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Kerry: This is All Of It. I'm Kerry Nolan, in for Alison Stewart. Thanks for spending part of your day with us. Coming up on today's show nearly 40 years ago, the Talking Heads partnered with film director Jonathan Demme to create one of the greatest concert films of all time. Now, Stop Making Sense is being remastered and rereleased, and we'll talk about it with band member Jerry Harrison. Plus, we'll revisit Elliott Smith's album XO that turns 25 this month with Pitchforks Jayson Greene, and we'll report for summer school the fun kind.

We've been reading Edith Wharton's Age of Innocence, and we'll discuss its remarkable relevance with Professor Sarah Blackwood. We'll also take your calls and that is the plan so let's get this started with a very special guest. As many of you know, Alison has been on medical leave. Earlier this month, she donated a kidney to her sister, Lisa. She's now recovering at home and she joins us now to say hello and let us know how she's doing. Hey, Alison.

Alison: Hi, Kerry.

Kerry: Hi. We're watching Alison in the studio on Zoom and you look amazing.

Alison: [laughs] Thank you. You might not have said that two and a half hours ago when I got up, took a shower, put on mascara because I was going to be on the radio.

Kerry: As one does.

Alison: As one does, tied up the kitchen, and promptly fell back asleep for two hours. That's my life these days. [laughs]

Kerry: Well, you look well rested. [laughs] Tell us about the day of your surgery. What did it feel like to go through all the prep and think you're ready and then there's that being wheeled into the operating room business?

Alison: Oh, it was wild. It's the kind of thing where you can't eat for 12 to 14 hours before so you contemplate, "What's the last thing I'm going to eat?" and it was a swirl chocolate vanilla ice cream cone. I thought that was the way to-- it was perfect summer and a little bit of nostalgia. Sat on a pier and ate that. It's very warm and everybody's lovely and then the minute that you go into the surgical arm of Massachusetts General, its very serious, very fast, very white, and it's steel, and you see the doctors scrubbing up and it gets real really fast.

Kerry: How's Lisa doing? How's the kidney working out for her?

Alison: I call the kidney Kiki. Kiki's doing great. Kiki the kidney is apparently started working right away.

Kerry: That's great.

Alison: It's been remarkable for her when you're on dialysis like that, she was limited to about 20 ounces to 24 ounces she could drink a day.

Kerry: Wow.

Alison: So now she can drink as much as she wants. She even told me she thinks her eyesight's better. It's been really dramatic.

Kerry: That is fantastic. Well, and on the other side of that Kiki coin, how's your recovery going?

Alison: It's going well. It's interesting. Healing is not linear. You think you're going to get better and better every day, which happens but then there are days where-- Sunday, I was very sassy and walked over to the new Pier 57 to have a little bit of a bite to eat, but then Tuesday, couldn't get out of bed because I was in really in a lot of pain. You just have to take it at step by step. I had a tremendous squad of friends who got together and have been taking care of me. Easygoing.

I thought on that Sunday, I was like, "I could go back to work soon." Then I was like, "No, I have to take the full-time."

Kerry: I've gone through not what you went through, but similar surgery and it's not linear and you just have to surrender to what the day is bringing you.

Alison: That's well put.

Kerry: Producer Kate told me that one of the things that you are restricted in doing right now is you can't lift anything more than five pounds. What kind of workarounds are you having to do?

Alison: [laughs] Well, you have to ask your friends to do some really weird things. Like, "Hey, Scooter, can you come empty the dehumidifier?" Things you don't think about. I had very publicly announced that I was going to read the Power Broker, which I am, but I realized I can't really carry it around. It's too heavy. It's got a place on my dining room table where I sit, and that's where I go to read it. It's like my little Power Broker station. There's things you see in your house you want to fix, but like, "Ah, I shouldn't really get on a ladder and change that light bulb."

Kerry: Probably not, yes.

Alison: The to-do list for friends who stop by.

Kerry: When you're not napping or stealing yourself from getting on a ladder, what are you doing? What are you reading and watching? How are you passing the time?

Alison: Oh, we had so many great suggestions from listeners of things to watch and to read, and I took a lot of suggestions. Slow Horses season one, so great. I love Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas, Matt. I watched Hijack with Idris Elba, which is great to watch for many reasons. She said smiling. I've read a lot. I've read Happy Place. I think it said, Emily Henry. I needed something light to read in the hospital.

I'm reading Laura Lippman's book right now. The Guest by Emma Cline is the big hot book of the summer. Anybody who wants to discuss the ending, you can DM me on Instagram. I'm needle pointing, I have a needlepoint that I actually-- it's hilarious. I started it during COVID and then I did a lot of it during my sister's first illness, which incidentally I used the wrong color so it stands out. I said I'm leaving it there because it's a memory of the time and I'm determined to finish it during this so fingers crossed.

Kerry: Is needlepoint a new hobby? What is it that you're working on?

Alison: It's been an old hobby that I took back up because it's really great to do when you're listening to podcasts or to public radio. It is a pillow with the old New York logo. I love New York logo.

Kerry: Wow. Oh, that sounds awesome. We see messages every day from the listeners who they miss you and they wish you and your sister really the best. Around here, so many of us don't come in every day, but since I've been here in your chair this week, the love that this place feels for you is really a wonderful thing to see, and we're hoping that you feel that from us and from the listeners as well.

Alison: Oh, thank you, Kerry. First of all, thank you for all the extra work you're doing. It's not like you don't already have a job and everybody else already has a job, so I really do appreciate that. Everybody has been so supportive at WNYC and also people have been sending me really lovely messages on Instagram and Twitter. Someone said, "My mother-in-law donated her kidney to a stranger, so my father-in-law would get a quicker donor. It's beautiful. The whole trio still communicate and check with each other."

Someone else wrote me, "I really hope this inspires others." That's one of the reasons we decided to talk about it because I think people really understand the need for kidneys and you know my situation I'm so blessed and so grateful I was able to do it. Not everybody can, but if we sparked one person to think about it or that would be tremendous. Yes, I appreciate it so much. I miss everybody. I miss being on the radio. I miss just the interaction.

Kerry: Oh, sure.

Alison: I miss the culture.

Kerry: We got a lot of that here. What's the best advice you've gotten from a listener so far in terms of your recovery?

Alison: To just rest. I'm a busy bee.

Kerry: Is that hard for you?

Alison: It is hard for me. I've had my friends for the first week really did have to sit on me. I found it very, very hard to do. I'm working on it, work in progress.

Kerry: [chuckles] We just got a text from a listener that says, "We miss you, Alison. Also, she sounds busier and more productive than ever so please rest up."

Alison: That's really funny. One of the funny surprising things which nobody told me was, and you'll appreciate this, Kerry, is what to wear because I have four incisions and so I have to-- I was like, "Well, I'm going to have to wear my pants like Ed Grimley." Like all the way before. I've discovered the love of the Kaftan.

Kerry: Oh, yes. Oh, we've got applause in the studio in the control room. We're behind the Kaftan. Do you have a sense of when you might be back and I take your point that healing isn't linear, but what are you thinking of?

Alison: We're hoping that I can be back doing some office work after Labor Day and aiming for September 11th to be back on the air.

Kerry: Terrific.

Alison: That's my hope. That's my plan.

Kerry: That's where we stand right now or recline in our Kaftan right now.

Alison: Yes.

Kerry: Well, Alison, I'm so glad to talk to you. I'm so happy that you look well and that you're taking care of yourself and that you're leaning on your support network because that's so important, you know.

Alison: I appreciate you checking in and again, really appreciate you filling in and taking care of team All Of It. I told you we already claimed you, you're part of team All Of It.

Kerry: I'm a proud member of the All of It team so thank you. Take it easy. Go read something wonderful. Go have a nap and we'll talk to you soon.

Alison: Bye, Kerry. Bye, everybody.

Kerry: Bye, Alison. I've been speaking with Alison Stewart. She'll be back in the All Of It host seat sometime in September, and we hope she rests up and is back soon.

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