Jon Kalish
Manhattan-based radio reporter Jon Kalish has reported for NPR since 1980. Links to radio documentaries, podcasts & stories on NPR are at www.kalish.nyc. Find him on Twitter: @kalishjon
-
The self-taught artist spent much of his life institutionalized, where he began to make remarkable art. Now some of it is featured on a series of U.S. postage stamps.
-
Pete Sokolow has been called irascible and a tough-as-nails teacher. He's also one of the last living links to klezmer's immigrant pioneers — and to a new generation of musicians, he's invaluable.
-
The founding publicity director of Def Jam Records, Bill Adler, amassed a highly valuable collection of music, writing and images.
-
In the late 1800s, Jewish immigrants brought the Eastern European tradition of synagogue murals to Burlington. Now one such mural, painted in 1910, is being restored.
-
Collective Cadenza, or CDZA for short, is a loose-knit group of musicians — many of them graduates of Juilliard. They've made a name for themselves with funny YouTube videos that have received millions of views. As a result, the group was invited to perform live at the inaugural YouTube Music Awards alongside Eminem, Lady Gaga and Arcade Fire.
-
Recumbent bikes are said to be much more comfortable to ride than traditional bikes, but they're also more expensive. One Wisconsin man hopes to make the low-riding bikes more affordable by building them out of conventional bike parts.
-
Bread and Puppet Theater has been a familiar presence at political demonstrations since the anti-war protests of the 1960s. Its giant puppets and raucous brass band also marched against wars in Central America, Afghanistan and Iraq. The troupe marks its 50th anniversary this year.
-
Despite his disability, Larry Selman devoted more than half his life collecting money for multiple charities from total strangers on the streets of New York. The subject of the Oscar-nominated film The Collector of Bedford Street died Jan. 20 at the age of 70.
-
With the rise of the do-it-yourself movement, more groups are springing up to encourage kids to link crafts and science. Modeled on more traditional Scouting groups, kids and their parents meet up in tool-filled "hacker spaces" to build electronics and get creative.
-
The Pentagon's research agency, DARPA, played key roles in developing the Internet and GPS. Now it's investing money in high school hackerspaces, where students gather to come up with high-tech ideas — like a bicycle that generates electricity.