Holiday Best: Hunger Strikes; Forbidden Words; Kerner Report; Your 28th Amendment; Electric Jazz
Summary: <p>Enjoy catching up with these recent conversations:</p> <ul> Hunger strikes are in the news, from youth climate activists to cab drivers in New York City. Sharman Apt Russell, author of several books including<em> Hunger: An Unnatural History</em> (Basic Books, 2006) and <em>Within Our Grasp: Childhood Malnutrition Worldwide and the Revolution Taking Place to End It</em> (Deckle Edge, 2021), discusses the history of hunger strikes and explains how they work. John McWhorter, Columbia University linguistics professor, host of the Lexicon Valley podcast and the author of <em>Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Forever</em> (Avery, 2021), talks about his book on profanity, where swear words come from and why they hold so much power. Jelani Cobb, <em>New Yorker</em> writer and professor of journalism at Columbia University and the editor of <em>The Essential Kerner Commission Report</em> (Liveright, 2021), talks about his new edition of the 1968 Kerner Commission Report and why he finds it still essential reading. Alex Strada and Tali Keren, artist-in-residence for Queens Museum's Year of Uncertainty, talk about their new multi-media participatory artwork called "Proposal for a 28th Amendment? Is it Possible to Amend an Unequal System?". They are joined by legal scholar Julia Hernandez, associate professor of Law at the CUNY School of Law. As part of our Iconic at 50 series, Marcus Miller, musician, composer and record producer, talks about Miles Davis' classic album Bitches Brew, which was released in 1970 but won a Grammy in 1971, plus more from that year in music, including the birth of jazz-rock fusion, including groups like Weather Report and The Mahavishnu Orchestra. </ul> <p>These interviews were lightly edited for timing and rebroadcast; the original web versions are available here:</p> <p><a href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/how-do-hunger-strikes-work">How Do Hunger Strikes Work?</a> (Nov. 15, 2021)</p> <p><a href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/what-you-cant-say-radio/">What You Can't Say on the Radio</a> (May 13, 2021)</p> <p><a href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/jelani-cobb-kerner-commission-report/">Jelani Cobb on The Kerner Commission Report</a> (Aug. 17, 2021)</p> <p><a href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/your-28th-amendment/">Your 28th Amendment?</a> (Dec. 8, 2021)</p> <p><a href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/iconic-50-miles-davis-bitches-brew/">Iconic at 50: Miles Davis' 'Bitches Brew'</a> (Aug. 12, 2021)</p>
