Opinion

Elysha O'Brien and her husband, Michael, with their sons. Elysha never learned Spanish but is determined that her children will.

National

Living In Two Worlds, But With Just One Language

12:24am May 31, 2013

by Michele Norris

Elysha O'Brien calls herself a "Mexican white girl." Not just because of her ethnically ambiguous appearance, she says, but also because she can't speak Spanish. Fearing their children would experience discrimination if they spoke Spanish, her parents chose not to teach them their native tongue.

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Lynda Barry is an assistant professor of Interdisciplinary Creativity at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Arts

Cartoonist Lynda Barry Helps College Students Tap Innate Creativity

11:50am May 30, 2013

by NPR Staff

Like most of her work, cartoonist Lynda Barry's course at the University of Wisconsin is unorthodox: No artistic skill is required. In class, and in her own work, the cartoonist aims to strip away the stiffness of adulthood and plug people into their innate creativity.

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Science

Public Opinion On The Record Number Of Female Breadwinners

2:21pm May 29, 2013

A study from the Pew Research Center shows a growing number of women are the family breadwinners. In 40 percent of families with children under 18, the mothers bring home most or all of the household income. The American public still has mixed feelings about moms bringing home the bacon.

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Sports

One More Swing: 'Casey At The Bat'

11:03am May 29, 2013

by Ernest Lawrence Thayer

Frank Deford puts aside his gripes this week to pay tribute to the poem by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, first published in the San Francisco Examiner 125 years ago June 3.

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U.S. Navy sailors form a ceremonial guard at a wreath-laying ceremony to memorialize the victims of the attack on Pearl Harbor and pay tribute to the veterans of World War II in front of the Lone Sailor statue at the Naval Memorial in Washington, D.C., in

After WWII, A Letter Of Appreciation That Still Rings True

9:43am May 28, 2013

by Maureen Corrigan

Recently, Fresh Air contributor Maureen Corrigan found a letter from then-Secretary of War James Forrestal that had been sent to her father after he had been honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy in 1945. In that letter, she found an expression of gratitude that could serve us well today.

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Sally Edwards (left), 80, and Lue Hutchinson, 71, visited StoryCorps in Cincinnati. Their sons, Jack Edwards and Tom Butts, are buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

National

Military Moms: A Bond Born From Shared Loss

8:22am May 24, 2013

by NPR Staff

Two mothers whose sons were killed during the first Gulf War talk about how they became friends after their sons died. The past 22 years would have been tough without the friendship, because, as one tells the other, "what's in our hearts we share."

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Michael Douglas and Matt Damon star as Liberace and his young lover, Scott Thorson, in Steven Soderbergh's new HBO biopic Behind the Candelabra.

Arts

Soderbergh's Liberace, 'Behind The Candelabra'

6:45pm May 23, 2013

In his new HBO film, the acclaimed director examines the five-year relationship between the flamboyant entertainer and Scott Thorson, who was 40 years Liberace's junior and still a teenager when they met. Michael Douglas plays Liberace and Matt Damon plays Thorson.

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Michael Douglas stars as the flamboyant pianist and entertainer Liberace in Steven Soderbergh's new HBO biopic, Behind the Candelabra.

Arts

Douglas, Damon Illuminate HBO's 'Candelabra'

6:43pm May 23, 2013

by David Bianculli

Steven Soderbergh's latest film is a showbiz story about Vegas icon Liberace and his secret lover — played, respectively, by Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, both terrific in their roles. It premieres Sunday on HBO.

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The video for Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's newly released song starts by re-creating the conditions of his captivity during the 81 days he was held in police detention in 2011, and later dissolves into a dystopian nightmare.

China's Artist Provocateur Explores New Medium: Heavy Metal

8:18pm May 22, 2013

by Louisa Lim

In 2011, police detained Ai Weiwei for 81 days. Now, he's released a song that's turned the experience into a heavy metal protest song, along with a dystopian nightmare video. The lyrics are explicit and angry. Ai says his music is for the many political prisoners who remain jailed.

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Letters: Stories From Moore, Okla.

6:40pm May 22, 2013

Robert Siegel and Melissa Block read emails from listeners about reporting on the tornado in Moore, Okla.

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