Arts & Life

Artist Hetain Patel toys with race, identity, language and accent — and challenges us to think beyond surface appearances.

Iranian-American comedian and actor Maz Jobrani describes a comic's role in challenging stereotypes — especially when it comes to Middle Eastern Muslims in America.

Playwright and performer Sarah Jones has a chameleon-like ability to change personas. Through these personas, she explores the fine line between stereotyping and celebrating different ethnic groups.

Margaret Heffernan talks about the danger of "willful blindness" and praises ordinary people who are willing to speak up.

Psychologist Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, examines why we aren't more compassionate more of the time.

Religion scholar Karen Armstrong describes how compassion is the core principle in all world religions, in the form of the golden rule.

Author Robert Wright says humans are not simply wired to be compassionate — we have evolved to feel compassion out of self-interest.

Political pundit Sally Kohn says we shouldn't worry as much about being politically correct; instead, she says, we need to focus on being emotionally correct.

Macaque monkeys born at the top of society live like royalty. The new film from Disneynature follows a monkey born at the bottom of the pile who struggles to makes a better life for her family.

What do Rapunzel, the Buddha and small-town America have in common? Deceptively safe spaces, says Steven Millhauser. The Pulitzer Prize winner's new short story collection is Voices in the Night.