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747
September 10, 2021

Suitable for Children

Who thought that would be good for a kid?

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  • Transcript

The Tire Zoo

This is an updated version of an episode from 2017.

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

Prologue

Prologue

Ira remembers the time when his older sister, Randi, asked his mother where babies come from. (3 minutes)

By

Ira Glass
Act One

Stars & Bars & Bars

Producer Neil Drumming talks with the rapper Breeze Brewin about a toy car they both loved playing with as kids: The General Lee from the hit TV show The Dukes of Hazzard. Breeze went on to record a song called “Generally” about The General Lee with his group the Juggaknots. (11 minutes)

By

Neil Drumming

Song:

“Waiting for the Robert E. Lee” by Dean Martin
Act Two

History is Not a Toy

There’s a museum in Baltimore that was created to memorialize the Black experience in America. It’s called The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum. Our producer B.A. Parker went there as a kid, and its straightforward and sometimes disturbing look at history stuck with her. So she went back. (14 minutes)

By

B.A. Parker
Act Three

Take Your Kid to Work Day

A boy rides shotgun in a memorable car ride with his mother, and in the process learns how his father earns money for their family. This story appears in Domingo Martinez’s memoir, The Boy Kings of Texas, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. (16 minutes)

By

Domingo Martinez
Act Four

Rocket Boy

Paul Zimmer at 83 years old is still haunted by something he saw in his teens. Something very few Americans have ever seen: The explosion of an atomic bomb. Paul’s essay originally appeared in The Georgia Review. It is read by actor John Conlee. (6 minutes)

Song:

“Kids” by Mikky Ekko

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