This American Life

A friend got me hooked - in one night - on a radio show called This American Life, which, being a public radio show, is available for free on the internet. (Realplayer required). This show does jsut what its title says, provides interesting stories of America and the strange people in it. For example, check out the 3 shows I listened to tonight:

Episode 127 (1999) Pimp Anthropology - an Oakland pimp from the 1970s talks about his rise and fall in pimp-hood, and the rules of the game, the language and code of the girls, the cars and the dress, how they introduced girls to the life.

Epsiode 206 (2003) Somewhere in the Arabian Sea - life aboard an aircraft carrier during the Afghan war after 9/11. As you can guess, a public radio show stays away from the workings of the weapons and focuses on the social life of the sailors. Fascinating, they begin from the sheer size of the ship and the 5000 people living on it, to the bizarre stories of how people joined the Navy, to the gossip and love life on a ship, and on and on.

Episode 254 (2004) What I Should have Said - 2 fascinating pieces, the first where a rather timid fellow who seems to get no respect from his friends "for once in his life, gets to suspend time itself. He gets to freeze the hands of time, and finally come up with the right thing to say in all sorts of situations." Basically, he records his conversations all day. The 2nd is the true story of a young, dumb peace activist who confronted President Bush Sr and got hopelessly school. (and he still hasn't learned from the experience). Then there's a 3rd story that I was too bored with to remember.