Search results for

In the second of a year-end series of reflections, commentator and philosopher Alain de Botton explains why having an idealized view of the world can be appealing and helpful.

NPR's Robert Siegel talks to Theodore Sizer, a former high school principal and the founder of the Coalition of Essential Schools. Sizer talks about what's wrong with American high schools and how they might be improved. Sizer is also the author of The Red Pencil: Convictions from Experience in Education.

On Jan. 1, the global agreement that has capped garment industry exports for decades will expire. China is among the countries poised to benefit from the change, and some U.S. companies are making changes to compete. NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports.

Matt Groening is the creator of the highly acclaimed animated Fox sitcom The Simpsons. He tells us how the show and its characters evolved, and discusses his role in the production of some 300 episodes. Groening also created the TV series Futurama and still draws the weekly comic strip Life in Hell.

For the first time, scientists successfully use gene therapy to regenerate hair cells in the inner ear and restore hearing in deaf guinea pigs. The results suggest it may someday be possible to use a similar approach to treat deafness in humans.

An Atlanta golf club's conflict with two of its gay members over spousal benefits for their partners is pitting a gay-friendly city against a conservative state.

Robert Siegel talks to critic Paul Goldberger of the New Yorker about architect Philip Johnson, who died at the age of 98. Johnson was a promoter of the "glass box" skyscraper and designed the AT&T Building in New York.

Award-winning filmmaker William Greaves talks with NPR's Tony Cox about the revival of his film Symbiopsychotaxiplasm in it's new form, Take 2 1/2. The ever-evolving film, began in 1968, follows the lives of a couple with a troubled marriage. The movie is screening at the Sundance Film Festival.

The new Secretary of Education and a cartoon rabbit are at the center of a controversy over censorship. Did a letter from Secretary Margaret Spellings prompt PBS to pull a children's program that indirectly referred to homosexuality? The bunny in question is Buster, the star of the children's show Postcards from Buster.

President Bush is getting a brand new cowboy hat, just in time for his second inauguration. The hat, the second to be made for Bush by Trent Johnson, is a gift from the National Cattleman's Beef Association. Brian Larson of member station KUMC in Greeley, Colo. reports.