KUOW Presents

Eric Whitacre is as close as a choral composer can be to a superstar. He sees lots of fan videos on YouTube of people singing his songs. That got him wondering. What would happen if he got all those people singing together, at the same time, on the Internet? This is how Eric Whitacre created the world’s largest virtual choir.

More stories on KUOW Presents, Wednesday, April 3:

As spring edges out winter and previously bare tree limbs are suddenly effusive with blossoms, there's a sense that almost anything -- or anyone -- deserves a second chance. In her poem "A Quiet," poet Marjorie Manwaring meditates on alternative endings and the possibility of redemption.

Feather headdresses have become part of our cultural iconography. But for many Native Americans, the headdress has deep spiritual meaning, and its misuse is deeply offensive. 

When the fashion company Paul Frank printed T-shirts showing a monkey wearing a headdress, blogger Adrienne Keene took her outrage public. But she kept an open mind, because she knew the problem wasn't hatefulness, but ignorance.

Now she and the Paul Frank company have forged an unlikely partnership and are working together to bring Native American imagery into the fashion world in a culturally sensitive way.

Listen to her CBC interview.

More stories from KUOW Presents, Tuesday, April 2:

KING TV’s “Almost LIVE!” comedy sketch program panicked viewers and raised the ire of local officials with an April Fools' Day Space Needle collapse hoax on April 1, 1989. With a simulated news bulletin and pre-Photoshop modified photograph, the phony news report generated hundreds of phone calls and resulted in an on-air apology from host John Keister. 

The power of an April Fools' news story. Today, on KUOW.

Other stories on KUOW Presents, Monday, April 1:

Latin America has been Catholic pretty much since the time of the conquistadores. But that tradition may come to an end soon, as evangelical Christianity vies to become the number one religion in countries such as Guatemala. Today, we hear from one Guatemalan town that converted en masse.

Other stories on KUOW Presents, Thursday, March 28:

Before emancipation, slaves couldn’t legally marry other slaves. Of course, that didn’t stop them from getting married in their own way. But those informal marriages were seldom recognized by slave holders, who broke up families regularly as they bought and sold individuals. After being dislocated, many slaves settled down with new families, often getting married several times.

After the civil war, blacks gained the right to legally marry. But the patchwork of local and state laws regulating marriage made it nearly impossible to sort out the undocumented and often conflicting claims about which former slaves were married to whom. So on behalf of ex-slaves, the federal government stepped in, setting up bureaus to help sort out the mess.

After reconstruction, federal authorities handed control of marriage back to the states. But this episode from history helps frame the current debate on same-sex marriage. History’s lesson: Usually, the federal government will leave things to the states. But if the federal government decides things have become too messy or inequitable, it may step in.

Hear this story today, on KUOW Presents around 2:30, or at your leisure, online.

Other stories on KUOW Presents, Wednesday, March 27:

In her poem "What Stays Here," Colleen McElroy imagines life as a female soldier who must choose between loyalty to herself, and loyalty to a military code that says "keep quiet" and "get along." Like many of the poems in McElroy's ninth collection, "Here I Throw Down My Heart," (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2012) the poem awakens us to voices and stories we might otherwise never hear with such intimacy and power.

Loving your enemies doesn’t always work. But when a Rabbi moved from New York City to Lincoln, Nebraska, and was targeted by the Grand Dragon with the local KKK, he was determined to try.

Other stories on KUOW Presents, Tuesday, March 26:

Pedro Reyes has fashioned an orchestra from guns. These guns have killed people: rival drug dealers, police informants and innocent bystanders. Now, they’ve been repurposed as musical instruments and they’re touring Mexico and the US.

It’s more than just a novelty performance. The artist considers it a kind of exorcism, and his musicians do not take their charge lightly. It takes a certain reckless faith to hold a gun to your head and know the only thing coming out of the barrel will be music.

 Other stories on KUOW Presents, Monday, March 25:

Most people know about singer-songwriter LeRoy Bell  from his appearances in 2011 as one of the top performers on the network television singing competition, The X Factor. But long before televised competitions, LeRoy Bell was at the top of the pop music charts.