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20
April 19, 1996

From A Distance

Stories of hero worship, of people admiring someone from afar, and trying to get closer to them.

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mattmangum
Act One

In Search Of The Miraculous

Erika Yeomans sees a young man's photo in an art magazine and decides to track him down. Problem is: he's Dutch, he's a performance artist, and he's dead. Supposedly. That doesn't stop her from creating her own mission to get near him — a mission that turns out to mirror certain things about his life. (The Dutch artist was named Bas Jan Ader.) (17 minutes)

By

Ira Glass
Act Two

Meet Your Hero

Writer Quincy Troupe talks about how, as a boy, he idolized Miles Davis, and how, as a man, he actually became one of Davis's closest friends. And how his picture of the man changed. (21 minutes)

By

Ira Glass
Act Three

Snuggles

A man in New York runs an apology line.

By

Ira Glass
Act Four

1000 Women Become Selena

Eighteen-year-old correspondent Claudia Perez goes to an audition where a thousand Mexican women and girls dress up to play the slain Mexican pop star Selena in an upcoming film about her life. Feelings about Selena run so high that when her fans talk about her, they often cry. (13 minutes)

By

Ira Glass
Claudia Perez

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