Society & Culture

Enter Me

How the media reports on crude language when a public figure is caught using it on tape. . . for instance Donald Trump.

Alien, illegal, undocumentated, immigrant — the debate over immigration policy is also about the words used by the various sides. Linguist Geoff Nunberg says the language of immigration has been controversial for as long as immigration has been an issue in American life.

Film director Barry Jenkins and playwright Tarell McCraney both grew up in the same housing project in Miami, and both were raised by mothers who were addicted to crack. Their new film Moonlight draws on their experiences.

Journalist Beth Macy talks about George and Willie Muse, black albino brothers who were born in the Jim Crow South and were forced to become circus freaks. Her new book, Truevine, retells their story.

Woodson won the National Book Award for young people's literature in 2014 for her memoir Brown Girl Dreaming, and is a finalist for another NBA this year. Originally broadcast Dec. 20, 2014.

Greenberg, who died Wednesday, was the last surviving attorney to argue the cases that led to the Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation decision. Originally broadcast in 1994 and 2004.

We remember the comedian Richard Pryor, who died on Saturday. This interview originally aired on May 22, 1995.

Britt Bennett's debut novel centers on three African-American friends dealing with their community's expectations and their own mistakes. Critic Maureen Corrigan says it is full of "mini epiphanies."

Safran Foer's new novel, Here I Am, is told from the points of view of different members of a Jewish family. He says it's about things falling apart — but also about "people trying to mend things."

Actress Gaby Hoffman on being a child actress, her unconventional childhood growing up in Manhatten's Chelsea Hotel where Andy Warhol lived as well as other artists, performers, and outcasts. And she'll talk about her role on Transparent, and her recurring role on Girls.

When he was 15, Weir ran away to work on a cattle ranch in Wyoming — an experience he revisits on his new album, Blue Mountain. "I ... carried it around for the rest of my days," he says.

Andrea Arnold's new movie about a teenage girl who takes up with an unusual group of salespeople won a the Jury Prize at Cannes this year. Critic David Edelstein calls it a "wonderful" film.

Arnold's latest film, which won the Jury Prize at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, tells the story of a group of abandoned teenagers who travel together selling magazine subscriptions door-to-door.

The multi-talented Mike Mills has long worked on cool, edgy projects that mix art and commerce, from the Beastie Boys to the Gap.

Enter Me

Ryan Speedo Green grew up in a trailer park and did time in juvenile detention before discovering he had a unique singing voice. He now performs at New York's Metropolitan Opera.

In 1912, white mobs set fire to black churches and black-owned businesses. Eventually the entire black population of Forsyth County was driven out, says Blood at the Root author Patrick Phillips.

In her new memoir, Forward, Abby Wambach writes about playing soccer, growing up as the youngest of seven children, her romantic relationships and her struggles with alcohol and prescription drugs.

A failing marriage and a catastrophic earthquake take center stage in Safran Foer's new novel. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls Here I Am a profound work about the claims of history, identity and family.