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190
August 3, 2001

Living the Dream

There's a deep impulse in American culture that says that you can make yourself into anyone. Today, three stories about people who tried to do just that.
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  • Transcript
Olivia Stone

Prologue

An 18-year-old named Tito talks about how he didn't have a choice about certain things in his life, especially his feelings and dreams...and his feelings about Eminem. (4 minutes)

By

Ira Glass
Act One

Girls Girls Girls

Over the last ten years in Los Angeles, there's been a noticeable increase in the number of transsexual teenagers, kids who were born as boys but live as girls, and vice versa. Cris Beam has spent the last two years getting to know these kids, and tells the story of two of them, Foxxjazell and Ariel. (26 minutes)

By

Cris Beam
Act Two

Agent To The Stars

Writer John Hodgman in New York tells the story of how he dreamt of getting to know the B-movie star Bruce Campbell, and how his unlikely dream accidentally came true, partly to his delight, partly to his horror. (16 minutes)

By

John Hodgman

Song:

“Theme to Secret Agent Man”
Act Three

Airel Sharon, Shimon Peres, David Ben Gurion, And Me!

Host Ira Glass talks with contributor Adam Davidson about how Adam's teenage diaries are filled with his dream of someday becoming the prime minister of a country where he does not even reside. (8 minutes)

By

Adam Davidson
Ira Glass

Related

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Act Two: The Battle Of Words Vs Fear

Michael Bernard Loggins, a developmentally disabled man in his 50s, tried to battle his fears by listing them, and came up with a list 138 items long.
131: The Kids Are Alright
June 4, 1999

Act Two: When Czechs Bounce

If part of the impulse behind the Tiananmen Square uprising was the pure desire to feel like life had possibility, that the future had potential...that impulse was behind another movement.

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Mar. 1, 2002

Somewhere in the Arabian Sea

Life aboard an aircraft carrier stationed in the Arabian Sea supporting bombing missions over Afghanistan.

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July 11, 2003

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All kinds of little stories that we ordinarily can't use on the radio show because they are just too short.

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This American Life is produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago and delivered to stations by PRX The Public Radio Exchange.

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