A Boy Named Ira

Everyone has a list of celebrities they love or shows they are obsessed with or a book series they think about all the time, regardless of its literary prowess. The obsession starts. Thoughts like, 'Seriously, I think Pink and I would be best friends' begin to run through your mind. And, you can try and hide it, handle it on your own, but eventually it gets out. This week in blogging has been filled with lots of confessions as well as depressing self loathing thoughts. So why stop now? Just consider this my version of Sandra Bullok's RomCom days.

I am in love with Ira Glass. The glasses, the desk, the smooth radio voice, the gentle giggle when he finds something truly funny. I love him and I love his show and I want to be friends with everyone that is a contributor to This American Life, especially Starlee Kine, Sarah Vowell and Dan Savage.



Day dreams of us sitting around over coffee and cigarettes, sharing tales from our personal lives that are both touching and ironic, sometimes touchingly ironic, would flood the air. We would laugh at Dan's sex jokes, Starlee's tumultuous relationship with her mother and Sarah's take on all things historically American. And then Ira, he would make a few comments, laugh a little, divide the evening into acts and hold my hand. It would be perfect.

My little obsession was only made worse last week when a colleague gave me two tickets to see an encore presentation of This American Life live - but it wasn't really live. It was a rerun of a live show shown in a movie theater. It didn't matter. I laughed just as hard at the Tori Malatia jokes, cried over Dan's touching story about his late mother and, as expected, ended up getting so excited at the end, I had to sit in the theater alone, in the dark, to calm myself.

The show is wonderful, and if you don't listen to it, check it out. They make a television version, but it's not the same - not as personal, and I hate it. I asked my friend Catherine what makes the show so great - it's just a public talk radio show, after all. She thinks it's because the stories are about really cool everyday people, doing really cool extraordinary everyday things. People you could meet on the street or sit next to on the bus. Aka: She knows I wish I was as hipstery and well read as they are. I'm not. Thanks, Catherine. You're a brat.

So, while I doubt I will ever get the chance to wed Ira, he will always be ranked highly on my list of celebs I wish I could.


And, I feel like I need to say this, if Ira's publicists picks this up in a google alert - I'm sorry I'm creepy. I am.