Podcast Summary: This American Life – Episode 873: “Got You Pegged”

Original Airdate: November 9, 2025
Host: Ira Glass

Overview

In episode 873, “Got You Pegged,” This American Life explores the often hilarious, awkward, and sometimes poignant consequences of making assumptions about others. Through a collection of stories—ranging from personal misunderstandings to systemic misreadings—the show weaves together narratives about snap judgments and the surprising truths (or misfires) that follow.

Key Stories & Discussion Points

1. Opening Story: Amy, Her Brother, and the Healthworks Kids Museum

[00:41–08:47]

Summary

• Setting: Amy, back in Indiana from studying physics in Germany, accompanies her developmentally disabled brother Ben and his classmates to a children’s museum.
• Incident: Amy gets roped into making an “ID card” at a new computer exhibit. A staff member persistently helps her through the process, assuming—despite evidence—that she is one of the developmentally disabled students.
• Miscommunication: Both Amy and the staff member are mired in confusion, each misinterpreting the other’s cues. Even when Amy types her real age (21) into the computer, the staff member corrects her, believing she’s made an error.
• Resolution: The misunderstanding climaxes when Ben’s teacher arrives. The staffer boasts, “Amy was just telling me that she can read,” leading the teacher to clarify: “Of course Amy can read.”
• Reflection: It emerges the staff member, having a learning disability himself, intentionally avoids patronizing voices—but was still, ironically, “pegging” Amy in a way she didn’t expect.

Notable Quotes

• “It’s really rare to meet people who don't use some kind of special voice with the mentally disabled. This slightly higher pitched, slightly, ‘I know you're a special person’ kind of voice.” — Amy, [03:39]
• “If your age is a number that ends in ‘teen,’ then that number starts with a one.” — Staff member, [04:13]
• “Your parents must be so proud of you.” — Staff member, [05:52]
• “Turns out he's so careful not to talk down to developmentally disabled students because he himself had a learning disability.” — Narrator, [08:01]

2. Act 1: “The Fat Blue Line” (by Richard Price)

[09:53–23:02]

Summary

• Setting: Richard Price recounts riding along with NYPD officers on the Lower East Side.
• Incident: Police spot a Black man (Cleveland) and a young white boy (Noah) riding late at night. Their “fishy” pairing triggers the cops to intervene.
• Escalation: Cleveland is separated from Noah, questioned, and made to sit on the curb. Noah is grilled about their relationship, and the police probe for any signs of impropriety or danger.
• Tensions: Noah, distressed by repeated police harassment of his godfather, lashes out:
  “If you fucking assholes arrest him again... just cause he's black and I'm not, I'm gonna kill myself.” [20:22]
• Resolution: The situation de-escalates only after Noah’s mother confirms Cleveland is trusted. Cops give a half-hearted warning about bicycle safety and release them—but remain suspicious to the end.

Notable Quotes

• “If the car looks like a $200 shitbox or somebody's got an Afro or a ponytail, they pull in behind the car…” — Richard Price, [11:14]
• “Homeboy to base. We got a black man down. I repeat, a black man down.” — Passing car, [17:41]
• “Still feels fishy to me.” / “Hey, we gave it a shot man. That's all we can do.” — Police officers, [22:40]

3. Act 2: “Yes, No, or Baby” (with Nancy Updike and Kim Schweri)

[23:55–31:02]

Summary

• Subject: Kim Schweri, a 27-year-old pregnant woman in Seattle, is choosing an adoptive family for her unborn child.
• Process: Kim sifts through dozens of “dear birth mother” letters from potential parents, making instant judgments based on trivial turns of phrase or perceived clinical detachment.
• Gut Checks vs. Logic: Kim is aware of her own snap judgments, even as others “peg” her—such as assuming she’s a confused teenager, not a self-sufficient adult.
• Vulnerability: As a pregnant woman, Kim is subject to others’ projections, judgments, and unwelcome advice—especially regarding her decision for adoption.
• Personal Story: Kim reveals her fiancé died recently, contributing to her decision not to raise the child—contrary to many people's expectations or assumptions.

Notable Quotes

• “I want to be more than medical records, so…” — Kim, [26:41]
• “People feel that if you're adopted you have this great sense of loss. That's not how I felt with my experience.” — Kim, [28:02]
• “It's the way of the world. Everyone's a judge and everyone's the accused.” — Nancy Updike, [30:32]

4. Act 3: “Isn’t It Romantic?” (by David Rakoff)

[31:45–37:00]

Summary

• Focus: David Rakoff’s withering critique of the Broadway musical “Rent,” whose depiction of 1990s bohemians, he argues, is built on platitudes and lazy clichés.
• Major Point: Rakoff deconstructs how “creativity” and suffering (e.g., AIDS, parental estrangement) are commodified in the name of art, while the hard work of being an artist is ignored.
• Personal Story: Rakoff humorously contrasts his own “artist” 20s (flat broke, eavesdropping through floorboards, but paying his rent) with the show’s romanticized, consequence-free characters.

Notable Quotes

• “A secondhand wardrobe does not make you an artist. Neither do a hair triggered temper, melancholic nature... nor even HIV.” — David Rakoff, [33:43]
• “The only thing that makes you an artist is making art. And that takes the opposite of hanging out.” — [34:07]
• “But here's something that I did do. I paid my fucking rent.” — [36:58]

5. Act 4: “Paradise Lost” (by Shalom Auslander)

[39:22–61:33]

Summary

• Setting: The narrator, notorious for sabotaging family vacations, is determined to be on his best behavior at an ultra-exclusive Anguilla resort.
• Neighbor: Marvin, the elderly man in the adjacent villa, is talkative and somewhat intrusive—eventually revealing stories of Holocaust survival (with some credibility issues).
• Assumptions Fly: The narrator suspects Marvin of fabricating trauma to garner favors, going so far as to check for “Auschwitz” tattoos while Marvin sleeps.
• Culmination: Marvin, in truth, is both beloved by staff and full of difficult memories. Only when the narrator drops the pretense of polite tolerance and admits his irritation do relations stabilize.

Notable Quotes

• “If there's anything worse than hating someone, it's discovering that everyone else loves them.” — Narrator, [50:40]
• “A Holocaust survivor, I said, pacing back and forth across the room. The place is half empty and the guy next door is a Holocaust survivor.” — [49:55]
• “By finally being the ass I really am, I'd saved it.” — [60:38]

Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes by Timestamp

• Learning Disability Misreading:
  “Turns out he’s so careful not to talk down to developmentally disabled students because he himself had a learning disability.” — Narrator, [08:01]

• Police Suspicion & Racism Highlighted:
  “If you fucking assholes arrest him again... just cause he's black and I'm not, I'm gonna kill myself.” — Noah, [20:22]

• Adoption & Identity:
  “People feel that if you're adopted you have this great sense of loss... that's not how I felt with my experience.” — Kim Schweri, [28:02]

• Art and Authenticity:
  “The only thing that makes you an artist is making art. And that takes the opposite of hanging out.” — David Rakoff, [34:07]

• Vacation Ruiner’s Self-Realization:
  “By finally being the ass I really am, I'd saved it.” — Shalom Auslander, [60:38]

Takeaway

Theme Recap:
Whether at a museum, on a New York street, facing an adoption decision, attending (or not attending) to art, or trying to relax in paradise, “Got You Pegged” offers a fresh, sometimes raw, sometimes comic look at the ways we peg each other based on surface information—and how often those pegs are just plain wrong.

Final Reflection:
Everyone’s a judge and everyone’s the accused. As the stories remind us, reality is rarely as simple as our gut instincts or social scripts want to make it—and the biggest surprises come when we dare to look past (or laugh at) our own assumptions.

This American Life, Episode 873: "Got You Pegged" - A profound, funny meditation on the flawed, indelible human urge to size each other up—and the messes that follow.