Each week we choose a theme. Then anything can happen. This American Life is true stories that unfold like little movies for radio. Personal stories with funny ...
President Trump is eradicating DEI from the federal government, and private companies are following his example. We return to a show we did two years ago about the turning point that led to this moment. Our Executive Producer Emanuele Berry guest-hosts and shares stories about Black people who found themselves caught in the middle of this cultural fight when the country shifted decisively away from diversity, equity, inclusion, critical race theory, and affirmative action.
Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: As a new high school principal, Dr. Whitfield felt moved by the national renouncement of racism he saw all around him in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. It prompted him to write a thoughtful email to parents and teachers in his district. He got lots of praise for it. Less than a year later, that same email would threaten his job. (12 minutes)Act One: During her sophomore year in high school, Nevaeh was targeted in a secret text message chain by a handful of her peers. She’d come to learn the text chat was a mock slave trade where her photo and photos of other Black classmates were uploaded, talked about as property, and bid on. Emanuele Berry talks to Nevaeh about what these messages mean to her now as well as how she’s navigated her town’s reaction and her close friendships with kids who mostly aren’t Black. (20 minutes)Act Two: After the murder of George Floyd, sales of books by Black authors skyrocketed. Now, there are efforts to ban many of the same books. Producer Chana Joffe-Walt talks to author Jerry Craft, who is caught up in this backlash with his graphic novel New Kid. (21 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.orgThis American Life privacy policy.Learn more about sponsor message choices.
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1:01:29
339: Break-Up
For Valentine's Day, stories from the heart of heartbreak.
Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: Host Ira Glass talks with Lauren Waterman, who's in the middle of a break-up right now and grappling with totally contradictory feelings. (5 minutes)Act One: In the wake of a break-up, writer Starlee Kine finds so much comfort in break-up songs that she decides to try and write one herself—even though she has no musical ability whatsoever. For some help, she goes to a rather surprising expert on the subject: Phil Collins. (29 minutes)Act Two: Eight-year-old Betsy Walter goes on a campaign to understand her parents' divorce — a campaign that takes her to school guidance counselors, children's book authors, and the mayor of New York City. (10 minutes)Act Three: Ira talks with divorce mediator Barry Berkman about why it's bad when the justice system gets involved in a break-up. (8 minutes)Act Four: What divorce looks like from the dog's point of view. (5 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.orgThis American Life privacy policy.Learn more about sponsor message choices.
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1:00:39
853: Groundhog Day
People stuck in a loop, trying to find their way out.
Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: Host Ira Glass talks to B.A. Parker about her birthday tradition. (6 minutes)Act One: Producer Aviva DeKornfeld speaks with a father and daughter who have been playing the same game for 25 years. (9 minutes)Act Two: Talia Augustidis asks a single question over and over. (5 minutes)Act Three: Editor David Kestenbaum speaks with Jeff Permar, who is trapped in a Groundhog Day situation — with an actual groundhog! (9 minutes)Act Four: Parking in a big city can be a real pain. Producer Valerie Kipnis speaks with a man who has taken it upon himself to try to mitigate the weekly hassle. (14 minutes)Act Five: Short fiction from Bess Kalb about a groundhog named Susan, who has her own opinions about the holiday named after her species. (7 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.orgThis American Life privacy policy.Learn more about sponsor message choices.
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55:42
823: The Question Trap
An investigation of when and why people ask loaded questions that are a proxy for something else.
Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: Host Ira Glass talks with producer Tobin Low about the question he got asked after he and his husband moved in together, and what he thinks people were really asking. (4 minutes)Act One: “What do you think about Beyoncé?” and other questions raised by people on first dates. (12 minutes)Act Two: When a common, seemingly innocuous question goes wildly off the rails. (13 minutes)Act Three: Why are people asking me if my mother recognizes me, when it’s totally beside the point? (14 minutes)Act Four: Schools ask their students the strangest essay questions sometimes. The experience of tutoring anxious teenagers through how to answer them requires a balladier, singing their lived experience to a crowd as though it were the Middle Ages. (10 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.orgThis American Life privacy policy.Learn more about sponsor message choices.
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57:29
852: Pivot Point
People living in that in-between moment before everything changes.
Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: Kirk Johnson tells Ira about a strange choice he made during his family’s evacuation from the Sunset Fire in Los Angeles. (5 minutes)Act One: Editor Nancy Updike tries to make sense of this current moment by talking to a master of dark comedy, Armando Ianucci. (19 minutes)Act Two: As President Trump prepares to return to the Oval Office, producer Valerie Kipnis talks to Ukrainian soldiers on the front line who wonder about what his administration could mean for them. (14 minutes)Act Three: Editor Susan Burton reflects on the ramp-up to an era that comes for so many of us. (9 minutes)Act Four: In the wake of the Eaton Fire in Altadena, California, producer Miki Meek talks to a woman on a very particular mission. (6 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.orgThis American Life privacy policy.Learn more about sponsor message choices.
Each week we choose a theme. Then anything can happen. This American Life is true stories that unfold like little movies for radio. Personal stories with funny moments, big feelings, and surprising plot twists. Newsy stories that try to capture what it’s like to be alive right now. It’s the most popular weekly podcast in the world, and winner of the first ever Pulitzer Prize for a radio show or podcast. Hosted by Ira Glass and produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago.
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