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'Ebony' Editor Began Life Black In Nazi Germany

The proudest moment of Hans Massaquoi's boyhood was when his babysitter sewed a swastika on his sweater. He was a 7-year-old boy in Hamburg who wanted to be part of the excitement of the times he saw....

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History Sometimes Rewards Those Who Are Sidelined

You might look for a player along the sidelines in the Super Bowl on Sunday named Alex Smith and wonder, as he might, if he'll be the next Wally Pipp or Ken Mattingly.Pipp was the Yankee first baseman...

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Is Honest Abe's Stovepipe Hat A Fake?

Abraham Lincoln's black stovepipe hat is an icon. It seemed to enhance his height, emphasize his dignity and, I suppose, keep his head warm.There is a stovepipe hat at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential...

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Pianist Van Cliburn, Warmed Russian Hearts During Cold War

Van Cliburn thawed out the Cold War.He went to Moscow in 1958 for the first International Tchaikovsky Competition. When he sat down to play, Russians saw a tall, 23-year-old Texan, rail thin and...

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Snowquester Fizzles, But We're Humbled Anyway

Snowquester fizzled.Wednesday was more or less canceled this week in official Washington, D.C. An enormous winter storm bore down on the region, threatening ice, a foot of snow in the city (more in the...

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Roger Ebert: Elegance and Empathy

Roger Ebert was a critic, not a blowtorch. He could be sharp if he thought a movie insulted the audience, but had a champ's disdain for a cheap shot.Many critics ridiculed the film Deep Throat when it...

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A 'Tough, Smart, Proud Town' Meets Terror With Determination

People in Boston can speak for themselves. And do. Loudly, bluntly and often with humor that bites.It's a city that speaks with both its own broad, homebrew, local accent — although no one really pahks...

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Mom's X-Ray Vision Also Sees The Best In Us

Mothers have eyes in the back of their heads. They may not show up on X-rays, but they're there.Like a lot of youngsters, I used to get my mother to turn her head so I could search through her hair for...

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Are High School Newspapers An Endangered Species?

Does your local high school have a student newspaper? And in this day when a social media message saying, "Tonight's Green Design and Technology class homework sucks!" can instantly be sent to...

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Peaceful Protest Over Istanbul Park Turns Violent

Weekend Edition Saturday host Scott Simon talks with NPR's Peter Kenyon about the latest on protests in Turkey's largest city that were met with police action that included tear gas and fire hoses.

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Retire The Phrase, 'This Wouldn't Be A Scandal In Europe'

I hope we've heard the last of people saying, "This would never be a scandal in Europe." They usually mean "sex scandal," and by now I think Americans are entitled to boast that we've become as blase...

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Remembering Elmore Leonard, A Writer Who Hated Literature

Elmore Leonard was a writer who hated — and I don't mean disliked; Elmore had a contempt for putting pretty clothes on hard, direct words, so I mean hated — literature, or at least what he believed a...

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When Weighing Intervention In Syria, Consider The Children

I was in a grocery store one night this week when a sturdy young man approached with a smile."Do you remember me?" he asked. "Bini."Bini — Erblin Mehmataj — was a bony-shouldered 9-year-old boy with a...

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Digital Music, In The Truest Sense

Transcript SCOTT SIMON, HOST: And now: another take on jazz hands...(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)SIMON: It may sound like Savion Glover tapping, or some kind of tin pan Buddy Rich, but this is digital music in...

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As We Memorialize Mandela, Remember Those Who Stood With Him

By the time he died this week, Nelson Mandela was considered one of the few — perhaps the only — giants on the world stage.But the man who was prisoner 466/64 on Robben Island was a giant among heroes...

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Rodman's Tour Of North Korea: Diplomacy Or Propaganda?

There's been a publicity circus trailing Dennis Rodman to North Korea to present a big, bouncing birthday present of a basketball game to Kim Jong Un. But did you see the score of the game?The U.S....

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Opera Star Renee Fleming Brings Grace To The Super Bowl

Who knows who'll win the Super Bowl tomorrow, but history will be made before the coin toss.Renee Fleming will sing the national anthem at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

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Forego The Faux Snow: The Games Could Use A Permanent Home

The Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, are certifiably the most expensive and allegedly staggeringly corrupt.Upwards of $50 billion has been spent to turn a place that's been best known as a Black...

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Shirley Temple's Films Still Charm After All These Years

Shirley Temple really could be as effervescent as a jolt of ginger ale and as cheery as a maraschino cherry in the kid's cocktail that is still ordered by her name.

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Ukrainian Olympic Skier's Stand Is A Sacrifice For Her Country

Sports are supposed to be separate from politics, but athletes and games can't always be kept separate from life and death.Scores of people were killed in Ukraine this week, as the security forces of...

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