Writer and journalist Christopher Hitchens tells Steve Paulson that Orwell got it right about imperialism, fascism and communism.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Angie da Silva is a historian of black cultural life in the United States, going back to the Civil War. She collects stories, both through oral history and archival research. But she's not merely a writer. She brings these stories to life through historical reenactment, often as a slave character she's created named Lila. She says that the stories she hears and tells are too often left out of our history books.
In this interview, she talks about her work and tells the story of Mary Meachum, a free black abolitionist who worked on the Mississippi in St. Louis.
Novelist Colin McAdam conjures a fictional world of a childless couple who adopt a rambunctious chimp. We hear excerpts of his novel "A Beautiful Truth."
Psychologists John and Julie Gottman are famous for being able to predict with 94% accuracy whether a couple will break up, stay together unhappily, or stay together happily. In their Love Lab, they've identified hidden patterns of behavior that can strengthen or weaken relationships. If we'd known the secret to a good marriage was non-linear differential equations, we might have paid more attention in math class.
David Thorpe is a filmmaker who went in search of his voice. Specifically, he wanted to know why he and many other gay men ended up markers of a "gay voice"—one with precise enunciation and sibilant "s" sounds. He spoke with his family and several speech therapists to better understand, control, and inhabit his voice.
Cathy N. Davidson is the author of "Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn." She tells Anne Strainchamps why "attention blindness" matters.
One future that most of face is seeing someone in the mirror we don’t quite recognize. Here’s Donna McNeil’s story about facing aging.
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