Maris Kreizman Wants to Burn It All Down

Summary

All Of It – Episode: "Maris Kreizman Wants to Burn It All Down"

Release Date: June 25, 2025

In this engaging episode of ALL OF IT hosted by Alison Stewart from WNYC, writer Maris Kreizman delves deep into her newly released book, "I Want to Burn This Place Down." Through a heartfelt conversation, Maris shares her personal journey, the motivations behind her essays, and the broader cultural and societal issues she explores in her work.

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Introduction to Maris Kreizman and Her Book

Alison Stewart introduces Maris Kreizman, highlighting her role as a bi-weekly column editor at Lit Hub with her segment “The Marist Review.” Maris's book, "I Want to Burn This Place Down," is described as a collection of memoir-ish essays where she candidly discusses her life experiences and their intersections with larger societal themes.

Alison Stewart ([00:30]):
"Maris Kreitzman says in her new book that she was wrong about everything. It's called I Want to Burn this Place Down."

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Motivation Behind Writing the Book

Maris explains her inspiration for writing the book, emphasizing a long-standing urge to articulate her personal experiences and the urgency she felt in addressing them.

Maris Kreizman ([01:25]):
"Especially when I finally had something that I felt I needed to say urgently."

Alison probes further into the structure of the book, revealing that it's a compilation of essays grounded in memoir.

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Exploring Personal Struggles: Living with Diabetes

A significant portion of the conversation centers around Maris's lifelong battle with diabetes. She discusses the daily struggles, the emotional toll, and the systemic issues surrounding access to essential medical care.

Maris Kreizman ([03:05]):
"What I most want people to know is that it's hard. It's a struggle every single second of every day, and no one wants to hear that." ([03:05])

She reflects on technological advancements like continuous glucose monitors and their impact on her relationship with the disease.

Maris Kreizman ([04:14]):
"That continuous glucose monitor ... I can watch it rising or falling very quickly. And I'm a little obsessed with it, but how could you not be?" ([04:14])

Maris also touches upon the historical context of insulin's development and its affordability crisis in the U.S., highlighting Frederick Banting's legacy.

Maris Kreizman ([04:54]):
"He sold the rights to it for $1. He said insulin should be available to everyone. And by the time I was starting to think about it, the cost had... what, I don't know how thousand did." ([04:54])

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Family Dynamics and Personal Relationships

Maris shares intimate details about her family, particularly her relationship with her parents and twin brothers who are both police officers. She reflects on the unspoken stresses her parents endured due to her illness and the evolving perception of police in her life.

Maris Kreizman ([06:20]):
"They're listening right now. Hi, mom and dad." ([06:20])

She discusses the universal experience of children viewing themselves as the center of their world and the gradual realization of their parents' struggles.

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Career in Publishing and Technological Shifts

Maris recounts her early career in publishing, emphasizing the challenges of managing paperwork in the pre-digital era. She nostalgically describes the transition from manual processes to today's digital conveniences and expresses empathy for those who still navigate the cumbersome paper-based systems.

Maris Kreizman ([13:20]):
"My job was paper management, I think, for the first six years of my working career." ([13:20])

She expresses a desire for continual improvement in workplace efficiencies to prevent others from enduring the same frustrations.

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Cultural and Societal Critiques

The book's title, "I Want to Burn This Place Down," is inspired by a poignant scene from the TV show Mad Men, symbolizing Maris's frustration with systemic issues and her yearning for transformative change.

Maris Kreizman ([14:48]):
"There's a scene in the final season of Mad Men, and Joan and Peggy are in the elevator, and Joan always keeps it together. ... I want to burn this place down." ([14:48])

Maris also discusses current political figures, referencing her support for Mamdani, and how recent events challenge the notion that people become more conservative with age.

Maris Kreizman ([15:23]):
"I think he is. ... New York City showed last night that that is just... We want things to be better." ([15:23])

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Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Alison wraps up the interview by reaffirming Maris's commitment to fostering a better future through her writing and activism. Maris expresses gratitude for the support and looks forward to engaging with her audience at upcoming events, such as her book launch at the Brooklyn Heights Library alongside Emma Straub.

Alison Stewart ([15:58]):
"The name of the book is I Want to Burn this Place Down. It is by Maris Kreitzman. Maris, thank you very much." ([15:58])

Maris Kreizman ([16:04]):
"Thank you." ([16:04])

---

Maris Kreizman's "I Want to Burn This Place Down" offers a raw and introspective look into personal and societal struggles, weaving together themes of health, family, career, and cultural critique. This episode of ALL OF IT provides listeners with a comprehensive overview of her motivations, experiences, and the impactful messages conveyed in her essays.

Transcript

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[Alison Stewart]

This is all of it on wtf. Welcome back to nyc. I'm Alison Stewart. Maris Kreitzman says in her new book that she was wrong about everything. It's called I Want to Burn this Place down. And she writes, I want to share with you all the ways I was wrong. Maybe you were wrong too. Maybe we can. Together we can grieve what we thought the world was and hope for something better. Through a series of essays, Maris lets us know about her life and the ways which it intersects with the world. Like having brothers who are cops, her lifelong fight with diabetes, and the industry she has devoted so much of her time to publishing. Kirk has said of the book, quote, though gentler than its title suggests, an intelligent and entertaining read. I Wanna Burn this Place down is due out on July 1st. That night she'll be at the Brooklyn Heights Library in an event with Books Are Magic's Emma Straub. But she's with us now. Hi, Maris.

[Maris Kreitzman]

Hi. So lovely to be here.

[Alison Stewart]

What made you wanna write a book?

[Maris Kreitzman]

Oh, well, I've seen you some other times talking about other books and I think after watching for I was finally ready to do it. Especially when I finally had something that I felt I needed to say urgently.

[Alison Stewart]

It was interesting because it's a book of essays I should point out, but they're also memoir ish essays.

[Maris Kreitzman]

Yes.

[Alison Stewart]

Tell us why you chose to write memoir ish essays.

[Maris Kreitzman]

It's because I only want to talk about my personal experiences. I don't want to make big policy suggestions for anyone. There are experts who do that. But I did want to talk about how the the experts that I read affect my day to day life.

[Alison Stewart]

Now, when you're writing, do you write on napkins? Do you sit down? Do you have a place to write? How does Maris write?

[Maris Kreitzman]

I go to the center for Fiction, which is in Fort Greene, and get a quiet desk and that's really the only way. All voices blocked out. No offense.

[Alison Stewart]

Josh, how did you decide to organize the book?

[Maris Kreitzman]

You know, it happened kind of naturally. It's almost in the order that I wrote it. I start with an essay about diabetes simply because it's the thing that I think about the most that I don't talk about. And so after that, everything kind of flowed from there.

[Alison Stewart]

It's so interesting. First of all, I learned a lot about diabetes from reading your book. Why did you want people to know? What did you want people to know?

[Josh]

As someone who grew up with diabetes, especially as a kid, about having diabetes?

[Maris Kreitzman]

Yeah. What I most want people to know is that it's hard. It's a struggle every single second of every day, and no one wants to hear that. And then it's harder still if you don't have access to the medical care that you need, that you don't have access to insulin, or the blood sugar testing devices that you need, and it's enough to handle without that.

[Josh]

What have you learned now about having lived with diabetes that you wish someone had told you when you were younger?

[Maris Kreitzman]

Have good mental health backups always.

[Josh]

Oh, interesting. Tell me more about that.

[Maris Kreitzman]

I should have been in therapy or had antidepressants the first moment I was diagnosed. It's. It's a myth that something physical doesn't also affect you inside, emotional.

[Josh]

I'm wondering, how long did it take you not to get over, but to understand that something could happen to you at any moment because of diabetes?

[Maris Kreitzman]

Yeah. One of the big new changes in diabetes management over the past few years is that I got a continuous glucose monitor. And that continuous glucose monitor is an app on my phone, and it shows me what my blood sugar is at all times, so I can watch it rising or falling very quickly. And I'm a little obsessed with it, but how could you not be, you know? And that really put things into perspective for me.

[Josh]

This is one of the things I learned. Tell me about Frederick Banting.

[Maris Kreitzman]

He invented insulin with a couple of other people in Canada in 1920, and he sold the. He sold the rights to it for $1. He said insulin should be available to everyone. And by the time I was starting to think about it, the cost had what, I don't know how thousand did.

[Josh]

What did you think when you were going through it, the idea that insulin becoming emblematic of our healthcare problems in.

[Maris Kreitzman]

The U.S. yeah, because I looked at GoFundMe's back in, like, 2018, 2019, and as someone who has diabetes who is constantly thinking about how hard it is, I saw people who were really in bad shape and they didn't need to be. The insulin is there and it should be affordable. And the fact that it wasn't really made me think about what America is like.

[Josh]

One of the touching things you write about is your parents. You write, this is how I know I Had a privileged childhood. I was never expected to think about how exhausted and scared my parents were in all of this. I was never made to contemplate their points of view, the havoc that my body was causing on their own lives. Illness makes narcissists of the best of us. Yes, I suppose. Have your parents read this?

[Maris Kreitzman]

Oh, yeah, they have, and they're very proud. Hi, mom and dad. They're listening right now.

[Josh]

What does that say to you about this moment? That as a kid, you weren't really thinking about your parents?

[Maris Kreitzman]

Yeah, I mean, I think that's a pretty universal thing, right? As children, we are the stars of our own life. And it's only when we grow up that we look around and realize that they're people and they have their own stress and anxiety. And I'm just so grateful to them for not putting that on me back then.

[Alison Stewart]

My guest is writer Maris Kreitzman. She is a bi weekly column editor at Lit Hub. It's called the Marist Review. Her new book is called I Want to Burn this Place Down. We get to know you as a kid. You're big into theater.

[Maris Kreitzman]

Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

What was it about the theater that you liked?

[Maris Kreitzman]

Oh, I liked just being in the spotlight and I loved just Broadway musicals. Still to this day, I just love. I'm really excited that Chess is coming back to Broadway.

[Alison Stewart]

Why didn't you pursue it?

[Maris Kreitzman]

Because I grew up, I think, Alison. You know, but it was a way of getting through and enjoying the hardest times of my childhood, for sure.

[Alison Stewart]

Why were they the hardest?

[Maris Kreitzman]

Diabetes back. Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

It's like I told somebody, there's this flow of diabetes throughout the entire book, which is really interesting, I thought.

[Maris Kreitzman]

Yeah. And, you know, people have asked if I would write a book about diabetes, and I always say no. But this book sort of. Sort of is.

[Josh]

Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

You grew up. Grew up. Sort of. And you went to UPenn.

[Maris Kreitzman]

Yeah. Yes.

[Alison Stewart]

First of all, what did you want to do when you entered college?

[Maris Kreitzman]

I wanted to be an English major. I knew that right away, but I didn't know beyond that. I wanted to read books. I knew that, but I just wanted to get on the right path for the rest of my life. No big.

[Alison Stewart]

Right. You encountered a certain type of fella at college. You write about them. A good work ethic is nothing compared to the inner confidence of a man who has never been taught to doubt himself and has no reason to consider that he might ever be wrong. What made you come to that conclusion?

[Maris Kreitzman]

Oh, one of the things about Penn, the main thing at this point Is that there is a reverence for the Wharton School, which is the business school at Penn. And I happened to be in a class with Donald Trump Jr.

[Josh]

Yes.

[Maris Kreitzman]

You write about this, and I started looking at the people who were in charge of things and realizing that they were not quite as smart, knowledgeable, thoughtful as I had hoped they would be. And I think that. I think I first realized that in college.

[Alison Stewart]

What did you do with that piece.

[Josh]

Of information once you settled on this idea?

[Alison Stewart]

Like, they may not be that smart.

[Josh]

These people who are going to potentially run things.

[Maris Kreitzman]

You know, for the longest time, I did nothing because that was how it worked. That was the system. And this book is a little bit about saying, well, screw that.

[Alison Stewart]

Mm.

[Josh]

Let's talk about. This is also a sidebar. But it's fascinating, the book that you are related to Barney's.

[Maris Kreitzman]

Yes.

[Josh]

As in the Barney's department store.

[Maris Kreitzman]

Yes.

[Josh]

All right, first of all, tell us who Barney, how you're related to Barney's. This was great.

[Maris Kreitzman]

Barney was my grandmother's uncle, and she went to the store as a kid all the time. Her father worked there. So I would hear all of this lore about Barney's when I was growing up.

[Josh]

When did you first realize that Barney's was Barney's?

[Maris Kreitzman]

Has to be. I mean, maybe when Sex and the City came out. I think I hadn't realized when all of the art scene was there and really, really doing was when it burst into TV that I really. That I really understood.

[Josh]

How did you interact with the store, Barney's?

[Maris Kreitzman]

Oh, I could never afford to shop there ever. Even if they're big, big sales. And in fact, I was so sad when my Loman's closed on 7th Avenue back in Chelsea in the day to. To make way for Barneys, because that made it entirely inaccessible to me.

[Josh]

Was it ever a source of pride for you?

[Maris Kreitzman]

Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's nice to be related to someone famous.

[Josh]

You also talk about in the book you have twin brothers.

[Maris Kreitzman]

Yes.

[Josh]

And they're both cops.

[Maris Kreitzman]

Yes. Jewish twin cops. Sounds like a joke Josh might tell.

[Josh]

Sounds like a joke Josh might tell. What has changed and what has remained the same about how you relate to police officers, especially being related to them, how they are depicted in the media.

[Maris Kreitzman]

I grew up in the New Jersey suburbs in the 80s. It was the perfect time for not trusting anyone but the police. Stranger danger. All of the depictions on TV made them look like heroes who sometimes had to take the law into their own hands. And I think what really happened was There is a Stranger Danger, Part 2. When I moved to New York in the year 2000. When a girl from New Jersey moves to New York, you're told, be alert at all times. Look out for people on the street. Hold your keys a certain way. And it took me a long time to look around New York City and say, I'm not seeing all the things that people told me to be afraid of.

[Josh]

And did that factor in with your relationship with your brother, or is that sort of like, off the table, that discussion?

[Maris Kreitzman]

No, it's not off the table. It's so hard because I love them very much and I love their children. And I think we do fundamentally see the world from different perspectives.

[Josh]

My guest is writer Maris Kreitzman. Her book is called I Want to Burn this Place Down. You started work in publishing. What was your first job?

[Maris Kreitzman]

It was. I was an assistant to a literary agent at img.

[Josh]

And you write in your book. And this is something that people who experience the turn of the century will understand?

[Maris Kreitzman]

Yes.

[Josh]

You said your life was a constant battle with paper. Like what. What happened to you?

[Maris Kreitzman]

Oh, I mean, it's so hard to remember back in the day when paper was everywhere. You had to fax, you had to photocopy, you had to file. You had to, like, run paper down the hal to somebody else and get their signature and run the paper somewhere else. It was. My job, was paper management, I think, for the first six years of my working career.

[Josh]

During my career, my first job was clearing out the Xerox machine.

[Maris Kreitzman]

Oh, gosh. At it.

[Josh]

I was good at it.

[Maris Kreitzman]

Oh, my gosh. Hero.

[Josh]

But you were working as someone who worked at the turn of the century, before the turn of the century, in a job where certain things would not be acceptable to this day today. You worked in time. People would say, oh, I can do that. You can't do that now. How do you feel about that? I'm curious. As somebody who went through it, you don't want to see somebody go through.

[Maris Kreitzman]

It, but I really don't want to see anyone else go through it. Yeah, it breaks my heart a little bit when I see people my age say, well, I had to deal with this, so why shouldn't they? No, I desperately want things to be better. I didn't know at the time that it could be better. And now I know.

[Alison Stewart]

The book comes from Mad Men, the TV show Mad Men. I want to burn this place down. Will you share that with us?

[Maris Kreitzman]

Yeah. There's a scene in the final season of Mad Men, and Joan and Peggy are in the elevator, and Joan always keeps it together. She always plays the game. She always has a smile on her face. And she turns to Peggy and says, I want burn this place down. And it really spoke to me about all of the different systems that I've always been in and smiled through.

[Alison Stewart]

Yeah. Well, it's interesting because we're coming off a big win for Mamdani. You are a big supporter.

[Maris Kreitzman]

This is the best day to be on wnyc. I think it's so amazing.

[Alison Stewart]

Tell me an example of. Is he an example of burning it all down and starting again?

[Maris Kreitzman]

I think he is. You know, I think the title doesn't entirely apply to everything I want to accomplish in the book, but I do think that we have this sense that everyone gets more conservative as they age. And New York City showed last night that that is just. It's not the case. We want things to be better.

[Alison Stewart]

The name of the book is I Want to Burn this Place Down. It is by Maris Kreitzman. Maris, thank you very much.

[Maris Kreitzman]

Thank you.

[Progressive Insurance]

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