Tales from the Net

#66 - 6 June 1997

Are people having experiences on the Internet they wouldn't have anywhere else? Several weeks ago, This American Life invited listeners to help answer that question.

Who's Canadian?

#65 - 30 May 1997

Notes and stories about the Canadians among us. Are they in fact any different from red-blooded Americans? They claim they're not. Skeptical Americans put their position to the test.

Summer

#64 - 23 May 1997

Stories for the start of summer. We want summer to be this wonderful break, but so often it fails to deliver. We hear Ron Carlson's short story about a summer job delivering tanks of oxygen to the infirm, Scott Carrier takes a river vacation, and more.

One Thing

#63 - 9 May 1997

People whose lives are organized around one thing.

Something for Nothing

#62 - 2 May 1997

Stories of people trying to get rich quick or otherwise make something for nothing. As everyone knows, there's no such thing as something for nothing. You always pay a price.

Fiasco!

#61 - 25 April 1997

Stories of when things go wrong. Really wrong. When you leave the normal realm of human error, fumble, mishap, and mistake and enter the territory of really huge breakdowns. Fiascos. Things go so awry that normal social order collapses. This week's show is a philosophical inquiry in the nature of fiascos — perhaps the first ever.

Business of Death

#60 - 18 April 1997

Usually we talk about death as a tragedy, a mystery, a hard-to-comprehend fact of life. But in addition to all that, for all sorts of people it's also ... a job.

Fire

#59 - 11 April 1997

Stories about people who are not afraid of fire, though perhaps they should be.

Small Towns

#58 - 4 April 1997

Stories of small town life: the claustrophobia and freedom people feel in small towns, the yearning people feel in small towns. And three teenagers in one of the harshest urban environments explain how the public housing projects are like a small town.

Delivery

#57 - 14 March 1997

Stories about the delivery business and the people in it. UPS men, bike messengers, FedEx dispatchers. NOTE: This episode originally included a story by reporter Stephen Glass, which we have removed because of questions about its truthfulness. This story is included in the transcript only for reference.