Shawn Wen

Sheryl Oring used to be a reporter, and though she still uses one of the instruments of old-school journalism, she considers herself an artist. She takes a manual typewriter, dresses up in 1960s garb and asks people to dictate to her messages for the president.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops have come a long way from their days of busking on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. They’ve already won one Grammy, and now they’re up for another.

Deborah Hicks  grew up in an Appalachian paper mill town she hoped to escape. Her education opened doors for her to leave and travel to other parts of a country, but she returned time and again to Appalachia as a teacher. Deborah has dedicated her life to educating those that need her most - focusing on young girls in poor neighborhoods. She is the founder and director of PAGE, Partnership for Appalachian Girls' Education, in Madison County.

African-American literary authors like James Baldwin or Zora Neale Hurston are famous for their depictions of black life. But these novelists have also written books with white protagonists. Why is this unexpected? Is there a mandate that black authors write only about black characters?

What is this ability to step into someone else’s shoes? To imagine how they feel - and to hurt for them or be happy for them?  Host Frank Stasio is joined by a panel of experts to discuss empathy, the trait that makes us uniquely human.

In the wake of recent mass shootings, mental health has been a focus of our national dialogue. Walter Sinnott-Armstrong is a professor of philosophy with an interest in mental illness, in particular psychopathy. He studies the brains of prison inmates to try to gain some insight into the condition. Host Frank Stasio talks with Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, the Chauncey Stillman Professor of Practical Ethics in the philosophy department at Duke University about his life and career, starting with the ethics of psychopathy.

Audra Ang worked as a foreign correspondent for the AP in Beijing, China for seven years. And in her time there, she covered the devastating Sichuan earthquake, SARS, floods and political dissidents. But even in the most dire of moments, she always managed eat her way through. Audra Ang now lives in North Carolina. She joins host Frank Stasio to discuss her book about her experiences eating and reporting in China, “To the People, Food is Heaven: Stories of Food and Life in a Changing China” (Lyons Press/ 2012).

Several months ago, the PBS show “History Detectives” contacted Cynthia Greenlee-Donnell, a graduate student in American History at Duke. They wanted her help solving a historical mystery near her mother’s hometown in South Carolina. The History Detectives wanted to trace the life of an enslaved girl named Willoughby. Host Frank Stasio talks with Duke graduate student Cynthia Greenlee-Donnell about her journey uncovering the story of Willoughby and her own family history.

When Pam Spaulding first got into publishing, she used an X-Acto knife and cardboard. She stayed in the field by learning how to use a computer. And now her blog — Pam’s House Blend — is a popular activist website for gay rights.

Host Frank Stasio talks to Pam Spaulding about her life, work and gay rights activism.

In Davy Rothbart's writing, his brother Peter Rothbart often pops up as a straight-man or a sidekick. But on tour together, they are every bit equals, criss-crossing through the country one city at a time.

Peter Rothbart joins host Frank Stasio to tell stories and perform songs from his new album, "You Are What You Dream."