My Only Interview

Dateline: 11 February 2014

I've decided I should put together a "media page" for this web site…. one of these days.  It's becoming more of a necessity, or so it seems, as I'm getting more requests for interviews. I've explained here a few times in the past that I am not comfortable with spoken interviews. I know this for a fact, Jack, because way back in September of 2003 ( a couple years before I started this blog) I agreed to do a radio interview.

I recently found an online recording of the interview and played it. Marlene listened and afterwards remarked that she remembers I "died a thousand deaths" after I did that interview. I've never heard my wife use that phrase before, but it pretty much sums up how I felt.

After 11 years, the interview doesn't sound as bad to me as it once did. But I can tell you that the conversation was significantly edited to help me out. For example, it doesn't reveal that, upon being asked the first question, my mind went blank and I wasn't sure how to answer it. I stuttered and stumbled and apologetically told the interviewer that I wasn't expecting that question. I felt like a real idiot. And when it was all over, instead of saying "good bye" or "Thanks, it was great talking with you," I just said, "Okay." I was traumatized.

Well, anyway, that was then and I learned a lesson. The lesson I learned is that I really am an idiot when it comes to a spoken interview. I'm only comfortable with the written word, which gives me time to consider and reconsider what I want to communicate.

If any media outlet wants to interview me in writing, and I'm not too busy, I'll oblige. But I'm playing really hard (like pretty much impossible hard) to get when it comes to a spoken interview. 

Did you notice that I wrote "pretty much" before impossible? That right there is the beauty of writing and editing. I originally wrote that paragraph without "pretty much" before impossible, and I thought to myself, hmmmmm, I might change  my mind… someday (but I doubt it, and it won't be anytime soon).

Now, to satisfy your curiosity, I'm going to give you the link to my interview with Lynne Rosetto Kasper, on the NPR radio program, The Splendid Table. It's a mercifully short interview at the very end of the program. When you get to the program, fast forward to 53:50 to get to the start of my interview. Among other things, you will hear Lynne Rosetto Kasper exclaim "Oh, wow!" and "Holy cow!" after opening a jar of my homemade garlic powder. 

Here's The Link

And if you would like to learn how to make your own garlic powder, Click Here.