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554
April 10, 2015

Not It!

Stories of people, cities, and commonwealths touching their noses and proclaiming "not it!" Including the story of how one city used a rocking chair to take retribution against a late night TV show host, and an island that takes people it doesn't want to deal with and ships them away.

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  • Transcript
Brian Reed

Prologue

When Adriana Cardona-Maguigad started talking to homeless men in the Chicago neighborhood she works in, she discovered that many of them had the same, very strange backstory. Adriana tells Ira how she stumbled upon this. (7 1/2 minutes)
Act One

Como Se Dice "Not It"?

Adriana's story continues, as she ventures deep into a mysterious world of heroin addiction treatment centers where no one seems to be taking responsibility for the people they're treating. Adriana is the editor of the bilingual newspaper The Gate. She did an interactive version of this story for WBEZ. (17 minutes)

Story Update

Update on unlicensed rehab center story

Act Two

Last But Not Least

Producer Brian Reed tells the story of a city that years ago was given a title and is now saying, "not it!" They want to shed that title once and for all. (16 minutes)

By

Brian Reed
Act Three

The Big Crapple

A story about a substance we've played "not it" with for generations, and why maybe we shouldn't anymore. Producer Zoe Chace explains. (16 minutes)

Song:

“Don't Throw Your Love in the Garbage Can” by Vicki Anderson

Related

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716: Trail of Tears
Sept. 4, 2020

Act Two

Sarah Vowell's story continues. She and Amy visit the home of President Andrew Jackson, the villain in the Trail of Tears drama. They drive west to Cherokee graves in Kentucky and a commemorative marker that's been placed, oddly, at an Arkansas high school. They head into Oklahoma, where the Cherokee settled and where they were born. Sarah talks with her oldest living relative about the Trail. And she and Amy end their trip at the place where they first heard about the Trail of Tears: an amphitheater where every summer, they saw a dramatic two hour recreation of the Trail. (23 minutes)
106: Father’s Day ‘98
June 19, 1998

Act Four: Age Of Enchantment

This is a story about an odd breach of trust between father and child, done unintentionally, and what happens next.
40: Lessons
Nov. 1, 1996

Act Four: Found Tape

Excerpts from lessons found on old record, especially a Helen Gurley Brown disc called How to Love a Man, which instructs men on how to have an affair.

Staff Recommendations

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562
July 31, 2015

The Problem We All Live With - Part One

There’s one thing that has been proven to cut the achievement gap between black and white students by half: integration.

154
Mar. 10, 2000

In Dog We Trust (2000)

Exactly how much are the animals that live in our home caught up in everyday family dynamics?

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