On being with Christa Tippett is supported in part by the Fetzer Institute, helping build the

Spiritual Foundation for a loving world. Fetzer's sharing Spiritual Heritage Report asks,

how will we reimagine our spiritual infrastructure for today's time? Learn more at Fetzer.org.

I'm Christa Tippett. Up next, my unedited conversation with the wonderful writer Ocean Vong.

This took place right before the world changed in March 2020, but it speaks so vividly and

hopefully to the realities we have since come to inhabit. There is, as always, a shorter,

produced version wherever you found this podcast.

This is one of your...

Hi. Hello. Wow. That is a weird noise to rise up on stage too.

Welcome, Happy Sunday. On air fest, stands for creativity, pushing the boundaries of the

audio medium and something else. Elevating podcasting and storytelling as an art form.

I'm Dan Tabersky. Who did that? My people, I make long form narrative audio documentaries.

You may know me from last year I had a series called Running from Cops. Before that, I had a

series called Surviving Y2K. And then before that, I had my first and my favorite and the hill,

I know I will die on defending Missing Richard Simmons. I'm here for it to the end.

I was part of the festival last year. I was in conversation with Nick Quas. Is Nick here today?

If you ever want to have some fun, just go online and like anything that Nick Quas says on Twitter,

just follow it up, just reply, boo, and watch him get upset. He's amazing and lovely.

I'm really happy to be part of it again. It was kind of a revelation for me last year to be part

of a festival that treats audio as art form. And sometimes as somebody who makes audio,

that's a hard thing to say that you're trying to make art, even if you're not always getting there.

But for me, it's been about trying to make art in the final product, but also it's really helped

...