Arts

This segment was originally broadcast on March 8, 2013.

Arne Duncan is President Obama's secretary of education, and if, while he's on this show, a disaster befalls the president, the vice president, the speaker of the House and every other member of the Cabinet except Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security, he would be president.

This segment was originally broadcast on Jan. 11, 2013.

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

April is National Poetry Month and to celebrate, WEEKEND EDITION is talking with younger poets about their experience with poetry and why they still feel it's important in our everyday lives.

When Superstorm Sandy hit New York City last fall, the publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux, like most everything else, totally shut down. It was a week before power returned to FSG, according to Brian Gittis, a senior publicist. When he got back to his office, he began sorting through galleys — advance copies of books. And one of them caught him off guard.

Its cover had an illustration of the Manhattan skyline half-submerged in water.

"It was definitely sort of a Twilight Zone moment," Gittis recalls.

So let's speak candidly for a moment.

This is not an ordinary day. It has not been an ordinary week. We taped this week's podcast on Monday at 6:00 p.m., in the first hours of coverage of the bombings in Boston. We are posting it on Friday, in the first hours of coverage of a series of events that currently have many of our good pals — and many of our listeners — "sheltering in place" at home.

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

And now the latest in our series, Muses and Metaphor. We've been celebrating National Poetry Month by hearing your tweet poems. Those are poems of 140 characters. We just talked about how complicated and charged the issue of immigration is, but for listener Su Layug, her immigrant story is all about - well, stories.

Transcript

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

On our stage right now, we have Lauren Weisskirk and Stefan Salva Cruz ready for our next game.

(APPLAUSE)

STEFAN SALVA CRUZ: Hello, Ophira.

EISENBERG: Hello, Stefan. Hello, Lauren. Stefan, do you have a favorite fruit?

CRUZ: Fruit?

EISENBERG: Fruit, yeah.

CRUZ: Orange.

EISENBERG: It's an odd question, right?

CRUZ: Oh, absolutely.

EISENBERG: Orange.

CRUZ: Yeah.

EISENBERG: I like orange too. That's a good one. Lauren, favorite fruit?

Transcript

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

Now, we're going to crown this week's grand champion. Let's bring back, from Six Degrees of Francis Bacon, Christy O'Neill.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: From This That or the Other: Sarah Bouboulis. From Bust a Cap: Darla Gutierrez. From Fruit Salad: Lauren Weisskirk. And from Just Do It: Andrew Sommerfeld.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: I'm going to ask our puzzle guru Art Chung to take us out.

Was Francis Bacon a 16th-century pioneer of the scientific method, or a 20th-century painter known for his raw graphic imagery? The answer is: both! In this game, Ophira Eisenberg quizzes contestants about famous people who share the same first and last name. Extra credit if you can link the two celebrities in six degrees or less. After the game, hear house musician Jonathan Coulton get sassy with a cover of the Destiny's Child hit "Bills Bills Bills."

Transcript

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

Welcome back to ASK ME ANOTHER, NPR's hour of puzzles, word games and trivia. I'm Ophira Eisenberg and with me on our stage is our very important puzzler, Michael Ian Black.

MICHAEL IAN BLACK: Hello.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: So Michael, we thought that before we throw you in the puzzle pit, we'd make you run a game with us. We're going to first, welcome our contestants that are going to play this game. Let's welcome Andrew Sommerfeld and Erica Pietricola.

(APPLAUSE)