stuff and show it to people who are better than you.
— This American Life’s team kills one-third of the stories they start. Most people they interview don’t work. As Ira said, “Great stories happen to people who know how to tell them.”
— Killing a story that’s good but not great is a victory. It makes the world better and more interesting.
— Finding stories is inefficient by design. Lightning is not going to hit you unless you spend a lot of time standing around in the rain.
— He learned how to tell radio stories by watching Broadway musicals. Most start off kinda funny, introduce a Big Idea, and end kinda sad.
Funny —> Big Idea —> Sad
Now he tries to make journalism that gives you the feeling you get from a musical. (Ya see why I like him so much?)
— Know who you’re pitching to and what they want.
— Don’t go on for too long.
If you can’t strike the right balance, eventually you’re no good to anyone—not to yourself, to your work, or your students.
Exactly. I’m always saying I have three full time jobs: my health, which is just my mental and physical stability, my job as a teacher and then, my career as an artist. All three demand quite a lot of attention.
Lots of thoughtful moments in this interview with the painter Jordan Casteel. Her dichotomy of job vs. career spoke to me.
PS — When I included Maya Angelou's quote in yesterday's email, I had no idea it would have been her 90th birthday! What a beautiful surprise.
Are You Apartment Hunting?
My kind and creative friend Marialena is looking for a roommate to fill a lovely bedroom in her two-bedroom apartment in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Details: $1,100/month (includes everything except electricity) and you must be OK with cats (she has a super friendly cat named Marmalade!). Available now! If you or someone you know is interested, please email her at maria.difabbio@gmail.com.
PS — Go listen to her wonderful music on Bandcamp! I'm obsessed. Especially love this song.
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Thanks, as always, for reading.
Love, Kara