On Being with Krista Tippett

Sari Nusseibeh is president and professor of Philosophy at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem. His books include "Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life" and "What Is a Palestinian State Worth?" Krista Tippett spoke with him in his office at Al-Quds University in East Jerusalem on March 15, 2011. This interview is included in our show "The Evolution of Change." Download the mp3 of the produced show at on-being-dot-org.

Who do we want to be for the next decade? What wisdom do we want to focus on, and grow more deeply into, as we move forward as a culture and pass on this narrative of 9/11 to generations to come? A discussion with Hendrik Hertzberg, Serene Jones, and Pankaj Mishra at St. Paul's Chapel near Ground Zero on September 6, 2011.

Krista Tippett spoke with journalist Hendrik Hertzberg, theologian Serene Jones, and author Pankaj Mishra at a live event on September 6, 2011 from St. Paul's Chapel in NYC a decade following 9/11. This interview is included in our show "Who Do We Want to Become? Remembering Forward a Decade after 9/11" and is part of our "Civil Conversations Project." Download the mp3 of the produced show at on-being-dot-org.

Sherry Turkle's book, "Alone Together," created a catchword for anxiety about the alienating potential of technology. But that's not really her message. We explore the real challenge she poses -- that we can and must lead examined lives with our digital objects -- actively shaping technology to human purposes.

Civil rights veteran Vincent Harding has a long lens of wisdom on contemporary divisions and confusions. He says America is still a developing nation when it comes to democratic encounter across real difference. But he finds hope in the young people he's been bringing into creative contact with civil rights elders for decades. They are his answer to the question that drives him: Is America possible?

Richard Mouw challenges his fellow conservative Christians to civility in public discourse. He offers historical as well as spiritual perspective on American Evangelicals' navigation of disagreement, fear, and truth.

Frances Kissling is known for her longtime activism on the abortion issue but has devoted her energy more in recent years to real relationship and new conversations across that bitter divide. She's learned, she's written, about the courage to be vulnerable in front of those with whom we passionately disagree.

The 1953 marriage of Kwame Anthony Appiah's parents helped inspire the movie Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. We explore this Princeton philosopher's thinking now on subjects like human identity, ethics in a world of strangers, and how moral revolutions really happen.

Poetry is something many of us seem to be hungry for these days. We're hungry for fresh ways to tell hard truths and redemptive stories, for language that would elevate and embolden rather than demean and alienate. Elizabeth Alexander shares her sense of what poetry works in us -- and in our children -- and why it may become more relevant, not less so, in hard and complicated times.

We are living longer, for better and for worse. And the story of aging is one that too often goes untended. Jane Gross, creator of The New Old Age blog at The New York Times and author of A Bittersweet Season, tells us that we not only have to care for our parents -- but for ourselves.

Jane Gross is the creator of The New Old Age blog at The New York Times. She is also the author of A Bittersweet Season: Caring for Our Aging Parents -- and Ourselves. Krista Tippett spoke with her on June 15, 2011 from the studios of APM in Saint Paul, Minnesota; Jane Gross was in the studios of The Argot Network in New York City. This interview is included in our show "The Far Shore of Aging." Download the mp3 of the produced show at on-being-dot-org.

Long before autism had a name, it had a history -- a mystery shrouded in misunderstanding. But what might autism teach us all about what it means to be human now? About our abilities. About our creativity and differences.

Jennifer Elder is the author of illustrated books for children and families, including Different Like Me: My Book of Autism Heroes and Autistic Planet. Paul Collins is author of Not Even Wrong: Adventures in Autism. He edits the Collins Library for McSweeney's Books and is an associate professor of English at Portland State University. Krista Tippett spoke with them on August 22, 2007 from the studios of APM in Saint Paul, Minnesota; Collins and Elder were in the studios of Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland, Oregon. This interview is included in our show "Autism and Humanity." Download the mp3 of the produced show at on-being-dot-org.

Did you know that the sacred city of Bethlehem lies within the West Bank? And, inside its borders, you'll find something unexpected -- a close-knit neighborhood where generations of people have created a new life for themselves. Amahl Bishara and Nidal Al-Azraq show us something rare that we don't see in the news about refugee camps -- the quiet cycles of everyday life.

Amahl Bishara is a Palestinian-American anthropologist at Tufts University. Krista Tippett spoke with her on March 16, 2011 at the Lajee Center -- a youth center based inside the Aida refugee camp in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. This interview is included in our show "Pleasure More Than Hope." Download the mp3 of the produced show at on-being-dot-org.