8
January 3, 1996

New Year

Stories that reflect back on 1995.

Prologue

Host Ira Glass talks about recently released archival television interviews with the Beatles, who suddenly seem a little less magic — and a lot more pedestrian (4 minutes).
Act One

Act One

Eighteen-year-old Claudia Perez takes Ira on a tour of her Chicago neighborhood and looks at what 1995 was like for her community. (18 minutes)

Act Two

Act Two

Ira talks with Karen Hutt, Director of Religious Education for the First Unitarian Church of Chicago, who one Sunday gave a sermon at the church about her experience as the first black child to integrate the Philadelphia public school system. The sermon inspired a project: Hutt, along with Laura Finnegan, collected an oral history of the experiences of African American members of the congregation about their own experiences as the "first" integrators of their neighborhoods or organizations. (31 minutes)

Song:

“Stop That Alabama Bus” by artist unknown
Act Three

Act Three

Claudia Perez returns to talk about her year from a more personal perspective. (7 minutes)

Song:

“I Needed You Most” by Marie