Poultry Slam 2003

During the highest turkey consumption period of the year, we bring you a This American Life tradition: stories of turkeys, chickens, geese, ducks, fowl of all kinds—real and imagined—and their mysterious hold over us. Prologue: Ira and his friend Danielle, whose family says they're eating fish when in fact it's turkey or chicken, for an unusual reason. (3 minutes) Duki: The story of a typical American family, and how their family dynamic has reorganized itself around an imaginary duck, invented in childhood, who somehow stayed alive well into adulthood.  (14 minutes) Winged Warrior: In the 1960s, the adventures of "The Greatest Crimefighter the World Has Ever Known"—Chickenman—were heard on hundreds of radio stations. On today's show, the winged warrior flies again. (5 minutes) Chicken Diva: Yet another testimony to the power chickens have over our hearts and minds.  Jack Hitt reports on an opera about Chicken Little.  It's performed with dressed-up styrofoam balls, it's sung in Italian and, no kidding, able to make grown men cry. (14 minutes) The official website for the opera "Love's Fowl" by Susan Vitucci and Henry Krieger is pulcina.org. Trying To Respect The Chicken: Ira accompanies photographer Tamara Staples as she attempts to photograph chickens in the style of high fashion photography. The chickens are not very cooperative. (15 minutes) Tamara's photos have been collected in a book, The Magnificent Chicken: Portraits of the Fairest Fowl.