This Week

This week we're trying something we've never tried before: An hour of stories about...this week. We take a crack at major news events, like what's happening in Egypt; and at the most minor, like an 8-year-old who's finally taking the training wheels off her bike. The stories are united by one thing: They all happened in the seven days prior to broadcast. Prologue: Ira tells what happened this week to Dan Curry in Odessa Texas on Wednesday, to eight-year-old Ruby Melman on Sunday in New Jersey, to Beau O'Reilly at a bike store in Chicago on Saturday, to Theodosha Alexander at the World Trade Center site on Thursday, to Dr. Wade Gordon in Afghanistan on Thursday, to a high school class at the Grand Canyon on Wednesday, and at a bar in New York City on Saturday. (8 minutes) Sunday Night, State College PA: Sarah Koenig talks with Lexi Belculfine, who tries to explain why she and her peers had such a loud, excited reaction to the news of Osama Bin Laden's death, a much more visibly emotional reaction than people over thirty. (5 minutes) Monday, Cairo Egypt: Nancy Updike reports from Cairo, Egypt about what people were doing there this week, namely: going to meetings to create their new democracy. (11 minutes) Monday, Tucson AZ: Ira plays a recorded example of American-style democracy, a school board meeting in Tucson, recorded by a high school teacher, Sarah Bromer. (4 minutes) Saturday to Wednesday: CA, NY, WI, ME: Ira tells what happened this week to Shirley Everett-Dicko in Oakland on Sunday, to Gabe and Kevin in Brooklyn on Saturday, to Eric and Roz in Stevens Point, Wisconsin on Wednesday night at midnight, and (in the podcast version of the show) to Eugene Rand and Bill True, on Monday in South Portland, Maine. (6 minutes) Wednesday, Tuscaloosa AL: This week Southerners were still digging out in the wake of last week's tornados. David Kestenbaum, from our Planet Money team, heads to Tuscaloosa, Alabama where he finds that facts are not so easy to hold onto. (7 minutes) Thursday, Greenville SC: Thursday night was a make-or-break evening for candidate Herman Cain at the first Republican Presidential debate. Robert Smith from our Planet Money team talked to him about his strategy. Planet Money is a co-production of NPR News and This American Life. (6 minutes) Saturday and Sunday, Gainesville and Coral Springs FL: On Saturday, Laura Hucke graduated from the University of Florida in Gainesville. The next day she made a trip that four years ago she didn't think she'd have to make.