May 3, 2013

Tonight on Basic Black history in the headlines: a report this week concluded that for the first time ever, black voter turnout surpassed that of white voters. We'll look at the national and local implications. And in sports, NBA player Jason Collins revealed he is gay; as the first professional athlete to do so, it's history, but is it news?

The panel:
- Callie Crossley, host of Under the Radar, 89.7 WGBH Radio
- Peniel Joseph, professor of history, Tufts University
- Kim McLarin, author, Divorce Dog: Motherhood, Men and Midlife; asst. prof. of writing, Emerson College
- Phillip Martin, senior reporter, 89.7 WGBH Radio
- Michael Jeffries, assistant professor of American Studies, Wellesley College


(Photo: Jason Collins. Kwaku Alston for Sports Illustrated.)



(Photo: Jason Collins. Kwaku Alston for Sports Illustrated.)

May 8, 2015 This week Basic Black opens with a follow-up look at the events in Baltimore with a conversation about black leadership and variations on the “blue wall of silence.” Later in the show: as tensions in Baltimore increased, it was the White House Correspondents Dinner which included a few jokes on the state of race relations, that took center stage in many media outlets; and just after the state of emergency in Baltimore was lifted, the comedy duo Key and Peele premiered a sketch called “Negrotown”… we ask, when is the right time for satire?


Panelists:
- Latoyia Edwards, Anchor, New England Cable News
- Phillip Martin, Senior Reporter, WGBH News
- Kim McLarin, Associate Professor of Writing, Literature, and Publishing, Emerson College
- Peniel Joseph, Professor of History, Tufts University
- Emmett G. Price III, Associate Professor of Music, Northeastern University and author of The Black Church and Hip Hop Culture


Photo: (Left) Scene from “Negrotown” Key & Peele, Comedy Central. (Right) Protesters demonstrate as a curfew imposed in the aftermath of rioting following Monday's funeral for Freddie Gray goes into effect Friday, May 1, 2015, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

 Shakespeare has been my frequent companion for almost fifty years, during which time I have studied his works in school, read them for pleasure, attended hundreds of performances, watched dozens of film versions of the plays, and spent many hours listening to audio productions during morning and afternoon commutes. And for the past twenty yea...

Introducing Battle For Denmark: The timeless tale of Hamlet is now told through vlog format as we follow Horatio and Hamlet's story of corruption, revenge, friendship, and a plastic skeleton. Horatio (Hailey Buck), as the social media intern for the Claudius campaign, decides to start a campaign vlog to publicize the campaign, but soon gets high ja...

shearch.me is a free Progressive Web App that searches Shakespeare's plays, poems and sonnets including locations and stage directions. It's quick, works on desktop or mobile, and it uses the wonderful PlayShakespeare texts. Because it's a Progressive Web App, you can use it like a website (just go to shearch.me in a web browser) or you can add it ...

Attending a production of Macbeth may require one to have mental preparation—to face multiple murders with dark schemes guided...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, produced by the Great Lakes Theater in repertoire with the musical Into the Woods, is...

In a small New Hampshire community two sisters, Henrietta and Jane, grow up under the shadow of a folk tale about the ruins of a house near their own. The house, more than a century earlier, was the home of a family of five who, legend has it, were transformed into coyotes.

For many kids, middle school is a fraught time. Friendships are forged and broken; bodies begin to change in sometimes uncomfortable ways. For Zenobia July, starting middle school is far more complicated than it is for most of her peers.

For much of human history, human beings have waged war against each other. In the new novel by Marko Kloos, that tendency to wage war remains as strong as ever more than a thousand years into the future. Aftershocks is an adventure story as well as a portrait of a technologically-advanced civilization struggling to maintain the peace after a devastating war. Kloos spoke with NHPR’s Peter Biello.

When Joe Hill launched his career as a writer, he didn't want anyone to know about his famous writer parents, Stephen and Tabitha King. Rather than ride their coattails, he wanted to find success on his own—thus the pen name, Joe Hill.

Novelist Alex Myers came out as transgender in the mid-90s, when society's understanding of what it means to be transgender was less clear than it is today.

When New Hampshire author John Brighton was six years old, his family bought a lakeside farm in Washington, a small town in New Hampshire's Sullivan County.

When Cindy Copeland was in seventh grade in the early 1970s, an English teacher encouraged her to become a writer. Shortly after that, the Keene resident landed an internship as a “cub reporter” with a local journalist, following her to public meetings and learning how question people powerful people—most of them men. And Cindy did all this while navigating the tricky minefield of fraught friendships, cliques, and bullying that so often characterize life in junior high.

One day, while hiking in the Georgia mountains, a couple finds the bones of a human body buried many years ago. The discovery prompts a search for answers: why was this person killed? Who did it? And how many more bodies are hidden in these hills?

The history of school desegregation in America has long been centered around the southern United States.

A perfect carrier of disease. A race underneath your skin. The part we know, before we get to the parts we don't.

Click hereto donate $20 and get ad-free episodes of Patient Zero a week early and bonus content. 

When most of us heard about the "insect apocalypse" we were worried. When producer Jimmy Gutierrez heard it, he thought "this is great." Today he takes a journey in which he tries to learn to appreciate our many-legged companions.

Want to read a transcript or support the podcast? Check out our website.

A government bureaucrat builds a website that saves a billion gallons in gas. The minuscule Irish invention that enables the industrial revolution. An innovation for doctor’s gloves kicks off women’s liberation. An ill wind leads to America being stuck with the gallon forever.

On this episode, we present a series of small “nudges” (but not actual nudges) that have had profound impacts for the environment… or maybe not the environment, maybe just generally.

Head to our website and vote on your favorite!

A welcome soaking for parts of Minnesota.

Rain showers will begin moving in from southern Minnesota early Tuesday, marking the arrival of the last low pressure system before a drier pattern sets in from Wednesday through Friday. Expect highs in the mid-40s on Tuesday, with temperatures gradually warming to the low 50s by Friday.

It’s warm for now. But a weak La Niña should produce a colder winter than last year.

Some rare November sunshine is on tap for our Friday. Temperatures continue to trend above our seasonal average with highs in the 50s expected. Our next weather system will bring some intermittent, light rain showers for the weekend.

Expect lingering cloud cover into Sunday night, with northwesterly winds picking up. A dry cold front will pass through, causing temperatures to dip slightly on Monday. After that, a pleasant warming trend is expected through the end of the work week.

We’ll have another day of cool sunshine Tuesday. The next system will develop rain showers for Wednesday. Temperatures will be warming up by Friday and Saturday. 

Our next rain system brings scattered showers on Wednesday.

In op-ed, Prof. Harold Pollack discusses ways Jeff Bezos could spend his fortune

Asst. Prof. Koichiro Ito explains research on regulations increasing average size of vehicles

Prof. David Meltzer discusses research to quantify doctor-patient relationship

Asst. Prof. Koichiro Ito explains research on regulations increasing average size of vehicles

President Robert J. Zimmer and Northwestern president discuss safe spaces and discourse on campus

In Q&A, Asst. Prof. Kathleen Belew discusses research on white power movements

Prof. Wendy Freedman discusses benefits of multiple telescopes

Prof. Howard Nusbaum explains audio phenomenon

Behavioral economist Sendhil Mullainathan to join Booth faculty as University Professor

Obituary recounts life and career of alumnus and preeminent novelist Philip Roth

Prof. Aziz Huq discusses legal implications of Trump's demand to investigate FBI or DOJ

Prof. W.J.T. Mitchell writes book on cultural depictions of dinosaurs

Asst. Clinical Prof. Claudia Flores discusses report on abuse of immigrant children

Prof. M. Todd Henderson discusses liabilities for hosting criminal content

Last Thanksgiving, Eliana Szabo suffered a brain hemorrhage when an arteriovenous malformation ruptured. Now 11, she has relearned how to walk and talk. Meanwhile, a fellow pianist is trying to raise $10,000 through selling handmade paper cranes.

In 60 seconds, the commercial showcases a medley of horror film tropes, including a maniacal doll that presumably kills a group of young people whenever they play a catchy pop song.

The Los Angeles medical examiner said cocaine and ethanol were also present at the time of death.

Minnesota Orchestra music director Osmo Vanska will step down at the conclusion of his contract, in August 2022. Vanska made the announcement at the Orchestra board's annual meeting Wednesday.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton on Friday called on Garth Brooks to add another Minneapolis show to his upcoming stadium tour — and it sounds like the country music star is on board with the idea.

Alarmed by the growing popularity of rap among Russian youth, President Vladimir Putin wants cultural leaders to devise a means of controlling, rather than banning, the popular music.

The idea for the ensemble grew out of the Minnesota Orchestra's visit to Cuba in 2015.

Rosanne Cash's latest album, "She Remembers Everything," cuts a path through gun violence, sexism and the relentless march of time. "There's no point in hedging my bets about what I write about anymore," she says.

Hibbing native Connie Evingson will be performing tonight at Crooners Lounge in Fridley. That's one of your many musical options this New Year's Eve.