Short Wave - COVID-19 Cases Rise In The U.K., U.S. Watches For New Wave

The omicron outbreak has slowed dramatically in the U.S. But cases are rising in Britain due to an omicron subvariant. There are signs the U.S. could also see a bump in cases in the coming weeks.

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NPR's Book of the Day - ‘Peach Blossom Spring’ interrogates the meaning of home

Can you belong to more than one home? Author Melissa Fu sets out to answer that question in her debut novel Peach Blossom Spring. The story of the Peach Blossom Spring was first told by a poet over one thousand years ago: A fisherman stumbles upon a paradise of peach trees and has to decide whether to abandon his old life and stay in this beautiful place or go back home. That is the same predicament that Fu's main character Renshu faces. Fu told NPR's Ailsa Chang that it's hard to live in two cultures but she wouldn't have it any other way.

Consider This from NPR - How Becoming A Refugee Changes You

Inside Ukraine, millions of people have been displaced, with millions more living in increasingly dire conditions. In the city of Maruipol, hundreds of thousands of civilians remain trapped — with dwindling supplies of food and water and no electricity. Mariupol has been bombarded by the Russians for weeks now. Petro Andrushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol's mayor, told NPR civilians in bomb shelters are running out of food. Millions of others have fled Ukraine without knowing if or when they'll be able to return home. Amid that uncertainty, they must start a new life elsewhere. It's an experience only people who've been refugees can truly understand. Mary Louise Kelly talks with refugees from Vietnam, Syria, and Afghanistan about their experiences, how fleeing their home country has affected their life and what life is like now. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

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Short Wave - Parents Of Transgender Youth Fear Texas’ Anti-Trans Orders

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has directed the state's Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate certain gender-affirming care as possible child abuse, leaving parents of transgender youth feeling caught between two choices: support their children or face a possible investigation. Annaliese and Rachel are mothers living in Texas and both have transgender children. They speak to NPR about the emotional and mental toll this order has had on their families. And while the order is currently blocked by a judge, Chase Strangio, Deputy Director for Transgender Justice with the American Civil Liberties Union, explains the status of other anti-LGBTQ bills in other states.

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NPR's Book of the Day - Author Azar Nafisi says books can help you really live

Author Azar Nafisi has written a love letter to literature and reading in Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times. She does this in a series of letters to her late father who passed on in 2004. Nafisi says that reading can help us really live and also help us, and has helped her, survive challenging times. Nafisi told NPR's Scott Simon that literature's purpose is to let us experience new worlds: "to come out of yourself, and join the other."