Alex Granados

Jim Minz’s childhood in small-town West Bend, Wisconsin prepared him for two things: game shows and science fiction.

West Bend was home to the West Bend Company – the maker of small appliances which were regularly featured as consolation prize on game shows.

During Superstorm Sandy, the HMS Bounty - a 180 foot, three-masted, wooden ship - was tossed about helplessly in the middle of a raging storm. Two members of the ship's crew died, and the remaining 14 members had to be dramatically rescued by the Coast Guard. A member of the Coast Guard snapped this photograph on his phone from a helicopter that day:

  At least 14 million people in the United States have an eating disorder, but they may not look the way you think. Popular culture characterizes young white girls as the main sufferers, but research shows that eating disorders are much more widespread than popularly thought. 

When Dorothy Johnson-Speight’s son Khaaliq was killed in 2001, she thought her life was over. He wasn’t the first child she lost – her 3-year-old daughter had died almost 15 years to the day before
Khaaliq’s murder -- but he was the first child lost to violence, and his death shook her.

When we talk about human rights, we’re usually solidly in the expertise of political scientists. But professors of English and philosophy may have a role to play, too. That’s the goal of The Second Annual Conference on Human Rights and the Humanities. It’s being held by the National Humanities Center, and it brings together a variety of experts to discuss human rights.

The Americana music of The Gravy Boys hit the scene about eight years ago. They’re now three albums in and expanding their acoustic sound. Their newest album is called Crackerjack Whistle, and they’ll be playing in Raleigh tomorrow night.

Baby boomers are coming of retirement age at a rapid pace. The ordinary path forward would be golf, retirement homes and taking it easy, but Bolton Anthony, founder of Chapel Hill non-profit Second Journey, wants to change that conception of old age. He wants the hippies of the ‘60s to become the idealists of the new millennium. Host Frank Stasio talks to Bolton Anthony about his ideas for changing retirement.

  The nation’s wealth is now concentrated in so few hands, the wealth gap growing so fast, that even its most ardent defenders question whether our current form of corporate capitalism can survive. Gar Alperovitz is looking for the next American Revolution. He is a professor of political Economy at the University of Maryland and author of the book, “What Then Must We Do: Straight Talk about the Next American Revolution” (Chelsea Green/2013). Host Frank Stasio talks to him about what can be done to save capitalism.

Mark Dorosin’s path to civil rights law was never straight. He followed many a winding course, skirting the optimism of teaching, exploring the pride of public office and even holding down the 9 to 5 as a manager at Blockbuster Video.