This American Life Marathon

This is final production week in preparation for Monday's review. While tediously retracing working drawings onto vellum I keep my mind occupied with old This American Life episodes that I haven't heard before. Highlights from yesterday's listening (February to June of 2004):

Life in the Fast Lane. (22 minutes in) Solemn, deep-voiced David Rackoff decides not to eat for 20 days to gain spiritual insight. He's Fraiser on qualudes, wit and literary allusions intact. My (paraphrased) favorite quote, "This is the most selfish thing I've ever done and I am a first-person journalist."

What Really Happens in Marriage. (6 minutes in) John Gottman is a scientist who studies marital interactions using videos and electrodes. After decades of experience he and his team can predict with surprising accuracy whether a couple will stay together or divorce. Turns out anger and disagreements are healthy, what matters is how the couple treats each other during heated discussion.

My Experimental Phase. This entire show is excellent. Nancy Updike talks about how she was the ultimate lesbian except that she couldn't bring herself to date women. Then there's the story of Chaim the Hasidic Glam Rocker (no joke). And finally Sascha Rothchild shares her transformation into a 13-year-old party girl as documented in her diary at the time.