DiscoverThis American Life553: Stuck in the Middle
553: Stuck in the Middle

553: Stuck in the Middle

Update: 2024-09-294
Share

Description

People caught in limbo, using ingenuity and guile to try to get themselves out.

  • Prologue: Rachel has two kids. Elias, age seven, is a vegetarian. Theo, age five, is not. But Elias wants Theo, and everyone else in the house, to be vegetarian too. So Rachel and her husband are in the middle of negotiating the desires of two very strong willed kids. (12 minutes)
  • Act One: Sara Corbett's father-in-law Dick is 81. And he's become obsessed with a limbo most of us hate – the music he hears whenever he's on hold. (14 minutes)
  • Act Two: Mark Oppenheimer reports on agunah in the Orthodox Jewish community. An agunah is a woman whose husband refuses to give her a divorce – in Hebrew it means "chained wife." If you're an Orthodox Jew, strictly following Jewish law, the only real way to get divorced is if your husband agrees to hand you a piece of paper called a get. Without the get, women who want out of their marriages can stay chained to their husbands for years. In New York, a couple of rabbis were recently accused of using violence to force men to give their wives a get. (17 minutes)
  • Act Three: Brett Martin documents a previously unnoticed human phenomenon, one that involves airplanes, crying, and Reese Witherspoon. (11 minutes)

Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org

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

Comments (51)

King Geedorah

Disaster victims in the US are getting less support than illegal aliens. Let that sink in.

Oct 5th
Reply (1)

This is my Pride Flag

"I'm in constant contact with her...We're singing from the same song sheet. She helped pass all the laws that are being employed now. She was a major player in everything we've done." -Joe Biden

Oct 5th
Reply

This is my Pride Flag

Kamala's state: https://www.yahoo.com/news/more-100-arrests-made-massive-051741054.html

Oct 4th
Reply

Timmy Tampon

This week the Biden-Harris Democrat administration approved $8.7 billion in aid for Israel, $8 billion in aid for Ukraine, $567 million for Taiwan, and only a $750 one- time emergency assistance payment for American victims Hurricane Helene. Dems hate Americans.

Oct 3rd
Reply

Timmy Tampon

When tragedy struck in the wake of Hurricane Helene, one candidate responded by staging a photo with a blank piece of paper. The other flew to the scene and donated $25M. Vote accordingly, America.

Oct 3rd
Reply

Liberalism is a Mental Disorder

All you really need to know about Tim Walz is that he put tampons in the little boys rooms at public schools. Nuff said.

Oct 2nd
Reply (13)

Liberalism is a Mental Disorder

Anyone who doesn't vote for President Trump this time around genuinely hates America.

Oct 1st
Reply (30)
In Channel
00:00
00:00
x

0.5x

0.8x

1.0x

1.25x

1.5x

2.0x

3.0x

Sleep Timer

Off

End of Episode

5 Minutes

10 Minutes

15 Minutes

30 Minutes

45 Minutes

60 Minutes

120 Minutes

553: Stuck in the Middle

553: Stuck in the Middle

This American Life