Episode 5: Why run?

Why run?

We weren’t sure when we set out to do this episode what would happen if we tried to ask one question – “Why run?” – with two entirely different meanings: Why run physically? And why run for political office?

But as it turned out, these conversations all came together as one big story about willed perseverance, tricky relationships, and pushing yourself publicly even when you know you might very well lose . . . because maybe you’ll win. Or at least learn something.

Our helpers for this episode are NPR host and author of The Incomplete Book of Running, Peter Sagal, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, and Alice’s neighbor, friend, and boss, Chuck Grigsby. These are three incredible people with so much individual and combined wisdom. We feel truly fortunate to have spent time in dialogue with them.

This episode also includes particularly inspired music from our producer Mike Teager, who is a runner and who also volunteers as a government appointee as chair of the ethics board in the town where he lives, West Seneca, New York. We went down a lot of different trails in this episode, and the solo saxophone musings from Mike capture the struggle and the energy of the human voices included in this episode, pulling our individual runs into a collaborate movement.

Please give it a try, and tell us what you think. You can write to us at jatqpod@michigoose.com.

Just a reminder that you can listen to the whole episode for free. But if you want to hear more of our conversations with the helpers, subscribe to our Tangent Tier for just $5/month and gain access to all the raw, long-form conversations. If you do so, you’ll see how hard it is for us to choose material to pull to the main pod!

Episode 2: What’s it like to play me?

Two of my books have been turned into audiobooks. Both of those books – Galileo’s Middle Finger and The Talk – are first-person works, which means that I’ve twice been played by professional actors. I conceived this episode as being a chance for me to find out what it’s like to play me, but it turned into something more interesting: an exploration of the relationship between what’s on the page and what we give to the world.

This episode starts off with a conversation with someone who hasn’t played me, namely my friend Peter Sagal, best known for hosting NPR’s news quiz show Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!. Peter shares about what it’s like to have such a well-known voice, and also shares with us his view about why role-playing is so common in sex.

Then we head into the interviews with the two women who have played me: Jennifer Riker, best known for her two-year run as Dr. Helga Jace on Black Lightning; and Tavia Gilbert, a top performer in book narration. At the end of the episode, you’ll get to hear Mike and I talk about how revelatory it was for us to listen to Tavia perform two pages from one of my books.

You can listen to the whole episode for free. But if you want to hear more of our conversations with the helpers, subscribe to our Tangent Tier and gain access to the raw, long-form tapes. If you do so, you’ll see how hard it is for us to choose material to pull to the main pod!