Nazi Photo Album Tells a Timeless Story of World War Two

by Annie Ropeik
The photo album, privately owned and set to go to auction in New York this fall, shows Nazi propagandist Franz Krieger’s journey across the Eastern Front of Europe in 1941. Krieger documented everything from prison camps to Hitler to his own personal life. / Photo Courtesy of Tony Cenicola and The New York Times)
The photo album, privately owned and set to go to auction in New York this fall, shows Nazi propagandist Franz Krieger’s journey across the Eastern Front of Europe in 1941. Krieger documented everything from prison camps to Hitler to his own personal life. / Photo Courtesy of Tony Cenicola and The New York Times)

When reporter David Dunlap of The New York Times got his hands on an old World War Two-era photo album earlier this year, he found almost everything a historian could want. The album was turned over to The Times by a private owner who wanted to know what it was worth.

Inside, Dunlap found mint-condition photographs of everything from Hitler to theMinskghetto – some propaganda, others more personal, all clearly taken by a Nazi officer. But Dunlap couldn’t identify him.

Read More…

Republican Presidential Candidates Court Young Voters at College Republication National Committee Convention

by Nicole Macon
Conservative college students and alumni gathered for the College Republicans National Committee Biennial Convention at the Renaissance Marriott Hotel in Washington, D.C. the weekend of July 29, 2011. / Photo by Alexandra Billings
Conservative college students and alumni gathered for the College Republicans National Committee Biennial Convention at the Renaissance Marriott Hotel in Washington, D.C. the weekend of July 29, 2011. / Photo by Alexandra Billings

President Barack Obama rallied young people to vote Democrat in the 2008 presidential election, but this time around, the GOP is fighting back.

Republican presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman was in Washington, D.C. to give the keynote address at the College Republican National Committee’s Biennial Convention.

Over a sold-out three-course meal, Huntsman tried to win both the attention and political support of college students and alumni with promises to deliver more than just hope.

Read More…

Music Library Intern Finds Herself Behind the Mic for Intern Edition

by Jane Gilvin

When I came to intern at NPR this summer, I had no idea I would find myself sitting in one of the production rooms being recorded. My internship was in the music library, an important part of the broadcast team, but mainly a behind the scenes kind of role. So how was it then, that in the next to last week of my internship, I found myself seated behind a microphone with four of my fellow interns, recording the host script for the Intern Edition premiere?

Read More…

Growing in to Morning Edition

by Ashley Westerman
Ashley Westerman, and intern with NPR's Morning Edition
Ashley Westerman, an intern with NPR’s Morning Edition, works the board in the production area of Studio 2E. / Photo by Emily Bogle

As NPR’s Morning Edition intern, I find it quite ironic – if not hilarious – that it was this specific show that I used to complain about my father listening to as he drove me to school in the morning.

“The news is so borrrrrinnnggg!” My 6-year-old self would whine, competing against former host Bob Edwards to be heard.

My father, a dedicated NPR listener for 30 years now, would just shake his head and turn up the volume.

And, of course, as the saying goes: “Father knows best.”

Read More…

Working with a Robot in NPR’s Music Library

by Jane Gilvin
Jane Gilvin, NPR's music library intern, looks for a CD in the music library. / Photo by Emily Bogle
Jane Gilvin, NPR's music library intern, looks for a CD in the music library. / Photo by Emily Bogle

Radio and libraries have always been my gateway to the wider world. As a kid, the public library was where I learned about rock’n’roll, classical music and jazz. I heard mostly country, bluegrass or gospel on the radio, or local voices reading the local news. As an adult, I headed out for wider experiences in the world, but what I hear on the radio and what I read at the library still guide my discoveries.

Once I was out in the world, I realized working at radio stations and libraries suited me well. While working at KUSP, an NPR member station in Santa Cruz, California, I went back to school for my Master’s of Library Science. Imagine my delight at discovering that NPR has year round internships in their libraries! With my background in music and radio, I was excited to apply. Luckily, I was offered the chance to intern with Robert Goldstein in the music library at NPR.

Read More…

The Not-So-Secret Life of D.C. Honeybees

by Madelyn Mahon
Michael Templeman installed his first hive at home this April. Templeman and his wife, Amy, hope to be harvesting honey from their bees by the end of summer. / Photo by Madelyn Mahon
Michael Templeman installed his first hive at home this April. Templeman and his wife, Amy, hope to be harvesting honey from their bees by the end of summer. / Photo by Madelyn Mahon

The next time you’re walking through Georgetown or the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C., look up – there may be some very busy, buzzing honey-making taking place on the roofs above you.

Beekeeping in D.C. is legal gray area, so urban keepers place their hives on roofs or deep in backyards. The hives, each containing around 40,000 bees, pollinate everything from flowers to squash in the D.C. area. And, of course, the bees provide honey. Jeff Miller, the founder of D.C. Honeybees, has helped set up 60 hives in Washington and the surrounding areas, and, driven by his passion for bees, he intends to keep going.

Read More…

Close Encounters of the Romantic Kind: Missed Connections on Craigslist

by Andrew Maddocks
On the classified ad mega-site Craigslist, the Missed Connections page gives users a place to post about their own missed connections with other people. / Screenshot by Andrew Maddocks
On the classified ad mega-site Craigslist, the Missed Connections page gives users a place to post about their own missed connections with other people. / Screenshot by Andrew Maddocks

One man saw another for a few minutes and tried to meet him for months.

One woman caught a glimpse of a man and took a flying chance at meeting him once.

Their stories are two among thousands in the world of missed connections – the section of Craigslist for anyone hoping to reconnect after fleeting romantic encounter or share a message for an otherwise lost recipient.

Joshua is from New York City and Nina is from Washington, D.C. They wonder what it means in their lives to look for love on missed connections, and what it means for the rest of us.

Read More…

Scientists Discover why Moving Headlines are so Hard to Ignore

by Rebecca Hersher
In this view into a fly's head, one of the fly's large neurons is filled with fluorescent green dye. / Photo courtesy of the Max Planck Institute
In this view into a fly's head, one of the fly's large neurons is filled with fluorescent green dye. / Photo courtesy of the Max Planck Institute

Cable news channels have long capitalized on how motion draws our attention. Biologists are just now beginning to understand why the moving headlines at the edge of the nightly news are so mesmerizing, even if they are just inane celebrity gossip. Content aside, evolution has equipped us with extreme sensitivity to motion. We depend on motion to tell us when danger is coming – predators are rarely stationary. So when our eyes see something moving, we focus on it, even if it is a headline about Katy Perry.

Read More…

Bon Iver: Live and in the Chat Room

by Shannon Carlin
Shannon Carlin, All Songs Considered Intern, in front of the music bookcase which doubles as a background for the Tiny Desk Concerts. / Photo by Emily Bogle
Shannon Carlin, All Songs Considered Intern, in front of the music bookcase which doubles as a background for the Tiny Desk Concerts. / Photo by Emily Bogle

I’ve never really been one to hang out in online chat rooms. They always seemed so anti-social to me. But one of the many responsibilities you have as the All Songs Considered intern is monitoring the chat room for live streaming events. For the most part people are there to talk about how much they love the artist performing. This particular night all the love was for Bon Iver. But once and awhile people get a little rowdy. Or you get a spammer who constantly wants to spell out long sentences one letter at a time. When this happens you have to step in. I was basically playing the role of virtual bouncer. Hard job right? Sitting with my computer up above the crowd at the 9:30 Club listening to Justin Vernon sing his heart out.

Read More…

Celebrating My Own Contradictions With NPR Music’s Alt.Latino

by Anne Hoffman
Anne Hoffman, Alt. Latino Intern, takes a break from the NPR building by venturing a few blocks away and works at Chinatown Coffee. / Photo by Emily Bogle
Anne Hoffman, Alt. Latino Intern, takes a break from the NPR building by venturing a few blocks away and works at Chinatown Coffee. / Photo by Emily Bogle

A lot of people don’t understand that I’m like a sancocho, or a feijoada, or any other kind of Latin American stew that incorporates multiple flavors and is so much greater than the sum of its parts. I’ve never really had a job where all of my composite parts could shine. Interning for NPR Music’s Alt.Latino, a program dedicated to “making the world safe for Latin music”, has given me the gift of integration — of being my 15 year old punk self, her introspective cafe-writer counterpart, and the Spanglish speaking extrovert I’ve become in recent years.

Read More…