Society & Culture

Linguist Geoff Nunberg considers how we think bout the Internet and how that is reflected in the language we use to describe it.

John Powers comments on the rise of political Web logs.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews The Love Wife by Gish Jen. The novel tells the story of Carnegie Wong, a second-generation Chinese American and his complicated family life.

She stars in the new film We Don't Live Here Anymore, based on a pair of short stories by Andre Dubus. Dern's acting credits include Focus, I Am Sam, October Sky, the Jurassic Park films, Wild at Heart, and Blue Velvet. She also appeared in the famous coming-out episode of the sitcom Ellen.

Commentator Geoff Nunberg considers brand names. They make up a significant proportion of the average person's vocabulary. Nunberg says the English language is being privatized.

Journalist David Kirkpatrick reports on the conservative movement's issues and leaders for The New York Times.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews The Wasp Eater, the first novel by William Lychack. Corrigan says the book, about a dysfunctional family splitting up in late '70s Connecticut, succeeds at a small goal: conveying the ordinary sadness of connecting with other human beings.

Her new book is The War on Choice: The Right-Wing Attack on Women's Rights and How to Fight Back.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews We Don't Live Here Anymore, based on two novellas by the late Andre Dubus. The film centers on acts of infidelity between two couples in a small college town. Edelstein says the movie is "like a bad marriage greatest hits collection."

(Rebroadcast from Nov. 5, 2002.) Worden was director of the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia. She died on Aug. 2 at the age of 57, from a brief illness. She turned the little-known medical museum into a museum with a worldwide reputation. The museum was founded in the 19th century. It originated with the collection of Dr. Thomas Dent Mutter who gathered unique specimens for teaching purposes. It exhibits medical deformities, pathologies and medical anomalies, like the horned woman, the man with the giant colon, deformed fetuses and a plaster cast of the Siamese twins Chang and Eng Bunker.

Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx are the songwriting team behind the 2004 Tony award-winning Broadway musical Avenue Q (which won Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Book of a Musical). Their subversive show features people and puppets and is about a group of aimless 30-somethings with low expectations and active libidos. It includes such songs as It Sucks to be Me, Everyone's a Little Bit Racist, If You Were Gay, and I Wish I could Go Back to College.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the coverage of the Democratic National Convention, or lack of it.

The Fresh Air critic has written a new book, Sore Winners (And The Rest of Us) in George Bush's America. Powers is critic-at-large for Fresh Air, and deputy editor for L.A. Weekly, where he writes a media/culture column called On. He's also an international correspondent for Gourmet magazine.

The son of the late President Ronald Reagan has been invited to speak at the Democratic convention next week. He and his mother have become outspoken proponents of stem cell research. Reagan has edited the book, If You Had Five Minutes with the President.

What does it say about electoral politics that "values," formerly a political bromide, is now a battle cry?

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews An Unfinished Season, by Ward Just. He's known for weaving American history and politics into his fiction. This book is set in Chicago during the Eisenhower years.

The Fresh Air linguist comments on the speaking styles of 2004 presidential candidates John Kerry and George Bush.

Journalist Larry Tye examines the social history of the porter in Rising from the Rails: Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle Class. Tye says that the job was one of the best for African Americans at the time, and that it was a foothold in the American workplace. Tye reports for The Boston Globe.

He's been playing piano and singing at the Carlyle Hotel in New York City since 1968. He's considered one of the great cabaret singers of our time. The 79-year-old song stylist was slated to retire from the Cafe Carlyle this coming New Year's Eve, but he's extended his schedule, and he's not going anywhere for the time being. Short has been named a "living landmark" by New York's Landmark Conservancy and a "national living legend" by the Library of Congress.

He's just published his autobiography, My Life. Clinton talks about what he knew about Osama bin Laden during his administration and how he tried to strike a balance between informing and terrifying Americans. Clinton currently lives in Chappaqua, New York and works in Harlem.