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684
September 27, 2019

Burn It Down

Stories of people who decide the only way forward — for real change — is to burn everything to the ground.

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Adam Maida

Note: The internet version of this episode contains un-beeped curse words. BEEPED VERSION.

Prologue

Prologue

The Amsterdam Fire Department has a very surprising sensitivity training video called “The Incident with the Helmet." (5 minutes)

By

Ira Glass
Act One

A Policeman Burns Down the Firehouse

A strongman gets hired to take over the Amsterdam Fire Department. He’s a career police officer named Leen Schaap who has zero firefighting experience. That does not go over so well. Joanna Kakissis reports the story. (42 minutes)

By

Joanna Kakissis

Song:

“Time For You to Go” by The Little Fuller Band
Act Two

Mom. Hey Mom. MOM. Hey Mom. Mom. Mom

A teenage girl decides the only way forward is to tear something down and rebuild from the ground up. Elna Baker explains. A version of this story appears on getmortified.com (8 minutes)

By

Elna Baker

Song:

“Rebel Girl” by Bikini Kill

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