Favorite Scenes
from "This American Life"
A Description from TAL...
One of the problems with our
show from the start has been that whenever we try
to describe it in a sentence or two, it sounds
awful. It's a bunch of stories -- some are
documentaries, some are fiction, some are
something else. Each week we choose a theme and
invite different writers and performers to
contribute items on the theme. This doesn't sound
like something we'd want to listen to on the radio
-- and it's our show.
In the early days of the show,
in frustration, we'd sometimes tell public radio
program directors that it's basically just like
Car Talk. Except just one guy hosting. And no
cars.
It's a weekly show. It's an
hour. Its mission is to document everyday life in
this country. We sometimes think of it as a
documentary show for people who normally hate
documentaries. A public radio show for people who
don't necessarily care for public radio.
In Real Audio
Allure
of Crime
July 23, 1999
Episode 135
We think of crime as a kind of monolithic,
menacing presence. But there are many kinds of crimes, and
many kinds of criminals. Through our crimes, we express who
we are. Today we hear of three different criminals and three
different kinds of crimes.
Prologue. A survey of local crime
blotters from the Anacortes American (by John Bauer; thanks
also to Gail Mann and Duncan Frazier) in Anacortes,
Washington; the Pueblo Chieftain (by Juan Espinosa) in
Pueblo, Colorado; and the Athens Daily News (by Ben Deck,
Stephen Gurr and Joan Stroer; thanks also to Jim Thompson
and Greg Martin) in Athens, Georgia. Actor Matt Malloy
reads. (5 minutes)
Act One. Your Good Girl's Gonna Go
Bad. When she was 21, Julia Sweeney got a job as a
bartender's assistant and stole between ten and fifteen
thousand dollars in cash. She describes the thrill of
stealing, and how she justified her thefts to herself, and
-- oddest of all -- how she became a more religious Roman
Catholic during her crime spree. Julia Sweeney's an actress
and writer, a former cast member at Saturday Night Live; and
star of her autobiographical movie God Said Ha!. (14
minutes)
Act Two. You'll pay. Some criminals
do not see themselves as basically good people getting away
with something bad. Some people do not believe god is on
their side when they commit their crimes. We have this story
from reporter Marilyn Snell about a bankrobber who now lives
in Oakland, California. (17 minutes)
Crime Blotter Redux. We hear more
crime blotter readings from around the nation, read by actor
Matt Malloy. (3 minutes)
Act Three. Grandma Takes a Fall. No
one knows how much theft is committed each year by senior
citizens. One study found that seniors comprise 15 percent
of people apprehended for shoplifting. Seniors of course,
tend to be poorer than other Americans, but counselors who
work with senior shoplifters say that many of them aren't
stealing out of need. About half of senior shoplifters have
stolen all their lives. Documentary filmmaker Jean Finley
talks with an elderly shoplifter to find out why. (15
minutes)
_______________
We
Didn't
July 12, 1999
Episode 134
Stories about what happens when we don't
do something. It turns out that not falling in love, not
doing our jobs, not spending time with our families is every
bit as vivid and complicated an experience as doing
something.
Prologue. Ira reads a very brief
excerpt from a short story from writer Stuart Dybek called
We Didn't. Dybek fills 11 pages, thousands of words,
describing all the things two people do when they're not
doing something. (3 minutes) We Didn't appears in The Best
American Short Stories: 1994.
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. Lawrence, and chronicles all the things that keep
him from ever starting. This, he says, is how most of us
lead our lives: avoiding the things we think we should be
doing. This is an excerpt from his book called Out
of Sheer Rage: Wrestling with D.H. Lawrence. (16
minutes)
Act Two. Dance. What do we do when
we're not doing something? Not writing a book, not doing our
jobs, not falling in love? Sometimes we just feel
self-conscious. Sometimes we spend a lot of time explaining
ourselves. Sometimes both. Danny Hoch demonstrates, in this
monologue from his one person show, Jails, Hospitals and Hip
Hop. His show is available on CD and in a book; you can get
the book
at Amazon.com. and the CD
from his website. (8 minutes)
Act Three. Same Time Next Year.
This is a story of a couple that didn't fall in love, didn't
get together, didn't form a future. And then -- coincidence
and fate kick in ... confusingly. (10 minutes)
Act Four. Saying No For 75 Years.
Journalist Steve Bogira tells the story of Vincent Bogan,
who said "no" to something once -- a decade ago
when he was 21 -- and now has to live with that one decisive
act. Bogan was arrested and charged with 17 counts of armed
robbery. He was offered a 25 year sentence if he pled guilty
to all 17 counts. But he refused this plea bargain
arrangement. He ended up losing four cases, sentenced to 75
years in prison. Partly this is a story about what he says
about that one decision he made, a decade ago, to refuse the
plea bargain. Partly it's about how the courts punish people
who decide to go to trial -- tying up the courts -- with
sentences of extra severity. (19 minutes)
©
This American Life 2000. All rights reserved.
Links:
http://www.thislife.org/
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