A guy on a NYC subway platform starts walking up to strangers one by one: "You're in" or "You're out." What happens when it's your turn? This week, we revisited a classic from our early days—Kindness of Strangers. Listen: link.podtrac.com/3a6qlfrx

For five weeks, a man stood on an East Village stoop singing Sinatra songs late at night to the delight of his neighbors. It was his gift to New York. link.podtrac.com/3a6qlfrx

Brett was standing on the subway platform when a man walked by, stopping in front of each passenger to deliver a quiet verdict: "You're in. You're out. You can stay. You—gotta go." Most people ignored him. But Brett found himself hoping for the thumbs up. link.podtrac.com/3a6qlfrx

A locksmith working late sees a woman locked out of her car and rushes to help. But the lock won't budge, and what seemed like a simple good deed spirals into something much stranger. link.podtrac.com/3a6qlfrx

This week: An episode from our show's early days — stories about what happens when strangers are kind, and when they're not. link.podtrac.com/3a6qlfrx

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The first half-ish of the latest episode (#880) @thisamericanlife.org is full of absolutely chilling 9-11 phone calls re: ICE. I highly recommend you listen to it to hear peoples' first-hand experiences. www.thisamericanlife.org/880/what-is-...

My goodness, this was so well done. Please take some time to listen.

People across the country have called 911 on ICE — for hit-and-runs, for broken laws, for shootings. Callers and dispatchers alike have to figure out what to do in this entirely new situation, where people are calling local police to do something about federal agents. link.podtrac.com/hrwz3zhh

Memo Torres (@lataco.bsky.social) has been building an archive of the daily raids, arrests, and sightings of federal agents in Southern California. He's documented 230+ days – and counting. link.podtrac.com/hrwz3zhh

Recordings I obtained of Chicagoans calling 911 to report ICE activity—including Marimar Martínez’s call after an agent shot her—are included in this week’s episode of @thisamericanlife.org

I listened to this while out walking yesterday. It is one of the best episodes I've ever heard, and very timely and apropos.

Home Depots in LA keep getting raided. Day laborers keep showing up to find work anyway. Months of this cat-and-mouse—what's that like? Anayansi Diaz-Cortes went to find out. link.podtrac.com/hrwz3zhh

This week: 911 calls unlike any we’ve heard before, and other stories about immigration agents sweeping through America. link.podtrac.com/hrwz3zhh

Evan Ratliff (@evrat.bsky.social), who made an AI clone of himself in our episode "My Other Self," has a new season of his podcast SHELL GAME, out now. www.shellgame.co

Bonus episode: Ira Glass answers questions from Life Partners! About cursing, fact checking, Serial, and many more topics. Become a Life Partner today to listen.

In this story by Simon Rich, a hardened PI works the toughest case of his very young life. Performed live by John Mulaney, Richard Kind, Fred Armisen, and Chloe Fineman. link.podtrac.com/09qlq7xr

Bonus episode: One of our mixers sits down with Ira to talk about the decisions she faces when adding music to our stories. Become a Life Partner today to listen. thisamericanlife.supercast.com?utm_campaign...

We're hiring a mixer — an experienced audio professional to help mix and score our stories. Looking for someone who is collaborative, creative, and detail-oriented with a background in audio storytelling.

"Syrians are setting precedents for what can be said, post by post, room by room. But maybe it's a bubble. They can joke for now, but there's real trepidation about what comes next." — Ayman Oghanna on post-Assad Syria link.podtrac.com/5sskoutn

Under Assad's dictatorship, comedian Sharief Homsi knew which jokes were too dangerous. Now with Syria's new government, he and the comedians of "Styria" tour the country to test the limits of their comedy. link.podtrac.com/5sskoutn

When a joke could get you killed, should you say it anyway? A group of Syrian comedians test the limits of their newfound freedom, a year after the fall of the brutal Assad regime. link.podtrac.com/5sskoutn

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We released a special mini-episode, in which we hear from someone in Venezuela with a very specific take on last week's U.S. attack. lnk.to/41fLkR

Ben doesn't remember bullying Eddie in elementary school. Eddie remembers it vividly—has carried it for 40 years. They sit down as adults to figure out what really happened.

Jake started calling his grandma every day when she was diagnosed with cancer. They formed a book club—reading chapters, then recapping them on the phone. Years later, he discovered what she was actually reading.

When Pete turned 18, his dad took him on a drive to reveal a family secret he was finally old enough to know. link.podtrac.com/qvrycg2u

Bonus episode: @wearahelmet.bsky.social, one of our mixers, sits down with Ira to talk about the decisions she faces when adding music to our stories. They play examples, dig up debates over music cues, and more. Become a Life Partner today to listen. thisamericanlife.supercast.com?utm_campaign...

For years, Mike obsessively rewatched the moment his band's big break fell apart on stage with Weezer. He was convinced they'd blown their shot at success. Then he asked his bandmate what she remembers about that day. link.podtrac.com/skgyqbcz

For Lilly, there’s one story about her parents that defines how she sees them, their family, and their history. Then she finds out it might be wrong. link.podtrac.com/skgyqbcz

During the pandemic, Todd rescued an injured rat. Then he got a friend for that rat. Then a few more. Before long: 12 rats, an obstacle course in his living room, and a dilemma—keep the rats or start dating again? link.podtrac.com/lrrjotpy

This week: the one animal we can’t seem to live without, even when we really, really want to. link.podtrac.com/lrrjotpy

Like a "making of" documentary reveals how a movie gets made, we look at how the story of Portland as a war zone was constructed—by citizen journalists, amplified by Fox News, validated at the White House—and used to justify a crackdown on the left. link.podtrac.com/431686w9

Portland has been portrayed as "war-ravaged," under siege from Antifa. Right-wing streamers filmed it, Fox News amplified it, Trump is using it to justify a nationwide crackdown. We wanted to see the reality behind the story being told about this city. link.podtrac.com/431686w9

How one block in Portland, Oregon became a movie-set war zone that lots of people think is a real war zone.

The perfect last-minute gift for the podcast lover in your life: ad-free listening, bonus episodes, and access to hundreds of archive favorites hand-picked by Ira. A Life Partners subscription supports the show and delivers instantly—no shipping, no wrapping required.

Ian Brown tries to give his mother the perfect Christmas gift: a program of Christmas carols, sung for her by Ian and his brother. link.podtrac.com/6wqfkisf

This week: Stories about the vexing difficulty of finding the perfect gift, including an original recording of Truman Capote reading a holiday story about his childhood growing up in rural Alabama. link.podtrac.com/6wqfkisf

Bonus episode: We try something new — Ira brings you a story that’s still in draft form. A personal story, with some jokes in it. Become a Life Partner today to listen.

In late 1940s Nigeria, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti galvanized thousands of women market sellers in a historic uprising. A search for who she really was, and how she became the person history demanded. link.podtrac.com/puh9wt2r

Brittany answers anonymous calls from people in the military. This year, she's gotten more than usual—most wondering what to do with orders they've been given, or orders they're afraid they'll get. link.podtrac.com/puh9wt2r

This week: Jad Abumrad tells the story of the "ideological genealogy” of Fela Kuti’s anti-colonial politics — his mother.

Bonus episode: When the writer Pico Iyer and Ira Glass appeared on stage in Santa Barbara, they got into all sorts of things that Ira doesn’t normally talk about. Become a Life Partner today to listen.

Right back at all 12K of you 😍

IMHO, this is one of the best TAL episodes out there. It's also one of the best long-form radio features I've heard. Next time you are - like me - dutifully ironing your dress shirts despite working from home most of the time, put this on. You will not regret it. Viva NPR.

We spend a month at a Jeep dealership on Long Island as they try to meet their monthly sales goal: 129 cars. link.podtrac.com/6b11s76y

A man is hired along with a crew to dig a mysterious hole on the slopes of Mt. Shasta. The hole goes sixty feet down. But what are they looking for? link.podtrac.com/vct98fqt

We also do a deep dive into @thisamericanlife.org's bonus feed, which we were skeptical of at first, and find surprising richness in the episodes where producers look back at stories that meant something to them. thisamericanlife.supercast.com

A class of second graders is handed a sealed box with a mystery object inside. They are supposed to guess what it is, but the lesson goes off the rails.

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