Anne here. My conversation with Turkish writer Elif Şafak back in April still sticks with me as the year comes to a close. In many parts of the world, 2016 was the year of the populist leader—especially in Turkey, where Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched a crackdown on free speech and all forms of opposition. 120 journalists have been jailed, more than 2,000 academics have been dismissed from universities, and more than 100,000 public workers have been fired. How did Turkey—once a model of new democratic nations—become such a different place? Not only did Şafak see this coming, she warned that the West should not consider itself immune.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Eddy Joe Cotton has been riding the rails for almost a decade. He tells Steve Paulson that the a hobo spends most of his life waiting for one of three things: a bottle, love and the next freight.
James Dawes interviewed a collection of convicted war criminals from the Second Sino-Japanese War. Today, they are "sweet old men" searching for forgiveness. Do they deserve it?
Charles Limb is a surgeon and musician who researches the way creativity works in the brain. He puts jazz musicians inside an fMRI to find out what the brain does during musical improvisation.
Watch Charles Limb's TED Talk here
Most people think of conflict as something to be avoided, but there's another way to view it -- as creative and generative. In his book "The Art of Rivalry," Boston Globe art critic Sebastian Smee explores how intense conflicts, broken friendships and personal reconciliations fueled some of the most dramatic breakthroughs in Modern Art. He tells Steve Paulson that the rivalry between Picasso and Matisse contributed, in part, to cubism.
Sci-fi writer Eileen Gunn bookmarks Nisi Shawl's "Filter House."
Brian Palmer is a veteran journalist and foreign correspondent. He embedded with the First Battalion/Second Marines three times between 2004 and 2006. He's now made a documentary film called "Full Disclosure," about the experience.
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