This American Life show

This American Life

Summary: Official free, weekly podcast of the award-winning radio show "This American Life." First-person stories and short fiction pieces that are touching, funny, and surprising. Hosted by Ira Glass, from WBEZ Chicago Public Media, and distributed by Public Radio International. In mp3 and updated Mondays.

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  • Artist: Chicago Public Media
  • Copyright: Copyright 1995-2015 Chicago Public Media & Ira Glass

Podcasts:

 #388: Rest Stop | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: Unknown

Nine radio producers. Two days. One rest stop on the New York State Thruway. In this show, we'll bring you stories of people who are just passing through, and people who are at the rest stop every day—working. One of them has worked there since 1969. A bunch of others came from Asia and eastern Europe to pour coffee for travelers.

 #175: Babysitting | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: Unknown

Stories of babysitters, and what goes on while mom and dad are away that mom and dad never find out about. Including the story of two teenagers who decide to invent children to babysit, as an excuse to get out of their own house.

 #503: I Was Just Trying To Help | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: Unknown

Stories of people doing the noble thing and stepping up to help, only to find out that others think what they're doing isn't helping at all. Planet Money looks at a charity that's decided to just give people money, and a sheriff in California devises a plan to let farmers grow weed — as long as they register with him.

 #502: This Call May Be Recorded... To Save Your Life | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: Unknown

A journalist named Meron Estefanos gets a disturbing tip. She's given a phone number that supposedly belongs to a group of refugees being held hostage in the Sinai desert. She dials the number, and soon dozens of strangers are begging her to rescue them. How can she ignore them?

 #470: Show Me The Way | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: Unknown

Stories about people in trouble, who look for help in mystifying places. A 15-year-old boy travels more than 1,000 miles, alone, to seek out his hero, whom he's never met. And from Wiretap, Jonathan Goldstein and David Rakoff tell the story of a man with a terrible medical problem, hoping for a cure from a famous doctor — who only communicates in rhyme.

 #501: The View From In Here | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: Unknown

It's so easy to lose perspective (or worry you've lost perspective) when you're deep inside some situation. For instance, an American woman who suddenly trades her life for one in a place most people might think twice about: Juarez, Mexico.

 #500: 500! | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: Unknown

To celebrate our 500th episode, Ira asked the producers of This American Life to talk about their very favorite moments on the show. Some chose stories that've been more or less forgotten for years; others chose just one line of script, or a segment that secretly made them cry. So for our 500th, we bring you the best of This American Life — the way we've been hearing it, behind the scenes, all these years.

 #466: Blackjack | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: Unknown

Stories about the casino game everyone thinks they can beat. In one, a woman gambles away her inheritance and then sues the casino, saying they're to blame. In another, Christians join forces to take down casinos — by becoming professional card-counting blackjack players. Plus: MIT Blackjack Team member Andy Bloch teaches us to count cards.

 #499: Taking Names | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: Unknown

The truly incredible story of a guy named Kirk Johnson who started a list of hundreds of Iraqis who needed to get out of their country. They were getting death threats, and he was their only hope. Only 26 and living in his aunt's basement, he had no idea what to do. How Kirk kind of succeeded spectacularly and failed spectacularly at the same time. INTERACTIVE: "Emails From a Dead Man"

 #498: The One Thing You're Not Supposed To Do | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: Unknown

This week, stories about people who know something's a bad idea, but convince themselves to do that thing anyway. Including the story of a bunch of illegal immigrants who turn themselves in to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, hoping to be sent into detention.

 #496: When Patents Attack... Part Two! | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: Unknown

Two years ago, we did a program about a mysterious business in Texas that threatens companies with lawsuits for violating its patents. But the world of patent lawsuits is so secretive, there were basic questions we could not answer. Now we can. And we get a glimpse why people say our patent system may be discouraging, not encouraging, innovation.

 #205: Plan B | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: Unknown

There's the thing you plan to do, and then there's the thing you end up doing. Most of us start off our lives with some Plan A which we abandon...switching to a Plan B, which becomes our life.

 #495: Hot In My Backyard | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: Unknown

After years of being stuck, the national conversation on climate change finally started to shift — just a little — last year, the hottest year on record in the U.S., with Hurricane Sandy flooding the New York subway, drought devastating Midwest farms, and California and Colorado on fire. Lots of people were wondering if global warming had finally arrived, here at home. This week, stories about this new reality.

 #27: The Cruelty of Children | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: Unknown

Stories about kids being mean to each other... including a mysterious handbook for bullies, a surprising experiment conducted by a teacher who wants to make kids be nice, and a story of youthful backstabbing told by David Sedaris.

 #494: Hit the Road | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: Unknown

It's spring, so we're opening windows and going places. This week we have stories of people who, for reasons that they can't always explain, feel compelled to get out and go somewhere. Including the story of one man who decides to take a trip from Philadelphia to San Francisco — by foot.

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