Diaries We give people tape recorders and help them document their own lives in their own words
My So-Called Lungs (Revisited)
Laura Rothenberg tried to live a normal life, with lungs that betrayed her and the awareness that she might not live to see her 30th birthday.
ListenJuan: 16 Years Later
16 years ago, Juan reported on his life as a recent Mexican immigrant living in poverty in Texas. In his new diary, Juan takes us on a tour of the life he has built since he first crossed the Rio Grande. It looks a lot like the typical American dream: a house, 2 cars, 3 kids—except for the fact he’s still living illegally in the U.S.
ListenPortraits Extraordinary stories from ordinary places
The Last Man on the Mountain
In the 1990s, Arch Coal began mining Pigeonroost Hollow. Now Jimmy Weekley is the last person left there.
ListenQuarantined in the Pizzeria
COVID-19 has forced many families to improvise childcare. For some, it’s been like a four month long ‘bring your child to work’ day.
ListenHistories Exploring the past to tell the History of Now.
Last Witness: The Kerner Commission
Former Senator Oklahoma Fred Harris is the last surviving member of the Kerner Commission, a group appointed by President Lyndon Johnson to investigate the root causes of the violence and civil unrest that swept the nation in the late ’60s.
ListenThe Girls of the Leesburg Stockade
In July 1963, a group of young Black girls were arrested while protesting in Americus, Georgia. They were jailed at a stockade for more than 45 days, their families had no idea where they were. This is that story.
Listen