Lockup

#119 - 8 January 1999

With the number of prisoners in the United States rising rapidly, we present stories of their lives and the lives of their families and children.

What You Lookin' At?

#118 - 18 December 1998

Stories about seeing and being seen. Taped before a live audience in Town Hall in New York City in December 1998, this was a co-production with WNYC New York, featuring live music by the pop band They Might Be Giants and the This American Life Orchestra.

You Gonna Eat That?

#117 - 11 December 1998

The family table is stage on which many family dramas are played out. We hear three stories...of three families...at three meals.

Poultry Slam 1998

#116 - 27 November 1998

For Thanksgiving, the time of year when poultry consumption is highest, it's our annual program about turkeys, chickens, and fowl of all types.

First Day

#115 - 13 November 1998

Stories of the first day on the job, the first day in a relationship, the first day in school. On the first day, any first day, we're expected to live by the rules and customs of the culture we're entering, but we don't know those rules and customs just yet.

Last Words

#114 - 23 October 1998

Stories of people's last words before death. Their one last shot at figuring things out, summing things up. One last moment of asserting the fact of our existence, at the moment of our annihilation.

Windfall

#113 - 16 October 1998

What happens when you suddenly strike it rich. And the power money has over our lives, for good and bad.

Ladies and Germs

#112 - 2 October 1998

Germs, and how they make us leave the world of rational thinking.

Adventures in the Simple Life

#111 - 11 September 1998

I thought this was supposed to be easy. Tales from the simple life.

Mapping

#110 - 4 September 1998

Five ways of mapping the world. One story about people who make maps the traditional way — by drawing things we can see. And other stories about people who map the world using smell, sound, touch, and taste. The world redrawn by the five senses.