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Prologue
Host Ira Glass explores a self-help cassette tape that promises to bring the listener peace about being single. The only problem is that it achieves this by having you envision your perfect romantic partner. (13 minutes)
Yearning
Artist Julie Laffin talks about the inspiration for her "kissing projects." Jessica Yu's film Breathing Lessons is about Mark O'Brien, a man using an "iron lung." In this excerpt, Mark talks about the yearning he tries to quell through the use of sex surrogates. Poet Luis Rodriguez reads his poem "Waiting." Writer Dolores Wilbur tells a story of wanting love. (20 minutes)
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. (15 minutes)
A Wedding
Ira describes a wedding held in the dingy basement room of the City of Chicago's Marriage Court. (10 minutes)
Related
Act One: Travels in Hyperreality
Act Two: Age Of Consent
Act One: D-u-why?!
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A family where the father was one kind of sissy and the son was another kind, and how the family was destroyed despite the fact that no one wanted it to be.
The Night in Question
Conspiracy theories about the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin continue to shape Israel's politics and future.