This podcast titled “It Says So Right Here” details three different stories of written records gone awry. The first is a story of a man name Lanail Hudson—or more like two men named Lanail Hudson. The real Lanail Hudson had his identity stolen in 1989 by an immigrant from Guyana who committed some crimes under his name. He spent decades trying to save his credit, dealing with suspended licenses and the inability to take out loans. The other Lanail had been living as him and had even had children under his name. He produced an elaborate story where all of his living family was dead and his ex-girlfriend destroyed all of his photos and documents upon their break up. His fingerprints even matched those that were in the system under Lanail’s name. The real Lanail said that multiple decades of identity theft only cost him $6,000-$7,000, but that’s not including the numerous hours he spent talking to the IRS and the authorities straightening out the whole mess.
The second story involves a woman getting tested for Huntington’s disease. It runs in her family and she decided to get genetically tested to see if she has the gene. Her sister had been found to have the gene, but was not showing physical symptoms yet. Kelly describes her journey as she tries to prepare herself for the news that may change her life. She ends up getting a negative result—she does not have the alleles for Huntington’s. Although, instead of it being a celebratory occasion, it proves to be more for her to wrap her head around. It is especially tough for her sister who is already a victim of the disease. Kelly also has a hard time believing the results, her mind is not at ease any more than it was before she received the results.
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The third story is about Josh: a college student in Wisconsin who decided he wanted to take full ownership and pay his own tuition bills. He became an RA in order to achieve this goal. He applies to be on Wisconsin’s school board, and gets accepted. After the application process is done, he receives a phone call asking him if he had signed a petition years ago against the governor’s policies. He recalls signing it, in support of his mother who would have been out of a job because of it. In turn, this gets him fired from his position. The government refused to comment on the situation, saying only that his rescinded nomination had nothing to do with the petition, but Joshua and the press knew otherwise. He was described as a highly impressive candidate by people in the governmental office.
The stories in this podcast describe how legal documents—no matter how minor—can have a huge impact on one’s life. A printed and signed document can be literally the difference between life and death. A document that is nothing but simply ink on paper can have profound effects on an individual and the people around them. We saw fake birth certificates and fingerprints and state identification in the Lanail Hudson case. We saw a woman’s entire life spelled out in a singular word in Kelly’s Huntington case. And we saw a mindless signature come back to cost a young man his job years later in Joshua’s case. These situations all show the importance and vitality of documents in this day and age. A signature can matter way more than words or actions. An official looking piece of paper truly speaks volumes.
