gotta find a new place where the kids are hip

Sep 15

THANK YOU BABY JESUS.

Jul 4

This American Life Ep. 107: The Trail of Tears

One of my favorites. It’s gorgeous and HYSTERICAL.

For the July 4th holiday weekend, writer Sarah Vowell and her twin sister re-trace the “Trail of Tears” — the route their Cherokee ancestors took when expelled from their own land by President Andrew Jackson.

Apr 29

Ted: On Being Wrong (via Jess Hodge)

Beautiful. How being wrong is incredible if you “rediscover wonder” and the beauty of the moment when you think (she quotes Ira Glass) “I thought this one thing was gonna happen, but this other thing happened instead.”

( I also like how she sums up our views of people who don’t agree with us, we assume they’re 1. Ignorant. 2. Idiots 3. Evil.)

Mar 15

This American Life Episode 413: Georgia Rambler

In the 1970s a reporter named Charles Salter wrote a column for the Atlanta Journal called “Georgia Rambler.” He’d get into his car, head out to some small town, and ask around until he found a story. This week, nine of us go to Georgia to try it out for ourselves, in small towns all over the state.

One of my very favorite episodes of one of my favorite things on earth.

Mar 2

This American Life: 81 Words

The story of how the American Psychiatric Association decided in 1973 that homosexuality was no longer a mental illness.

1973 was only 38 years ago. That explains a lot. History shows that things can change, but getting rid of collective baggage takes a while.

Feb 2

“So then what you have to just tell people to just tell you stories. If you listen to our show carefully, you’ll hear me constantly coaching people: “And then what happened? And then what did he say? And what did you say? And what did she say?… It’s like what happens in therapy. And that’s what you’re going for, because at the heart of every story is some unresolved something expressed in scenes and images and characters. And then I’d cut away all the other stuff and then you’d have this perfect little gem, perfect little object.” Ira Glass (On making radio) Somehow This American Life manages to make everyone, from minutemen in the desert to anal academics seem like drinking buddy fodder.

Dec 18

subterraneans:

I think my disappointment in the DREAM Act being voted down outweighs my happiness about DADT.

Heartbroken about the DREAM Act. If you want to see the face of who this affects (it’s people you know) listen to the last story in This American Life, Episode 329: Nice Work if You can Get It.

Nov 21

My obsession with this show could probably spawn a TLC special. Thao wrote the funniest Christmas song to include a lyric about Type 2 diabetes.

Aug 26

“I try to make things fascinatinger.” Ira Glass, in this interview. (via jmmbb)

Aug 13

This American Life: 20 Acts in 60 Minutes

If you’ve never listened to This American Life, you should start with this episode full of 2-5 minute stories. You will be amused.

Feb 22

Man Loses Finger Listening to NPR's Radiolab

NPR causes drastic change. This American Life made me quit a summer cubicle job and move to NYC once. This guy lost his finger, that’s badass.

Dec 8

“There’s more, it gets worse. I always knew the Cherokee owned slaves, that they owned them in the east, and that they owned them in the west. Only in the course of this roadtrip did it occur to me that the slaves got to Indian territory in the same manner as their masters: on the Trail of Tears. Can you imagine? If being a slave wasn’t bad enough, to be a slave to a tortured Indian made to walk halfway across the continent?” Sarah Vowell
This American Life ep. 107 “The Trail of Tears” rediscovering her ancestor’s footsteps, in the meanwhile discovering the Chatanooga Choochoo and dancing on gravestones of dead enemies aka Andrew Jackson.

Dec 3

395: Middle of the Night

If you don’t know the hysteria and concrete humanity of The Moth, click. The 2nd act in this episode of This American Life is storytelling as it was meant to be, 5 minutes of sarcasm and poetry that pummels you in the jaw.

And the Chick-Fil-A segment makes life worth it. AMAZING.