This is Love

New to This is Love? Start with these: Always Tomorrow, The Town That Stayed Quiet, Prairie Warbler, The Clearwater Monster, Among the Oak Trees, & My Penny. Find them all here: pod.link/1337100398

In Provincetown, Massachusetts, there is a local paper that aims to publish a full reported obituary for every single person who dies in the towns it covers. Listen to our latest episode: buff.ly/eEXncwo

Heather Lende has written nearly 500 obituaries for people in her small town in Alaska. She’s known just about everyone she has written about. New today: buff.ly/fnnK6g4

Two years after Emma Gatewood finished the Appalachian Trail, she decided to do it again. And when she was 76, she hiked it for a third time. At 78, she started leading an annual hike in Ohio. People still do it every year – the next one is January 17. buff.ly/8co571k

One day, before most people had heard of the Appalachian Trail, Emma Gatewood read about it in National Geographic. The article said the trail was for "anyone in normal good health” and that it “doesn’t demand special skill.” So she decided to try it. buff.ly/8co571k

When Emma Gatewood thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail, she took a sheet of plastic to lay under when she needed to sleep in the rain. She usually wore canvas Keds or Chuck Taylor All Stars. Later, she said, “I thought it would be a nice lark. It wasn’t.” buff.ly/8co571k

When Emma Gatewood was 67, she told her children she was going on a walk. “The next they would hear from her would be via postcard… And it said, ‘By ‘walk’ I mean I'm thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail.’” New today: buff.ly/0U2Dd7t

Minh Nguyen has organized meetups with old classmates from middle and high school, and he's traveled all over the country to see them. When we asked if he could have imagined doing something like this when he was in school, he said: “Absolutely not.” buff.ly/wOwDMjF

Minh Nguyen usually takes a selfie whenever he meets up with old classmates. He has met up with over 350 of them. In today’s episode we hear from Minh and four of his classmates - Aric, Jordan, Eden, and Justin - about what it was like. buff.ly/wOwDMjF

About 20 years after Minh Nguyen graduated from high school, he started reaching out to his old classmates and asking each of them to meet up in person. Before his first meeting, he says he was nervous. buff.ly/wOwDMjF

When Minh Nguyen was in school, he didn’t ask anyone to sign his yearbooks — he says he was too uncomfortable. But twenty years later, he started reaching out to all his former classmates. He asks everyone the same questions. buff.ly/NfyvcA9

The first time Nasha Thomas performed “Cry,” she’d just had a baby. Now, Nasha teaches it to other dancers. “Six years performing the ballet, I was never not nervous... It was never until I got on stage and that curtain went up that I exhaled.” buff.ly/EZPUXTM

When Judith Jamison first performed “Cry” for an audience, she’d never danced the entire thing straight through. Halfway through, she stopped being able to feel her legs. When she finished, the crowd cheered for almost ten minutes. Listen: buff.ly/I8hPNm1

When Alvin Ailey was young, he and his mother would pick cotton and sell peanuts outside a movie theater to make money. One friend said Alvin didn’t like to talk about his life growing up. But Alvin said he put his “blood memories” into his choreography. buff.ly/I8hPNm1

In 1971, for his mother’s birthday, Alvin Ailey gave her a ballet. The dance was grueling – sometimes the women who did it bled. “I remember... seeing my mother on her knees scrubbing these white folks’ rooms and halls. That image is in my ballet ‘Cry.’” buff.ly/I8hPNm1

New book starts tomorrow. A hint…

Phoebe: What was the first magic you learned? Ava: Probably how to tell someone's credit card number without seeing it. Phoebe: Wait a second– so you could, right now, tell me my credit card number. Ava: Well, not on radio, that would be illegal.

“You know what it's like to try to get away with something. And when you meet another person who's been trying to do that, you feel it.” Listen to our latest: buff.ly/Z8gXGBI

This week: Magicians in love. Phoebe: Do you ever manage to trick each other? Apollo: That was a promise I made when we married, that I would do it every day. I would always give her a surprise every day. Ava: And he’s kept it. buff.ly/Z8gXGBI

While Ava Do was growing up in Vietnam, her father helped smuggle people out of the country. Eventually, her family left too. “I wanted to believe that there was possibly, maybe a place in the world where people did say everything that they think.” buff.ly/Z8gXGBI

“He stole my watch. He stole my jewelry. I stopped wearing jewelry – just to see what else he would steal.” In 2004, Ava Do met a professional pickpocket at a bachelorette party in Las Vegas. And they fell in love. New today: buff.ly/Z8gXGBI