What do dwarfs, the deaf, and people with autism or Down Syndrome have in common? According to writer Andrew Solomon, all families with such “exceptional” children face similar challenges. And for parents, there’s often a struggle to accept kids who are very different from themselves. In this UNCUT interview, Solomon talks about his acclaimed book “Far From the Tree.”
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Here's an Anishinaabe poem and creation story by Kimberly Blaeser, the Poet Laureate of Wisconsin. It's the story of the lowly muskrat, and it reminds us that we are constantly building new worlds - and have been doing so since before the beginning of time.
Jon Stravers — also known as "Hawk" — is an ornithologist, a musician, and a Vietnam veteran. To say that he's obsessed with birds might be putting it mildly. Since he came back from Vietnam he's spent most of his springs and summers along the Mississippi keeping an eye and ear out for birds. His latest obsession is the Cerulean Warbler, a species once thought to be in decline in the Upper Mississippi.
What's the perfect drug for a culture of distraction? Adderall. Sales of the prescription drug have increased exponentially and not always legally, especially to young adults. Casey Schwartz spent her twenties gulping down prescription stimulants to help her get through school and start her career. She wrote about her experience in a story for "The New York Times Magazine" called "Generation Adderall."
Ali Allawi is a visiting fellow at Harvard and the former Minister of Defense and Minister of Finance in Iraq. He talks with Steve Paulson about Islam and modernism.
It’s no secret that Hollywood has a diversity problem. Take for instance the fact that women only hold about 1 in 6 leadership roles in the film industry. And despite facing greater dangers, female stuntwomen typically receive less pay than their male counterparts. In her documentary “Double Dare,” Amanda Micheli follows two high profile women stunt-doubles: Jeannie Epper and Zoe Bell. Michaeli says women stunt doubles appear all the time in movies, and not always where you’d expect.
Doug Dorst talks about "S.," the novel-within-another-novel that he wrote based on a concept by producer and director J.J. Abrams.
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