GOOD WILL ROGERS
“There’s no secret to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.”
OCTAVIA BUTLER -- SCI FI, SLAVERY, AND SEEDS OF THE FUTURE
Reading science fiction, Octavia Butler saw no one like herself. So she vowed to “write myself in.”
ROBINSON JEFFERS AND "THE ANSWER"
Turning his back to the continent, Robinson Jeffers offered an answer for our own troubled times.
THE MOHAWKS AND 'HIGH STEEL'
Builders offered jobs on the ground, but the Mohawks soared. Soon these “Fearless Wonders” were building the American skyline.
HAMILTON'S OTHER HALF
Broadway’s biggest hit celebrates the Founding Father, but without Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, there would have been no “Hamilton.”
JOE AND ELIZA -- AN A.I. LOVE STORY
He was a computer whiz. She was his creation, programmed to debunk AI. So why did people keep “talking” to ELIZA?
THE NUN WHO WENT POP
When Pop Art flared in the 1960s, Sister Mary Corita saw the light. Her brilliant colors soon preached love, peace, and hope.
JAMES TURRELL AND THE LIGHT DELICIOUS
Light dazzled the ancients but it took James Turrell to use everyday radiance as a paint brush.
THE DECLARATION -- FARMER STYLE
Income equality? Unions? Co-ops? Busting up corporations? The radical left? Nah, just American farmers.
SCIENCE FARCES ON
A Wasabi Alarm? Astrology Charts for Bacteria? Scheduled Earthquakes? The Ig-Nobels are science for wise guys.
JUNETEENTH!
Slavery continued in Texas for months after the war. Then came the word — on Juneteenth.
GARY SNYDER -- THE POET WHO OUTGREW THE BEATS
After reading with Ginsberg, teaching Zen to Kerouac, Gary Snyder followed his own path to become “the poet laureate of deep ecology.”
THE WIT OF JFK
Presidents are rarely known for their humor, at least not their intentional humor. JFK was.
THE BICYCLE THAT FLEW THE CHANNEL
Human-powered flight was just a dream until the Gossamer Albatross pedaled into the sky.
SISTER ROSETTA, GODMOTHER OF ROCK
Before Elvis, before Chuck Berry, Sister Rosetta Tharpe preached the gospel of rock n’ roll. Never heard of her? Hear her now.
CRADLE OF MOUNTAIN CULTURE -- APPALSHOP
Mocked, belittled, stereotyped, the folks of Appalachia had never told their own story until the birth of Appalshop.