February 11, 2000

Crush

Stories of love in its earliest stage. Crushes: what's terrible about them, what's great about them and how they can overshadow real love for some people.

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Transcript

Prologue

A high school student explains the intricacies of a four-year crush, and declares that having a crush can be better than having a boyfriend. (4 minutes)

By

Ira Glass

Act One

Kiss

So what if you held onto a high-school crush? Under what conditions would it never go away? Tobias Wolff reads a short story called "Kiss." (38 minutes)

By

Tobias Wolff

Song:

“I Think I Need A New Heart” by The Magnetic Fields

Act Two

How A Bill Becomes — A President

Bill Bradley press secretary Julia Rothwax explains how a political crush works. This is a crush that wants only for a candidate to get elected to office. She says her own political feelings for Bill Bradley are very different from the way she felt about the only other Presidential candidate she worked for: Bill Clinton. (6 minutes)

By

Ira Glass

Song:

“Wedding Bell Blues” by Fifth Dimension

Act Three

On Seeing The 100% Perfect Girl One April Morning

As pure of a depiction of unadulterated crush feeling as can be imagined—from writer Haruki Murakami's collection of short stories, The Elephant Vanishes. It's read for us by actor Matt Malloy. (9 minutes)