Lupe Ontiveros, known for her role in the 1997 film Selena, died Thursday at the age of 69. Fresh Air remembers the Latina actress, who was often called on to play the role of the maid, with excerpts from a 2002 interview.
She's never been heard on the show, but producer Melody Kramer has created a singular voice for Fresh Air online and in social media. Today we send her off, affectionately, to medical school and the next phase of her career.
Ruby Sparks and Killer Joe tell of an author who conjures a woman from his typewriter and a corrupt detective hired to kill an aging mother, respectively. But Fresh Air's David Edelstein says the films share a common trait: both take their stories beyond common reality to more fascinating parts of the psyche.
The author's What Happened to Sophie Wilder features a convert to Catholicism and another character who struggles to understand her faith. Beta talks about his Catholic upbringing, iron's place in fiction and literature's therapeutic aspects.
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry follows the famous artist around the world as he repeatedly irks Chinese authorities with his art and political critiques. Fresh Air's John Powers says the documentary casts important light on the fight for greater freedom in China.
Ocean has written songs for Beyonce, Justin Beiber and John Legend; last year, his mixtape Nostalgia Ultra attracted mainstream attention. Now, Ocean has released his first major-label album, Channel Orange. Rock critic Ken Tucker has a review of Ocean's album and career thus far.
Bishop Leonard Blair talks about his Vatican-ordered assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an organization that represents 80 percent of Catholic sisters in America. He says the LCWR is promoting a "new kind of theology that is not in accordance with the faith of the church."
In The Twilight War, historian David Crist outlines the secret history of America's 30-year conflict with Iran. based on interview with hundreds of officials as well as classified military archives, the book details how the covert war has repeatedly threatened tot bring the two nations into open warfare.
Jill Tarter works at the SETI Institute, where scientists seek evidence of extraterrestrial lie in the universe by looking for some signatures of its technology. "The amount of searching that we've done in 50 years is equivalent to scooping one 8-ounce glass out of the Earth's ocean," she says.
In The Violinist's Thumb, writer Sam Kean goes inside our genetic code, looking at the stories written by the fundamental building blocks within us. The book explains things like why some people can't handle drinking coffee and why some human babies are born with tails.
The actress play smart, tough Secretary of State Elaine Barrish in the new USA Network miniseries Political Animals. It's another strong role for Weaver, who has starred in films like Alien, Ghostbusters and Gorillas in the Mist.
Reporter David Kirkpatrick, the Cairo bureau chief for The New York Times, reflects on his time reporting on the Arab Spring and discusses what the election of President Mohammed Morsi means for Egypt, the United States and Israel.
In her essays, British columnist Caitlin Moran picks up funny feminism where Nora Ephron left off. She takes a fresh approach to hit topics from the past 40 years or so years of feminist writing: sexuality, marriage, division of housework, female body fat, abortion and sexism in the workplace.
The Vatican recently announced that it would completely make over the Leadership Conference of Women Religious because of its "radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith." Sister Pat Farrell, who heads the organization, says many of the charges are unsubstantiated.
The jazz musician didn't make his burden any lighter by choosing to play tenor and soprano saxophones -- the same instruments his father, John Coltrane, indelibly stamped. But critic Kevin Whitehead says he speaks in his own voice on the album Spirit Fiction.
HBO's new behind-the-anchor-desk drama follows in the footsteps of Sorkin's hit series The West Wing. "I like writing about heroes that don't wear capes or disguises," he says.
