In The Passenger Seat

By Melina Walling.

Cars on the highway. A deep breath. The beep of the GPS.

The crunch of the police officer’s boots on gravel, the jangle of his keys. The sharp intonation of his voice as he asks for the vehicle registration.

Read More


Play It Again, Roman!

by Jackson Roach

 

It’s easy to forget about all the little sounds, the pops and rustles and scratches and clicks that surround me in my everyday life. I’m constantly filtering through, focusing past, drowning out all these sounds. And this is especially true with my daily devices.

Read More


Rules Can Set You Free

by Bonnie Swift.

All my friends are playing chess again, and it all started with a story by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich at WNYC’s RadioLab. A recent show called Games has a zippy story called The Rules Can Set You Free [21:57] that’s enough to inspire even the most out-­‐of-­‐practice player back to the chessboard.

Read More


Can You Give Me a Hypothetical?

By Will Rogers.

In the end, Sedaris doesn’t say anything (at least, not in this version of the story). As soon as he gets finished relating the hypothetical, he brings the story to a close as quickly as possible.

Read More


I Want to Be a Millionaire

by Will Rogers

When I listened to “Roger Dowds: Millionaire Winner,” by Irish producer Ronan Kelly, I immediately got into sync with the protagonist -­‐-­‐ when he felt sad, I felt sad. When he felt happy, I felt happy. The listening experience is simple when the character is likable.

Read More


How to Spook Your Listener

By Bonnie Swift

Haunted. I felt haunted when I first listened to Scott Carrier’s, The Test on This American Life, in 2001. Now, more than ten years later, this story is still etched in my memory like few stories are. It’s a story about Carrier driving through the Utah countryside, in search of people with schizophrenia.

Read More