September 11, 2014 - MPR’s Matt Septic reports on a public discussion at Penumbra Theatre about the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson.
September 22, 2014 - Poetry has long fascinated former Star Tribune editorial board member Jim Lenfestey, both as a reader and a writer. Back in 1970 a bookseller gave him a collection of poems by Han Shan, or Cold Mountain, a Chinese poet who lived 1400 years ago.
January 20, 2015 - Musician Billy Idol joins The Current’s Mary Lucia to talk about his book “Dancing with Myself,” his career, punk rock, and more.
January 30, 2015 - Anton Treuer grew up on the Leech Lake reservation with a deep interest in history and language. He writes in the introduction to one of his books on Native history: "The borderland I grew up in was more than an awkward physical nexus of races and communities." Today-a conversation about how that "nexus" still influences his work and writing.
March 2, 2015 - On the 40th anniversary of the arrival of Hmong refugees to Minnesota, MPR’s Sasha Aslanian profiles three members in the local Hmong community.
March 4, 2015 - On this episode of Appetites, Pakou Hang, co-founder and executive director of the Hmong American Farmers Association, shares five things you might not have known about Hmong food and farming in Minnesota.
March 8, 2015 - MPR’s Euan Kerr reports on a group of internationally acclaimed rock artists visiting St. Paul for a unique new music collaboration sponsored by Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Liquid Music Series. The musicians are coming to perform with Helado Negro, an electronic music group led by Roberto Carlos Lange.
April 13, 2015 - For the 40th anniversary since the first Hmong family settled in Minnesota, MPR’s Tom Weber interviews three Hmong American artists: spoken word and hip hop artist Tou Saiko Lee, painter Cy Thao, and writer Kao Kalia Yang. They discuss the value of the arts, through which personal and cultural pasts are melded with their present lives.
April 17, 2015 - MPR’s Marianne Combs reports on Internationally acclaimed author Louise Erdrich’s first-ever show of visual art, titled "Asynchronous Reading." Combs interviews Erdrich about items in the exhibit.
April 23, 2015 - On MPR News with Tom Weber, Kao Choua Vue previews Quia Dab Neeg Film Festival, held at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul. The sixth-annual Hmong film festival showcases films produced by Hmong artists from Minnesota, around the country, and from Laos.