I was startled to read today in Gapers Block that Ira Glass's This American Life is leaving Chicago and moving to the Big Apple.I typed up a whole blog entry, and then read this comment by "J" over at Gaper's Block. I'm not nearly as eloquent as "J," so I deleted what I had. Please go check out his/her comments. I think they're spot on.
The tug of New York is inexplicably strong. Chicago is no New York City, but it's no second city either. Perhaps a more apt description would be "The City that Stands Alone." We are free of the baggage (particularly, the media baggage) of NYC and LA. It's our strength and our drain.
Happy trails, TAL. Sorry you chose to go.
One more note: Oddly enough, about a year ago, Ira Glass was generous enough to stop by this blog and comment on a minor quibble I had with him over, get this, notions of comparing NYC to Chicago. See here and here. Unfortunately, I never picked up a second thread that I alluded to in the second post as "Quibbling over the importance of New York." Too bad.
Update: The Chicago Reader published an article (pdf) this week (2/3/06) about Ira's decsion to leave. He sounds pretty matter of fact about it.
3 comments:
I blame Joan Cusack.
Why? I'm obviously not hip to something here. . .
This is ironic because when I first started listening I thought he was in NYC. When I learned all about him and his Chicago roots I was even more appreciative of the program!
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