January 8, 2021

Making the Cut

There's always someone whose job it is to decide if you measure up.

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Transcript

A teacher stands before a class of child ballerinas during an audition. — TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images

Note: The internet version of this episode contains un-beeped curse words. BEEPED VERSION.

Prologue

Dr. Alisa Neymark, a dentist in New York City, asks why it’s taking so long for dentists to get the coronavirus vaccine. Rose Duhan, from the New York State Vaccine Distribution and Implementation Task Force acknowledges, it’s not going great. (7 minutes)

By

Ira Glass

Act One

God Committee

People given the difficult task of deciding who lives and who dies. (20 minutes)

By

Lilly Sullivan

Act Two

Winter’s Bone

Elna Baker notices a change in how people in New York City are dating during the pandemic. (12 minutes)

By

Elna Baker

Act Three

Reluctant Bureaucrats

Reporter Katie Mingle wonders why the 211 hotline in the San Francisco Bay Area for people experiencing homelessness so often turns out to be a dead end for them. She learns that part of the issue is that callers have to give a very specific answer to one question. (16 minutes)

This story is a version of the second episode of According to Need, a 99% Invisible podcast.