Opinion

A marching band performs at halftime on the field during a high school football game.

Sports

School Bands Should Not Be Entertainment Adjunct For Sports

5:36pm March 13, 2013

by Frank Deford

For commentator Frank Deford, it seems unfair that students who pursue other extracurricular talents — like music — should be placed in a subsidiary position to their classmates who happen to play sports.

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Op-Ed: We Need More Aaron Swartz-Style Hacktivism

3:58pm March 11, 2013

When Internet activist Aaron Swartz committed suicide, he faced federal charges for illegally downloading and releasing articles from JSTOR, the digital library of academic journals. Northwestern University professor Peter Ludlow says Swartz was right to fight for public access to scholarship.

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Op-Ed: There's An App For Everything, And That's A Problem

2:58pm March 11, 2013

Technology companies are constantly developing new apps and tools to make our lives easier. In an op-ed for The New York Times Evgeny Morozov, author of To Save Everything, Click Here, argues that Silicon Valley's quest for perfectionism is problematic.

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The failed Snowquester reminds us, during a time of national debate, that experts can still be wrong.

Snowquester Fizzles, But We're Humbled Anyway

2:22pm March 09, 2013

by Scott Simon

After Snowquester fizzled, Scott Simon muses that snow forecasts falling so flat is a sound reminder, during a time of national debate, that experts can be wrong.

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Luke and Mark Radlinski reunite at the airport after Mark's deployment in 2007.

National

Returning From Duty, Finding Families' Embrace

12:29pm March 09, 2013

by NPR Staff

For Navy Lt. Mark Radlinski, coming home from Iraq was both the best and worst day. But his brother had no mixed emotions — it was all positive. When Felicia Banks deployed with the Army, her children were not as aware of what was going on. They knew they were thrilled to have her back, though.

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DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall and Villanova universities have decided to leave the Big East Conference and pursue a new basketball framework.

Sports

Catholic Universities See True Path To Salvation: Basketball

11:18am March 06, 2013

by Frank Deford

A powerful leadership group — the Catholic Seven — is stepping forward and heading in a bold new direction: basketball. These schools want out of the Big (football) East Conference.

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We didn't always feel guilty when we bought Wonder Bread and baloney at the supermarket, instead of fresh organic vegetables at the farmers' market.

Are You Overwhelmed? You Don't Have To Be

6:28pm March 02, 2013

by Alva Noë

We seem to be stressed out these days. Everybody I know says that they feel overwhelmed a lot of the time. Why is this? What is going on?

Dear College Presidents: Break The NCAA's Vise Grip On Athletes

7:37am February 27, 2013

by Frank Deford

Student-athletes are really sucker-athletes under the organization's structure, says sports commentator Frank Deford. Will no college president speak the words that will break the organization's spell?

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Linguist Geoff Nunberg finds that in the film Lincoln, screenwriter Tony Kushner oscillates between old and modern meanings of "equality."

Arts

Historical Vocab: When We Get It Wrong, Does It Matter?

7:12pm February 26, 2013

by Geoff Nunberg

We're living in an age obsessed with authenticity, says linguist Geoff Nunberg, but we often choose to nitpick the wrong details. Whether it's Downton Abbey, Mad Men, Lincoln or Argo, Nunberg argues, a historical novel or screenplay should give us a translation, not a transcription.

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Tracy Johnson and her mother-in-law, Sandra Johnson.

National

In Loving Memory Of A Wife, Daughter And Fallen Soldier

4:20pm February 26, 2013

by NPR Staff

Tracy Johnson lost her wife to war, but she didn't lose her family.

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