November 17 has been marked on my calendar since Spring '09. I even devoted an entire blog [6] to the date nearly two months prior.
See, Ira Glass is a hero of mine. He's one of my no-brainers when asked who the five folks I want to invite to my all-time dinner are (Anthony Bourdain [7] is another). I want to write one day but I'm not sure if that passion will lead me into journalism or creative writing. Glass is living proof that you can combine the two genres into something unique and impactful. This American Life seems to gain admirers as often as new listeners are exposed.
It's still surreal to me that I sat down to interview him [8] during his recent trip to SU. I'd been reading interview [9] after interview [10] and watching all of the "Ira Glass on Storytelling" [11] series on YouTube well before I was asked to prep for this. In my mind it was the interview of a lifetime and thankfully I had two multimedia veterans (AJ Chavar [12] and Andrew Burton [13]) around to keep my confidence high and hide any visible nerves though filming and editing.
Overall I had three opportunities to interact with Ira Glass - my interview, the evening's presentation and a special hour-long Q&A with students that afternoon. I needed to document it for my own memories but also for the loads of folks who've been asking me, "What was it like to interview Ira Glass?"
(And if this video wasn't insightful, remember what Ira said. It takes time to be able to tell stories that live up to your own tastes [14].)
