Three stories about people who decide to try out a new life—the kind of life their parents never wanted for them.
Prologue
How does a person who's not gay convince herself that she is for two years? Host Ira Glass talks to one of the show's contributing editors, Nancy Updike, about her two-year stint believing she was a lesbian, even though she was not attracted to women. (7 minutes)
That's Funny, You Don't Look Jewish
Chaim and Billy both lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, just blocks away from each other, in worlds that almost never collided. Chaim was a Hasidic Jew—he'd never heard pop music or watched MTV. Billy Campion, known as the rocker Vic Thrill, was the star of an underground band. Billy put Chaim, who took on the name Curly Oxide, into the band, and in just one year, he leapt from the 19th century into the 21st. David Segal, rock critic for the Washington Post, reports. (39 minutes)
Song:
Miami Vices
A nice Florida girl changes high schools and takes the opportunity to try on a new personality...the slutty kind. Sascha Rothchild reads from her own teenage diary. Her story was first recorded for Mortified, a stage show in Los Angeles produced by David Nadelberg. Its website: getmortified.com. (8 minutes)
Related
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Act One: The Chasm Between Comedy And Music
Why is it that karaoke machines only have songs on them? If what they do is take a version of a public performance and allow the rest of us to give our own interpretations of the material, why aren't there other options, like the "you talkin to me?" scene from Taxi Driver, or Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.
Commandment Seven: You Shall Not Commit Adultery
In the book of Matthew, Jesus says that looking lustfully at a woman is like committing adultery in your heart.
Act Two: Brothers Of Different Mothers
In this act we hear two stories of people who stumbled upon a place where they instantly and instinctively felt more at home than in their real homes.
Staff Recommendations
What Happened at Dos Erres
A Guatemalan immigrant living near Boston gets a phone call with some very strange news about his past.
The Night in Question
Conspiracy theories about the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin continue to shape Israel's politics and future.
