Category: Active

Today's episode focuses on very different experiences of the teenage years. First, NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Christine Suggs about their new graphic novel, ¡Ay, Mija!, inspired by Suggs' formative trip to Mexico to understand their parents' upbringing and reconnect with their family and culture. Then, NPR's Rachel Martin sits down with psychologist Lisa Damour to discuss her new book, The Emotional Lives of Teenagers. They discuss the stresses and anxieties young people deal with – especially as a result of the pandemic – and how parents can help manage these intense feelings.

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

Music

• Halcyon and Photosynteses and Embryo by H. Takehashi

• Intro by Library Tapes

• The Florist Wears Knee Breeches by M. Sage

Notes

• I found Andrew Isenberg's book, The Destruction of the Bison, An Environmental History, completely fascinating.

• If you want to do a deep dive on Madison Grant, I'd recommend Defending the Master Race: Conservation, Eugenics, and the Legacy of Madison Grant by John Peter Spiro.

• If you want to do a deep dive on the Catalina Buffalo, this site is a fun place to start.

Writing is a practice – especially for MacArthur Genius Grant and National Book Award winner Terrance Hayes. His new collection of poems, So to Speak, comes out of that practice during turbulent times: COVID quarantine, the 2020 protests after the killing of George Floyd. And they reach further back, too, to the Jim Crow South and his mother's youth. In today's episode, Hayes speaks with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly about engaging with language and reimagining family members in a new light.

In C.K. Chau's new novel, Good Fortune, Elizabeth Chen is highly wary of the Wong brothers who have swooped in to buy a New York City community center. But where Elizabeth sees a threat to her neighborhood, her mother sees an opportunity – and not just for their block. In today's episode, Chau speaks with NPR's Ailsa Chang about reframing Pride and Prejudice as an early aughts story about love and aspiration in a Cantonese American family, and how reframing certain characters as immigrants brings a whole new level to their outlook on relationships.

In Filthy Rich Politicians, conservative columnist Matt Lewis presents some startling figures. Senator Rick Scott: net worth of approximately $200 million. Representative Michael McCaul: $125 million. Nancy Pelosi: $46 million. In his book, Lewis takes a close look at how people get richer after they're elected to office, and what this wealth means for our political systems. He speaks with NPR's Steve Inskeep about how politicians amass money not just for themselves, but their families – and how Donald Trump is a prime example of that.