My Dog is Chelsea

Two summers ago, while I was home for my grandmother’s 90th birthday party, I interviewed my Aunt Joanne telling the story of fulfilling (albeit briefly) her lifelong dream of working in a bakery. Now, mind you, when she took on her Saturday shift at the retail shop of the Balthazar Bakery—a high-end wholesale bakery that supplies bread to many of the top New York City restaurants—she already had a demanding full-time job as executive director of a mental health association.

In the background you’ll hear me, of course, plus Carole (who has known me since I was the size of a Cabbage Patch Kid and frequently comments on this site under the handle Malahat Sunset) and my mother, who is doing dishes and periodically chiming in from the kitchen sink.

The clip is a little over 14 minutes long—I know! I know! That’s sooooo long!—but I promise I’ve shortened it a LOT from its original state. So think of this not as a quick YouTube break but instead like a segment on This American Life, minus all of the production value, musical interludes and the famous Ira Glass cadence:

(click the greenish button above to start)