WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

In 1995, NPR created a brand new media beat and gave it to today’s interviewee, who covered it for six years from NPR's New York bureau in midtown Manhattan, until she was tapped by WNYC to help re-launch On The Media in 2001.

The program was reborn in January of 2001 and now has nearly one million weekly listeners and has since won quite a few awards by showing how the journalism sausage is made.

Earlier this year, Gladstone became an illustrated character in her book The Influencing Machine, with comics drawn by acclaimed artist Josh Neufeld.

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Shetland Sheepdog:

This is the Zulkey family dog. My parents had a Sheltie named Major for 16 years and now have a newer model named Looey. They definitely are...spirited. And vocal. But cute. They’re vain, too, you can tell.

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The Show-Off
The Show-Off thinks she’s better than everyone, including the instructor. She obviously thinks she should be leading the class, but probably doesn’t want to get down in the dirt by teaching all the common people how to do the moves that they probably wouldn’t understand anyway. The Show-Off adds in the extra moves before the instructor shows them to anybody else and sometimes adds in extra moves of her own because the workout as-is just isnt enough for her. The Show-Off, when possible, will execute all moves while holding a ten pound dumbbell over her head. The Show-Off is frequently in front of you, blocking your view of the instructor and yourself. 

The Poor Bastard

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Isn't it kind of silly when news outlets provide Thanksgiving tips and tricks a day or two before Thanksgiving? I don't know anybody who hosts the meal who decides mere hours before the meal what they're going to make. My mom starts weeks ahead, for instance, baking her pumpkin bread and strawberry sparkle muffins and freezing them before the big meal.

That's why it's this week and not next week that I'll share with you her recipe for "The Ultimate Pumpkin Pie" (via a 1993 Bon Appétit.) Before this recipe came along, I could take or leave pumpkin pie. Pumpkin often tastes like old people food to me (and you know exactly what I'm talking about.) I think it's the bit of apricot preserves that makes this recipe come alive, and the beautiful crust doesn't hurt either.

My cousin Regina, who is the ultimate Thanksgiving fan in my family, is absolutely rabid for this pie. Each year my mom makes Regina her own pie to take home just because her one-woman fan club for this pie is so vocal. My mom doesn't do this for everyone, you know. Not even her own daughter. Ahem.

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Below is a little something I wrote for The Hairpin, just because this particular website has been making my life so much better and I had to share it with the world. Maybe it'll help you out as well.

If there are at least two things having a group of girlfriends is good for, it’s fun get-togethers and having a full inbox. Because one cannot happen without the other.

You know the drill. It’s someone’s birthday, or the gang hasn’t gotten together in a while, and thus it’s time to pick a date on the calendar for everyone to go out and drink some wine and crush some guacamole and catch up and talk some shit while the guys sit at home wondering why they never go out and have fun like this with their friends (it’s because they’re not organized the way we are). But then the emails start:

LADY A: “Hey girls! It’s time for us to get together and I thought I’d throw some dates out there. I’m free on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 28th and 29th!”

LADY B: “Hi there! Fun!

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Charles Barkley

Getting into the Bulls when they start looking good for the postseason and only then

Hating the Heat and the Lakers

The Luv-A-Bulls

Having a sport to watch when hockey and football are over

Having a reason to hear "Whoomp! (There It Is)"

Thinking about the ‘90’s in general

Charles Barkley again

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Four years ago or so was the time when all my friends my age started getting hitched. Now my Facebook page is lousy with pictures of newborns and soon-to-be moms. I’ve noticed a few trends amongst my peer-parents lately:

Not learning the sex until the baby’s born. My theory on this is that there are no surprises anymore and we know everything about everything five seconds early. While there is probably an app that tells you what kind of kid you’re going to have, I know a lot of soon-to-be parents my age who decide not to learn whether they’re having a boy or a girl until it’s born. I think it’s that one last sweet old-fashioned surprise to enjoy before they endure lifetime time of horrifying old-fashioned surprises or new-fangled types of surprises which aren’t really surprises at all.

More traditional names. In 2005 some of the most popular baby names were Madison, Tyler, Caden, Jaden and Kaylee. My friends are giving their kids names like Nora, Hannah, Lucia, Catherine, Josephine and Jack. These names aren’t better or worse than earlier names (unless the name is “Claire,” in which case it’s the best name of all), but it’s interesting to see this swing. I wonder if it’s because kids my age grew up liking certain names, and other trendier names came along but by the time we got of child-bearing age, the original favorite names became slightly exotic again.

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