Ira talks with comedian Rob Delany, who suffered the worst kind of loss a parent can endure — the death of his two-year-old son, Henry. Rob describes what his grief has been like and what he’s learned from it.

We hear a phone call from this week between Kirk Johnson in California, and Ajmal, a man standing in a canal outside the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.

For years, producer Lilly Sullivan has wondered what goes on beneath the surface in the mind of one of her good friends and co-workers, Diane. This week, she tries to get to the bottom of it. (11 minutes)This was the story director Greta Gerwig gave to Margot Robbie, while Robbie was trying to figure out how to play Barbie.

Pavan Bivigou writes about having sickle-cell anemia.

A woman’s dog has an unexpected reaction to the pandemic, and a mother has to re-think how to teach her son to drive.

Guest host Chana Joffe-Walt talks to a carpenter whose job output went from fixing doors to something more urgent in the last year. (9 minutes)

A beloved drawing goes missing from Mr. Ablao’s third grade classroom.

Host Ira Glass with the last piece in today’s show, inspired by the New York Times podcast, The Daily. (3 minutes)

Producer Sean Cole has, unfortunately, experienced something known as “cumulative grief” this year. He writes about the multiple upheavals he’s been dealing  with.

A state senator tries persuading his own constituents, from his own party, that the 2020 election was not stolen. (17 minutes)

Guest host Susan Burton watches videos of female legislators sharing very private stories.

At Sullivan High School in Chicago, being able to communicate is key. (5 minutes)

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.

Senior editor David Kestenbaum helps his kids set up an ant farm. They follow all the instructions, to the letter! But he ends up learning a lesson he’s pretty sure the manufacturer did not intend.

Producer Bim Adewunmi travels to the site in Minneapolis where George Floyd was murdered by a police officer. It’s become a huge, make-shift memorial, big enough to absorb the grief of all-comers who wish to pay homage.

We continue our story about three members of Warriors in the Garden. After a summer of protest, the Warriors have to figure out what to do when their activism draws the attention of the police. (25 minutes)

Brian and Peg disagree over a very important thing. Host Ira Glass tries to figure out who’s right.

Ira goes out birding with birder extraordinaire Noah Strycker, who tells the dramatic story of the bird that changed his life: the turkey vulture.

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

Station agent Moneta Lewis worked underground to shepherd disappearing commuters during the darkest days of the pandemic.

Sean Cole guest hosts.

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