894: I Couldn't Help but Notice
People dealing with new, glaring, massive changes happening right where they live.
(00:00:00) Prologue: Rick Cole, a city councilmember in Pasadena, CA, talks to Ira about how he responded to a surprise nighttime military exercise in his neighborhood this June – complete with helicopters, gunfire, and flash bangs. (5 minutes)
(00:05:30) Act One: A doctor trained as a midwife tells the eye-popping story of how she and others came together to save a baby during a birth that suddenly went wrong, in a part of rural Maine where the local labor and delivery unit had closed less than a month before. (26 minutes)
(00:34:56) Act Two: Producer Valerie Kipnis never felt inside the jokes and stories her family would tell about growing up in the Soviet Union, until she saw this year's Oscar-winning documentary, Mr. Nobody Against Putin. The film follows the changes unfolding in one school as Russia rolled out a nationwide propaganda push after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Valerie interviewed the young teacher at the center of the documentary and learned things that never made it into the film. (21 minutes)
- Duration
- 1h 3m
- Broadcast on
- 02 Aug 2026
- Audio Format
- other
This episode appears to contain dynamically inserted ads. Transcript timestamps may be approximate.
Hey, it's Ira, the quick word before the show starts. So I have this video that I want to show you. Maybe you heard because we did so many promos, actually, that we just did this live show on stage in Los Angeles where I told stories and then Vic McCaleless and these really talented comedians did improvise scenes based on those stories on the spot. And we live streamed video of this show, and I'm just here to say that if you missed the live stream, you can now see the show where you posted the video online, it's a really fun show, and to watch this, for absolutely free, sign up for a free trial this American life partner's subscription. And our hope is, you know, you'll stick around after the trial and you'll love all the bonus episodes and listening ad free and all the other stuff we give you, plus we hope you'll like helping us make the show by sending us this money. But if you don't, if you just want the free trial, watch the video, try it out for a couple of days, quit, no foul, fine with us, and I think you're really going to enjoy watching the show we did. Go to thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners and use the, this is a very original promo code we came up with, video. That's right, the promo code is video, that link is also in the show notes. Okay, here's this week's show. This message comes from zero, that's zero with an X, a simple but powerful platform built for small business owners that makes managing business finances easier from day one. Learn more at XERO.com. 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. Back in June, Rick Cole was sitting in a meeting of the Pasadena Municipal Services Committee in City Hall there. That's about as dull a sentence as you could start a podcast with. But then things happen, Rick's a council member. And I get a text that I glanced at from the police chief to the city council that says, at 530 we're making a public announcement that there will be military exercises in Northeast Pasadena, they will take place at St. Luke Hospital, but do not reveal the location. This is at 524, 6 minutes before the public is to be informed. So you saw that when you thought what? Well, I thought that's really strange. There's not no precedent, there'll be military exercises in a residential area, that happens in America. But still, it's strange when it's your area, with no notice at all. The meeting ends, Rick runs to another event. Meanwhile, I had told my assistant to post on our Instagram account that this military exercise was happening and to actually identify the location. And she told me, "You know, they told us very sternly not to say the location." And I said, "The people deserve to know where this is happening." And did she post the name of the hospital? She did. Because you just figured, "What are they going to do to me? I'm just going to do this." Exactly. I mean, that's the way I've lived my life, I remember. He's got stories.
Transcription truncated.
People dealing with new, glaring, massive changes happening right where they live.
(00:00:00) Prologue: Rick Cole, a city councilmember in Pasadena, CA, talks to Ira about how he responded to a surprise nighttime military exercise in his neighborhood this June – complete with helicopters, gunfire, and flash bangs. (5 minutes)
(00:05:30) Act One: A doctor trained as a midwife tells the eye-popping story of how she and others came together to save a baby during a birth that suddenly went wrong, in a part of rural Maine where the local labor and delivery unit had closed less than a month before. (26 minutes)
(00:34:56) Act Two: Producer Valerie Kipnis never felt inside the jokes and stories her family would tell about growing up in the Soviet Union, until she saw this year's Oscar-winning documentary, Mr. Nobody Against Putin. The film follows the changes unfolding in one school as Russia rolled out a nationwide propaganda push after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Valerie interviewed the young teacher at the center of the documentary and learned things that never made it into the film. (21 minutes)