Tensions are running high for married couple Keru and Nate, who decide to rent a house in Cape Cod, sharing it with each set of parents at different points of a month-long trip. Their vacation seems to have stoked the fires of family dysfunction, eventually pushing Keru to a breaking point. Author Weike Wang believes in putting one's characters through trial by fire, which she does quite literally in her latest novel, Rental House. In today's episode, Wang speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about sometimes-frustrating family life, coexistence, and obstacles for characters.
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Short Wave - Who Does Science? Under Trump, That Could Change
The next four years may be challenging for foreign-born scientists who want to work in the United States. Foreign-born workers account for about half of the doctoral-level scientists and engineers working in the U.S., but the incoming Trump administration wants to make it harder for them to get H-1B visas. Some scientists worry a scarcity of H-1B visas may prompt top foreign researchers to work in other countries.
If you liked this episode, consider checking out some more episodes on the brain, including the neuroscience of disagreements, fear and fruit flies.
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If you liked this episode, consider checking out some more episodes on the brain, including the neuroscience of disagreements, fear and fruit flies.
Questions or ideas you want us to consider for a future episode? Email us at shortwave@npr.org. We'd love to hear from you!
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Engines of Our Ingenuity - The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1295: Pins
Episode: 1295 The lowly, but not-so-simple, dressmaker's pin. Today, let's make pins.
The Economics of Everyday Things - 73. Used Bookstores
Americans throw away 320 million books every year. How do some of them find a second life? Zachary Crockett is just browsing.
- SOURCE:
- Francisco Hernandez, owner of Leaves bookstore.
- RESOURCES:
- "Reinventing Retail: The Novel Resurgence of Independent Bookstores," by Ryan L. Raffaelli (Harvard Business School Working Paper, 2020).
- Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon (1973).
- The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison (1970).
- Leaves bookstore.
- EXTRA:
- "Dying Is Easy. Retail Is Hard," by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
Consider This from NPR - The enormous consequences Trump’s tariffs could have
You never know if president-elect Donald Trump is bluffing, but when you have billions of dollars on the line, you have to take him seriously. So car companies took notice, when Trump announced a plan for huge new tariffs in a social media post before Thanksgiving.
A 25 percent tax on imports from Canada and Mexico would have a major impact on the car industry, which depends heavily on cross border trade.
Trump's tariffs could have huge consequences for the people who make cars, and the people who buy them.
Even if he's bluffing, he has other big plans to shake up the auto industry.
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A 25 percent tax on imports from Canada and Mexico would have a major impact on the car industry, which depends heavily on cross border trade.
Trump's tariffs could have huge consequences for the people who make cars, and the people who buy them.
Even if he's bluffing, he has other big plans to shake up the auto industry.
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Audio Poem of the Day - On the Floor
By Ak’abal Humberto
Tr. by Michael Bazzett
The Daily Signal - Nelly Roach: ‘God Pulled Me Out’ of Planned Parenthood
At age 18, Nelly Roach sat in a Planned Parenthood clinic with $246 to pay for an abortion.
“I found myself there, as many many people find themselves, in a place where they don't feel that they have any options,” Roach says.
Roach was born into a Catholic family on the small island nation of Palau in the Pacific Ocean. When she was 13, her family moved to Missouri so she could receive a better education. She says she was raised with a sense of cultural responsibility to help and serve her family and her people, known as Palauans.
Waiting in the Planned Parenthood, Roach recalls, her mind raced. She felt she had to have the abortion for “the great good” of being able to help fellow Palauans one day, but also that what she was about to do was “wrong, but maybe I don't care.”
When her name was called, Roach stood up. “Had I turned left ... I would have had an abortion in a matter of minutes. But, you know, God pulled me out, and so I turned right [and walked out], and my baby is now 32 years old.”
After giving birth to her son, Roach entered the field of marketing and eventually had her own marketing company. For 25 years, Roach kept her story of nearly aborting her son private. In fact, her mother was the only one who knew she had ever visited Planned Parenthood.
But when her son was 23, she spoke at a marketing conference and was approached by a pro-life organization about how to reach more women who are considering having an abortion.
“I still believe that it was a divine conversation because it's such a polarizing topic. I wasn't talking about being pro-life, yet they felt comfortable coming to me,” Roach says.
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Everything Everywhere Daily - The Plans for a US/Canadian War
The United States and Canada share the world's longest undefended border. The United States and the United Kingdom have shared what has been called a “special relationship” since the Second World War.
The idea of these countries going to war with each other today is unthinkable.
Yet, this was not always the case. There was a time when this was very thinkable, and that time was far more recent than most people realize.
Learn more about the planning for a US/Canadian war and how both sides made plans to invade the other on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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Up First from NPR - Trapped in a Social Safety Net
In 1972, the federal government launched a program to support the poorest disabled and elderly Americans. Supplemental Security Income, run by the Social Security Administration, provides monthly checks that are a lifeline for some of the most vulnerable people in this country.
SSI was intended to serve as a powerful safety net and a tool for fighting poverty. But a recent NPR Investigation led by correspondent Joseph Shapiro has discovered a very different reality today.
In today's episode of The Sunday Story, Shapiro explains how SSI's outdated rules have made the system difficult to run and almost impossible for its beneficiaries to navigate. Impoverished disabled and elderly people say they have been penalized for trying to improve their lives—for saving money, getting married, and even daring to have careers.
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SSI was intended to serve as a powerful safety net and a tool for fighting poverty. But a recent NPR Investigation led by correspondent Joseph Shapiro has discovered a very different reality today.
In today's episode of The Sunday Story, Shapiro explains how SSI's outdated rules have made the system difficult to run and almost impossible for its beneficiaries to navigate. Impoverished disabled and elderly people say they have been penalized for trying to improve their lives—for saving money, getting married, and even daring to have careers.
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1A - Kelly Bishop On Being ‘The Third Gilmore Girl’
Before Kelly Bishop found her way into our hearts as Emily Gilmore, she danced her way into history in Broadway's "A Chorus Line" and the movie "Dirty Dancing."
Most recently, you might have seen her as Mrs. Ivey in Hulu's "The Watchful Eye."
But chances are you probably recognize the Tony-Award winner from her role as the matriarch of Stars Hollow. She joins us to talk about her new memoir, "The Third Gilmore Girl."
Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Connect with us. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.
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Most recently, you might have seen her as Mrs. Ivey in Hulu's "The Watchful Eye."
But chances are you probably recognize the Tony-Award winner from her role as the matriarch of Stars Hollow. She joins us to talk about her new memoir, "The Third Gilmore Girl."
Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Connect with us. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy