Houston's Rothko Chapel is a shrine to the transformative power of art. Abstract artist Mark Rothko created 14 enormous paintings for this sacred space. Pianist Sarah Rothenberg tells us the history behind the music on her CD "Rothko Chapel," and writer Terry Tempest Williams describes her reverence for the Rothko Chapel.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
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.
Writer Elizabeth Royte spent some time on Panama’s Barro Colorado Island, the best-studied rainforest in the world. She describes some of the naturalists she met and their work in her book “The Tapir’s Morning Bath.”
There are lots of ways to amplify our senses, from hallucinogens to cochlear implants. A few people are taking it further, creating original sensory experiences by implanting new technologies in their bodies.
Artist Neil Harbisson is greyscale color blind. He designed a new electronic body part that would help him experience color.
If you want to hear about the art Neil makes thanks to his new sense, here's his extended interview.
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.
It sometimes seems as though everyone has read "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and the books that followed. The author, Stieg Larsson, died before he could tell the stories behind the books. Now his companion of more than 30 years, Eva Gabrielsson, has written about the man and his work. In this NEW and UNCUT interview she tells Jim Fleming about the books and her life with Stieg Larsson.
Francis M. Nevins is an authority on suspense writer Cornell Woolrich and wrote the introduction for a new anthology called “Night and Fear: A Centenary Collection of Stories by Cornell Woolrich.”
Jim Fleming talks with Classical pianist Christopher O’Riley who’s just released “True Love Waits” - a CD of arrangements of songs by the alternative rock band Radiohead.
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