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COPYRIGHT 2007 All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of The Condé Nast Publications Inc.
One is so reluctant to express any degree of dislike for "This American Life," the popular public-radio storytelling program created by Ira Glass twelve years ago, and featuring such stars as David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell, and John Hodgman, that one's inclination is to avoid the use of the first-person pronoun for as long as possible, in order not to be identified with any reservations concerning the show. One wants deniability; in fact, one wants to hide. One doesn't want to die at the hands of angry public-radio fans, who would not be deterred by one's cries of "Stop! I love public radio, too! Please! I'm one of you! I give them money!" One wants very much to like "This American Life"--to love it--because the people who make it are so obviously thoughtful, intelligent, and respectful of their subjects. Totally. Also, one is not proud of one's feelings, and one suspects that the gnawing stomach acid sometimes released when one listens to the show is composed partly of envy. One has, one must admit, often fantasized about having a radio program of one's own, though in truth it would be very different from "This American Life": it would be broadcast from one's home, possibly when one was in one's pajamas, possibly in bed, only...
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