From the ages of 12 to 27, our producer Elna Baker was supposed to confess to male clergy anytime she did anything sexual. It was so routine for her that she barely thought to talk about it.

What one professor saw in voter registrations that others didn’t.

A bunch of high school students gets taken to see a movie that’s supposed to teach them about history. But they end up learning about a lot of other stuff instead.

When a pet dies, to what degree can it be replaced by another? And to what degree can pets replace people in our lives? David Sedaris tells this story of cats and dogs and other animals.

Beals is running against six other candidates, many of whom say they, too, are progressive. Beals disagrees.

Medical Examiner D.J. Drakovic, in Pontiac Michigan, explains how every crime scene is like a novel.

Shalom Auslander reads his true story, "The Blessing Bee." It's about the time when, as a third-grader at an Orthodox Jewish school, Shalom saw his chance to both make his mom proud, and push his drunken father out of the picture. Part of his scheme involved winning the school's bee on the complicated Hebrew blessings you say before eating certain foods.

Sometimes criminals return to the scene of their misdeeds — to try to make things right, to try to undo the past. Katie Davis reports on her neighbor Bobby, who returned to the scene where he robbed people and conned people. This time, he came to coach little league.

Host Ira Glass on the weird news vortex of the past week. (3 minutes)

Elna Baker interviews comedian Michelle Buteau about one of her first big romantic challenges.

A famous YouTuber gets harassed on the internet—no surprise there. What is surprising is who winds up harassing her, and what she does about it.

Eric Mennel tells the story of one church planter, Watson Jones, who sets out on his mission to build a new church in a very challenging setting.

Heather and her girlfriend lived with a cat named Sid. The girlfriend showed all sorts of affection toward Sid that she never showed toward Heather.

  

When Onnesha asks Don for a raise, he asks her a weird question.

The government shuts down, and Flake tries to get the senate to ignore what the White House wants. Unsuccessfully.

A group of refugees who are stuck in debt, see a way out. But there’s a catch.

Ira Glass reads a favorite passage from the writing of the recently deceased poet Donald Hall.

Miki Meek tells the story of an unlikely alliance between an ICE agent and a group of undocumented immigrants. (34 minutes)

When writer Mariya Karimjee was a kid in Pakistan she heard about this elaborate ceremony at the border with India where soldiers on both sides performed perfectly synchronized sky-high kicks and steps. But she went to visit and it was not what she expected.