Roy Blount Jr. is a humorist, word maven and the author of "Alphabet Juice"...
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Before the Internet, a good memory wasn't just useful; it was prized as a sign of intelligence. And there were memory geniuses who developed mental tricks for storing information. Philosopher and novelist Simon Critchley delves into the fascinating history of the memory palace, which once promised almost God-like wisdom.
Operatic bass Samuel Ramey tells Anne Strainchamps about his various devil roles and why he likes singing them.
Steve Paulson visits award-winning children’s book author Paula Fox at her New York brownstone. Fox has just written a highly acclaimed memoir, “Borrowed Finery.”
What would you do to make sure someone you love gets a quality education? Students become walking brands in this story by Kelsi Evans.
Susan Burch teaches at Gallaudet University and is the author of “Signs of Resistance: American Deaf Cultural History, 1900 - 1942.” She talks about the “oralist” movement which required the deaf to learn sign language and lip reading.
Writer Richard Rodriguez views his so-called brown identity as a racial mixture, dating back to the colonization of the Americas. He tells us why he celebrates being brown, and embraces the term "Hispanic."
Stephen Prothero tells Steve Paulson about the first American cremation, which didn’t really go very well, and the current craze for going out in a blaze of glory.
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