Audio

Making Democracy Fun

Correction: This interview refers to a survey finding that only 22% of Americans trust government at all levels. The actual survey was limited to trust in the federal government, and found that 22% of Americans trusted the government in Washington "almost always or most of the time".

We all know it's important to be involved in local government, but can political participation also be fun? Josh Lerner thinks so. He believes local governments could boost the fun factor in the political process by borrowing a few ideas from game design.

John Berendt on "The City of Falling Angels"

John Berendt tells Anne Strainchamps that Venice still feels like a stage set, and that Venetians still carry on in dramatic, even operatic ways.

Richard Hell - Punk

Sometimes when musicians break the mold, they end up creating new genres. Richard Hell didn't study music as a kid, but he loved how rock and roll let him experiment with self-expression.

Mario Vargas Llosa on the dictator Trujillo

Mario Vargas Llosa is one of the godfathers of Latin American fiction. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2010. He also once ran for president of his native country, Peru. Politics and literature are the driving forces in his life.

John Tavener on Sacred Music

British composer John Tavener tells Steve Paulson that he merely records the music that God created, and that he scorns music like Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony which celebrates humanity rather than the Divine.

Michael Lewis on the Global Recession

If you think the American middle class has it bad, consider life in debt-ridden Italy or Greece. Best-selling financial writer Michael Lewis portrays the downfall of several European countries with his usual verve, in Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World.

Meat Houses

Mitchell Joaquim and the Terreform 1 team are looking for new, organic ways of building homes… and cities. He says part of the answer might be tree houses and… meat houses. Yes, you heard that right, MEAT houses.

Joseph Lekuton on Growing Up Maasai

Joseph Lekuton was born in Kenya to a tribe of Maasai nomads. Later, he came to America and eventually got a master’s in educational policy from Harvard.

Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.