this american life

821: Embrace the Suck

People finding themselves in situations that are worse than they thought and deciding to really go with it.

  • Prologue: A Boston woman takes her dog for a walk and suddenly finds herself in a terrible situation she never anticipated. The strange thing is, it helps her. (9 minutes)
  • Act One: Two college friends try to stop Donald Trump’s primary season momentum by convincing New Hampshire voters to vote against everything they care about. Producer Zoe Chace follows along. (22 minutes)
  • Act Two: When producer Ike Sriskandarajah tries to sleep-train his baby, a neighbor decides to call the police. Fortunately, Ike is able to turn this to his advantage. (9 minutes)
  • Act Three: A story by producer Boen Wang about how to get through a summer of bad days. (9 minutes)

Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org