San Francisco’s Spider-Man burglar was remarkable. He dropped into buildings from skylights, leapt 10 feet from one roof to another. But mostly, his talent got him into trouble. This week, his story, and stories of other undesirable talents.
Prologue
Ira talks to Biba Struja – a Serbian man who says that when he was in high school, he discovered that he seemed to have a high resistance to electricity. It’s a power that he’s utilized, but is mostly a curse. Biba is the subject of the documentary Battery Man. (5 minutes)
Climb Spree
Uganda Be Kidding Me
Disbarred
Wendy Whelan was a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet until 2014. She explains an undesirable side of having an incredible talent. If you’re an athlete or dancer, you have to give it up while you’re still pretty young. This is an excerpt of a documentary called A Dancer Dies Twice, produced by Eleanor Mcdowall. It was originally a Falling Tree Production for BBC Radio Four.
Related
Act One: My Life With The Thrill Kill Cult
Act One: Say It Ain't So, Joe
Act Three: There Owes the Neighborhood
Staff Recommendations
The Giant Pool of Money
The surprisingly entertaining story of how the U.S. got itself into a housing crisis.
Kindness of Strangers
A locksmith tells the story of an act of kindness he committed, hoping for a small reward. That, and other stories of kindness in New York City.