March 7, 2003

Starting from Scratch

Stories of people starting over, sometimes because they want to, other times because they have to.

Prologue

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Host Ira Glass talks to Jorge Just, who thought he'd started over successfully. He'd moved to New York, found an apartment that everyone told him was a great deal, things were looking good. Then a reality television show visited his building. (8 minutes)

Act One

Puppy Love, the Business Model

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Molly FitzSimons

Molly FitzSimons tells the story of her father starting over. After 25 years in the same zip code, as an executive in the same company, he moved to Los Angeles and tried to start over in a new life with a new venture: A cable channel, with no people, no talking, no plots, but lots and lots of puppies. It's now on the web: www.thepuppychannel.com. (15 minutes)

Song:

“Nothing from Nothing” by Billy Preston

Act Two

Making Money The Old Fashioned Way

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Mary Beth Kirchner

Mary Beth Kirchner documents one day in the life of a hustler named Joe, who wakes up every morning broke, hustles as much as $10,000 during the day and then loses most of it by the time he goes to bed. What it's like to start from scratch every day of your life. Some of the funding for this story came from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's Radio Fund. (18 minutes)

Act Three

The First Starting From Scratch

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Jonathan Goldstein

Jonathan Goldstein reads a story about the first people to ever start from scratch, a couple named Adam and Eve. Jonathan Goldstein is the author of the book I'll Seize The Day Tomorrow and host of the CBC radio show WireTap. (14 minutes)

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