Search results for

Boxer Laila Ali. Shes the only one of heavyweight champ Mohammed Alis nine children to choose a life in the ring. Her recent bout with Jacqui Frazier was the most highly publicized female boxing event ever. Shes written an autobiography called REACH! Finding Strength, Spirit and Personal Power.

Chocolate comes from the cacao tree Theobroma cacao, meaning the food of the gods. While today chocolate is often considered common, chocolate connoisseurs are trying to elevate the cacao bean back to its former elite status. Joanne Silberner reports on their progress for Morning Edition.

Are you tired of resuscitating limp plants? Is schlepping hoses around the yard getting a little old? Maybe it's time to crib from nature herself and take a more ecological approach to your garden. Join Ketzel Levine and Talking Plants for a look at permaculture.

Brooklyn artist Nina Katchadourian has a novel solution to noise pollution caused by the tones of common car alarms. She's created a new kind of alarm that blares bird songs that more or less follow the same familiar sonic pattern of most alarms, but with a "natural" twist. NPR's Rick Karr reports.

The late architect Samuel Mockbee chose Hale County, Alabama, as a place to teach his students how to "provide a decent community for all citizens." Hale County is one of the poorest counties in the United States, but thanks to the Rural Studio students and teachers carrying on Mockbee's legacy, it's home to some of the most innovative buildings in the nation. View a photo gallery of some of the Rural Studio's work.

A long, hot summer and a big, fat novel -- two things that just go together, says All Things Considered book reviewer Alan Cheuse. Cheuse offers his annual summer reading recommendations, including novels, short story collections and a non-fiction book. Get the full list online, with brief comments on each book.

The Bush administration is expected to announce a plan for vaccinating certain Americans against smallpox. An advisory panel has recommended that at most, 500,000 health-care workers should be immunized. But many state and local public health officials don't think that's nearly enough to cope with a smallpox bioterrorism attack. NPR's Richard Knox reports for All Things Considered.

In 1963, when she was only 16, Lesley Gore recorded one of the greatest songs in rock and roll history, It's My Party, and I'll Cry If I Want To. Gore has stayed in the business since the 60s, and she's currently appearing at the New York City club, Rainbow and Stars. Rhino records released a two record retrospective of her greatest hits in 1991.

Storyteller Mitch Myers tells the story of guy who made it his mission to shout out "Freebird!" at concerts.

Thomas Reese is a Jesuit scholar and editor-in-chief of America, the national Catholic weekly magazine. He's also the author of the book Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church. He'll discuss the pope's recent tour, the pontiff's health, possible successors and the divide between the church and its parishoners.