What It's Like To Be... with Dan Heath

A Forensic Architect

Poking a finger through rotted structural columns, hunting down the water leaks behind construction defects, and keeping cool under hostile cross-examination with Jorge M

A Special Ed Teacher

Sprawling on the floor like a starfish beside an overwhelmed teen, staging Friday prank calls to fellow teachers, and orchestrating the chaos of a self-contained classroo

An Auctioneer

Chanting bids to whip up a bidding war, shipping $750,000 of Magic: The Gathering cards by armored car, and knowing exactly when to bring the gavel down with Joe Bodnar,

An Infectious Disease Doctor

Sleuthing through patient histories for the clue everyone else missed, asking patients about caves, scorpions, and shaman retreats, and sounding the alarm on a potential

A Mail Carrier

Loading the mail truck before the day begins, dealing with aggressive dogs and bad weather, and keeping a neighborhood connected by showing up every day with John Ayala,

A Hotshot

Digging line to redirect the country's fiercest wildland fires, sleeping in the dirt after a 16-hour day, and turning physical endurance into a public service with B

An Airport CEO

Pitching airline executives during route-planning speed dates, opening a $1.7 billion new terminal, and making space for emotional airport reunions with Christina Cassoti

A Civil Aviation Engineer

Designing runways for hot air and heavy planes, inspecting pavement cracks with measuring wheels, and protecting vicious little owls from construction crews with Eileen V

An Air Traffic Controller

Sequencing departures like a moving puzzle, scrambling when a jet takes off without clearance, and catching what radar misses with a glance out the window with Michael Re

A Flight Attendant

Hugging a mother through an anxiety attack, bidding for the best routes, and absorbing strangers' confessions at 35,000 feet with Linda Beall, a flight attendant. Wh

An Airline Pilot

Shooting cat-three landings in the fog, using the “voice of God” on unruly passengers, and declaring Mayday after an engine fire with Paul Drusch, a commercial airline pi

(Bonus) From StoryCorps: "Sideliners"

Athletes get all the glory, but there are countless people around them making the games happen - from referees making judgments, to vendors in the stands hawking snacks a

A Clinical Ethicist

Untangling who gets to speak for a dying patient, weighing a treatment's benefits against its burdens, and searching for clarity in the grayest corners of healthcare

A Correctional Officer

Grinding through 16-hour shifts, standing behind inmates (never in front), and trying to stay human in an inhuman environment with Bill Farrell, a correctional officer in

A Custom Harvester

Harvesting five million bushels of wheat and corn from Texas to Montana, outrunning hailstorms that decimate a year's income in 20 minutes, and running a multimillio

A Funeral Director

Guiding grieving families through arrangement meetings, orchestrating meaningful memorial services within days, and preparing bodies for viewing with Heather Hill, a fune

An Aerospace Engineer

Landing the Perseverance rover on Mars, working in clean rooms to minimize the microbial bug count, and slogging through hundreds of engineering trade-offs with Swati Moh

A Diplomat

Defusing a crisis after an ambassador hinted at a preemptive strike on Russia, delivering demarches in multiple languages, and surviving the frantic evacuation of the Kab

A Lineman

Wiring a neighborhood back to life after a tornado, coveting the work of helicopter linemen in Faraday suits, and surviving the collapse of a rotten utility pole with Eld

A Health Inspector

Suspending the licenses of unsafe restaurant operators, hunting down the origins of foodborne illness outbreaks, and eliciting truthful answers from anxious managers with