Ron Powers tells Jim Fleming that today’s teens may turn to violence to express their individuality since all the traditional means for signaling coolness have been co-opted by corporate consumer culture.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Stewart Lee Allen explains why the ancient Greeks wouldn’t eat beans, how Spanish Christians began the tradition of eating ham for Easter, and what he’d serve at a dinner dedicated to the Seven Deadly Sins.
There was a time when others bagged your groceries, planned your trips and pumped your gas, but now they're just another part of our daily routines. Craig Lambert says these are a few examples of the "shadow work" we've unwittingly taken on in service of companies and other organizations. He warns that it's chipping away at our leisure time, and turning us all into middle class serfs.
Shemekia Copeland is a young Blues singer who’s already being compared to the greats. Shemekia talks about singing the Blues with her famous father, Johnny Copeland, and working with her producer, Dr. John.
A darkly comic debut novel explores the secretive world of industrial flavor manufacturers. Stephan Eirik Clark skewers the food industry, flavor science, and the American way of life.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman talks about his book, "Thinking, Fast and Slow."
Piers Vitebsky is an anthropologist who studies the Eveny or Reindeer People of Siberia. They depend on the reindeer for their survival. They keep herds of them for meat - but their connection goes even deeper. Vitebsky says that they also have personal, consecrated reindeer animal doubles, which they believe will die for them.
Thomas Chatterton Williams is a young writer who grew up listening to hip hop, but lost touch with the culture upon entering college.
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