Halloween Heroes In The Wake Of Sandy
On Halloween night this week, millions of children tumbled into their neighborhoods dressed as Captain America, Spiderman, Batman, Bat Girl and Wonder Woman. But that night, true superheroes were at...
View ArticleThe Political Middle: What Ohioans Have To Say
Transcript SCOTT SIMON, HOST: It's already starting to rain over northern Ohio this past weekend as the outer whirls of Hurricane Sandy approached. Just a few days before the election, people in...
View ArticleMaking A Case For Closer Contact In Congress
Gridlock is the term many use to describe what happens when legislation gets stalled in the U.S. Congress. But gridlock suggests that people in Congress at least run into each other. I've had enough...
View ArticleJesse Jackson Jr.: Great Hopes, And Disappointments
Jesse Jackson Jr. has a famous name and fabulous contacts, and had what looked like boundless prospects when he was first on the national stage at the Democratic National Convention in 1988. John F....
View Article'The Onion': So Funny It Makes Us Cry
If satire had an Olympics, The Onion might have won a gold medal this week. The satirical news source announced that its Sexiest Man Alive for 2012 is Kim Jong Un, North Korea's Supreme Leader.
View ArticleGood Intentions, Complicated Results
When news organizations, including ours, told of New York Police Officer Lawrence DePrimo buying boots for a barefoot man on the streets of Times Square one cold night last month, it seemed an...
View ArticleThe Mayan Apocalypse: Worthwhile, In Hindsight
Yesterday came and went, but I never finished Ulysses. I never took up skydiving. Come to think of it, I didn't even really finish cleaning up my closet before the "Mayan Apocalypse," which did not...
View ArticleBaseball Hall Of Fame Snub Draws The Line
There was something momentous this week when the Baseball Writers Association elected no one to the Hall of Fame. Weekend Edition Saturday host Scott Simon remarks on the rebuke, rare in a sport where...
View ArticleCheating Might Buy Home Runs, But No Hall Of Fame
The Baseball Hall of Fame is a tourist attraction, not a papal conclave. And the people who cast votes for the Hall are sportswriters, not the College of Cardinals.But there was something momentous...
View Article'Ebony' Editor Began Life Black In Nazi Germany
The proudest moment of Hans Massaquoi's boyhood was when his babysitter sewed a swastika on his sweater. He was a 7-year-old boy in Hamburg who wanted to be part of the excitement of the times he saw....
View ArticleHistory Sometimes Rewards Those Who Are Sidelined
You might look for a player along the sidelines in the Super Bowl on Sunday named Alex Smith and wonder, as he might, if he'll be the next Wally Pipp or Ken Mattingly.Pipp was the Yankee first baseman...
View ArticleIs Honest Abe's Stovepipe Hat A Fake?
Abraham Lincoln's black stovepipe hat is an icon. It seemed to enhance his height, emphasize his dignity and, I suppose, keep his head warm.There is a stovepipe hat at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential...
View ArticlePianist Van Cliburn, Warmed Russian Hearts During Cold War
Van Cliburn thawed out the Cold War.He went to Moscow in 1958 for the first International Tchaikovsky Competition. When he sat down to play, Russians saw a tall, 23-year-old Texan, rail thin and...
View ArticleSnowquester Fizzles, But We're Humbled Anyway
Snowquester fizzled.Wednesday was more or less canceled this week in official Washington, D.C. An enormous winter storm bore down on the region, threatening ice, a foot of snow in the city (more in the...
View ArticleBack From Extinction: Brooding Frog Or Thank you Note?
The gastric brooding frog may be coming back. Does that give us a lot to brood about, too?This week scientists at the University of New South Wales' Lazarus Project announced they have reproduced the...
View ArticleRoger Ebert: Elegance and Empathy
Roger Ebert was a critic, not a blowtorch. He could be sharp if he thought a movie insulted the audience, but had a champ's disdain for a cheap shot.Many critics ridiculed the film Deep Throat when it...
View ArticleA 'Tough, Smart, Proud Town' Meets Terror With Determination
People in Boston can speak for themselves. And do. Loudly, bluntly and often with humor that bites.It's a city that speaks with both its own broad, homebrew, local accent — although no one really pahks...
View ArticleMom's X-Ray Vision Also Sees The Best In Us
Mothers have eyes in the back of their heads. They may not show up on X-rays, but they're there.Like a lot of youngsters, I used to get my mother to turn her head so I could search through her hair for...
View ArticleAre High School Newspapers An Endangered Species?
Does your local high school have a student newspaper? And in this day when a social media message saying, "Tonight's Green Design and Technology class homework sucks!" can instantly be sent to...
View ArticlePeaceful Protest Over Istanbul Park Turns Violent
Transcript SCOTT SIMON, HOST: This is Weekend Edition from NPR News, I'm Scott Simon.(SOUNDBITE OF RIOTING)SIMON: Turkish riot police fired tear gas and water cannons on demonstrators in downtown...
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