Clara’s anesthesia is not working.

Ira's good friend Mary Ahearn died this week. She was thirty years older than him...so, decidedly more grown-up than he.

Michael Ventura, who grew up Sicilian in New York, says that as a kid he thought Sinatra was in his family. His book The Death of Frank Sinatra is not really about Sinatra.

Nubar Alexanian was forced to give up one thing—and then gave up another thing by choice. This story was put together by Nubar and his daughter Abby, with help from Jay Allison, for Transom.org, with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Earlier this year, admitted drug user Jorge Cruz decided to act as his own lawyer in an Albany, New York criminal court. Impossibly, he won.

Sara was raised in a fancy suburban neighborhood with strict parents who liked to flaunt their wealth—with his and hers Porsches, for instance. But when Sara was 12, her mother and father sat her down in the den with her siblings, and told them that their father had done a terrible thing, and their lives were about to change forever.

David Iserson tried to lay low in junior high, staying out of sight to keep from getting teased and bullied. But then he starred in a local TV commercial for his father's furniture store, and all of a sudden everyone knew about him...in a bad way.

Sarah Vowell examines what happens when TV takes on a subject it really has no business exploring at all, but seems fairly obsessed with nonetheless: The Pilgrims. Sarah's most recent book is Assassination Vacation.

Louann Mims, a 78-year-old retiree, planned to leave her New Orleans house before the floodwaters rose, but then the water came rushing in and she was trapped in her house for eight days on the only thing that would float: her extra firm Sterns and Foster mattress. Ms.

Writer Alexa Junge tells about the time when she was thirteen and she decided to have a "grown-up" conversation with her beloved grandmother.

Nubar Alexanian was forced to give up one thing—and then gave up another thing by choice. This story was put together by Nubar and his daughter Abby, with help from Jay Allison, for Transom.org, with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Faron Yoder lives in Amish country in Indiana. When he was a teenager, like every Amish sixteen-year-old, Faron was allowed to abandon the restrictions of Amish life and live as a regular American teenager.

Former South African political prisoner Breyten Breytenbach, on how prison changes all your perceptions in ways that last after you've been released. The painter and poet was interviewed by New Yorker writer Lawrence Weschler for a radio series called Territories of Art, for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles in 1986.

An interracial couple takes a plantation tour.

Audio artist Gregory Whitehead weaves a story of sexual discovery. And This American Life producer Nancy Updike makes an odd discovery about condom use ... or the lack thereof.

A story about Christmas at Juvenile Court by Chicago novelist/editor Reginald Gibbons.

Ira Glass talks with producer Lilly Sullivan about a story she heard growing up about men messing with a girl’s mind. Lilly can relate. (9 minutes)

Jerry Nadler and other democrats in the House Judiciary Committee were anticipating their first major public appearance – and show of power – since winning back the house in November. As Nadler and his staff prepared to get some answers from then-acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker about his role and conduct as interim AG, producer Zoe Chace follows them behind the scenes for weeks in the run-up to the hearing, to see if their strategies work, or don’t.

A teenage girl decides the only way forward is to tear something down and rebuild from the ground up. Elna Baker explains.

The story of someone stuck in a difficult situation, from Etgar Keret. (8 minutes)This was read for us in English translation by actor Michael Chernus.

We found out about a patient from a recording made by young doctor named Stan Linder. Producer Emanuele Berry put this together.

Writer Emily Flake’s young daughter tries to make up her mind about whether or not she has a crush on a boy in her class.

Rob and Reyna Mathis go house hunting with their family in Muskegon, Michigan. What they find in a police officer’s home prompts an upsetting debate.

A man tries something he’s never done before and discovers a new passion. A work of short fiction written by Neil Drumming and read by actor Dorian Missick.