When City Arts and Lectures call you to be the backup for your favorite writer, you clear your calendar right away. In this episode, storyteller Judson True recalls that one fortunate phone call in 2001, right after 9/11, when he was called to be the backup interviewer for Scott Shafer. The subject? His favorite writer, Joan Didion.

Judson is currently the chief of staff for state assemblyman David Chiu. Before that, he was once the spokesperson for the SFMTA, a job that probably no one envies. You can find him on Twitter at @judsontrue.