If you make a list of the most important names in American culture in the latter half of the 20th Century, Stephen Sondheim has to be right near the top. When he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015, President Obama said “Put simply, Stephen reinvented the American musical”. Sondheim passed away on November 26 at the age of 91. Back in April, Bob Barrett spoke about the composer with Rick Pender, author of “The Stephen Sondheim Encyclopedia." Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, let’s listen again to our conversation about one of America's great composers.We also spend an Academic Minute in a community forest.
Today on the Academic Minute: Joshua Rothman, professor of history at the University of Alabama, discusses one often-overlooked part of the history of slavery in the U.S. Learn more about the Academic Minute here.
You see the signs everywhere. Now hiring, help wanted, sign-on bonus…it looks like everyone is trying to hire new employees. Except, of course, if you are actually looking for a job. Then you see that some of those offers are not for everyone. That’s especially true for job hunters who have a criminal record. But according to economist Jeffery Korzenik, looking at these so-called second chance hires is good for business.Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll hear about second chance hiring of people with a record.
Back in February, NASA successfully landed the Perseverance rover on Mars. The pictures it transmitted back to Earth of the red planet were spectacular and captured the imagination of millions. It also gave the Cambridge Dictionary its first hint on what this year’s word of the year would be.Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll hear why the Cambridge Dictionary made perseverance the 2021 word of the year.