Interview: The passion of Mike Daisey

By EUGENIA WILLIAMSON | February 14, 2013

You are going to have so much fun in this NYU class you’re taking. I’m excited about it. One of the things I really appreciated about your article is how it’s probed at the cultural and class underpinnings of This American Life. I was really disappointed in the cultural response of everything that happened. . . . If This American Life is indeed so important to so many people, I think it’s really unfortunate that people aren’t examining its rigor. What is it that makes it work for people?

I’m fascinated that, post-retraction of my story, they now fact-check everything. They’ve had a number of stories — like that shark attack story — where they abruptly stop right in the middle of the narrative and say, “We cannot confirm that it was a shark that bit this person. It might be something else.”

I heard that! I still listen every week. I actually can’t listen to it anymore. I allow other people to. . . I didn’t actually listen that often before.

>> @EUGENIA_WILL

MIKE DAISEY: AMERICAN UTOPIAS :: ARTSEMERSON PARAMOUNT CENTER, 559 WASHINGTON ST, BOSTON :: FEBRUARY 15-16 :: 8 PM :: $25-$75 :: 617.824.8400 OR ARTSEMERSON.ORG

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Topics: Theater , Mike Daisey, This American Life, ArtsEmerson, More

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ARTICLES BY EUGENIA WILLIAMSON

IS BOSTON RIGHT FOR WRITERS? | March 05, 2013
Boston, the birthplace of American literature, boasts three MFA programs, an independent creative-writing center, and more than a dozen colleges offering creative-writing classes.

INCREMENTALLY MORE KIND: GEORGE SAUNDERS CHANGES THE WORLD | March 05, 2013
George Saunders: satirist, humanist, and — after 20 years, four magisterial short story collections, a novella, and a book of essays — now a bestselling author.

INTERVIEW: THE PASSION OF MIKE DAISEY | February 14, 2013
Last January, storyteller Mike Daisey achieved a level of celebrity rarely attained among the off-Broadway set when the public radio program This American Life aired portions of his monologue The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs .

GETTING BOOKED: WINTER READS | December 21, 2012
Who cares about the fiscal cliff when we'll have authors talking about Scientology, the space-time continuum, and Joy Division?

BRILLIANT FRIENDS: GREAT READS OF 2012 | December 17, 2012
You already know Chis Ware's Building Stories is the achievement of the decade (thanks, New York Times!), but some other people wrote some pretty great books this year too.