On almost going to Disneyland

Great, creepy, kind of disturbing story this weekend on This American Life by Starlee Kine, who grew up with SoCal kids who, as she says, were all jaded about going to Disneyland by age ten. The story is really about her mother, who was over-protective almost to the point of abuse. Starlee and her sister wanted to go to Disneyland too, but their mother felt it was too dangerous. So she began taking the girls for two-week vacations at...the Disneyland Hotel. They could see the rides from their room. They would watch the other kids come back exhausted and "changed" at the end of the day...year after year. I stayed in the car to hear the end of the story, and when I went in the house my wife and I both said "did you just hear..." Kine, who lives in Brooklyn, is a former This American Life producer who has done other memorable segments, most notably one in which she writes a break-up song with Phil Collins. She's working on a book about self-help called "It IS Your Fault." Get the show here.