Just one of the stories in our newest episode, "Maximal Americanness" www.thisamericanlife.org/890/maximal-...

Sarah Vowell has a theory that you can tell the entire history of the United States by standing on one street corner—Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive in Chicago.

This week, we try to tell the story of life in America through portraits of life on four different corners, in four different states across the nation.

How do you get a message out of a detention center? At an ICE facility in San Diego, detainees figured it out — bottles with notes taped on, thrown over 90 feet of wall. Listen: bit.ly/3SlDINf

A man detained at Otay Mesa threw a lotion bottle with a note attached over two razor wire fences. The shortest distance it had to travel: 90 feet. His note said he’d been stuck inside for months, and the people detained inside are constantly sick.

Two lawyers have just 12 weeks to stop their client's execution in Texas, where appeals like this fail 94% of the time. link.podtrac.com/p0gy8au4 You'll hear part of this story on our show this week. It's from "The Last 12 Weeks," the new podcast from @serialproductions.bsky.social.

At the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, migrants figured out an ingenious way to communicate with the activists gathered outside of the detention center’s walls.

In the 1960s, a TV repairman saw an opportunity to help people cheat death with cryonics. But freezing dead people isn’t easy. And apologizing for the mistakes made along the way? Even harder. link.podtrac.com/htdxo9zz

Bonus episode: Ira plays three stories by Alex Chadwick, who he looked up to back in his twenties when he was trying to figure out how to make radio. Subscribe to hear the full episode: bit.ly/4vIKF9s

this was absolutely wild

Hi it’s me I made you a story about bureaucracy that’s also wild and also maybe a good listen? I hope so!

A 25-year Social Security Administration veteran got called to a secret meeting with DOGE. They asked him to declare 6,000 people dead, with no proof that they had died. He said no. Then the list grew to 2.7 million. link.podtrac.com/6cxk5300

Writer Daniel Alarcón got the assignment of a lifetime: to profile Lionel Messi for a magazine. He was sure they would just *get* each other. He waited 8 hours, sweating through his shirt, to find out if he was right. link.podtrac.com/6cxk5300

A Social Security Administration veteran was asked by DOGE to declare 2.7 million people dead. The problem is, they were alive. Find out what he did on our show this week. link.podtrac.com/6cxk5300

A DC reporter found a box of art supplies on his stoop and decided, with zero experience, that he would become the official oil painter of Washington. It did not go exactly as planned. link.podtrac.com/6cxk5300

Can’t say enough about how much I enjoy the bonus content from TAL Life Partners (most recently: Ira singing at Joe’s Pub!) More than worth the price of admission.

This week: stories of people whose lives were changed by books.

Two coaches spent a summer telling a sensitive kid he was actually a football star. He almost believed them. This week: adults telling kids who they are — and kids wondering if they're right.

Another outstanding @thisamericanlife.org episode, this one on the saga of transpeople in the US military under T-rump. www.thisamericanlife.org/887/two-is-o... But the short story by Rachel Khong (Act 3) is truly extraordinary. I just ordered her book, My Dear You.

Geirid and Chrissy are extreme planners. But about a year ago, they were confronted with a situation that even they had no idea how to plan for. link.podtrac.com/qi557nin

One family faces the Trump administration’s ban on trans people serving in the military, and responds with a surprising secret weapon. link.podtrac.com/qi557nin

Become our Life Partner! Support the show and you’ll get ad-free listening, bonus content, and access to hundreds of archive episodes hand-picked by Ira Glass.

Their neighbor made their lives miserable for years. Carved slurs into their lawn with weed killer. Killed their cat. Then he threw out his trash — and they found his social security number. 🎧 With Great Power: link.podtrac.com/i7xnisph

This week: People who end up with far more power than they bargained for, and everything that comes with it. link.podtrac.com/i7xnisph

Ira has always believed commencement speeches are a doomed form. In 2012, he gave one anyway. It's better than most graduation speeches, which is exactly what he was afraid of. We released Ira's speech as a bonus episode for Life Partners. Sign up to hear it and support the show: bit.ly/40LYPIO

Iran has been under an internet blackout since the war began. We collected voice memos from inside the country about what people are living through — from a pizza shop owner, an ER nurse, a bodybuilder, and a doctor who treated victims of the regime's crackdown in January.

Fantastic @thisamericanlife.org episode on the daily realities of Iranian life (and diversity of opinion) during this horrific war. Thank you for humanizing the Iranian people. This captures well the reality my family has shared with me between blackouts. www.thisamericanlife.org/886/blackout

Voice memos from inside Iran — from ordinary people living through a war and an internet blackout at the same time. link.podtrac.com/7km9v53p

Since the war began, Iran has been under a near-total internet blackout. We collected voice memos from inside the country. Even though it was dangerous and difficult, people wanted to be heard. link.podtrac.com/7km9v53p

Ira went digging through decades of old recordings. In the fourth box: something he's been looking for. Become a Life Partner and hear the bonus episode to find out what's on the tape: bit.ly/40LYPIO

Sarah Koenig tells the story of a woman who sued the casino where she lost her inheritance, saying that it was to blame, not her. link.podtrac.com/20kld7ss

This week: Ira gets a lesson on the basics of card-counting and goes to a casino to try out his newfound skill. Stories about blackjack, the game everyone thinks they can beat. link.podtrac.com/20kld7ss

This week: Infidelity. Stories about the cheaters and the cheated on, and their very different takes on what happened. link.podtrac.com/1rf1s22c

Become our Life Partner! Help support the show and get ad-free episodes, exclusive bonus content, and access to hundreds of archive favorites curated by Ira Glass himself.

This week: @nicholehill.bsky.social takes us inside a very big American life. A man who became one of the most famous people in the world — and then, all of a sudden, was not. link.podtrac.com/kumc9ulj

At a time when the U.S. government is trying to make American history tidier, we try to learn from the mess — including the untold, messy story of Paul and Essie Robeson. link.podtrac.com/kumc9ulj

Davy's mother is pretty normal. Except that she channels an ancient monk named Aaron, whom no one else can see. Davy talks to his family about it and asks the question they've never discussed: do any of them believe Aaron is real? link.podtrac.com/flozd99h

Sarah Koenig on the time Robert Redford showed up at her house for dinner and stole all her parents' attention. Young Sarah was not pleased, and Robert Redford paid the price. link.podtrac.com/flozd99h

Bonus episode: George Saunders reads a short story we featured in the early days of our show — a darkly comic tale about a salesman who trades in virtual reality memories.

On our show this week, M. Gessen tells Ira about the surprising events that prompted them to begin reporting on their own family. link.podtrac.com/69952cui

M. Gessen's son described their cousin Allen as "an egg who knows how to talk to people." M.'s description was less charitable. serial.lnk.to/RM5obK

M. Gessen turns the true crime lens on their own family — and says it made for a better podcast. Ira Glass wanted to know what that was like. Listen to "The Idiot," the new season of Serial, out now. serial.lnk.to/RM5obK

M. Gessen returns to our show with a true-crime story that takes place entirely within their own family. A story from the team at @serialproductions.bsky.social and @nytimes.com.

This week's episode started as a bonus for our Life Partners subscribers. That's the kind of thing they get: personal and behind-the-scenes stories that don't make it into the regular feed. Join today: bit.ly/4debpbY

This week, Ira revisits a series of interviews he did with his own parents that changed his relationship with them in ways he never saw coming. Listen to our new episode: "Call Your Parents." link.podtrac.com/r12ywz3z

One week left to get your application in for our next fellowship session. It's a paid position with benefits, and you'll observe and participate in all aspects of the show’s production. Deadline: April 1.

In the early days of the radio show, Ira did a series of interviews with his parents that completely changed his relationship with them. This week, he returns to those interviews. link.podtrac.com/dw4ij7n6

Ready to be a Life Partner? Support us and unlock ad-free listening, special bonus content, plus hundreds of handpicked archive episodes chosen personally by Ira Glass. thisamericanlife.supercast.com?utm_campaign...

The plan was simple: a 40-minute pleasure cruise with two friends. But what should have been an easy evening on the water turned into an overnight ordeal — leaving Alex lost, stranded, and bleeding on a deserted island within sight of the Empire State Building. link.podtrac.com/odlixl4x

The deadline to apply for our next fellowship session is April 1. ✅ paid position ✅ health insurance ✅ relocation reimbursement And you'll participate in all aspects of show production. www.thisamericanlife.org/fellowships