Commentary

Greggor Ilagan represents district 4 of the county of Hawaii.

Politics & Government

Politician Takes To Tinder To Ignite Voters' Interest

10:32am January 23, 2016

by Scott Simon

Greggor Ilagan, a Hawaii politician running for higher office, used Tinder to reach potential voters. Now, says NPR's Scott Simon, Ilagan is taking a more traditional approach: walking door to door.

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Sports

Sometimes, You Have To Pass The Ball

1:55pm January 20, 2016

by Frank Deford

Cities lose sports teams, as occasionally things have to change, and that's just part of life, according to sports commentator Frank Deford.

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Sports

New Commentators Coming To 'Morning Edition'

10:13am January 20, 2016

by Elizabeth Jensen

Morning Edition will start to develop a more diverse group of contributors.

When a country is declared Ebola-free â like Sierra Leone last November â the mood is upbeat. But that doesn't mean the virus is vanquished, as Sierra Leone learned this month.

Has The World Learned The Wrong Lessons From The Ebola Outbreak?

3:34pm January 19, 2016

by Nahid Bhadelia

By focusing on the end of the epidemic, writes infectious disease specialist Nahid Bhadelia, we miss the larger point.

A Mother's Question To Protect Her Kids: Do You Keep Guns?

4:31pm January 15, 2016

Commentator Dede Donahue didn't always think about the guns she couldn't see. That is, until she had children. She first wrote about her experience in the Washington Post.

Tom Houck, standing in front of a mural at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta.

National

The Accidental Wheelman Of Martin Luther King Jr.

11:09am January 15, 2016

by NPR Staff

In the mid-'60s, Tom Houck left high school to join the civil rights movement. But he never expected he'd become the personal driver to the movement's leader — mostly because he had a license.

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When is it easier to ignore that text message than reply to it?

Going Away Without 'Ghosting': A Better Way To Say 'I'm Not Into You'

9:10am January 14, 2016

by Sarah Hepola

The simple answer? Honesty. Commentator Sarah Hepola says that once she learned how to turn down dates with men she wasn't interested in, it became much easier to say yes to the ones she liked.

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Everyone Uses Singular 'They,' Whether They Realize It Or Not

2:21pm January 13, 2016

by Geoff Nunberg

The singular, gender-neutral usage of "they" is now acceptable on college campuses, among the genderqueer and in the Washington Post. Linguist Geoff Nunberg traces the rise of the new "they."

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David Bowie performs during a concert celebrating his 50th birthday, on Jan. 9, 1997, at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

David Bowie, The Internet Visionary

12:23pm January 12, 2016

by Laura Sydell

Bowie was an explorer of what it meant to be human. In a 1999 interview, he predicted the power of the Internet — "an alien life form" — to break down the divisions between artists and the audience.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg notes that while workers in today's "gig economy" may have more freedom than they had in years past, they also have less security.

Economy

Goodbye Jobs, Hello 'Gigs': How One Word Sums Up A New Economic Reality

9:56am January 12, 2016

by Geoff Nunberg

Once used by '50s hipsters to connote a no-strings-attached job, "gig" has been co-opted by venture capitalists hyping the new economic order. Linguist Geoff Nunberg reflects on the word's resurgence.

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