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May 26, 2008 In essays on the 'In Character' blog, NPR audiences have been waxing thoughtful about their own favorite characters. An 11-year-old, in foster care for the past four years, says he feels a kinship with the protagonist of A Dog's Life: Autobiography of a Stray.

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On All Things ConsideredPlaylist

May 26, 2008 Eight years ago, a French couple founded an organization that adopts graves of American servicemen who died during the Normandy invasion of World War II. The volunteer group encourages French families to lay flowers on the graves when the Americans' own families can't do it.

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On Morning EditionPlaylist

May 22, 2008 If you've ever sat in rush-hour traffic, gazing longingly at the cars rushing by in the high-occupancy vehicle lanes, try doing something your parents warned you never to do: Hop in a car with a complete stranger behind the wheel.

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On Morning EditionPlaylist

May 16, 2008 Balla Tounkara, a kora player from Mali, is the winner of the Bryant Park Project's NYC Subway Busker Poll and one of the city's newest official underground musicians.

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On The Bryant Park ProjectPlaylist

May 14, 2008 Rescuers worked frantically throughout southwestern China on Wednesday to reach the thousands of people still trapped in the rubble after Monday's devastating earthquake. But, as the day faded, so did the hope that many of the missing would be found alive.

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On All Things ConsideredPlaylist

May 7, 2008 Thousands of miles apart, two families noticed their toddler sons gravitated toward toys, colors and clothes generally associated with girls. Each family eventually decided to go with radically different approaches to their child's identity issues, as directed by their therapists.

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On All Things ConsideredPlaylist

April 29, 2008 He's helped many people through painful passages in their lives. And he's faced his own: Since a near-fatal auto accident in 1979, he's been paralyzed from the chest down. Gottlieb has had nearly three decades to come to terms with the changed circumstances of his body — but now, he fears, that body may be growing tired.

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On Fresh Air from WHYYPlaylist

March 21, 2008 Mary Ellen Noone's great-grandmother became the victim of a vicious, racist store owner just for wearing nail polish. Noone says she's still angry that someone could have that much control over another person — who just wanted to feel like a woman.

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On Morning EditionPlaylist

March 13, 2008 Perhaps you've seen a colorful, talking bird in a pet shop and thought, "I've always wanted a parrot!" Before you take the plunge, commentator Julie Zickefoose sounds a note of caution.

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On All Things ConsideredPlaylist

March 1, 2008 Fifty years ago, a tall 23-year-old Texan shook up the music world by winning the first Tchaikovsky Competition, in Moscow at the height of the Cold War. Van Cliburn reminisces about his victory and his unconventional career.

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On Weekend Edition SaturdayPlaylist

February 28, 2008 Play has radically changed — and not for the better, some researchers say. So, at one school in New Jersey, preschoolers are asked to fill out paperwork before they pick up their Play-Doh. The idea isn't to take the fun out of play, but to get kids to think in advance about what they're doing and how they'll do it.

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On Morning EditionPlaylist

February 10, 2008 The Cookie Monster is a deeply sensuous character who speaks to our most basic appetites and desires. "[We] need many things to try and make us happy," explains puppeteer Frank Oz. "He only needs one thing, and that's a cookie."

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On All Things ConsideredPlaylist