Monthly Archives: June 2010

Ira Glass Storytelling Series (Pt. III)

Third video in the four part series.  Ira Glass on having “good taste”.

http://everydaymusic.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/this-american-life-1.jpg

He talks about how we (those who ambition to be storytellers, journalists) get into the business because we have good taste.  But he realizes–from his own experience–that even though we have good taste, our pieces don’t live up to our good taste for the first several years of being in the business.  We know our work sucks, but we can’t do anything about it.

Glass uses one of his old radio stories as an example.  The piece is about interesting stuff, but because of its presentation, it is really boring.  His tone, inflection, manner of speaking, and writing aren’t great, and basically encourage the listener to zone out or change the channel.

While talking about his piece, he criticizes his inflection and begs reporters to talk naturally, like they normally would.  In a future video he says something like, “We already have one Ted Koppel in the world, so you don’t need to sound like him, too.”  He claims it’s best to be yourself and I heartily agree.

Storytelling Series with Ira Glass (Pt. I)

I’m a big fan of Ira Glass, the host of the acclaimed radio show This American Life.

Ira Glass, http://arileigh.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/ira-glass.jpg

His take on storytelling and journalism is one of the best I’ve heard, and he discusses it in the introduction to his anthology of contemporary nonfiction, The New Kings of Nonfiction.  I got this book for my graduation from Y-Press last summer, and I just now sat down to read it–I wish I had sooner.  The introduction really connected with me because I felt like my own views about  journalism were being spewed back out at me, but with more clarity.

I’m working on a piece which will quote big segments of Glass’ piece and include my own thoughts, but in the meantime I wanted to start posting a daily series of videos of Glass discussing storytelling.  They’re only about five minutes and incredibly insightful.

Here’s the first, which is about the two important building blocks of great stories.

Islamic Center near Ground Zero

I recently became aware of building plans for a new Islamic center near Ground Zero in downtown Manhattan.  The project is being headed up by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, a prominant Islam leader in New York who authored the book, What ‘s Right with Islam is What’s Right with America.

Not surprisingly, much resistance has met the Cordoba House, an Islamic historical and cultural center and prayer space.  On June 6, Stop the Islamization of America organized a protest against the building of this center.

Here are links to a few videos, articles, and sites related to the project and the backlash against it:

-Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion, “New York Mosque Protest“: A blog post quoting proponents and detractors of the Cordoba House that sets the tone of the situation.

-New York Times, “Muslim Prayers and Renewal New Ground Zero“: A summary article about the project.

–No Mosques at Ground Zero blog: See speeches from the protest

–Youtube video: See a CNN interview with the Stop the Islamization of American director and a Muslim scholar on the day of the protest

–Cordoba Initiative website: Learn about the project and the mission behind it