What do you do when you’re an African-American filmmaker living in a country full of people who dress up in blackface at Christmastime? You pick up a camera. Roger Ross Williams talks about his new documentary, "Blackface." It's about the traditional Dutch celebration of "Black Pete" -- a Santa's helper who dresses in blackface, an Afro wig, red lipstick and big hoop earrings.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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William Powers had returned home from abroad, in shock at the excess of American culture. Then he found a woman he calls Dr. Jackie Benton, living sustainabily in a 12 x 12 house in rural North Carolina. He tells her story in the book "Twelve by Twelve."
You've heard the saying, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Journalist David Rieff thinks that's rubbish, and he says if you want peace, it's sometimes better to forget historical crimes than try to get justice.
Summer festivals are a huge part of the American music scene -- and of the music marketplace. Why do millions of people risk sunburn and dehydration when they could hear the same music better with earbuds? Music critic Maura Johnston unpacks the economics and the atavistic lure of the summer music festival.
Jim Fleming read “Kubla Khan” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and philosopher Sadie Plant talks with Steve Paulson about drug use by some famous writers, from Coleridge to Freud.
Tom Brokaw, former anchor and managing editor of NBC News, talks with Anne Strainchamps about the polarizing effects of the sixties.
Stefan Gates is the author of and a self-described "Gastronaut" – someone who'll stop at nothing to experience a transcendent moment through food, no matter how bizarre.
One way to live dangerously is to stand up for your principles, especially if it means challenging those closest to you. Documentary filmmaker Kendall Wilcox and feminist activist Kate Kelly both exposed themselves to enormous risk when they pushed for change within the LDS Church and community.
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