Get a Spine!

Stories of people standing up for themselves, shaking off their fear, bracing themselves, and doing what they’ve been scared to do. Prologue: Ira goes to a crowded singles bar where it wasn’t hard to find serial ghosters — people who kiss and disappear.  (8 minutes) Finally: We start with someone getting up the nerve to do something that really, it would be nice to see more often — an apology. And not just any apology. Nancy Updike has this story, about the anatomy of this one particular and unusual instance of, “I’m sorry." (26 minutes) A Brief Catalogue of Spines Recently Grown: We put out a call looking for people having to face something that freaked them out. Over two hundred people wrote in, facing big, life-changing moments, and some smaller ones. Here is a brief catalogue of spines recently grown across the country. These voices were collected by Diane Wu and Aviva DeKornfeld. (2 minutes) Because You’re Spine, I Walk the Line: We turn to those who are truly spineless, and I mean literally, they are creatures that have no spines. Also featured in this story: the people who study them who, like us all, could sometimes use a little more spine. Producer Lilly Sullivan explains. (21 minutes)