Setup
Clint Smith and Reginald Dwayne Betts work at the crossroads of multiple disciplines. Both men have pursued graduate degrees in the Ivy League: Smith is working toward his PhD at Harvard and Betts recently obtained his JD at Yale. But they also stay true to their creative lives, publishing and performing poetry in which they grapple with issues such as politics, inequality, race, fatherhood, and incarceration. They will talk with Damian Woetzel about the sociopolitical urgencies in their work and how they combine their seemingly disparate worlds into one holistic practice.
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Arts



The US House of Representatives will vote later this month on whether to admit Washington, DC as the 51st state. The mayor of DC talks about the vote.





Voting rights are under assault in America. More than 250 bills that would restrict access to voting are pending in 43 states.

COVID-19 has hindered progress in gender equity as women have left the workforce to care for children. But 2020 also held record high numbers of women running for office & hol...

In a time of heightened distrust, how can media outlets reclaim the public’s confidence? We hear from a longtime journalist.





The idea of unity is a compassionate, hopeful aspiration for a country ravaged by a global pandemic, racial injustice, economic downturn and mob violence.



Two weeks before the first woman of color became Vice President, an angry mob that included members of the white supremacist group Proud Boys, stormed the US Capitol. As Ibram...

Biden believes deeply that actions like the January 6th violence at the Capitol are not who we want to be as a country, says Evan Osnos, author of a Biden biography.





As the nation reels from the attack on the Capitol, we look for ideas that will move us forward.

Peggy Clark asks Dan Glickman to reflect on this past year and to share what he expects from our country under President-elect Joe Biden’s leadership.



A look back at what we've read, watched, and listened this year.