The Middle of Nowhere

#253 - 5 December 2003

Stories from faraway, hard-to-get-to places, where all rules are off, nefarious things happen because no one's looking, and there's no one to appeal to.

Poultry Slam 2003

#252 - 28 November 2003

During the period of the year with the highest turkey consumption, we bring you an annual This American Life tradition: Stories of turkeys, chickens, geese, ducks, fowl of all kinds, real and imagined, and their mysterious hold over us.

Brother's Keeper

#251 - 21 November 2003

Biblical fables ripped from today's headlines. In his ongoing effort to write his own version of the Bible, Jonathan Goldstein retells the story of Cain and Abel. Finally we hear Cain's side of the story. Plus: neighbors in a small town in Illinois wonder if they could have stepped in—as their neighbors' keepers—to prevent a brutal triple murder.

The Annoying Gap Between Theory...and Practice

#250 - 7 November 2003

Why is it always harder than you think it'll be? We explore several case examples of the annoying gap between theory and practice.

Garbage

#249 - 31 October 2003

We make what's usually invisible, visible: the world of trash. We follow the trash from the sanitation men on the street, to the mob guys who controlled the hauling business, to the people who actually live in dumps.

Like It or Not

#248 - 24 October 2003

Some stories we make happen, others happen to us. Extremes from the latter category, where people let things happen to them and don't act, even when maybe they should. David Rakoff guest hosts.

What Is This Thing?

#247 - 19 September 2003

What is this thing? This thing called love, that is. For answers, we explore the romance novel industry, a $1.5 billion empire run almost entirely by and for women. Plus, relearning the rules of romance from the other side of the gender line. And Sarah Vowell tells the story of the Greatest Romance of the 20th Century.

My Pen Pal

#246 - 12 September 2003

Stories of very unusual pen pals, people whose relationship could not exist without the help of the postal service.

Allure of the Mean Friend

#245 - 5 September 2003

What is it about them, our mean friends? They treat us badly, they don't call us back, they cancel plans at the last minute, and yet we come back for more. Popular bullies exist in business, politics, everywhere. How do they stay so popular?

MacGyver

#244 - 15 August 2003

In real life, we usually never get to invent ingenious solutions, like the guy in the old TV series MacGyver. Today, four real stories in which real people invent amazingly clever solutions to their problems.