David Rakoff: 'In New England, Everybody Calls You Dave'

David Rakoff's voice is one of the most familiar you'll hear on This American Life. Remember "Frenemies," and the essay he read about how to compose a rhyming toast for people you never thought should get married in the first place? Or how about the one where he had to hike up Mt. Monadnock on Christmas Day? Xanax plays a key role in that one. So does a New Hampshire dog named Old Blue.

Rakoff has taken a break from New York and is a visiting writer at Lesley University in Cambridge. We talk with Rakoff him about his writing, This American Life and what he thinks of New England this time around.