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Around the Nation
7:55 am
Sun October 7, 2012

Thousands Hold Fast To Tradition Of Oral Storytelling

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Originally published on Tue October 9, 2012 1:24 pm

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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Before Twitter, radio, even electricity - in fact, going all the way back to pre-historic times, people gathered around fires to listen to stories. Even though the glow of computers has replaced the warmth of the campfire for most of us, some folks still hold fast to the tradition of oral storytelling.

As Missy Shelton reports, nearly 10,000 people have gathered this weekend for the National Storytelling Festival in northeast Tennessee to hear professional tellers weave some good yarns.

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The Picture Show
6:15 am
Sun October 7, 2012

Catching The 'Shadow' Of A Lost World

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Credit Edward Curtis / Library of Congress
Wedding party, 1914. A still from the film In the Land of the Head Hunters, in which Curtis sought to re-create a mythic story of the Kwakiutl.
Credit Library of Congress
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Credit Library of Congress
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Credit Library of Congress
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Credit Library of Congress
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Credit Edward Curtis / Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University
Princess Angeline, the last surviving child of Chief Seattle. Curtis took this photo in his studio in 1896, shortly before Angeline's death, at a time when it was illegal for Indians to live in the city named for her father. He paid her a dollar for the sitting.
Credit Edward Curtis / Library of Congress
Piegan Camp, 1900. This was the first time Curtis had seen an entire Indian community intact and vibrant. He was enthralled.
Credit Edward Curtis / Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University
Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce, 1903. Curtis took this picture in his Seattle studio in the last year of Joseph's life. Joseph died, his doctor said, of a broken heart.
Credit Edward Curtis / Library of Congress
Before the Storm—Apache, 1906. In the arid high country of Arizona Territory, Curtis spent many months trying to capture Apache moments. Told the Apache had no religion, he was determined to prove otherwise.
Credit Edward Curtis / Library of Congress
Cañon de Chelly, 1904. In the heart of the Navajo Nation, where stone and sky dwarf humans on horseback, the canyon is one of the most stunning places on Earth.
Credit Edward Curtis / Library of Congress
A Heavy Load—Sioux, 1908. Curtis tried to record scenes of the hard life of a winter on the northern plains.
Credit Edward Curtis / Library of Congress
Wedding party, 1914. A still from the film In the Land of the Head Hunters, in which Curtis sought to re-create a mythic story of the Kwakiutl.
Credit Library of Congress
13_mos-mohave2.jpg
Credit Edward Curtis / Library of Congress
Mosa – Mohave, 1903. This is the picture that won over J.P. Morgan, who at first was reluctant to help Curtis with financial support.
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Credit Barry Wong / Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Timothy Egan worked for The New York Times for 18 years. He is the author of The Worst Hard Time, for which he won the National Book Award.
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Originally published on Tue October 9, 2012 1:24 pm

Photographer Edward Curtis started off his career at the tail end of the 19th century, making portraits of Seattle's wealthiest citizens. But a preoccupation with Native Americans and a chance encounter on a mountaintop triggered an idea: Curtis decided to chronicle the experience of the vanishing tribes — all of them. It was an unbelievably ambitious project that would define Curtis, his work and his legacy.

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Author Interviews
6:11 am
Sun October 7, 2012

'Wooden Floors' Pack Hidden Thrill In Author's Debut

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Credit iStockphoto.com
Wooden floor and chair
Credit Marcus Ross / New Harvest
Will Wiles is also a freelance nonfiction writer who specializes in architecture and design.
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Originally published on Tue October 9, 2012 1:24 pm

Housesitting is a delicate chore. It involves inhabiting someone else's home — their personal space, watching over their stuff — and sticking to the Boy Scouts' creed to leave no trace. That's pretty much the opposite of what happens in Will Wiles' debut novel, Care of Wooden Floors. It's the story of an already strained friendship pushed to the breaking point by a housesitting favor gone terribly, terribly wrong.

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Television
6:11 am
Sun October 7, 2012

TV's Britton Fights To Stay In Nashville's Lights

Credit Katherine Bomboy-Thornton / ABC
Country singer Rayna James (Connie Britton) has got a big voice, big hair and big problems in Nashville on ABC.
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Originally published on Tue October 9, 2012 1:24 pm

If you're a country music fan, the name Rayna Jaymes may not ring a bell. That's because Rayna Jaymes is a fictional character played by actress Connie Britton. Britton stars in the new TV series Nashville, which premieres this Wednesday on ABC.

TV fans will know Britton for her Emmy-nominated roles in American Horror Story and Friday Nights Lights, in which she played Tami Taylor, the wife of a high school football coach in a small Texas town.

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Sunday Puzzle
10:45 pm
Sat October 6, 2012

Frog Stuck In Your C-R-O-A-T?

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Originally published on Tue October 9, 2012 1:24 pm

On-air challenge: You'll be given a category, and you name something in the category starting with each of the letters in the word "Croat." For example, if the category were "boy's names," you might say Chris, Roger, Otto, Adam and Terry.

Last week's challenge: Think of a word in which the second letter is R. Change the R to an M, and rearrange the result. You'll get the opposite of the original word. What is it? (Hint: The two words start with the same letter.)

Answer: "Prose" and "poems"

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Arts & Life
5:02 pm
Sat October 6, 2012

Three-Minute Fiction Round 9: 'Grease'

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Originally published on Sat October 6, 2012 10:20 pm

Round 9 of Three Minute Fiction is currently underway. Readers from more than a dozen graduate programs are plowing through the nearly 4,000 entries received. Host Guy Raz shares one of the favorite picks so far, The Generous Application of Grease by Stephen Fratus of Walnut Creek, Calif. You can read the full story below along with other stories at www.npr.org/threeminutefiction.

Television
5:02 pm
Sat October 6, 2012

A Comedienne's Crowning Achievment

Credit George Brich / AP
Carol Burnett shares a laugh with Tim Conway during taping of her final show , March 19, 1978 after 11 years of music and comedy on CBS. "I think it's classier to leave before you're asked to leave, " Miss Burnett said during a break in Friday's taping. "I'm proud of our show. I'm no dummy. It's time to put it to bed. "
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By NPR Staff

Originally published on Sun October 7, 2012 11:26 am

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Author Interviews
8:05 am
Sat October 6, 2012

Fallen 'Lion': How The 'House Of Assad' Came Down

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Originally published on Sat October 6, 2012 7:55 pm

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

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Movie Interviews
8:05 am
Sat October 6, 2012

Ben Affleck Brings A Crisis To The Big Screen

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Credit Claire Folger / Warner Bros. Pictures
In Argo, Affleck plays CIA agent Tony Mendez, who must save six U.S. diplomats trapped in Iran.
Credit Carlos Alvarez / Getty Images
Ben Affleck directed and stars in Argo. It is the third feature film the actor has directed.
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Originally published on Wed February 20, 2013 12:43 pm

Ben Affleck's new film, Argo, jolts us back to 1979.

Iran is in revolution and protesters storm the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The American hostage crisis begins as all the U.S. diplomats inside the embassy are captured and blindfolded — except for six, who escape to the Canadian ambassador's residence and hide there.

But how long can they be safe?

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Author Interviews
5:59 am
Sat October 6, 2012

A Love Song To Family, New York In 'Sunlight'

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Credit Hulton Archive / Getty Images
Credit Lisa Kennedy / Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Mark Helprin's previous books include A Soldier of the Great War, Refiner's Fire and Winter's Tale.
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Originally published on Sat October 6, 2012 7:55 pm

When we get an early glimpse of Harry Copeland, he's falling in love in an instant, with a girl he sees on the Staten Island Ferry. Her hair "trapped the sun and seemed to radiate light," he writes, "and with New York in 1947, when it brimmed with color, light, drama and a babble of voices that reminded him of the world he fought to save as a paratrooper in World War II."

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