The State of Things

Note: This program is a rebroadcast. It originally aired May 2, 2016. Michelle Lanier’s roots in North Carolina are so deep that she describes “every branch of her family tree having at least a sapling that crosses into the state.” She has a great-grandparent who preached at the oldest black Episcopal church in the state, one who was salesmen on Durham’s Black Wall Street , and one who helped establish the state’s first black high school. From a young age, Michelle Lanier has been curious about

Note: This is a rebroadcast. This program originally aired September 6, 2016. Infertility affects one in eight couples in the United States, according to Resolve: The National Infertility Association. That statistic amounts to millions of Americans, but despite the high numbers, many keep their struggle private. For many years writer Belle Boggs was one of those individuals. She and her husband experienced a wide range of emotional and financial obstacles in the five years they spent trying to

Note: This is a Rebroadcast. This program originally aired July 15, 2016. Singer-songwriter Rissi Palmer exploded onto the country music scene in 2007 with a self-titled album. She sang alongside Taylor Swift and Lady Antebellum, and her single "Country Girl" was the first song by an African-American woman artist to make the country Billboard charts in almost two decades. After some disagreements with her label, Palmer spent some time out of the spotlight working on other creative projects and

A woman dressed as a 1960s secretary sits in front of a rare vintage typewriter and asks people to engage in something even more rare – to share their unedited political opinions with a stranger. It’s all part of the “I Wish to Say” performance art project created by Sheryl Oring.Oring wrote a new book, “Activating Democracy: The 'I Wish to Say' Project” (Intellect/2016), based on her twelve-year-running performance piece. She's giving a talk at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in

The series "Out In The South" features the narratives of five generations of LGBTQ Southerners. It showcases residents' experiences navigating their identity in a cultural environment that can be supportive at times, and polarizing at others. The series includes a podcast and a written component published by Greensboro-based publication YES!Weekly. It accompanies an ongoing series by Sayed called "Storybooth." The "Storybooth" sessions ask volunteers to grapple with their racial identity. Host

Triangle-based musician Jasmé Kelly grew up singing in church choirs and eventually decided to pursue music as an independent musician. Kelly combines her upbringing in gospel with popular blues and soul aesthetics in her new album called "Lady Jasmé." Host Frank Stasio talks with Kelly about her evolution as a musician, and she performs live on guitar and vocals along with Delaney McQuaig on guitar and vocals, James Yourse on keys, Cedric Hardin on drums and Leticia Lumpkins on backup vocals.

Sönke Johnsen was always driven by art. As a youth he captured documentary photos on the streets of Pittsburgh and developed them in a homemade dark room. Later he practiced and taught modern dance. But Johnsen's pursuit of artistic awe led him on a surprising path toward biology. Today, as a professor of biology at Duke University, he plunges thousands of feet under the sea, discovering mysterious marine animals that hide in plain sight. He has won multiple awards for his scientific writing,

The Trump transition team is in place and the president-elect says their work is going smoothly. Today’s picks include Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general and Retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn for national security adviser. But critics have called the transition "chaos,” and many questions remain about the framework of a Trump administration. And at the state level, the governor's race remains in limbo. Incumbent Pat McCrory's campaign has launched ballot complaints in 52 counties.

Dorothea Lange is best known for her portraiture photography documenting America’s Great Depression. Her image “Migrant Mother” depicts a destitute woman with three children in California. It is one of the most recognized photographic portrayals of that era. When Lange passed away in 1965, her granddaughter, Dyanna Taylor, inherited one of her cameras and began to follow in her footsteps. But Taylor soon realized that she could never fill her grandmother’s shoes, so she turned to filmmaking

Shannon Carey grew up playing guitar in a musical family. She wrote her own songs in high school, but then started a career as a social worker and put her passion for music to the side. Years later she witnessed both of her younger brothers pursuing their musical dreams, one alongside the now-famous Bon Iver, and decided to pursue her own musical career.Since 2013, Carey has written and performed under the band name Luray. They have released one album and one EP with a second album scheduled for