Shalom Auslander goes on vacation with his family, and suspects the beloved, chatty old man in the room next door is an imposter—and sets out to prove it. This and other stories about the pitfalls of making snap judgments about others.
The adoption agency used by the birth mother in this week's show is called Open Adoption & Family Services. It's a non-profit with offices in Oregon and Washington, but their services are available nationwide. To learn more about them, go to: www.openadopt.org.
Prologue.Amy Roberts thought it was obvious that she was an adult, not a kid, and
she assumed the friendly man working at the children's museum knew it too.
Unfortunately, the man had Amy pegged all wrong. And by the time
she figured it out, it was too late for either of them to save face.
Host Ira Glass talks to Amy about the embarrassing ordeal that taught
her never to assume she knows what someone else is thinking.
(8 1/2 minutes)
Act One. The Fat Blue Line.
While riding in a patrol car to research a novel, crime writer Richard Price witnessed a misunderstanding that for many people is pretty much accepted as
an upsetting fact of life. Richard Price told this story—which he
describes as a tale taken from real life and dramatized—onstage at the
Moth in New York. Price's most recent novel is Lush Life, which he's adapting for film. (12 minutes)
Act Two. Stereotypes Uber Alles.
When writer Chuck Klosterman got back from a trip to Germany, friends asked
him what Germans were like. Did nine days as an American tourist make him
qualified to answer? In this excerpt of an essay he wrote for Esquire magazine, Chuck
explains why not. (6 minutes)
Song: "Wanted Dead or Alive," Bon Jovi
Act Three. Yes, No or Baby.
There are some situations where making judgments about people based
on limited amounts of information is not only accepted, but required.
One of those situations is open adoption, where birth mothers actually
choose the adoptive parents for their child. TAL producer Nancy Updike
talks to a pregnant woman named Kim going through the first stage of
open adoption: reading dozens of letters from prospect parents, all of
whom seem utterly capable and appealing. With so many likeable candidates
to choose from, Kim ends up focusing on tiny details of people's lives. (6
minutes)
Act Four. Paradise Lost.
Shalom Auslander tells the story of the time he went on vacation, pegged the
guest in the room next door as an imposter and devoted his holiday to trying
to prove it. Shalom Auslander is the author, most recently, of the memoir Foreskin's Lament.
Song: "Gimme Some Truth," John Lennon