12.10.04
279: Auto Show
Stories about people who love their cars, for better or for worse.
11.19.04
278: Spies Like Us
Stories about amateur spies — regular people who spy on other regular people, and the consequences of their spying.
11.5.04
277: Apology
It's rare that a successful apology happens. One where you apologize to someone, not for selfish reasons, but because you're really sorry...
10.29.04
276: Swing Set
A journey through the minds of undecided voters. For months — through the Swift Boat ads, the convention speeches, the debates — we tracked...
10.15.04
275: Two Steps Back
Ten years ago, when he was still a reporter for NPR's All Things Considered, host Ira Glass did a year-long series on a Chicago public...
9.24.04
273: Put Your Heart In It
Stories about people deciding whether to give it their all. There's one story about a person who hasn't, one story about someone who has —...
9.10.04
272: Big Tent
Stories of the Republican Party, America's new majority party. Yes, they're still just barely the majority in the Senate...and in the last...
8.6.04
270: Family Legend
How, one might wonder, could a simple hunk of cheese drive a wedge between an aging aunt and her devoted niece? Sure, every family has its...
7.16.04
269: Someone to Watch Over Me
Letting someone else take care of you can change everything. Three stories of couples in which one partner is trying to take care of the...
6.25.04
268: My Experimental Phase
Three stories about people who decide to try out a new life — the kind of life their parents never wanted for them.
6.11.04
267: Propriety
Perhaps there was a time when the rules of polite society were clear. No longer. This week, we bring you stories of people forced to try to...
6.4.04
266: I'm From the Private Sector and I'm Here to Help
Today's show is devoted to just one story. Contributing editor Nancy Updike went to Iraq to try to figure out what it's like to be a...
5.21.04
265: Fake Science
Stories of people trying to drag science where it doesn't belong.
5.7.04
264: Special Treatment
We love it when we get it, but is it ever really fair? A defense of special treatment, by people who receive it and people who give it.
4.16.04
263: Desperate Measures
Stories of people stuck in unfixable situations who try desperate measures. Sometimes these are inventive, sometimes they're ingenious,...
4.2.04
262: Miracle Cures
People looking for miracle cures, some from above, others from abroad. A son tries to help his mom in a faraway place defy the laws of...
3.26.04
261: The Sanctity of Marriage
Stories trying to understand what actually happens in marriages during this time when the definition of marriage is up in the air. Music...
3.12.04
260: The Facts Don't Matter
There's what happened, and there's the story that gets told about what happened. Sometimes the two things don't match up very well. This...
2.20.04
259: Promised Land
For millenia, people have tried to reach a spiritual promised land by fasting. Jesus did it. The Buddha did it. Monks and saints and new...
1.23.04
258: Leaving the Fold
A popular, progressive politician becomes...a talk show host. One you've probably heard of. A group of nuns leave the Catholic Church......
1.16.04
257: What I Should've Said
People return to the scene of the crime where they should have spoken clearly, plainly, forcefully ... to review what the hell went wrong,...
1.9.04
256: Living Without
Stories of people living without. Nubar Alexanian explains what fish can do for him that his own ears cannot. Sarah Vowell explains the...