S-Town and Ysrael

Brian Reed is a senior producer of This American Life and the host of the S-Town podcast. John B. McLemore is a man in his late forties who resides in the small town of Woodstock, Alabama, which is most often referred to in this podcast as Shittown. McLemore often accounts how this place leaves him depressed and uninspired, but he cannot bring himself to leave the town that his family has dwelled in for generations. McLemore is disgruntled and disappointed in how terrible events seem to be effortlessly swept under the rug where he lives, and he reaches out to Reed with hopes that he can help him shed some light on a supposed murder that nothing was every done about. In this podcast time flows back and forth from past to present. Background information on the people involved, conversations (whether in person or over the phone), and Reed's personal commentary mingle to present the narrative in a unique, but structured way.

Ysrael is a kid that lives in the area where the narrator, Yunior, and his brother, Rafi, stay during the summer. Ysrael is "famous" because when he was a baby a pig got into the house and began eating his face, his disfigurements are hidden under a mask that he wears. Yunior and Rafi are in the campo because their mother "didn't have the time or energy to look after [them] during the months school was out". I believe Rafi and Yunior have a typical brotherly relationship. Rafi, as the older brother, does not want his little brother bothering him and wants to toughen him up. Yunior, the younger brother, seeks his older brother's approval and wants to learn new things from him. Rafi does seem to be a bad influence though - exposing Yunior to inappropriate topics and putting him in dangerous situations.