Tell Me More

Reverend Cecil Williams has been called crazy and radical. But during his 50 years of service as pastor of the Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco, the Methodist congregation has gone from a mere 35 members to 10,000 people. Williams, and his wife, Janice Mirikitani, discuss their new book, Beyond the Possible.

Millions of Americans are still out of work, and they're getting hit even harder as unemployment benefits continue to dry up. Host Michel Martin speaks with NPR Senior Business Editor Marilyn Geewax about why benefits are being reduced. Mike Rivas has exhausted his unemployment benefits, and joins the conversation to talk about how he's getting by.

There's more to Angela Davis than her signature afro. A new documentary, Free Angela Davis and All Political Prisoners, explores the events that turned the philosophy professor into a political icon in the 1960s. Jada Pinkett Smith tells host Michel Martin why she became executive producer of the film.

Tell Me More celebrates National Poetry Month with the 'Muses and Metaphor' series — where listeners submit their own poems via Twitter. Today's tweet comes from listener Yahia Lababidi.

You may think you know who is homeless and where they live, but think again. Some homeless families are finding shelter in a surprising place: hotels. Host Michel Martin talks with Monica Potts, who's covered this issue for The American Prospect magazine.

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This is TELL ME MORE, from NPR News. I'm Michel Martin. Later in the program, we will bring you a poetic tweet. That's a poem of 140 characters or less, sent by none other than the celebrated Nikki Giovanni. It's part of our celebration of National Poetry Month, and we'll hear it in a few minutes and you'll find out how you can contribute, too, if you'd like. That's later.

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. I'm Michel Martin. Coming up, the New York African Film Festival is getting under way. The festival is in its 20th year now, so we're going to talk about the stories being told by a new generation of African filmmakers. That's coming up.

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

And now the latest in our series, Muses and Metaphor. We are celebrating National Poetry Month by hearing your poetic tweets. You have already started sending us poems that are 140 characters or less. Yesterday, we kicked off this series with author, performer and our series curator, Holly Bass.

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Coming up, it is April, which means, along with April showers, National Poetry Month and we will be asking you once again to contribute if you would like by tweeting us your original poems in 140 characters or less. We are going to kick it off with our curator Holly Bass in just a minute.

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. We know that a lot of students are still on spring break this week but what better time to take a step back and think about higher education? Today we meet the president of Simmons College, which is a college for women in the Boston area, and we'll hear about her thoughts about women leadership and education.