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From WBEZ Chicago, it's This American Life.
I'm Ike Sri Skandaraja, in for Ira Glass.
Pablo, does this feel like an Icarus story to you?
Maybe, potentially.
What part?
Well, Icarus dies, not that part.
This is Pablo Manriquez, and he recently survived his own personal Greek tragedy.
He's a reporter in Washington, D.C., known him for years.
And this all began when a ripped open package showed up on his front stoop.
It's late winter, 2022. I find a box outside of my apartment.
Inside is a canvas, the four primary colors, a paintbrush, and a palette.
It just seems like a sign.
And that's like, what's the sign?
It was just, I thought to myself, somebody...