Seeking Kindness in the Wake of Sandy Hook
Families of those killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre are asking people to mark the one year anniversary with acts of kindness.Kindness is a big idea which feels so far from something...
View Article1914: The Year That Started A New Cultural Era
The year 1914 is most often associated with the start of World War I. In fact, this past weekend marked 100 years since the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria—an event that set in...
View ArticleHow the Millennial Generation Is Shaping the World
David Burstein discusses how the millennial generation (people who are today eighteen to thirty years old) is shaping politics, business, media, and activism. The so-called millennials have been called...
View ArticleGeorge Packer on The Unwinding of America
George Packer discusses the Seismic shifts in the United States that have created what he calls a country of winners and losers, allowing unprecedented freedom while rending the social contract,...
View ArticleTony Soprano, Don Draper, and Other Difficult Men on TV
Brett Martin discusses the transformation of the television landscape in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution: From The Sopranos and The Wire to...
View ArticleChuck Klosterman: I Wear the Black Hat
Chuck Klosterman shares his observations on the complexity of the antihero and why he’s drawn to villains. In I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling with Villains (Real and Imagined) he asks: When we classify...
View ArticleRay Davies on America, the Kinks, the Riff, and the Road
Kinks' singer/songwriter Ray Davies talks about falling in love with American movies, music, and culture as a boy in post-War England. He toured the United States with the Kinks until they were banned...
View ArticleCapturing Images Before They Pass Away
Jimmy Nelson talks about photographing tribal cultures around the world, societies he feels should be prized for their distinctive lifestyles, art and traditions. His book Before They Pass Away...
View ArticleMixed Race/Culture Families
NPR host and correspondent Michele Norris, who also leads the "The Race Card Project", an initiative to foster a wider conversation about race in America, takes calls about being in mixed race or mixed...
View ArticleMexico Uncovered
The U.S. and Mexico share deep personal, economic, geographic and cultural connections, but our understanding of Mexico is often limited by what we typically see in the media, a laundry list of...
View ArticleDon't Call Bisexuality a Fad
Is the term 'bisexual' more embraced now? Ellyn Ruthstrom, president of the Bisexual Resource Center, takes calls from listeners responding to the label and changing attitudes toward bisexuality.
View ArticleBurqas and Baseball: Being Muslim in America
Ranya Tabari Idliby discusses her experience being Muslim in America and how her family faces challenges in schools, friendships, and with neighbors. They are challenged by both Muslims who speak for...
View ArticleOne Indian Man Eats and Tells
As a South Asian growing up in Texas, Arun Venugopal never thought twice about eating with his hands while at home but in public in front of his friends and strangers alike, it was a different story....
View ArticleFunny or Racist?
"Racial humor is important," says Amber Ruffin. "It can make you feel good." Reporter Arun Venugopal speaks frankly with comedienne Ruffin, a writer at Late Night with Seth Meyers and according to...
View ArticleSee The Streets Through an Ex-Con's Eyes
In today’s Micropolis, Arun Venugopal takes a tour of Central Harlem with Alvin Entzminger, an ex-con and a long-time neighborhood resident. Listen in as this New York City veteran and street life...
View ArticleThe Case for Arranged Marriage
Here's my arranged marriage story...Years ago, I was told to scope out a prospective bride. Not for myself; I was actually the scout. One day, I got a call from my dad, saying that my cousin, who lives...
View ArticleTalib Kweli in Conversation
Arun Venugopal speaks with rapper Talib Kweli about music, memories and the good and bad of gentrification. He defends Spike Lee’s recent rant about the invading hordes of homeowners in Fort Greene....
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The Dark Side of Fair Skin
Oprah was in the house. And Kerry Washington.Days before the Academy Awards, actress Lupita Nyong'o addressed the Black Women in Hollywood luncheon with a speech that has since gone viral. The...
View ArticleShakespeare in America
Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro reveals the ways Shakespeare has influenced the United States’ literary heritage. His anthology Shakespeare in America reveals how, for over two centuries, the plays...
View ArticleA Brief History (and Spirited Defense) of Spam
Spam is the most processed of processed meats. Mention it and you're bound to get an intense reaction: from yelps of revulsion, to cries of genuine affection and yes, even ironic appreciation. Erin...
View ArticleMs.
In this Fishko Files, Ms. Fishko considers the honorific "Ms.," its checkered history and final entry into common usage. WNYC Production CreditsMix Engineer: Wayne ShulmisterAssociate Producer: Laura...
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25 Years in 25 Days (1991): The First Website
This fall, the Brian Lehrer Show is marking 25 years of Brian at WNYC with a year-by-year look at stories that mattered from 1989 to 2014. Find the full schedule and lots more here.Also today: Hear...
View ArticleFrom Martin Luther King, Jr. to Trayvon Martin
This segment originally aired live on October 30, 2014. An edited version was included in a best-of episode of The Brian Lehrer Show on November 28th. The unedited audio can be found here. Executive...
View ArticleReality Gets Demented
Quick primer: Animation used to be painted on to transparent pages, "cells," before everything went digital. If you film the cells at 24 frames per second, the drawings will appear to move fluidly....
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Composing Poetry with Predictive Text
Where would Shakespeare be without iambic pentameter? Mondrian’s paintings without his squares? Taylor Swift without the repetitive pop refrain? It’s one of the great paradoxes of creativity: structure...
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Los Angeles Is Bursting with Crystals
Mineral crystals are so beautiful, it's tempting to buy them as necklaces or coffee table ornaments even though they're so New Age-y. There's something pretty magical about the fact that their complex...
View ArticleIs This Food Racist?
How do our assumptions about people affect our assumptions about their food? And how do their assumptions about our food affect how we feel about ourselves?What happens when chefs cook a cuisine they...
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Museum Showcases Local Artists' Views of 9/11 Attacks
To commemorate the 15th anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks, the National September 11 Memorial Museum is exhibiting the work of New York-based artists who turned that day's tragedy into...
View ArticleMarcia Nasatir: The Pioneer Who Paved the Way For Women in Film
Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview.With "Wonder Woman" in theaters this month, we've been thinking more than ever about women in film, both in front of and behind the camera.But...
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