Among the choices for the 2015 edition of the Best American Poetry, a poem by Yi-Fen Chou. The problem? The author was actually a white guy using a made-up name. Today, white privilege in the poetry world, and the editor who defended his use of racial nepotism. Then, since airline de-regulation in the 1970s, legroom and seat width have measurably decreased, leading to cramped misery in economy-class cabins. But is it a human rights issue? One organization says yes.
Listen to the full show.
White Lies
What’s in a name? Depends who’s asking. In the literary realm, sounding “ethnic” is perceived as an advantage…at least it was by Michael Derrick Hudson, who submitted his poem “The Bees, the Flowers, Jesus, Ancient Tigers, Poseidon, Adam and Eve,” to the journal Prairie Schooner under the name Yi-Fen Chou. Virginia spoke with Jenny Schuessler, reporter on the Culture Desk for the New York Times and Jenny Zhang, who wrote the Buzzfeed essay “They Pretend to be Us While Pretending We Don’t Exist.”
Pill Trackers
Getting patients to take medicine as prescribed is a serious, sometimes life-threatening challenge. The manufacturer of Abilify, the world’s best-selling anti-psychotic drug, is working on a solution to that challenge. Sarah Zhang is Science Reporter at Wired where we found her article, “Why Pharma Wants to Put Sensors in This Blockbuster Drug.”
Man Buns, Now and Forever?
Once the customary hairstyle of ballerinas and librarians, the bun has been making a comeback -- this time on the heads of lads. Phil Edwards is a writer at Vox where he covers all manner of ephemera, so it seems only fitting that he would give us an explainer on Man Buns.
#manbun sighting at #Disneyland Paris! #mun #manbuns #bonjour #bunshun #bunsandbeards #manbunsofdisneyland A photo posted by @manbunsofdisneyland on Sep 16, 2015 at 11:01am PDT
Il Barbiere di Madison
If you’re regretting your choice to jump on the man bun bandwagon, it might be time to visit your friendly neighborhood barber. Producer Casey Herman from Salt Radio brings us the story of a barber in Maine who’s a fixture in his small town.
You can listen to this story again at PRX.org.
Flyers' Rights
Since the de-regulation of the airline industry in the 1970s, both seat pitch – that’s the official term for what most of us think of as legroom -- and seat width have measurably decreased. But it is a human rights issue? Paul Hudson is an attorney, public interest advocate, and president of FlyersRights.org. He joins us to explain the proposed “Flyers’ Bill of Rights.”
