Your mother and I have something we want to talk with you about. Prologue: A family sits down to discuss one thing. But then the true purpose of the meeting emerges. (9 ½ minutes) The meeting in this story was recorded by Lexie Harrison-Cripps, who's working on a film project about Bryan LeBaron's activism work. A Slow Decision Process That’s Mostly But Maybe Not Completely Over: For one kibbutz-dwelling family in Israel, the decision of where to land after the October 7th attacks goes back and forth… and back… and forth. (28 minutes) One More Week with Coach McGuire: Ira learns about — and has a few thoughts on — one coach’s striking technique to keep the morale of his high school football team on the up, week after week. (3 ½ minutes) Sealed With A Diss: An excerpt from “Belles Lettres," a short story by Nafissa Thompson-Spires from her book Heads of the Colored People, performed by actors Erika Alexander and Eisa Davis with a cameo from our colleague Alvin Melathe. (14 minutes)
A quick warning.
There are curse words that are unbeeped in today's episode of the show.
If you prefer a beeped version, you can find that at our website, thisamericanlife.org WBC Chicago CisAmerican Life.
I'm Eric Glass.
Okay, so listen, right now we're gonna be a little bit quiet because we're gonna have a family talk.
Are you ready for a family talk?
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Dad.
What?
Brian LeBaron.
This is that of a big family.
Seven kids in all.
He mostly grew up in the United States, but his father and most of his family is Mexican.
He moved back there a few years ago.
Back in November, he gathered everybody together for a family meeting outside on a patio.
Most of the kids were on a long bench holding pillows.
Lexi thinks that this is an important moment in our family, and I agree with her.
Lexi is Lexi Harrison Cripps, the journalist that recorded this meeting because she knew what some of the kids did not know, that Brian was planning to run for a seat in Mexico's House of Representatives.
What does that mean?
I want to work for the government.