Arts & Life

Cecilia Chiang poses in her kitchen in 2014. She told NPR that when she first arrived in the U.S., she was shocked by the food most Americans considered to be Chinese.

Arts

Cecilia Chiang, Who Revolutionized American Chinese Food, Dies At 100

5:43pm October 28, 2020

by Neda Ulaby

In 1961, Chiang opened San Francisco's The Mandarin, a high-end Chinese restaurant that served authentic fare. Today, her DNA is all over American Chinese food, from P.F. Chang's to Panda Express.

Rock The Vote's voting house in Minecraft allows players to vote on a variety of real-world issues.

Arts

Minecraft Mock Poll Aims To Educate Kids About Voting

2:58pm October 28, 2020

by Reese Oxner

The voting simulation is hosted by Rock The Vote and aims to demystify the voting process by allowing kids to cast mock ballots on a number of issues. The results will be released before Election Day.

The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X, by Les Payne and Tamara Payne

'The Dead Are Arising' Sheds Light On Malcolm X — And Those That Influenced Him

10:14am October 28, 2020

by Gabino Iglesias

This isn't only a biography of Malcolm X; Les and Tamara Payne contextualize race in America prior to Malcolm's birth, and take a nuanced, unflinching look at his life, his death — and its aftermath.

Books
Arts

'Memorial' Is A Debut Novel That Feels Like The Work Of A Master

8:08am October 28, 2020

by Michael Schaub

Bryan Washington's eagerly awaited first novel is set in Houston — just like his short stories — and follows two young gay men whose relationship is tested when one man's mother comes to visit.

Mark Loughney, Pyrrhic Defeat: A Visual Study of Mass Incarceration, 2014-present. Graphite on paper (series of more than 600 drawings)

Arts

'Marking Time' And Making Art In Confinement

6:36am October 28, 2020

by Andrew Limbong

An exhibition at MoMa PS1 features work created by currently or formerly incarcerated artists and their family members. Curator Nicole R. Fleetwood knows what it's like to love someone on the inside.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

Echoes Of Today's Unrest Run Through 'The Cold Millions'

5:36pm October 27, 2020

by Ari Shapiro

Jess Walter's new novel an adventure tale based on actual events in the early days of the last century's labor movement — which was much wilder and bloodier than most people remember.

When his wife and young daughter were killed in a car accident in 1972, Joe Biden struggled to acknowledge his grief publicly. "He didn't want to become a symbol of human vulnerability," Evan Osnos says. "But it was thrust upon him and he had to decide wh

Biography Traces Political Mistakes And Personal Scars That Shaped Joe Biden

4:00pm October 27, 2020

by Terry Gross

The New Yorker's Evan Osnos writes about the candidate's enduring quest to become president. He says Joe Biden has a different mindset today than he once had: "He's a man who is at peace."

Queue Listen Now

Di Prima's Memoirs of a Beatnik was a highly sexualized fictional account of the poet's time with the Beats.

Books
Arts

Diane di Prima, Beat Poet And Activist, Dead At 86

12:04pm October 27, 2020

by Andrew Limbong

Di Prima wrote over 40 books of poetry and memoir, including her collection the radical and political Revolutionary Letters,

Sarah Cooper delivers the news in her special Everything's Fine.

Arts

Sarah Cooper's Netflix Special Is As Weird As 2020, But In The Good Way

11:06am October 27, 2020

by Linda Holmes

Sarah Cooper became famous for TikTok videos in which she lip-synced the president. Now, she's digging deeper into the emotional messes of this year.

Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art, Rebecca Wragg Sykes

'Kindred' Dismantles Simplistic Views Of Neanderthals

10:12am October 27, 2020

by Barbara J. King

Rebecca Wragg Sykes describes evidence showing that as innovative tool- and fire-makers, Neanderthals adapted to changing climates, adopted symbolic cultural practices and expressed profound emotions.