Gary Gulman

You can put a kid into a tough guy costume, but it doesn't always make him into a tough guy.

And of course, adults are always trying to convince kids and inspire kids about who they can be.

That's what good parents do.

That's what good teachers do.

But some kids, like Gary, just have trouble going along with the plan.

They want to please the adults.

They want to do what they're asked.

But all the while, they genuinely wonder, can they actually become the person the adults are telling them to become?

Is that them?

Is that who they should be?

And it's totally confusing for them.

The adults in their lives seem to know what they're talking about.

They're adults, for God's sake.

They're supposed to know better.

But the kids end up wondering in a really primal way, who am I?

We're from WBEZ Chicago.

It's This American Life.

I'm Ira Glass.

Our show today in two acts.

In the second act, adults make it so a woman can't even decide what is true about some of the most basic facts about her own history.