This American Life
@thisamericanlife.org
Each week we choose a theme. Then anything can happen. A weekly public radio show and podcast hosted by Ira Glass.
Valerie never felt inside the jokes and stories her family would tell about growing up in the Soviet Union, until she saw this year's Oscar-winning documentary, "Mr. Nobody Against Putin." She talks to the teacher at the center of the film.
I Couldn't Help but Notice
People dealing with new, glaring, massive changes happening right where they live. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription. Prologue: Rick Cole, a city counci...
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29 days after her local hospital shut down its birthing unit, Katie's home birth went wrong in rural Maine. Her doctor had to improvise fast, with no labor and delivery unit left to call. link.podtrac.com/ph7ko7bw
I Couldn't Help but Notice
People dealing with new, glaring, massive changes happening right where they live. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription. Prologue: Rick Cole, a city counci...
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Rick Cole, a city councilmember in Pasadena, CA, talks to Ira about how he responded to a surprise nighttime military exercise in his neighborhood – complete with helicopters, gunfire, and flash bangs.
I Couldn't Help but Notice
People dealing with new, glaring, massive changes happening right where they live. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription. Prologue: Rick Cole, a city counci...
link.podtrac.com
Bonus episode: We weren't sure about this one. By the end we were like "Wait, that was amazing." Featuring Diane Wu, who makes Ira cry. Subscribe to hear it.
This American Life Partners
Life Partners are essential to funding This American Life. You’ll listen ad-free, get regular bonus episodes, and more. Most importantly, you’ll help make sure the show stays in production, making the...
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"This is not something that brings about workplace harmony." link.podtrac.com/iyht3kjx
Revisit the all-time best thread ever posted on Bluesky by @musicologyduck.bsky.social but stay for the story about the “spy who lived next door.” This is the best episode of This American Life I’ve listened to in a long time. 🎧
This American Life@thisamericanlife.org · 2w ago"Instead of counting how many hours a day the power is cut, we count how long it's back on." A dispatch from Cuba on rationing food, fighting flies, and life on just a few hours of power a day. link.podtrac.com/l61yg6q6
Pete Hegseth has ordered everyone over 30 in the military to have their testosterone tested. That inspired us to rerun this classic episode where everyone on *our* staff tested their testosterone and compared results. It did not lead to workplace harmony. link.podtrac.com/iyht3kjx
Testosterone
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered everyone over 30 in the military to have their testosterone tested. That inspired us to rerun this classic episode where everyone at This American Life teste...
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😬 🍎 Hear the whole story: www.thisamericanlife.org/892/trapped-...
A beloved tree in England, more than 100 years old, is mysteriously cut down overnight, leaving the country bereft and enraged and out for justice. www.thisamericanlife.org/892/trapped-...
A woman boards her regular bus from New York to DC. She wakes up from a nap to find the driver has another destination in mind. link.podtrac.com/l61yg6q6
Trapped on a Bus
People on journeys they did not intend! Or agree to! Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription. Prologue: A woman on a nighttime bus ride wakes up to discover t...
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"Instead of counting how many hours a day the power is cut, we count how long it's back on." A dispatch from Cuba on rationing food, fighting flies, and life on just a few hours of power a day. link.podtrac.com/l61yg6q6
Trapped on a Bus
People on journeys they did not intend! Or agree to! Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription. Prologue: A woman on a nighttime bus ride wakes up to discover t...
link.podtrac.com
The government set out to prove that Antifa is real, in the first federal case charging people with material support to terrorists for their involvement. link.podtrac.com/a2cz4psl
Months ago, an ICE attorney who trained new recruits told us he was worried about what the poor training they were receiving would lead to. This week, a new recruit shot a man in Maine. www.thisamericanlife.org/give-a-littl...
Some people think Antifa is a domestic terror organization. Others think that’s a myth. On our show this week, Zoe Chace goes to the federal trial where, for the first time, the government sets out to prove that Antifa is real.
The Test Case
Some people in this country think Antifa is a dangerous domestic terror organization. Some think that’s a complete myth. This week we go to the federal trial where, for the first time, the government...
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Just one of the stories in our newest episode, "Maximal Americanness" www.thisamericanlife.org/890/maximal-...
Sarah Vowell has a theory that you can tell the entire history of the United States by standing on one street corner—Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive in Chicago.
Four Corners
We try to tell the story of life in America through portraits of life on four different corners, in four different states across the nation. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for ou...
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This week, we try to tell the story of life in America through portraits of life on four different corners, in four different states across the nation.
Four Corners
We try to tell the story of life in America through portraits of life on four different corners, in four different states across the nation. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for ou...
link.podtrac.com
How do you get a message out of a detention center? At an ICE facility in San Diego, detainees figured it out — bottles with notes taped on, thrown over 90 feet of wall. Listen: bit.ly/3SlDINf
A man detained at Otay Mesa threw a lotion bottle with a note attached over two razor wire fences. The shortest distance it had to travel: 90 feet. His note said he’d been stuck inside for months, and the people detained inside are constantly sick.
There’s Something About Hail Mary
We spend an hour in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter, behind and desperate, with people trying any damn thing they can think of. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our ...
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Two lawyers have just 12 weeks to stop their client's execution in Texas, where appeals like this fail 94% of the time. link.podtrac.com/p0gy8au4 You'll hear part of this story on our show this week. It's from "The Last 12 Weeks," the new podcast from @serialproductions.bsky.social.
At the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, migrants figured out an ingenious way to communicate with the activists gathered outside of the detention center’s walls.
There’s Something About Hail Mary
We spend an hour in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter, behind and desperate, with people trying any damn thing they can think of. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our ...
link.podtrac.com
In the 1960s, a TV repairman saw an opportunity to help people cheat death with cryonics. But freezing dead people isn’t easy. And apologizing for the mistakes made along the way? Even harder. link.podtrac.com/htdxo9zz
Bonus episode: Ira plays three stories by Alex Chadwick, who he looked up to back in his twenties when he was trying to figure out how to make radio. Subscribe to hear the full episode: bit.ly/4vIKF9s
Hi it’s me I made you a story about bureaucracy that’s also wild and also maybe a good listen? I hope so!
This American Life@thisamericanlife.org · 2mo agoA Social Security Administration veteran was asked by DOGE to declare 2.7 million people dead. The problem is, they were alive. Find out what he did on our show this week. link.podtrac.com/6cxk5300
A 25-year Social Security Administration veteran got called to a secret meeting with DOGE. They asked him to declare 6,000 people dead, with no proof that they had died. He said no. Then the list grew to 2.7 million. link.podtrac.com/6cxk5300
Not Today, Hades!
Regular people trapped inside Greek myths. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription. Prologue: When a mysterious, ripped-open package arrives on Pablo's doorst...
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Writer Daniel Alarcón got the assignment of a lifetime: to profile Lionel Messi for a magazine. He was sure they would just *get* each other. He waited 8 hours, sweating through his shirt, to find out if he was right. link.podtrac.com/6cxk5300
Not Today, Hades!
Regular people trapped inside Greek myths. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription. Prologue: When a mysterious, ripped-open package arrives on Pablo's doorst...
link.podtrac.com
A Social Security Administration veteran was asked by DOGE to declare 2.7 million people dead. The problem is, they were alive. Find out what he did on our show this week. link.podtrac.com/6cxk5300
A DC reporter found a box of art supplies on his stoop and decided, with zero experience, that he would become the official oil painter of Washington. It did not go exactly as planned. link.podtrac.com/6cxk5300
Not Today, Hades!
Regular people trapped inside Greek myths. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription. Prologue: When a mysterious, ripped-open package arrives on Pablo's doorst...
link.podtrac.com