Arts

Hari Kondabolu worked as an immigrants rights organizer in Seattle and did comedy as a hobby on the side. But as his following grew, he realized he couldn't do both. "There is no such thing as a part-time organizer," he says.

Arts

Hari Kondabolu Says His Mom Is Hilarious — And Not Because Of Her Accent

10:44am September 16, 2016

by NPR Staff

The immigrants rights organizer turned comedian won't impersonate his parents' Indian accents. For many people, he says, "immigrants are funny voices," and he's not interested in playing into that.

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Arts
News

Transgender Superhero Comic Book Gets North Carolina Cover

9:26pm September 15, 2016

by Eddie Garcia

A new comic book is hitting shelves featuring a main character who is transgender.

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Jose Vazquez holds a book he found during the D.C. Public Library's banned book scavenger hunt.

Books
Arts

In Banned Books Scavenger Hunt, The Prize Is Literary 'Smut'

8:14pm September 15, 2016

by Lynn Neary

The D.C. public library has hidden books throughout the city in stores, libraries and cafes. They're covered in black dust jackets with labels like FILTHY, TRASHY and PROFANE. Can you find all six?

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National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Mission Of African-American Museum Writ Large In Its Very Design

8:00pm September 15, 2016

The "dark presence" of the bronze and brooding National Museum of African American History and Culture illuminates black history, and by extension, the history of America itself.

Tour guide Ron Craig points to a photo in Jack Daniel's old office at the whiskey maker's distillery in Lynchburg, Tenn. The photo, taken in the 1890s, shows Jack Daniel (wearing a black-banded white hat and a gray goatee), seated next to an African-Ameri

Jack Daniel's Heralds A Slave's Role In Its Origin Story

7:42pm September 15, 2016

by Blake Farmer

Jack Daniel learned how to make whiskey from a preacher. That's how the story goes. But a new figure is gaining prominence in the brand's corporate history.

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LeBron James Helps Young Entrepreneurs In 'Cleveland Hustles'

6:35pm September 15, 2016

by Darrielle Snipes

Small business entrepreneurs typically get money from family or friends. But an approach taken from the pages of Silicon Valley is being used in Cleveland. A new reality television show called Cleveland Hustles is the idea of basketball superstar LeBron James. The show documents this process as four companies try to create jobs and a business model that can be replicated across the country.

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Despite Controversy, Dr. Oz Maintains Wide Appeal

6:35pm September 15, 2016

Dr. Oz's television show has an enormous fan base, despite the fact that his health claims have come under attack by many in the medical profession. NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with W. Douglas Evans, director of the Public Health Communication and Marketing Program at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University, about the role that celebrity doctors play, and why Dr. Oz has such a loyal following despite the controversy surrounding him.

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Maurizio Cattelan's America goes on display Friday at the Guggenheim in New York. The artist says it is "one-percent art for the ninety-nine percent."

Behold The Throne: There's A Golden Toilet At The Guggenheim

5:43pm September 15, 2016

by Merrit Kennedy

Museum-goers, prepare for "unprecedented intimacy with a work of art." Starting Friday, visitors will be able to use Maurizio Cattelan's America, a gold-cast, working toilet at the New York museum.

London's Bridget, falling down. Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) in Bridget Jones's Baby.

Arts

'Bridget Jones's Baby' Is High-Spirited And Playful

5:27pm September 15, 2016

by Ella Taylor

Our critic Ella Taylor loves this "generous, candid" sequel to Bridget Jones's Diary, in which the now fortysomething Bridget willfully faces down new professional and romantic challenges.

A 1980 accident at a Titan II missile solo outside Little Rock, Arkansas is the focus of the documentary Command and Control.

Arts

In Chilling Documentary 'Command And Control,' A Nuclear Explosion Narrowly Avoided

5:00pm September 15, 2016

by Mark Jenkins

In 1980, a socket dropped from a worker's wrench nearly spelled nuclear disaster at a Titan II missile silo outside Little Rock, Arkansas.