The Ex Talk

The thing about losing someone is that it doesn’t happen just once. It happens every time you do something great you wish they could see, every time you’re stuck and you need advice. Every time you fail. It erodes your sense of normal, and what grows back is decidedly not normal, and yet you still have to figure out how to trudge forward.

But maybe that’s what we all are—halfway-broken people searching for things that will smooth our jagged edges.

Classical [music] has never been my favorite, maybe because the lack of words forces me to stay in my own mind instead of listening to what’s inside someone else’s.

So often. I’m trapped between the pain of remembering and the fear of forgetting.

What would a mediocre white man do?

'Make people cry, and then make them laugh,' my dad would say. 'But most of all, make sure you’re telling a good story.'

Thousands of people across the city are turning their dials and apps and web browsers to 88.3 FM, and some of them will be so inspired, amused, or even furious that they’ll call us to share a story or ask a question. That interactive element […] is why radio is the best form of journalism. It makes the world a little bit smaller. You can be listening to a show with hundreds of thousands of fans across the country, but it still feels like the host is talking directly to you. Almost, in some cases, like the two of you are friends.