This American Life is a Chicago Public Radio show hosted by Ira Glass, popularly abbreviated to TAL. Wikipedia describes the hour long show as “primarily a journalistic non-fiction program, although it also features essays, memoirs, field records, short fiction, and found footage.” ... A radio collage. Recently TAL has reinvented itself into a television show for Showtime, it premieres March 22nd.
I listen to this show while I’m cooking, cleaning, and making art. Because it’s audio, you don’t have to stop and really focus on it. Each show usually has 3-4 stories and one theme. Some episodes are funny, sad, inspiring, motivating, and others teach you interesting things. My favorite episodes are The Sanctity of Marriage (which discusses a government funded scientific study on whether couples will stay together and they can actually pretty successfully predict divorce.) Fiasco is really funny, it’s about a play that doesn’t go as planned. Backed Into a Corner is about a man on death row for a murder he didn’t commit, was nearly executed, and after 17 years he got the attention of a lawyer and was freed.
These stories come to life on radio. Fiasco is probably funnier in your head than it was in person. Backed into a Corner is powerful because the man speaking went through 17 years of hell and if we saw him on TV we would probably dismiss him for being a stereotypical ex-inmate, but hearing his voice and tones empowers him and makes us listen.
TAL sells each hour episode on iTunes for 95 cents or you can sit at your computer and listen to a show for free from their website, This American Life where they have archived all of their episodes along with descriptions. Occasionally, TAL tours all major cities and does a live recording! It will actually be in Boston at the Opera House on the 27th of February at 8pm.
Shannon
No comments:
Post a Comment