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Kumari Devarajan

Producer, Code Switch

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From The Fringe To The Capitol
Jon Cherry / Getty / LA Johnson/NPR

Code Switch

From The Fringe To The Capitol

Like all of you, we are still trying to make sense of Wednesday, January 6, 2021. Because even after the past four years, there are still new iterations of WTF. So on this episode, we're talking police, "terrorism", and the symbols of white nationalism that made it to the floor of the Capitol.

From The Fringe To The Capitol

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The Books That Got Away
NPR

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Code Switch

The Books That Got Away

Listen, a lot has happened this year, and it's no shock that some things may have slipped under the radar. So our resident book expert, Karen Grigsby Bates, took a virtual trip around the country to talk to independent book store owners about their favorite underappreciated reads of 2020.

The Books That Got Away

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Stepping Back Inside Carmen Maria Machado's 'Dream House'

Carmen Maria Machado's new memoir is called "In The Dreamhouse." Art Streiber/AUGUST hide caption

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Art Streiber/AUGUST

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Code Switch

Stepping Back Inside Carmen Maria Machado's 'Dream House'

It's no secret that Code Switch is a team full of book nerds. So this week, we're revisiting one of our favorite book conversations, with author Carmen Maria Machado. Her genre-defying memoir, In the Dream House, tells the story of how she survived intimate partner violence, despite having few models of how to deal with, or even recognize abusive dynamics in queer relationships.

Stepping Back Inside Carmen Maria Machado's 'Dream House'

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Claim Us If You're Famous

Vice president-elect Kamala Harris, front center, with, from left, her grandfather, sister, mother and grandmother in 1972. Twitter/ @mayaharris_ hide caption

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Twitter/ @mayaharris_

Code Switch

Claim Us If You're Famous

Kamala Harris is the vice president-elect, which marks an impressive list of firsts: woman in the White House; Black woman in the White House, Asian American in the White House; etc. Her Indian heritage has gotten much less attention than her Black identity, and in many ways, it has been complicated by her Black identity. On this episode, we look at what Harris's identities can tell us about dual-minority POCs, South Asian political representation in the U.S., and what it all means at the voting booth.

Claim Us If You're Famous

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Is It Time To Say R.I.P. To 'POC'?
LA Johnson/NPR

Code Switch

Is It Time To Say R.I.P. To 'POC'?

Suffice it to say, we use the term "POC" a lot on Code Switch. But critiques of the initialism — and the popularization of the term "BIPOC" — caused us to ask: Should we retire POC? Or is there use in it yet?

Is It Time To Say R.I.P. To 'POC'?

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Songs Giving Us (Much Needed) Life
Aurélia Durand

Code Switch

Songs Giving Us (Much Needed) Life

Talking about race can get real heavy, real fast. Listening to music is one way people have been lightening the mood and sorting through their feelings. So this week, we're sharing some of the songs that are giving all of us life during this especially taxing moment.

Songs Giving Us (Much Needed) Life

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A New Memoir Talks 'Riding Shotgun' With Whitney Houston

Robyn Crawford shares her story as Whitney Houston's closest friend in her new memoir A Song For You: My Life With Whitney Houston. Marc Hom/Penguin Random House hide caption

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Marc Hom/Penguin Random House

Code Switch

A New Memoir Talks 'Riding Shotgun' With Whitney Houston

From the day they met as teenagers, Robyn Crawford was by Whitney Houston's side. In her new memoir A Song For You: My Life With Whitney Houston, Crawford speaks in depth about their long friendship.

'Your Body Being Used': Where Prisoners Who Can't Vote Fill Voting Districts

Prisoners pass through a courtyard at Waupun Correctional Institution. Officials in some prison towns have come up with creative ways to avoid forming voting districts made up primarily of prisoners. But in many others, political lines are drawn around prisons in a way that critics deride as "prison gerrymandering." Lauren Justice for NPR hide caption

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Lauren Justice for NPR

Code Switch

'Your Body Being Used': Where Prisoners Who Can't Vote Fill Voting Districts

The U.S. census counts incarcerated people as residents of where they are imprisoned. In many prison towns, that has led to voting districts made up primarily of prisoners who can't vote.

'Your Body Being Used': Where Prisoners Who Can't Vote Fill Voting Districts

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A Bouquet Of Poets For National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month. From left to right, poets: Kaveh Akbar, Fatimah Asghar, Ada Limon, Hieu Minh Nguyen and Ashley M. Jones. LA Johnson/NPR hide caption

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Code Switch

A Bouquet Of Poets For National Poetry Month

Looks like this year, April showers brought April flowers. As in, a bouquet of outstanding poets. So stop and smell the roses, my friends.

A Bouquet Of Poets For National Poetry Month

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It Almost Destroyed Ellen's Career; Now Celebrities Are Playing With 'Coming Out'

ELLEN - "The Puppy Episode" Ellen (Ellen DeGeneres, left) and Susan ( Laura Dern, right) ABC Photo Archives/Getty Images hide caption

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It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

It Almost Destroyed Ellen's Career; Now Celebrities Are Playing With 'Coming Out'

To mark National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11, Sam examines the history, meaning and future of coming out with University of Nevada, Las Vegas professor Marcia Gallo and E. Patrick Johnson of Northwestern University. He also shares coming out stories from listeners and swaps stories with NPR film critic Bob Mondello. Tweet @NPRItsBeenaMin with feels or email samsanders@npr.org.

It Almost Destroyed Ellen's Career; Now Celebrities Are Playing With 'Coming Out'

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Director Lauren Miller Rogen's 'Like Father' Reflects Her Own Emotional Journey

Director Lauren Miller Rogen on the set of her new Netflix film, 'Like Father.' Linda Kallerus/Netflix hide caption

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Linda Kallerus/Netflix

It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

Director Lauren Miller Rogen's 'Like Father' Reflects Her Own Emotional Journey

It's Tuesday: writer and director Lauren Miller Rogen talks to Sam about her new Netflix film, "Like Father," starring Kristen Bell and Kelsey Grammer, caring for a parent with Alzheimer's disease, and working with her husband, Seth Rogen.

Director Lauren Miller Rogen's 'Like Father' Reflects Her Own Emotional Journey

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Syd Isn't Rushing Her Moment

Syd performs at Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Kevin Winter/Getty Images hide caption

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Kevin Winter/Getty Images

It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

Syd Isn't Rushing Her Moment

It's Tuesday: Sam talks to Syd, a breakout star of the hip-hop collective Odd Future, about her new band, The Internet, and about being free to bring herself to the music. Tweet @NPRItsBeenaMin with feels or email samsanders@npr.org. Tickets to our October 2 live show in LA are at kp.cc/IBAM.

Syd Isn't Rushing Her Moment

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