Do you know who Ira Glass is?

Yes. Ira Glass is this crazy gentleman standing alone in a desert with his desk. I always wondered what the studio looked like.

One of my weekly rituals is listening to This American Life on NPR with host Ira Glass.  Every Sunday morning I turn on the radio (or download the podcast depending how late I sleep in) and get ready to learn something new and amazing and relevant.  Ira and fellow journalists tell the true stories of true Americans through four acts on one common theme.  It's hard to describe it - it just has to be experienced.  This American Life has taught me so many new and wonderful things like:  the history of the CPR doll (it was modeled after a death mask); how wild aggressive silver foxes were bred for docility in three short generations; the explanation of mortgage-backed securities and their role in the housing crisis; and what's in the secret recipe of Coca-Cola.  Those were some of my favorites.

These are the stories you would never see on the nightly news or read about in the Journal Sentinel (sorry JS but it's true).  But these are the stories you really want to hear.

Tomorrow night Ira Glass is in Milwaukee at the Pabst Theater talking about his style of journalism and story-telling and hopefully, where the heck he finds these wild and amazing true stories to talk about every week.


Reinventing Radio: An Evening with Ira Glass
Saturday, February 4th at 8pm
The Pabst TheaterMilwaukee, WI
If you haven't heard This American Life, download it immediately from iTunes or go to their website to stream some of the stories.  You won't be disappointed.