Elena Kostyuchenko tells the story of how she was probably poisoned after reporting on Russian’s invasion of Ukraine, and how she kept not believing it was happening. Bela Shayevich translated this story from Russian and reads it for us. (21 minutes)We adapted this from an article in n+1 magazine.

For years there was a word that Val’s mother did not want to use.

Producer Valerie Kipnis follows a group of people who’ve just arrived at their new home, a tent shelter in the middle of nowhere. (11 minutes)Reporting help from Jika Gonzalez.

Nadia and Karen’s son, Luka, who most of these fights are about, gets the last word. (3 minutes)

At the announcement of New York City’s inaugural rat czar, we meet Darneice Foster, who despises the rats outside her apartment.

Some powerful and well known men lost their jobs after #MeToo. But what about the women at the center of all this who’ve been way less visible after they told what happened to them? We hear about big and small ways the aftermath of coming forward continues to pop up in their daily lives.

Valerie Kipnis tells Ira about riding the subway, shoulder-to-shoulder with someone she knows quite well, pretending she doesn’t see him.

Reporter Chenjerai Kumanyika visits Savannah, Georgia to learn about the city’s popular ghost tours. He’s heard the tourist attractions actually include the brutal reality of slavery.

Russian forces have besieged the town of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. Shelling is constant.

Valerie Kipnis tells Ira about how Russian soldiers in the war in Ukraine are making a huge decision in an unusual way: over a hotline.

Guest host Chana Joffe-Walt talks to students stuck in a fight between their parents and their principal. (9 minutes)

Valerie Kipnis tells the story of 12-year-old Ilya, a Ukrainian refugee eager to figure out whether his hometown can still feel like home. He and his family return to Mariupol, a city badly damaged in the war, and now under Russian control.