When is it time to walk away, and when is it time to run? This week we have the story of an entire country deciding whether to give up on just one of its citizens, when to hold 'em in order to win nearly a million dollars in poker, and a new story from Dave Dickerson.
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Prologue
Host Ira Glass speaks with Jim McManus, whose book Positively Fifth Street inspired Ira to start playing poker. Jim talks about holding and folding, why a poker novice is sometimes the toughest player to beat...and the Cuban Missile Crisis. (8 1/2 minutes)
Is This War or Is This Hearts?
David Ellis Dickerson tells the story of heading home to Tucson after six years away, having rejected the evangelical Christianity of his family. David came prepared for war, armed with new beliefs. But his family had something else in mind. David is author of the memoir House of Cards. (11 1/2 minutes)
Kings Do Not Fold
Gin Rummy
One of the principles of treating alcoholism is that there's hope for everyone. You never fold your cards. But there are also places known as "wet houses," controversial shelters for alcoholics where they are allowed to keep drinking. Reporter Marc Sanchez visited St. Anthony House, a wet house in St. Paul, to learn how it works. Marc is a producer at Minnesota Public Radio, where he works on a feature called "Minnesota Sounds." (10 1/2 minutes)
Solitaire and Everything's Wild
There's a part of Brazil that was almost all rainforest until the 1970s, and over the next few decades a million people moved in, cutting down the forest and building towns and cities. Monte Reel was the South American correspondent for the Washington Post in the mid 1990s, when he started hearing rumors of a "wild man," the last member of a tribe, who lived completely alone in this area's remaining forest. Reel's book about the quest to find and save this man is called The Last of the Tribe. The book also has a video trailer. (14 1/2 minutes)