Selected Shorts – “Uprooted” (October 2, 2025)
Host: Meg Wolitzer | Podcast: Symphony Space

Overview

This episode of Selected Shorts, titled “Uprooted,” explores short stories about the discomfort, liberation, and discovery that happens when people leave the familiar for the unknown. Host Meg Wolitzer introduces stories in which protagonists voluntarily uproot themselves, highlighting agency, self-discovery, and the bittersweet nature of change. Three celebrated authors—Meron Hadero, Maria Dahvana Headley, and Anne Tyler—are featured, each providing a unique take on what it means to be “uprooted” through performances by noted actors.

Key Discussion Points & Stories

Introduction

Theme:

• Uprooting and Discovery: Voluntarily leaving home or “uprooting” is scary, but can also be liberating and transformative.
• Scope: These stories avoid themes of forced migration; instead, they focus on protagonists who choose to leave home and what they find in that process.

Host Quote:

• “Sometimes removing yourself from a place in which you're entrenched can be liberating...” — Meg Wolitzer [03:09]
• “This show is about protagonists who have agency in their travel.” — Meg Wolitzer [03:28]

Story 1: “The Thief’s Tale” by Meron Hadero

Read by: Tegele F. Bougeth | Segment: [04:07–11:57]

Plot Summary:

• Setting: New York City, late 2000s.
• Protagonist: An elderly Ethiopian immigrant (the old man) who gets lost in Prospect Park after wandering from his daughter’s home.
• Conflict: Disoriented, with no knowledge of English or the city, he is approached by a stranger who attempts to rob him.
• Resolution: Through gestures and misunderstanding, the would-be mugger helps the old man use a payphone to contact his daughter, and the two share stories (mostly unintelligible to each other), surprising each other with their backgrounds and tricks.
• Theme: The power of resilience, the subversiveness of misunderstanding, and how roles can be reversed through wit and adaptation.

Notable Moments & Quotes:

• Loss and Vulnerability:
  “He felt old and even rather helpless, a little pathetic, which was a new feeling and one he didn't care for.” — Narration (Tegele F. Bougeth) [04:43]
• Unexpected Help:
  “The stranger…seemed to take pity on him, another experience the old man was not used to and didn't much like…” [06:15]
• Story Sharing in Different Languages:
  “As the two spoke over each other, understanding nothing more than the music of untranslated unfamiliar language...” [07:00]
• Reversal of Power:
  The old man, once a figure others sought for wisdom, manages to “score a bit of money from an armed robber with nothing more than a modest sleight of hand.” [11:16]

Host Reflection:

• “It's fun, right? Finding out that the seemingly frail and helpless party secretly has the upper hand. And even more interesting, the old man's victory is morally dubious…” — Meg Wolitzer [11:57]
• “The absence of understanding turns out to be a secret weapon.” — Meg Wolitzer [12:33]

Story 2: “The Tallest Doll in New York City” by Maria Davana Headley

Read by: Becca Blackwell | Segment: [13:17–31:52]

Plot Summary:

• Setting: February 1938, Manhattan, atop the Chrysler Building’s Cloud Club on Valentine’s Day.
• Narrative Style: Lively, humorous, and imbued with the language of the era.
• Plot: The Chrysler Building literally comes to life and walks through New York, seeking attention from the Empire State Building, kicking off a romantic, whimsical adventure where New York’s iconic structures come alive for one exceptional night.
• Perspective: The narrator is a Cloud Club waiter who witnesses and participates in the buildings’ affair, sharing insights on love, desire, and longing—both architectural and human.

Notable Moments & Quotes:

• Opening Scene Vibe:
  “If you happen to be a waiter at the Cloud Club, you know five's the hour when a guy's nerves start to fray. This calendar square's worse than most.” — Narration (Becca Blackwell) [13:34]
• The Chrysler Building Steps Off:
  “At 5:28pm precisely, the Chrysler Building steps off her fountain and goes for a walk. There is no warning. She just shakes the snow and pigeons loose from her spire and takes off, sashaying southwest.” [16:55]
• Comedic Take on Structural Romance:
  “We joke about working in the body of the best broad in New York City, but no one on the waitstaff ever thinks that the Chrysler might have a will of her own. She she's beautiful…” [18:13]
• On Love and Uprooting:
  “The Chrysler's in love… For 11 months from 1930 to 1931, the Chrysler was the tallest doll in New York City. Then the Empire aspired to surpass her...” [20:30]
• Magical Realism in Climax:
  “At 9:16pm I watch her for hours as the Chrysler blushes and the Empire whispers, as the Chrysler coos and the Empire laughs. The riverboats circle in shock as at 11:54pm the two at last walk south toward the harbor…” [29:34]

Host Reflection:

• “So it’s true. Love has the power to uproot and transplant us… But who knows when that longing to twirl and tango might strike?” — Meg Wolitzer [31:52]

Story 3: “The Feather Behind the Rock” by Anne Tyler

Read by: Jane Curtin | Segment: [35:27–57:58]

Plot Summary:

• Setting: United States, cross-country road trip from North Carolina to San Francisco.
• Main Characters: Joshua (teenage grandson about to start college), and his elderly grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Hopper.
• Plot: With no urgent reason, Joshua joins his grandparents on a meandering trailer trek across America. They spend their days driving and their evenings watching Westerns, with his grandmother narrating movies aloud, to Joshua’s embarrassment.
• Journey: Sometimes stifling, often monotonous, filled with chatter and the stories of the past, the trip turns harrowing when his grandmother faints in the Kansas heat. Despite health concerns, the grandparents insist on pressing westward.
• Themes: The inertia of family obligations, intergenerational misunderstanding, nostalgia, subtle acts of rebellion, and the realization that important life lessons can be found in unexpected places.

Notable Moments & Quotes:

• Grandmother’s Movie Narration:
  “Look, she would say to Mr. Hopper. There, above that ridge, do you see that pony? Yes, the Indians are there. They've been watching all along. Now that first one is coming down to parley. I told you this would happen…” [35:34]
• Joshua’s Resignation:
  “They had started out to see the country, but all they saw were highways and then at night, the insides of movie theaters and the half familiar faces of heroes drawing six guns.” [40:25]
• Generational Disconnect:
  “Some sense of responsibility that he couldn’t explain seemed to drag him along, even after he told them he wasn’t interested.” [41:53]
• On Old Love:
  “If I had married Charles right off and then seen Edwin some other way, I would have thought, oh my, what am I missing? What have I given up? But as it was, I had my pick of both and chose with a clear head, and I chose Charles.” — Mrs. Hopper [46:46]
• Climax—Grandmother’s Collapse:
  “He turned and saw that his grandmother was leaning her head there… she had merely slumped sideways as she stood beside him… she landed on the ground with her face twisted to one side and her hands outspread and slightly curled, like the hands of someone sleeping.” [48:43]
• Refusing to Turn Back:
  “No, I want to go on,” Mrs. Hopper said. She settled herself in her seat with a little flounce. ‘Start the car, Charles.’” [51:56]

Host Reflection:

• “But what he comes to realize that summer, about family and love, about words said or left unsaid, could never have been learned if he’d stayed home.” — Meg Wolitzer [57:58]
• “When we get uprooted, it’s important to keep our eyes open and take in everything we can, because maybe later on in life we’ll want to return to these memories.” — Meg Wolitzer [58:18]

Memorable Quotes & Moments by Timestamp

• “Sometimes removing yourself from a place in which you're entrenched can be liberating..." — Meg Wolitzer [03:09]
• “He marveled at the vitality of this feat, but his daughter was already rushing towards the parkway, rattling off a list of groceries she'd forgotten to get on her last trip to the store.” — Narration, “The Thief’s Tale” [11:46]
• “We joke about working in the body of the best broad in New York City, but no one on the waitstaff ever thinks that the Chrysler might have a will of her own.” — Becca Blackwell [18:13]
• “If I had married Charles right off and then seen Edwin some other way, I would have thought, oh my, what am I missing?” — Mrs. Hopper (Jane Curtin) [46:46]
• “But what he comes to realize that summer, about family and love, about words said or left unsaid, could never have been learned if he’d stayed home.” — Meg Wolitzer [57:58]

Conclusion: Episode Takeaways

• Voluntary Uprooting as Growth: Each story examines what is gained—and sometimes lost—when people leave familiar ground by choice.
• Unexpected Resilience: Even those seemingly least prepared for change (an elderly immigrant, a lovesick building, a teenager coerced into a family road trip) possess hidden reserves of adaptability and insight.
• Interpersonal and Internal Journeys: Leaving home physically often propels deeper emotional and psychological journeys, whether it’s through comic misunderstandings, magical love affairs, or the muddled highways of memory and family.
• Importance of Witnessing: The act of paying attention—to stories, to love, to each other—becomes crucial, especially when rootedness is temporarily lost.

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction & Theme Setting: [01:06–03:56]
• “The Thief’s Tale” by Meron Hadero: [04:07–11:57]
• Reflection on Story 1: [11:57–13:10]
• “The Tallest Doll in New York City” by Maria Davana Headley: [13:17–31:52]
• Reflection on Story 2: [31:52–32:25]
• “The Feather Behind the Rock” by Anne Tyler: [35:27–57:58]
• Final Reflection & Closing: [57:58–59:41]

Selected Shorts’ “Uprooted” episode delivers playful, poignant, and perceptive explorations of what happens when we leave home—and what, or who, we become as a result.