What does “thank you” actually look like? And who gets one? For Flato Alexander and other essential workers, all sorts of symbols that hadn’t bothered them much before suddenly became unbearable.

A stranger moves to Pawlet, Vermont. At first, his neighbors aren’t sure exactly what to make of him.

The discovery of 30 century-old postcards written in old Yiddish by a distant family member challenges David Kestenbaum’s ideas about the unimportance of blood ties.

Producer Lilly Sullivan talks trash with writer Rachel Connolly about people neither of them know.

In the summer of 2006, an FBI official visited a mosque in Orange County, California. His intention was to reassure the community that they weren't being spied on.

Host Ira Glass goes to a block in New York City where, over a year into the pandemic, neighbors are still clapping for health care workers every night at 7 p.m. (7 minutes)

When Neena Pathak found out she had a fibroid, it didn’t seem so bad. But then it got bigger, more uncomfortable, bloodier… and she had to decide if she was going to have to get surgery to get it removed.

Producer Bim Adewunmi on a decades-long political battle in Florida — between the incumbent state bird and the challenger that threatens to knock it off its perch.

Host Ira Glass talks to Eyal Levin, who says his neighbor has been propagating a lie for years about one of the most contentious issues in New York: street parking.

Nancy Updike tells the story of the phone call from the prologue.

Host Ira Glass talks to writer Mitchell S.

One of the 590,000 casualties of U.S. Covid-19 this year was Leiah Danielle Jones.

When you need to retrieve all manner of treasures secured behind steel doors and complex locks, there’s one man you can count on: safecracker Dave McOmie.

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.

Producer Elna Baker’s mom doles out some very harsh feedback for her daughter, which goes unnoticed for ten years. (14 minutes)

Host Ira Glass talks to producer Elna Baker about the time she and her siblings found themselves trapped in a hotel room with an unexpected visitor. (13 minutes)

Ira tells three stories about the ghosts captured whenever you record sound. (10 minutes)Michèle Dawson Haber wrote about hearing her father’s voice on tape as a Modern Love column "Hearing His Voice Changed Everything," in The New York Times.

Because the U.S. doesn’t usually prosecute anyone under 18 for the crime of smuggling people illegally across the border from Mexico, tons of teenagers do it, for money. Reporter Kevin Sieff spent months talking to some of them.

Shamyla always loved books. Like lots of other eleven-year-olds back in 1989, she loved The Babysitters Club.

Reporter Anna Maria Barry-Jester tells the story of two public health officials in Santa Cruz County, California, whose lives have been completely upended by threats and harassment over the past year. (20 minutes)This story is a collaboration with Kaiser Health News. You can read their version here.

For more than fifty years, Jeanne Darst’s dad neglected to tell his entire family about their entire family. (13 minutes)

Fewer than 40 million Americans have gotten the vaccine so far, which leaves a lot of people jealous and wondering what happens inside those little rooms.

In families with sisters, every sister has their role to play. And whatever your role is, it sort of becomes your identity: the sweet one, the diva, the rebel.