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.

Later That Same Day

#243 - 25 July 2003

Stories about what the passage of time can do to someone. When each story starts, the world's aligned one way. Years pass—or sometimes just months—and everything's different.

Enemy Camp

#242 - 18 July 2003

Living behind enemy lines among the enemy, it's sometimes hard to remember why you're fighting in the first place.

20 Acts in 60 Minutes

#241 - 11 July 2003

Instead of the usual "each week we choose a theme, and bring you 3 or 4 stories on that theme" business, we throw all that away and bring you 20 stories—yes, 20—in 60 minutes.

I'm In Charge Now

#240 - 20 June 2003

Stories of people putting themselves in charge in very unlikely, unpromising circumstances.

Lost in America

#239 - 6 June 2003

Stories of people who are lost, histories that are lost, and things that are lost. This show was recorded onstage in front of audiences on a five-city tour in May 2003. The cities: Boston, Washington DC, Portland Oregon, Denver and Chicago. Featuring house band OK Go.

Lost in Translation

#238 - 30 May 2003

Stories of what can and cannot be translated. A short, non-athletic, bespectacled East Asian studies major who couldn't make his high school basketball team finds himself in the NBA as the personal translator for the first-ever Chinese pro basketball superstar, Yao Ming. Plus, a Palestinian man teaches Hebrew classes in the Gaza strip to Palestinians eager to learn news from the other side of the checkpoint.

Regime Change

#237 - 18 April 2003

Sure, John Kerry got in trouble for using the phrase, but we have no fear. Because we know that regime change, like charity, begins at home. This week: Stories of regime change in everyday life—people switching jobs, people switching families, businesses dying and new ones starting in their place.