Tell Me More on WRVO-1: NPR News

Host Michel Martin and the Barbershop guys weigh in on Newsweek magazine's cover calling President Obama "The First Gay President." They also ask whether a parody video with New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie and Newark's Democrat Mayor Corey Booker will inspire more bipartisanship.

Disco queen Donna Summer has died of cancer at the age of 63. For many music fans, Summer's soaring voice and glittering style epitomized the excess and electricity of the 1970s. Host Michel Martin takes a look back at her music and her legacy with Mark Anthony Neal, a Duke University professor of black popular culture.

Gac Filipaj is thrilled that he graduated this week from Columbia University.

"I'm still wearing the gown. I'm going to wear it for awhile," he told Tell Me More host Michel Martin just after Columbia's commencement ceremony. "And I look pretty well in that, to tell you the truth."

Why is it such a big deal? It's not just that he's graduating with honors at age 52, or that the Albanian refugee was forced to flee civil war in the 1990s. It's because for nearly 20 years, Filipaj has been working as a janitor at the Ivy League school, while taking free classes to learn English and earn a bachelor's degree in classics.

Nearly one year ago, a devastating tornado ripped through the city of Joplin, Mo. The tornado was the deadliest in the U.S in almost 60 years, killing 161 people and injuring more than 900. But life for Joplin's residents is finally starting to return to normal.

That includes life for students at Joplin High School. The school was destroyed by the tornado just hours after last year's commencement ceremony. Although the school's old location is still in ruins, the city has found a temporary solution to keep classes going.

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

And finally today we want to pause to remember the Godfather - the Godfather of Go-Go, that is, Chuck Brown. He died Wednesday in Baltimore at the age of 75. His distinct take on funk music was the soundtrack of Washington, D.C. for decades. It struck a chord with fans of all ages and across genres.

This past August, Chuck Brown joined us in the studio to celebrate his 75th birthday and to talk about his life and work. Here's a little bit of that conversation.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MARTIN: So, Godfather Brown, if I can call you that.

CHUCK BROWN: Oh, yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

MARTIN: I can't call you diva. I have to call you divo.

U.S. audiences know her from the Oscar-nominated films Fatal Attraction, Air Force One and Albert Nobbs, and the Emmy-winning TV series Damages. But when Glenn Close is not wowing viewers onstage or onscreen, she devotes her time to raising awareness of mental health issues.

Mexican author Carlos Fuentes died Tuesday at age 83. He was a prolific novelist whose work was read by everyone from the Mexican elite to the working class, making him one of the country's most influential social critics. Host Michel Martin speaks with OC Weekly columnist Gustavo Arellano about Fuentes' influence, both in Mexico and abroad.

France's new president was inaugurated Tuesday, and he's moving into the presidential palace with his longtime "companion." Host Michel Martin and the Beauty Shop ladies weigh in on political protocol when it comes to heads of state, politicians and their unmarried significant others.

The desire to adopt has taken some would-be parents around the world. Now, the East African nation of Ethiopia is second only to China when it comes to international adoptions to the U.S. Host Michel Martin speaks with three parents about understanding Ethiopian adoption.

The school year is winding down, and lots of young people are in the market for a summer job. But finding one in this economy can be hard, especially for teenagers. Host Michel Martin speaks with Labor Secretary Hilda Solis about what the Obama Administration is trying to do to help.

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

And now, we turn from getting a start in the job market to getting started investing and call us crazy, but we are guessing that, even if you never read the business pages or watch those cable shows where people are talking really fast over a stock ticker, then you still might have heard that the social networking site, Facebook, is offering stock for sale to the public for the first time on Friday. It's called an initial public offering and shares would cost at least $34 apiece.

For those people whose mothers have passed away, Mother's Day is often a day of remembrance. Host Michel Martin speaks with one woman about her 10 year — and still counting — journey to fulfill her mother's last wish. Daniele Seiss' story, "My Mothers Ashes," was featured in this week's Washington Post Magazine.

A recent study projects that more than 40 percent of Americans will be obese by the year 2030. Host Michel Martin delves into the cultural factors that might be preventing African-Americans and Latinos from losing weight. Martin speaks with Jane Delgado of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, and Jenee Desmond-Harris of The Root.

Award-winning actress S. Epatha Merkerson is best known for her role on Law & Order as Lt. Anita Van Buren. She spoke to Tell Me More earlier this year about hosting Finding Our Own, a program spotlighting the cases of missing people of color. For the series, "In Your Ear," Merkerson shares the music that inspires her.

At the U.S. Chess Championships under way in St. Louis, all eyes are on America's top-ranked player, and the favorite going into the tournament, Hikaru Nakamura.

During the past decade, Nakamura has made a name for himself as the new superstar of American chess, and with it, he's become a kind of spokesperson for a game that hasn't been too popular in this country since the days of world champion Bobby Fischer.

In an interview with NPR's Michel Martin for Tell Me More's series on Asian-American "game changers," Nakamura says the comparisons with Fischer are always present. In 2003, at the age of 15, Nakamura became the youngest American chess grandmaster. In 2005, he became the youngest player to win the U.S. Championships; he won it again in 2009.