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Reporter Roundtable: Omicron and the approaching holidays

As the New Year approaches, things are starting to seem like a repeat of another year we’d all hoped was past us: 2020. To talk about what the omicron variant could mean for the holiday season, we were joined by a correspondent from NPR's Science Desk and an investigative reporter from the Chicago Tribune. 

Hygge: Winter comfort and coziness

A couple of years ago, the term hygge actually made the short list for Oxford dictionary’s word of the year. It’s defined as “a quality of cosiness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being.” The 21st spoke with someone from the Danish Happiness Research Institute about the Danish concept of comfort and coziness. This segment originally aired January 6, 2021.

Jay Caspian Kang on Asian American History and Identity

Today we explored the question of what it means to be Asian American. Specifically, whether it makes sense to have a single marker of identity for that broad group of people hailing from a huge portion of the Earth’s landmass and how they fit into a nation that has a longstanding binary along the poles of Black and white. We talked about it Jay Caspian Kang, who explores the topic in his new book, “The Loneliest Americans."

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