We use cookies and other tracking technologies to enhance your browsing experience. If you continue to use our site, you agree to the use of such cookies. For more info, see our privacy policy.
Skip to main content

Hi. We love you. Be our Life Partner.

Support the show to get ad-free listening, bonus content, and our new Greatest Hits Archive.

Learn more
This American Life Partners logo
00:00
00:00
  • Transcript
  • Share
This American Life
  • Life Partners
  • How to Listen
  • Episodes
  • Recommended
  • About
    • Overview
    • Staff
    • Announcements
    • Fellowships
    • Jobs
    • Music
    • Make Radio
    • On The Road
    • FAQ
    • Submissions
    • Merch
    • Contact Us
    • Our Other Shows
  • Merch
  • Follow Us
  • Life Partners
Full episode
370: Ruining It for the Rest of Us
Act Three

Disturbing The Peace Train

  • Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe in Apple Podcasts
  • Transcript

There's this haven on the U.S. railroad—the Amtrak Quiet Car. You can't yammer on your cell phone in the Quiet Car, or yuck it up with your friends, or even talk above a murmur. For This American Life Producer Nancy Updike, who commutes between New York and Washington, D.C., it's bliss. But then Nancy began to notice that the more she rode the Quiet Car, the more she was becoming like an enforcer in a fascist fraternity. (8 minutes)

By

Nancy Updike

More in Funny

View all
639: In Dog We Trust
Feb. 23, 2018

Act One: The Youth In Asia

When a pet dies, to what degree can it be replaced by another? And to what degree can pets replace people in our lives? David Sedaris tells this story of cats and dogs and other animals.
590: Choosing Wrong
June 24, 2016

Act Three: Post-It Not

Comedian Kurt Braunohler makes a wrong choice, for his own amusement.
551: Good Guys 2015
Mar. 20, 2015

Act One: Takes One To Know One

Ben tries the good guy discount, to see if he can pull it off, as Ira tags along.

More by Nancy Updike

View all
718: Same Bed, Different Dreams (2020)
Sept. 25, 2020

Act One: Dream Weevil

Kim Jong-Il loved movies, but hated all the movies made in North Korea. So he kidnapped a famous South Korean director and his ex-wife—a South Korean film star—locked them up in a villa in North Korea, and forced them to make movies for him. Nancy Updike tells the story.
705: Time Out
May 22, 2020

Act Two: Dunk and Go Nuts

Producer Nancy Updike talks to her friend Mary Conway about the strangest-looking trophy she got in her years playing basketball.
674: Get a Spine!
May 10, 2019

Act One: Finally

We start with someone getting up the nerve to do something that really, it would be nice to see more often — an apology.
This American Life

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

  • How to Listen
  • Episodes
  • Recommended
  • About
    • Overview
    • Staff
    • Announcements
    • Fellowships
    • Jobs
    • Music
    • Make Radio
    • On The Road
    • FAQ
    • Submissions
    • Merch
    • Contact Us
    • Our Other Shows
  • Merch
  • Contact
  • Life Partners
  • Serial
  • S-Town
© 1995 - 2025 This American Life Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

Share

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email

Subscribe

  • on Spotify
  • in Apple Podcasts

Share

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email