Wonder Cabinet

We’ve all been there, that place where we feel hope slipping away. Maybe we’ve even lost hope. This hour we talk with people who’ve turned that around and made hope real, whether it’s through political activism, faith, music, or reading a life-changing novel.

Original Air Date: April 27, 2019

Guests:

DeRay Mckesson — Lydia Hester — Serene Jones — Megan Stielstra — Common

Interviews In This Hour:

To Make Big Social Change, Start With The PB&J Sandwiches — Teens Don't Want Hope. They Want Action. — Hope, Where Faith Becomes Action — Megan Stielstra On 'The Chronology of Water' — Making Hope In Verse

Further Reading:

Hope: A Three-Part Series

Is hope something we’re innately born with, or something we can choose to have? We talk with people who tell us where they think hope lives in ourselves and our communities.

Original Air Date: April 20, 2019

Guests:

Andre Willis — Steven Pinker — Tali Sharot — Alice Walker — Chigozie Obioma — Claire Peaslee

Interviews In This Hour:

Defining A New Grammar Of Hope — The Science Of Looking On The Bright Side — A Naturalist's Hopeful Pilgrimage — Everything Is Actually Awesome — Why Nigerians Are So Much Happier Than Americans — Hope Rises. It Always Does.

Further Reading:

Hope - A Three-Part Series

We’re in the midst of the largest vaccine rollout of our lives. A turning point, we hope. But it’s complicated — medically, logistically, philosophically. Who will get it first? Will it work? And, as a new variant of the virus emerges, will we get it in time? We decided to take you behind the scenes, talking with people who volunteered for trials, and to those scientists and reporters who trace every part of our search for immunity.

Original Air Date: January 16, 2021

Guests:

Ilan Kedan — Christina Lombardi — Sarah Zhang — Eula Biss — Adam Kucharski

Interviews In This Hour:

Signing Up For The COVID-19 Vaccine Trial — Tracking The Where, Why And How Of COVID-19 Vaccines — The Ethics of Vaccines — The Contagion Detective

Before the time of commercial flights and road trips, we traveled to far off places without taking a single step. All you had to do was open a book. From Africa to England, to a kamikaze cockpit, and to realms of fantasy. Books aren’t just books. They’re passports to anywhere.

Original Air Date: March 14, 2020

Guests:

Philip Pullman — Ruth Ozeki — Robert Macfarlane — Petina Gappah

Interviews In This Hour:

Philip Pullman on 'The Pocket Atlas of the World' — 'His Dark Materials' Author Philip Pullman On The Consciousness Of All Things — A Diary Becomes A Time Capsule — Ruth Ozeki on 'Kamikaze Diaries' — Petina Gappah on 'Persuasion' — The Empire Writes Back: Author Discusses Explorer David Livingstone's Complicated Legacy — Robert Macfarlane on 'The Living Mountain'

We’re in the holiday season of the worst pandemic of our lives. Canceling our gatherings is the safe thing to do. But, how can we still — creatively and safely — connect with the people we love? Maybe there are some opportunities for us this year, too.

Original Air Date: November 28, 2020

Guests:

Priya Parker — Stanley Weintraub — Peter Reinhart — Helen Macdonald — Gregg Krech

Interviews In This Hour:

A Pandemic Holiday Season Offers Opportunities For Community, Too — Stanley Weintraub on the World War I Christmas Truce — Peter Reinhart on the Spiritual Importance of Bread — Helen Macdonald On 'The Dark Is Rising' — How to Cultivate Gratitude

Why do people turn to poetry during troubled times? We saw it after 9/11 and we're seeing it now as the coronavirus travels around the world. When the world seems broken, poetry is often the one kind of language that helps.

Original Air Date: April 04, 2020

Guests:

Kitty O'Meara — Jericho Brown — Edward Hirsch — Alice Walker — Ken Nordine — Li-Young Lee — Jimmy Santiago Baca

Interviews In This Hour:

A Viral Poem For A Virus Time — Can A Poem Be A Prayer? — Poetry In A Time Of Grief And Loss — Hope Rises. It Always Does. — Li-Young Lee's Love Poetry — Ken Nordine's 'Yellow' — Words Can Change Your Life

Rustling of leaves, sploshing of water, birds calling, bees buzzing. Wherever you live — city or country, East coast, West coast, or in between — we share common, contemplative experiences on our walks outside. In this hour, we assemble a sonic guide to finding solace in nature.

Original Air Date: May 09, 2020

Guests:

William Helmreich — David Rothenberg — Laura Dassow Walls — Robert Moor — Nate Staniforth — Andreas Weber

Interviews In This Hour:

The Great Urban Nature Explorer — Why The Walden Pond Experiment In Self-Reliance Is More Relevant Than Ever — The Wisdom of Trails — Lose Yourself In The Sky — Finding Love In The Ecosystem

What do you do when the headlines are freaking you out and the news is making you tense? A lot of people find sports takes their mind off things. It’s like this one worry-free, politics-free zone. Until it isn’t.

Original Air Date: November 07, 2020

Guests:

Kurt Streeter — David Shields — Melissa Joulwan — Michael Powell

Interviews In This Hour:

A Year Of Reckoning And Loss In The World Of Sports — The Power of Silence: How Marshawn Lynch Subverted the NFL's Rules — How One Woman Found Her Groove in Roller Derby — The Magic of 'Rez Ball'

Be still. Prepare the altar. Gather around in a circle. Light the fire. And join us for rituals that will put fear in your heart. Because what if experiencing your fears — the dread, the horror of it all — is good for you?

Original Air Date: October 26, 2019

Guests:

Amy Stewart — Kathryn Harkup — Gemma Files — Dan Chaon — Blanche Barton

Interviews In This Hour:

A Garden of Deadly Delights — How To Get Away With Murder According to Agatha Christie — Listener Ghost Story: 'Reset' — The Case for Embracing Horror — Haunting Your Own Life — Listener Ghost Story: 'You Are What You Eat' — The Not-So-Subtle Subversiveness Of Satan Worship — Listener Ghost Story: 'The Lake' — Listener Ghost Story: 'Presidential Phantasm'

Why don’t we all just take moment to acknowledge that we are collectively exhausted? The pandemic, the protests, the President’s Twitter feed — everything is exhausting. But maybe it doesn’t have to be?

Original Air Date: October 24, 2020

Guests:

Katrina Onstad — Emma Seppala — Richard Polt — Filip Bromberg — Lars Svendsen — Anne Helen Petersen

Interviews In This Hour:

Can We Not? How The Pandemic Has Made Burnout Worse Than Ever — Sunday Night Blues, Monday Morning (Short) Fuse — Setting Too High A Bar For Success Is Running Us Ragged — To Waste Time Is To Deepen Life — Why Swedes Are Trading Jobs For Meaning — Have You Considered Doing Nothing?