Wonder Cabinet

A chorus of hope is coming from an unexpected group — teenagers. They

Guests:

Angie Jiang, Kevin Coval, Luis Carranza, Kee Stein, Frances Jensen, Angie Thomas, Tyler Ruzich

Interviews:

Angie Goes To Washington, Bullying, Buses, Environmentalism, and Donald Trump: The Poetic Thinking of Teens, I'm 17 And I'm Running for Governor, Learning Machines: The Wired Teenage Brain, Author Angie Thomas: Burn It All Down Or Use Those Emotions In My Art, What Teens Need From Adults To Change The World

DNA tests are uncovering mixed bloodlines. For African Americans, this can be emotionally-charged. What do you do when you find out one of your direct ancestors was a slave owner? Does it open the door to new conversations about racial justice?

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Interviews:

We grow up scribbling with crayons and covering sidewalks with chalk, and then around middle school most of us stop. Maybe we think it's childish or just too hard. So what can we learn from the people who never stopped making art? We'll talk with activist artist Molly Crabapple and legendary painter/printmaker Frank Stella. And jazz pianist Craig Taborn reflects on a lifetime of improvisation.

For the first time since World War II, far-right and neo-fascist groups are winning converts and votes — all over Europe and also here at home. Why is it happening, and can it be stopped?

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"Magical thinking" gets a bad rap these days. It suggests losing your grip on reality or being so gullible that you'll believe anything - from ghosts to miracles. But what if magic isn't pure fantasy? Maybe it's the gateway to wonder.  

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“The climate crisis is a crisis of culture and thus of imagination,” says writer Amitav Ghosh. So what changes in our conversation about global warming when we tap into the imaginative worlds of novelists and artists? How Bad Can Climate Change Really Get?; Where’s the Great “Climate Change Novel”?; Let’s Get Serious About the Anthropocene; Zulu Time; Lidia Yuknavitch’s Dream World.

The right-wing politics and hard-drinking bro culture of The Proud Boys is attracting young, white men from across the country. They share fratty hazing rituals and self-proclaimed “Western chauvinism.” And with slogans like “feminism is cancer,” and “venerate the housewife,” they’re fighting to make America great for men again. The Proud Boys’ founder Gavin McInnes believes “95% of American women” would be happier at home, making babies. Where does his vision of “being a man” fit in America in 2018? Reporter Alexandra Hall meets up with a Wisconsin Proud Boys chapter and has a revealing conversation with McInnes himself.

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This hour, we'll explore our complicated relationships with our canine cousins -- wolves, coyotes, and dogs -- and the feelings they evoke -- fear, hatred and also love. What If Your Best Friend Is A Wolf?; How Coyotes Won The War We've Waged On Them; A Lesson in Resilience From Markoe's Best Friend; Revealing the Aristocratic Lifestyles of "Monster Dogs".

How can someone be a monster — a brutal dictator, a mass murderer, a serial killer — and up close seem like a decent, caring person? What happens when you find yourself liking someone who’s done terrible things? The American Guards Who Kept Saddam Hussein Safe Until His Execution; Paul Beatty on "The Nazi and the Barber"; What Can Americans Learn from a Norwegian Massacre?; Your Archenemy Turned Out To Be a Hero. Now What?; Can Literature Make You More Empathetic? ; Michael Tisserand on “My Friend Dahmer”.