In this week's Cineplexity, where we examine life's complexities by talking about cinema, we're taking on the best and worst of the beloved trope of "weddings in the movies."
Barrie Hardymon is the Senior Editor at NPR's Weekend Edition, and the lead editor for books. You can hear her on the radio talking everything from Middlemarch to middle grade novels, and she's also a frequent panelist on NPR's podcasts It's Been A Minute and Pop Culture Happy Hour. She went to Juilliard to study viola, ended up a cashier at the Strand, and finally got a degree from Johns Hopkins' Writing Seminars which qualified her solely for work in public radio. She lives and reads in Washington, DC.
A prayer festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC was partially organized and funded by the federal government. Its evangelical messaging called for more religion in politics not less. Critics are concerned about an erosion of the wall between church and state. NPR's Emily Feng went to the event to understand the audience and appetite for this approach.
Thousands of Chinese-born Uyghur fighters fled China to fight in the Syrian civil war. They say generations of political persecution in China motivated them to take up arms.
GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy's primary loss in Louisiana shows the power of President Trump's opposition. It also highlights the importance of voting rules and maps.