On Being

Poetry is something many of us seem to be hungry for these days. We're hungry for fresh ways to tell hard truths and redemptive stories, for language that would elevate and embolden rather than demean and alienate. Elizabeth Alexander shares her sense of what poetry works in us -- and in our children -- and why it may become more relevant, not less so, in hard and complicated times.

Elizabeth Alexander is a poet and Professor of African American Studies at Yale University. Krista Tippett spoke with her on December 1, 2012. This interview is included in our show "Words That Shimmer." Download the mp3 of the produced show at on-being-dot-org.

It's hard not to feel overwhelmed by all the bad news and horrific pictures in the world. This is a form of empathy, Joan Halifax says, that works against us. The Zen abbott and medical anthropologist has bracing, nourishing thoughts on finding buoyancy rather than burnout in how we work, live, and care.

Roshi Joan Halifax is the founding abbot of the Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Krista Tippett spoke with her on July 11, 2012 at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. This interview is included in our show "Compassion's Edge States: Joan Halifax on Caring Better." Download the mp3 of the produced show at on-being-dot-org.

Linguistics pioneer Jean Berko Gleason unlocks the way we learn an amazing and crucial human skill, learning to talk. She studies how language emerges from childhood on, and says it reveals unexpected truths about our human relationships with our world, and our consciousness of ourselves.