December 29, 2000

Birthdays, Anniversaries, and Milestones

Birthdays, anniversaries, and milestones of all sorts...and how they mean something whether we want them to or not. A live show taped for our fifth anniversary, back in 2000, when we went on the road to Boston, New York, Chicago, and L.A. Featuring house band OK Go.

Host Ira Glass.

A co-production with public radio stations WBUR, WNYC, WBEZ, and KCRW.


We hear the story of a disastrous birthday party and how it's hard not to see these kinds of moments as symbolic of something bad. (5 minutes)

Pilgrim's Progress

Regular TAL contributor Sarah Vowell takes over the family Thanksgiving dinner by bringing everyone to New York. What results is a series of milestones and family firsts. Everyone in the family is the kind of person who prefers to be alone, so the very thing that binds them together as a family actually makes it hard for them to spend time together. (14 minutes)

Kodak Moments Of The Dead

The story of Tyler Cassity and how he's trying to remake one of our oldest rituals of commemoration.


Birthday Present

On a commemorative day, it can be hard to feel a real sense of the past and of how time has moved forward. Russell Banks has a story demonstrating what it might take to do just that. He reads "The Moor," from his collection of short fiction The Angel on the Roof. (19 minutes)