Dani Shapiro

If you want to change, preserve, or build a better America, there’s one easy way to make your voice heard: Vote. This year, iHeartRadio is teaming up with over 20 incredible celebrities (plus a handful of our most popular podcasters) to get the country excited to go vote, broadcasting the personal, emotional and heartfelt stories behind why showing up to the ballot box means so much-- not just as individuals, but for our entire nation.

Thank you to our partners AXE, DoveMen+Care, Knorr®, Seventh Generation, Levi’s and Facebook

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Why I'm Voting, a production of I Heart Radio. Listen.
You already know this, but it's an election year. You
might already be tired of hearing about it. But here's
the thing. Democracy doesn't work without you. I'm Holly Frying,
and I'm sitting down with many of my fellow podcasters,
from Will Ferrell to Stephanie Rule, as well as other

(00:26):
luminaries to find out about their relationships with the ballot
box and ultimately just to find out why they vote.
I hope you're exercising your right to vote, and if
you're not, I hope that their stories inspire you. Welcome
to Why I'm Voting Today. We are joined by Danny Shapiro,

(00:48):
who is the author of the New York Times best
selling book Inheritance, as well as a number of other
memoirs and novels. She's very productive. She also hosts the
podcast Family Secrets, which features guests that exploring the discovery
of you guessed it, their family secrets and then reckoning
with what those secrets mean. And her newest podcasting venture
with I Heeart Media is called The Way We Live Now,

(01:09):
which looks at how COVID nineteen has changed the way
people live. Danny, thank you so much for being here
on why I vote. Thanks for having me, Holly. The
first thing I want to ask you, and that I
ask everybody, is do you remember when you realized as
a kid that voting was a thing, that there was
a way that you were going to get to participate
in the process of government. The family that I was

(01:31):
raised in, my parents were political. There are a lot
of discussions about politics and what was going on in
the world around the dining table, and I remember wanting
to vote, looking forward to voting. I think I probably
look forward to getting my driver's license more, but I
you know, but I really did look forward to the

(01:52):
day when I could cast my first vote. Does that
mean you registered right away when you turned eighteen? I did.
It was an election year. Nice, Do you remember what
it felt like that first time you voted? Since it
was an election year, it was a big one. I
would imagine it was a big one. It was Jimmy
Carter and Ronald Reagan. It was I was a college freshman,
and I remember the feeling that I think so many

(02:16):
young people, we all want to have it. I think
when you're young, you really want to have it of
the idea that you can make a difference, and I
remember feeling that way. Of course, it didn't go my
way in that particular election, but it was really really interesting.
I remember where I was on election night. I was

(02:36):
at Sarah Lawrence College, where I was a freshman, and
I was with a bunch of friends and we all
wanted the same result and it wasn't going our way,
and we were eating pizza and drinking beer, and like
just that feeling of being in it with your generation,
you know, whatever way it went, being in it with
your generation, which I think I imagine so many young
people are feeling right now. Absolutely now, I wonder like,

(03:00):
when it comes to presidential elections, we see lots of ads,
we get lots of information, but when it comes to
smaller positions, we often have to do the legwork ourselves.
How do you do research for your local candidates? Oh,
that's such a great question. You know. It's really been
in recent years that I've come to understand how much
of a difference we really can make when it comes

(03:23):
to local politics. And I moved about fifteen years ago
from New York City to a small town in rural
Connecticut with my husband and at that time our very
young son, and my husband came from a family that
became very involved in local politics when he was growing up,
so he had a roadmap for that I didn't. In particular,

(03:45):
there was a very important congressional race in the early
years that we were living here, a young congressman named
Chris Murphy, who is now Senator Murphy from Connecticut, who
was in the running, and we became involved in his campaign,
and we held fundraisers for him, and sometimes my husband
would be on the phone with Chris for hours talking

(04:07):
about politics, and it was just this extraordinary opportunity to
actually have a dialogue with somebody who, in Chris's case,
ended up um in office and now is a very
prominent senator doing really important work on gun control and
and all sorts of things. And then, in even more
recent years, a woman in our district was running for

(04:29):
Congress for Chris's old seat, Johanna Hayes, and the same
thing happened. We were able to really become involved in
Johanna's campaign and to make a difference. And I think
that's just one of the things that's so important for
all of us to understand, is that when you call
offices of people who are running for office or in

(04:51):
local office, you get calls back, or you get emails
back from staffers or sometimes from the person themselves, And um,
we really are so able to have these relationships and
to have voices. I think you make a great point too,
and that I don't know any local politician that isn't
incredibly grateful for people to volunteer and help on their campaign.

(05:13):
So that's another great way for people to get involved.
This is kind of a silly question. Do you have
rituals around voting? Like my husband and I always make
it a date and we go get breakfast or we
get lunch afterwards, depending on what time of day. Where
that sticker all day long? Do you have any like that? Yeah? Again, really,
since we moved to the country, voting is so different

(05:36):
than it was in New York City, and it's this
sweet little town hall. And from the time that my
son was very small, we have brought him. We always
brought him to the voting booth with us and he
would get a sticker. You know, it's basically indoctrination, But yeah,
wearing the sticker all day and really, I think the

(05:59):
biggest ritual for us has been teaching our son the
importance of the process and voting. And he's now twenty one,
but he had I think the same feeling, even more
so than I did when he became of age and
he could vote, of really educating himself and just how
important it was to to show up for raising a
voting citizen. But that brings up my next question, which

(06:21):
is that there are a lot of people his age
that aren't maybe voting, and there are a lot of
people of all ages that don't always turn up to
the polls. If you could tell someone who is not
using their right to vote one thing, what would that
be That in this upcoming election, it's never been more important.
Our country is at such a precipice, and I think
it's impossible two sit back and be unhappy with how

(06:46):
things are, which many of us are. I would say
most of us are, no matter what our politics are,
We're not happy. We are not a happy country. We
are not a country of happy campers right now. And
to sit with that discontent and not register and show
up to vote seems to me like then all you're

(07:08):
doing is continuing the cycle of your own discontent By
robbing yourself of having a voice. And lastly, you've kind
of touched on I think probably all the things that
will make up this answer. But when it's your data
vote or even your data mail in, if you do
it that way, like, what is the thing that above
all else is motivating you to cast that ballot. I

(07:30):
think about all of the young people that I know,
I think about future generations. I think about what is
happening in the world right now and America's place in it.
And you know, in my case, I'm voting for change
to combat a sense of futility in the face of

(07:52):
everything that we are contending with right now as a country.
So in that moment that I cast my vote, that
is a moment of hope and a strike against futility.
Beautifully put Danny, Thank you so much. It's such a
delight to actually get to chat with you, because I
haven't we've met in passing once before, but now it's

(08:14):
really really lovely to get your thoughts, particularly on this
very important issue. So thank you so much, my pleasure, Holly.
Where can people find you? People can find me on
Instagram at Danny Ryder or on my website Danny Shapiro
dot com. Perfect, Thank you again, and I know you
will join me in hoping that everyone thinks about why
they vote and get us out there and does theircific duty. Hey,

(08:42):
are you not registered to vote yet but you think
it's something you want to do. You may still have time.
Voter registration deadlines vary by state, so to find out
the scoop for where you are, check out a nonpartisan
registration voting site like head count dot org or fair
vote dot org. Why I'm Voting is I Heart Radio Production.
For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I

(09:04):
Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever it is you
listen to your favorite shows