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Act One: Texas Girl

Jo Carol Pierce released a CD, "Bad Girls Upset by the Truth," which documents in part her teenage years. Host Ira Glass shares a couple of songs from the CD and some of the stories behind them.

Act Two: Suburban Girl

Chicago writer/musician Rennie Sparks, a member of the independent band The Handsome Family, reads "Skanks," a story of a girl struggling in a situation where some rules are strict, but other rules are up for grabs.

Act Three: Good Girl

Producer/sound artist Gregory Whitehead presents his piece "This Mindless Thing." (7 minutes)
23: Drama Bug
May 10, 1996

Prologue

As high-school freshmen, Kim, Tiffany, and Laura were enamored of their fellow students who netted the leads in all the school plays. They're seniors now, and they're the ones landing all the lead roles.

Act Two: Lost In Yonkers

Host Ira Glass follows the last month of rehearsals of Oak Park and River Forest High School's production of Neil Simon's Lost In Yonkers.
18: Liars
Mar. 28, 1996

Act One: Lies

The story of a woman whose husband lies to her compulsively. At some point, she starts to ask him questions that'll make him lie to her, just to amuse herself.

Act Two: More Lies

A girl who adored her father tries to figure out what to think after he takes some of her college money and lies to her about it. Also, a woman whose fiancé runs up $10,000 in credit card charges on her Visa card and vanishes.
13: Love
Feb. 7, 1996

Act Two: Sex

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.
8: New Year
Jan. 3, 1996

Act One

Eighteen-year-old Claudia Perez takes Ira on a tour of her Chicago neighborhood and looks at what 1995 was like for her community.

Act Three

Claudia Perez returns to talk about her year from a more personal perspective.