Arts

Alfre Woodard Brings True Story To Screen

12:00pm April 20, 2009

Award-winning actress Alfre Woodard stars in American Violet, a new film based on the story of Regina Kelly of Hearne, Texas. Kelly, a single mother of four, was unjustly accused of dealing drugs. Woodard talks about her role and the film's importance.

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NPR Story Inspires Hollywood Film

12:00pm April 20, 2009

by Wade Goodwyn

Filmmaker Bill Haney decided to make American Violet while he was driving home one afternoon in 2002. He was stuck in rush-hour traffic when he heard NPR correspondent Wade Goodwyn report the story of Regina Kelly. Haney was so moved by the story he turned it into a film. Goodwyn recalls his initial reporting and his more recent coverage of the movie's premiere in Regina Kelly's hometown of Hearne, Texas.

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The Matzo Ball Matriarch of American Jewish Food

12:06am April 12, 2009

The Settlement Cook Book is largely forgotten today. But in its time, Lizzie Black Kander's book exposed Jewish homemakers transplanted from Eastern Europe to the American way of cooking — and living.

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Is America Weighed Down By 'Dead Ideas'?

12:40am February 09, 2009

In his new book, The Tyranny of Bad Ideas, author Matt Miller says Americans need to let go of certain outmoded beliefs. On the list? The idea that our children will earn more than we do and the notion that taxes are bad and free trade is good.

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Is America Weighed Down By 'Dead Ideas'?

12:40am February 09, 2009

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Analyzing The Text Of Obama's Inaugural Address

9:10am January 23, 2009

Although many Americans heard Barack Obama's inauguration speech, they probably weren't listening for plyptotons and catachresis — but Geoff Nunberg was.

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Natasha Trethewey: If My Mom Could See Us Now

3:24pm January 20, 2009

Natasha Trethewey won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for poetry for her book Native Guard. Her parents had an interracial marriage while it was still illegal in Mississippi, and Tretheway's poetry often draws on her childhood as a biracial child in the south.

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Eric Foner On Post-Civil War Disappointments

3:01pm January 20, 2009

Eric Foner, author of Our Lincoln, talks about the era following the Civil War in which former slaves were promised equal rights and citizenship. Foner is DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University.

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Spreading The Hope: Street Artist Shepard Fairey

1:05pm January 20, 2009

Street artist Shepard Fairey created the iconic red, white and blue Obama illustration that became the unofficial poster of the campaign. Although his campaign poster never became official, Fairey has been commissioned to design the official poster for the inauguration.

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Chuck Todd Examines 'How Barack Obama Won'

12:00pm January 08, 2009

NBC's newly appointed chief White House correspondent talks with Dave Davies about his new book, How Barack Obama Won: A State-by-State Guide to the Historic 2008 Presidential Election.

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