Act Two: Look For The Union Label
A father and daughter (Adrian LeBlanc and his daughter Adrian Le Blanc) decide to write his obituary—together—not really thinking very seriously at first about the real meaning of what they were doing.
Act Two: Agent To The Stars
Writer John Hodgman in New York tells the story of how he dreamt of getting to know the B-movie star Bruce Campbell, and how his unlikely dream accidentally came true, partly to his delight, partly to his horror.
Act Two: You Know What Mr Bear Would Say
A truly remarkable children's book just came back in print: The Lonely Doll, by Dare Wright. Jean Nathan tells the story of the book and its author, and how the author's life came to resemble something from her book.
Prologue
Host Ira Glass talks with Stephen Nissenbaum, author of a history called The Battle for Christmas, which explains when people started believing in a Santa who arrives Christmas Eve carrying presents. It was in 1822, and incredibly, the poem that created our modern idea of Santa is still around, known by heart by tens of millions.
Act Two: Look For The Union Label
A father and daughter (Adrian LeBlank and his daughter Adrian Le Blank) decide to write his obituary—together—not really thinking very seriously at first about the real meaning of what they were doing.
Act Three: Able To Leap Tall Buildings
The publisher of the zine Infiltration talks about the pleasure and importance of going behind the scenes of everyday life.
Act One: You Come And Go, The Waiters Remain
This story is part memoir, part philosophical inquiry into the nature of not doing things. Writer Geoff Dyer had always wanted to write a biography about D.H.
Act Two: How To Be A Man
Writer Sarah Miller attends a class on how to walk and talk and act like a man. It's not easy.
Act Eleven: Self-Made Wacky
Ira talks with Maria, who took out a personals ad in the Chicago Reader advertising herself as "wacky and warm." (5 minutes)
Act Two: Mama, Can You Hear Me?
In which Dan Savage, who makes his living writing a nationally syndicated sex advice column, admits that there's one group of people he does not want to discuss sex with. Ever.
Act Four: Nom De Plume, Nom De Guerre
How a guy named Tom became Camden Joy — and what he gained and what he lost. With Sarah Vowell.
Prologue
Ira with an expert in medieval manuscripts, Sandy Hindman.
Act One: Dangerous Minds
LuAnne Johnson is a teacher who sold her story to Hollywood and saw it made into the film and TV series Dangerous Minds, in which a character named LuAnne Johnson does things the real LuAnne believes are unethical and silly.
Prologue
Ira talks about one of the purest expressions of ordinary folks' desire to be detectives: a child's detective notebook — full of information, secret codes, cases, and an application to become an FBI agent.
Prologue
Evan Harris was entrenched in her life, stalled and going nowhere both personally and professionally. A silly conversation with a co-worker about the letter "Q" led her to start a magazine called Quitter Quarterly. That one conversation changed her life completely.
Act Two
A story about Christmas at Juvenile Court by Chicago novelist/editor Reginald Gibbons.