We hear an excerpt from David Isay’s documentary about the traditional gospel quartets of Jefferson County, Alabama.
We hear an excerpt from David Isay’s documentary about the traditional gospel quartets of Jefferson County, Alabama.
In 2011, as Hurricane Irene made landfall in New York City, poet Edward Hirsch learned that his 22-year old son Gabriel had died from a bad drug reaction and subsequent seizure. Later, Hirsch composed “Gabriel,” a book-length elegy poem about his relationship with his son, and his loss.
A. J. Jacobs decided to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. He tells Steve Paulson why and some of the peculiar facts he picked up along the way.
Psychiatrist Allen Peterkin tells Steve Paulson that beards make people think of either Santa Claus or Satan, and that facial hair is making a comeback.
Los Angeles comic and humor columnist Alan Olifson reads an essay on the dangers of enjoying irony.
In the mid-1930's, Alan Turing made the revolutionary discovery that launched the digital age. He proved that information can be translated and communicated using nothing but a series of ones and zeroes. And that was just the first of Turing's intellectual achievements. Biographer Andrew Hodges explained Turing's genius to Jim Flemming in 2012.
Another winning entry in our 3 Minute Futures flash fiction contest, this story comes from Michelle Clay in Massachusetts.
Adam Mansbach is a white boy from an affluent Boston suburb who’s devoted himself to hip hop culture.