Ariel Sharon, Shimon Peres, David Ben-Gurion, and Me

Reporter Nancy Updike spends two days with Neal Smither, who cleans up crime scenes for a living, and comes away wanting to open his Los Angeles franchise, despite the gore — or maybe because of it.

Seth Freed Wessler reports on people going the opposite direction over the US/Mexico border.

We hear from the people in the land of the non-working: Fred Beaton on hislast shift driving a shuttle bus at Logan Airport before he retires; LincCohen and Sandi Weisenberg talk about what chores get done once retirementbegins; and Angela Jane Evancie tries to get her boyfriend, Morgan Peach, tostop relaxing quite so much.

Several producers talked about the first stories they ever heard on the show, before they worked here.

Unemployment is 9 percent, but it's worst among high school dropouts andpeople with only a high school education.

For a look at the nuts and bolts of government job creation, This American Life Senior Producer Julie Snyder and Planet Money correspondent Adam Davidson attend a meeting of the International Economic Developers Council in San Diego.