'Sesame Street' was built on the idea that a show that could capture a child's attention could also give the child an education. That idea turned out to be wildly successful.
— Elizabeth Flock
In the 1980s and the 1990s, when HIV hit its peak, the gay community was at the forefront of the fight against the silent killer.
The American public believes the Founding Fathers were close to infallible and that, while our political system has its faults, it functions far better than other democracies. But is it true?
The groups who spend the most on lobbying lawmakers in Washington are well-known: ExxonMobil, Boeing, AT&T, General Electric.
The battle between craft breweries and big beer stretches back to the 1990s, when the idea of buying a beer brewed by a small, independent brewery first took off.
The costs of running a prison system as large as Arkansas' are significant, and the system's failures can make things worse.
At first glance, The Color Run does look a lot like Holi. Its website is populated by photos of people throwing coloured powder at each other and in the air, outdoors, at the start of spring. The only difference, it seemed, was that there was a 5 km. run added in. And that it cost $54.99 to participate.
Certainly, Occupy Wall Street protesters have different ideas about the movement's mission. Many of the marchers I met even disagreed on the purpose of their trek - some thought it was about getting to Washington to protest the 'supercommittee'; others thought it was about visiting other Occupations.
For most of my life, I, like many Americans, had greeted the idea of an arranged marriage with a mixture of fascination and skepticism.
In 'Nineteen Eighty-Four,' protagonist Winston Smith works at a propaganda department for the state called the 'Ministry of Truth,' where inconvenient news can be discarded down a 'memory hole.' Orwell was fixated on the idea that under certain governments, the past can be altered or documents rewritten.
Wal-Mart's slogan 'Save money, live better' promises a lot. So does its entrance into Chicago.
I think there is this cliche of Indian men who want a forward-thinking girlfriend but a traditional wife. I think that creates tension in a marriage.
Disco told audiences to dance, while punk told them to be anything but passive. The artists didn't mind; in fact, they encouraged it.
Hindu nationalist outfits like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh perpetuate a false notion of the 'love jihad' - the false idea that young Muslim men are making Hindu girls fall in love with them to trick them into converting to Islam.
Videos of Antifa violence, some of them doctored, are regularly shared on conservative, pro-Trump and conspiracy theory-pushing websites, often with commentary that suggests the media purposefully ignores those events. These videos often do not often include wider context or numbers.
The term 'alt-left' sprang up long after the term 'alt-right,' which was coined in 2010 by white supremacist Richard Spencer, and defined by the Associated Press just after the 2016 election as a movement based on a mix of white nationalism and hard-edged populism.
Just a decade after 'Living in Bondage,' Nollywood films, made in some 300 languages, were being watched in both urban and rural areas, distributed on both the streets and online, and finding their way into international festivals.
Over its 40 years, Muppets on 'Sesame Street' have addressed AIDS, divorce, a parent's deployment overseas, and a death in the family. But the show is addressing incarceration in a way it didn't used to: by bringing the show directly to the kids and families it wants to reach.
The American Humanist Association, whose slogan is 'Good without a God,' created the National Day of Reason with the Washington Area Secular Humanists to raise awareness about government threats to religious liberty and up the profile of the non-religious community.
Despite allegations by liberal advocacy groups that voter suppression tactics by the right hindered minority voting, blacks represented 13 percent of the electorate in 2012, a percentage about equivalent with 2008.
One of the most bitter complaints of craft brewers is that big beer wins consumers by introducing beers whose names resemble the names of actual independent beers. After New Belgium came out with a popular beer called Sunshine Wheat, MillerCoors, through its Leinenkugel brand, came out with a beer called Sunset Wheat.
In 1984, Jim Koch used his family's lager recipe to start Boston Beer Company, which has since become the largest 'craft' brewer in the country. He brews Samuel Adams, a rich lager named after the American revolutionary that comes with the tagline, 'Take pride in your beer.'
The lack of space and a growing prison population has strained resources and put pressure on all levels of the penal system.
Founded by a Mormon couple in Utah in 2012, The Color Run has proved to be a brilliant idea.
In any marriage, it seems, love is when you keep paying attention.
I took a job as a reporter in India, where I lived with several married couples, which got me interested in why some marriages work and others fail. Back home, many women of my generation were also putting off marriage or not getting married at all, which only led me to more questions.
There is a perception that the media is very liberal, very biased, produces fake news.
Food deserts on Chicago's South Side have shrunk some since 2006, and this has provided health benefits to the communities.
When Neil Young caught two women incessantly texting at a concert in 2012, he began mock typing on an invisible phone on stage until the women noticed and apparently left the show.
Rock music has always embraced - and even represented - rebellion, rowdiness, and a robust disdain for social decorum. But along with more classical art forms like theater, opera, and the symphony, it's suffering from the distracted, smartphone-carrying audiences of the digital age.
Buckhannon, population 5,639, is a deeply conservative town and long has been. While coal is its past, oil and gas are its likely future. It's a town where guns are sold at yard sales, where Pentecostal churches are nearly as common as restaurants, and where distrust of Hillary Clinton is visceral and deep-seated.
Those who use the term 'alt-left' consistently point to violence from the left, often by anti-fascists - both perceived and real.
Hurricane Irma devastated the U.S. Virgin Islands, leveling homes, knocking out power, and turning the landscape into a 'battered wasteland' where some say media coverage was minimal and help was late to arrive.
Antoine 'Fats' Domino was a 1950s rock n' roll pioneer, a larger-than-life New Orleans figure, and a role model for the African-American community in a time of deep segregation.
HIV/AIDS isn't a top priority for any of the three major LGBT groups in the U.S.: not the HRC, or the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), or the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) - who together are somewhat pejoratively known as 'Gay Inc.'
May 2 is traditionally the National Day of Prayer, a government-designated religious event intended to encourage people to 'turn to God in prayer and meditation.'
Not every dollar spent to gain influence on Capitol Hill comes from a big global industrial behemoth. Hundreds of small advocacy groups and nonprofits spend thousands each year to lobby Congress and federal agencies on the issues they care about most, and their efforts often go under the radar.
The Brewers Association, a trade group of some 2000 small and independent brewers, was founded in 2005 to be a 'passionate voice for craft brewers' and craft beer, and it has made itself as vocal as the bigger Beer Institute.
President Obama has shelled out more in federal spending than the five presidents that came before him.
County jails used to be just stopovers for inmates headed to state prisons. But as Arkansas' state facilities have reached capacity, jails are increasingly being used to hold prisoners long term.
I am not Indian, but I have lived and worked in Mumbai, visited on multiple reporting trips, and celebrated more than one Holi there.
There is no denying that unhappiness - even violence - exists in some arranged marriages. Or that some arranged marriages are borne out of cruelty. And part of that six percent global divorce rate can be attributed to the powerful stigma against divorce that's present in countries where arranged marriage is common.
Much has been written about Trump's style of speech, which linguists have said is often unintelligible yet deeply compelling. Orwell's famous 1946 essay, 'Politics and the English Language,' centers on the use of abstract words, often by politicians, to obscure reality.
The Food Stamp Challenge, which challenges higher-income families to live as if they are on food stamps, estimates that a person on food stamps has a budget of about $1.25 per meal. In other words, a family on food stamps must buy an entire meal per person for less than the cost of an average cup of coffee.
Xenophobia is defined as the uncontrollable fear of foreigners. That fear should not dictate the immigration dialogue any longer.
Artists know they need to have digital presences to build and bolster their fan base, and fans have exploited that fact.
What compels the Hindu right's volcanic reaction to Valentine's Day? Some of its members have protested that the holiday is the product of a 'rotten imported culture' from the West.
A study by the Parents Television Council, a media watchdog group, found scenes of graphic violence and gore are increasing in TV dramas - and particularly on NBC.
Leftist, anti-fascist activists known as Antifa, whose stated goals are to stamp out racism, white supremacy and authoritarianism, sometimes do use violence.
Americans don't know the Constitution. More than half of those surveyed can't name any of the rights guaranteed under the First Amendment. Only a quarter can name all three branches of government.
