180 Degrees

Flipflops, u-turns, changes of heart, about faces. Completely changing our position — sometimes it can be our best move, sometimes it can be our worst. Either way, it's usually complicated. This week we bring you stories of people who go one way, and then, for what ever reason, turn around and go the exact opposite direction. Prologue: Host Alex Blumberg talks about New York City’s long-standing ban on ferrets. And how, after years of forbidding them, the city is now poised to lift the ban. You’d think ferret proponents — there are ferret proponents — would be really really happy. You’d also be wrong. (7 minutes) Seeing the Forrest For the Little Trees: Alex Blumberg takes us to an American classroom where students are reading a classic, The Education of Little Tree, by Forrest Carter. The book is marketed as a simple homespun autobiography of a Cherokee orphan. But Radio Diaries' Joe Richman explains that the book is not at all what it seems. The origins of the heartwarming tale of respect for nature and tolerance, are actually filled with hatred, racism and lies. (31 minutes) This story was produced by Joe Richman, Sarah Kate Kramer and Samara Freemark of Radio Diaries with help from Nellie Gilles, Deborah George, and Ben Shapiro. Here's the Radio Diaries podcast, where people can hear the original non-narrated version of this story. Unsafety Exit: Chana Joffe-Walt tells the story of a teenager named Michael. Like a lot of teenagers Michael decides to follow his dreams — and that to follow his dreams, he’s going to need to make a total change. He does that. And then, like so many of us when we’re teenagers, Michael decides after a lot of trouble, that it was all a big mistake. He need to reverse his reversal. A double 180. That’s when things get complicated. (11 minutes) I’m the One Who Knocks: Writer Ben Loory has a short story about the 180 none of us can escape. It’s from his collection, Stories for the Nighttime and Some for the Day. (5 minutes)