Saadi Simawe spent six years in an Iraqi prison for publishing verse opposed to Saddam Husssein’s Bath party. Now he’s an exile and teaches at Grinnell College in Iowa.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Stacy Peralta was one of the original Z-boys who transformed the sport of skateboarding. Peralta tells Steve Paulson that the Z boys were all wild surfers from a rough neighborhood in west Los Angeles.
In the run-up to this show, many of you sent in your stories of wonder. Here they are, crafted into an eight-part soundscape with the voices of Michael Arnold, Cynthia Woodland, Caryl Owen, and Peter Sobol. Thanks for sharing your stories!
What's Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg's Dangerous Idea? How beauty leads to scientific discovery.
Scott Gelfand tells Jim Fleming about the latest in reproductive technology: the artificial womb. He worries that the device will be upon us before we’ve settled all the social and ethical issues it raises.
Steve Paulson talks with some leading Darwin experts and goes to see Darwin's letters at Cambridge University in England to try to get at Darwin's views on God.
Sven Birkerts tried to write a novel, but realized he had more success writing about fiction than writing fiction. He tells Steve Paulson how he became a literary critic.
Is hip hop strictly for the under-30 crowd? Todd Boyd tells Anne Strainchamps it’s a message of empowerment for Black Americans.
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