This American Life

233: Starting From Scratch


Listen Later

People starting over—sometimes because they want to, other times because they have to.

Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.

  • Prologue: Host Ira Glass talks to Jorge Just, who thought he'd started over successfully. He'd moved to New York, found an apartment that everyone told him was a great deal, things were looking good. Then a reality television show visited his building. (8 minutes)
  • Act One: Molly FitzSimons tells the story of her father starting over. After 25 years in the same zip code, as an executive in the same company, he moved to Los Angeles and tried to start over in a new life with a new venture: A cable channel, with no people, no talking, no plots, but lots and lots of puppies. (15 minutes)
  • Act Two: Mary Beth Kirchner documents one day in the life of a hustler named Joe, who wakes up every morning broke, hustles as much as $10,000 during the day and then loses most of it by the time he goes to bed. What it's like to start from scratch every day of your life. (18 minutes)
  • Act Three: Jonathan Goldstein reads a story about the first people to ever start from scratch, a couple named Adam and Eve. (14 minutes)

Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org

This American Life privacy policy.
Learn more about sponsor message choices.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

This American LifeBy This American Life

  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5

4.5

86,090 ratings


More shows like This American Life

View all
TED Radio Hour by NPR

TED Radio Hour

21,996 Listeners

Radiolab by WNYC Studios

Radiolab

44,014 Listeners

Freakonomics Radio by Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

Freakonomics Radio

32,103 Listeners

Fresh Air by NPR

Fresh Air

38,470 Listeners

Criminal by Vox Media Podcast Network

Criminal

37,454 Listeners

Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

Hidden Brain

43,660 Listeners

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! by NPR

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

38,741 Listeners

The Moth by The Moth

The Moth

27,233 Listeners

99% Invisible by Roman Mars

99% Invisible

26,180 Listeners

Snap Judgment by Snap Judgment and PRX

Snap Judgment

11,609 Listeners

Heavyweight by Pushkin Industries

Heavyweight

17,521 Listeners

The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

112,362 Listeners

Throughline by NPR

Throughline

16,232 Listeners

The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

The Ezra Klein Show

16,145 Listeners

The Retrievals by Serial Productions & The New York Times

The Retrievals

10,271 Listeners