Accessibility links
Kumari Devarajan
Kumari
Stories By

Kumari Devarajan

Kumari
Enlarge this image
Deveney Williams/NPR
Kumari
Deveney Williams/NPR

Kumari Devarajan

Producer, Code Switch

Story Archive

Wednesday

Meet Lori Lizarraga—Our Newest Co-host

Lori Lizarraga JerSean Golatt/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
JerSean Golatt/NPR

Code Switch

Meet Lori Lizarraga—Our Newest Co-host

From the world of local TV news, meet Code Switch's newest co-host, Lori Lizarraga! Before she was born, her mother had the nickname "Lori" ready for her, even though her legal name is Laura. The story behind why starts more than a decade before she was born, when Lori's mom came to the U.S. as a kid and had to make a difficult decision.

Meet Lori Lizarraga—Our Newest Co-host

Listen · 27:32
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1148151202/1148186928" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

The New Gilded Age (2022)
Library of Congress

Throughline

The New Gilded Age (2022)

Philanthropic foundations are a fundamental part of our society: they support media, the arts, education, medical research, and more. NPR, and even this show, is supported by many personal and family foundations. But it wasn't always that way. In this episode, we go back to the beginning — the Gilded Age. We trace the birth and evolution of what many today call "big philanthropy," and ask what all this private wealth means for the public good.

The New Gilded Age (2022)

Listen · 50:19
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1143428885/1144171304" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

What we watched in 2022

There are a lot of TV shows to watch out there - so the Code Switch team isn't trying to bring you a list of the "best." But we are here to talk about some of the shows we watched this year that we loved. Sophia Pappas for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Sophia Pappas for NPR

Code Switch

What we watched in 2022

There are a lot of TV shows to watch out there - so the Code Switch team isn't trying to bring you a list of the "best." Instead, we're chatting about the shows we watched this year that we loved, and gave us something bigger to think about, from Abbott Elementary to Bel-Air.

What we watched in 2022

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1142319734/1142677558" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Fear, Halloween and the real-life horrors of the past
Cindy Ord/Getty Images

Code Switch

Fear, Halloween and the real-life horrors of the past

It's that time of year again: celebrations of the macabre hit a little too close to home and brush up against our country's very dark past. We talk about navigating fake horror amid what's actually terrifying and how scaring ourselves, on purpose, can help us. This episode first ran in October 2019.

Fear, Halloween and the real-life horrors of the past

Listen · 25:06
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1130526036/1131918604" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

Skeletons in the closet, revisited

A young Native American woman sits in a museum display case alongside artifacts and human remains. Gabriella Trujillo for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Gabriella Trujillo for NPR

Code Switch

Skeletons in the closet, revisited

More than 10,000 Native human remains are currently sitting in a storage facility in a Maryland suburb. This week, how one small tribe is fighting to get them back to Florida. This episode originally aired October 13, 2021.

Skeletons in the closet, revisited

Listen · 33:57
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1129123705/1129522433" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

Black reality in a world of fantasy

Authors Tochi Onyebuchi (left) and Leslye Penelope (right) share their experiences building fantasy worlds in their latest sci-fi novels Goliath and The Monsters We Defy. PR Agency hide caption

toggle caption
PR Agency

Code Switch

Black reality in a world of fantasy

Why build a fantasy world that still has racism? B.A. Parker moderates a discussion on Black science fiction and fantasy with authors Tochi Onyebuchi and Leslye Penelope at the National Book Festival.

Black reality in a world of fantasy

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1128226741/1128253480" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Omar Apollo on making music and being a role model for queer Latinx kids

Omar Apollo Art by Sasha Fominskaya by NPR/Photo courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Art by Sasha Fominskaya by NPR/Photo courtesy of the artist

Code Switch

Omar Apollo on making music and being a role model for queer Latinx kids

NPR's Alt.Latino gets a reboot, and for its first episode, they speak with R&B darling Omar Apollo. Apollo shares what it's been like being a role model for queer Latinx kids and the pressure of having to watch what he says now that he's famous.

Omar Apollo on making music and being a role model for queer Latinx kids

Listen · 30:10
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1126590920/1126796967" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

Monday

These 3 conversations hold the key to successfully moving in with your partner
Bex Glendining for NPR

Life Kit

These 3 conversations hold the key to successfully moving in with your partner

Deciding to move in with a partner can be an exciting step. Cohabitating can also be challenging and bring up anxieties. Here's what to think about — and discuss — before you decide to move in together.

These 3 conversations hold the key to successfully moving in with your partner

Listen · 20:36
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1115416791/1115420822" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

The impact of COVID-19, a million deaths in

Author Linda Villarosa pictured next to her book, Under the Skin. Nic Villarosa hide caption

toggle caption
Nic Villarosa

Code Switch

The impact of COVID-19, a million deaths in

A new book by Linda Villarosa looks at how racial bias in healthcare has costs for all Americans. Spoiler: Poverty counts — but not as much as you'd think.

The impact of COVID-19, a million deaths in

Listen · 28:38
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1104978181/1105109183" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Spilling the T

Actor and comedian D'Lo performing in his one-man play, "To T or Not to T" Mikel Darling hide caption

toggle caption
Mikel Darling

Code Switch

Spilling the T

Code Switch's Kumari Devarajan found an unlikely demographic doppelganger in D'Lo, a comedian and playwright whose one-person show about growing up as a queer child of immigrants in the U.S. is reopening on a bigger theater stage. But when you share so much in common with a stranger who is putting their sometimes messy business on front street for the world to see, it can feel like they're also sharing your secrets, too.

Spilling the T

Listen · 32:21
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1103569769/1103600266" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

The Characters That Built China

Two craftsmen printing a book in kanji, the Chinese logographic system, circa 1800. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Throughline

The Characters That Built China

Today, China is a global superpower. But less than two hundred years ago, the nation was in a state of decline. After what became known as the 'century of humiliation' at the hands of Western imperialist powers, its very survival was in question. A movement arose to fight off foreign interference and preserve Chinese culture in the face of intense pressure from a rapidly-changing world. And the key to that movement was language.

The Characters That Built China

Listen · 49:00
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1101378470/1101389429" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

From Odd Future to The Internet, Syd

Syd Tha Kyd of The Internet performs at the 2019 Governors Ball Festival at Randall's Island on May 31, 2019 in New York City. Noam Galai/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Noam Galai/Getty Images

It's Been a Minute

From Odd Future to The Internet, Syd

In this encore episode from 2018, former host Sam Sanders speaks with singer-songwriter Syd about her work with the hip-hop collective Odd Future and now with her own group – The Internet. The two discuss how she produced The Internet's fourth album, Hive Mind, and how she incorporates songwriting her sexuality.

From Odd Future to The Internet, Syd

Listen · 25:03
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1099193687/1099272641" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Thursday

Cinco de Mayo and the Rise of Modern Mexico

Brothers Ricardo Flores Magón and Enrique Flores Magón at Los Angeles Federal Court after being arrested on federal charges for their political activities. UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections hide caption

toggle caption
UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections

Throughline

Cinco de Mayo and the Rise of Modern Mexico

Does history have a border? That is the question at the heart of Cinco de Mayo, May 5th, a holiday that symbolizes Mexico's fight for autonomy, even as it's come to be associated with sales and cervezas and margaritas in the U.S. Cinco de Mayo is part of a much deeper story of two nations — Mexico and the U.S. — trying to define themselves at a time when old empires were crumbling and borders were in flux. A story that culminated in a revolution in Mexico that was at the forefront of a worldwide movement against predatory capitalism and foreign domination. So in this episode, we're going back to the first Cinco de Mayo and exploring how it helped shape the future on both sides of the border.

Cinco de Mayo and the Rise of Modern Mexico

Listen · 50:08
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1096408339/1096760510" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Capitalism: What Makes Us Free? (2021)

President elect Ronald Reagan (fifth from left) meets with his top economic advisers, including Milton Friedman (second from left) to discuss his economic agenda. Bettmann/Bettmann Archive hide caption

toggle caption
Bettmann/Bettmann Archive

Throughline

Capitalism: What Makes Us Free? (2021)

What's the role of government in society? What do we mean when we talk about individual responsibility? What makes us free? 'Neoliberalism' might feel like a squishy term that's hard to define and understand. But this ideology, founded by a group of men in the Swiss Alps, is a political project that has dominated our economic system for decades. In the name of free-market fundamentals, the forces behind neoliberalism act like an invisible hand, shaping almost every aspect of our lives.

Capitalism: What Makes Us Free? (2021)

Listen · 50:38
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1091050251/1091323921" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Browse archive or search npr.org