This American Life Partners (🔓 for Yi Yang)

889: There’s Something About Hail Mary

354: Mistakes Were Made

Not Today, Hades!

Someone I Admired and Learned From

Alex Chadwick’s radio reporting defined a conversational, unpretentious style that prioritized human experience and sound-driven transitions over traditional narration. His work captured the nuances of American life and the complexities of international relations through stories like a legal dispute over a biology clas...

137: The Book That Changed Your Life

676: Here's Looking at You, Kid

887: Two Is One, One Is None!

A Short Musical Bonus Episode

Ira Glass and performer Julian Fleischer present a musical collaboration recorded at Joe's Pub in New York City, centered on the theme "love songs for the end of the world." The pair updates the lyrics of the 1936 classic "I Can't Get Started" to reflect contemporary anxieties and absurdities, referencing figures like ...

318: With Great Power

886: Blackout

Ira (Reluctantly) Gives a Graduation Speech

Commencement speeches frequently suffer from predictable platitudes, yet they can become impactful when speakers share surprising, personal narratives that acknowledge the reality of post-graduate life. Navigating the years immediately following college often involves significant "floundering," which is a normal, essen...

466: Blackjack

466: Blackjack

393: Infidelity

Interior. Church. New Haven.

Jesse Jackson’s 1992 speech in New Haven, Connecticut, serves as a lens for examining the evolution of American political rhetoric and the intersection of liberal and conservative ideologies. Delivered during a period of intense local mourning following a surge in youth violence, the address challenged presidential can...