Flaco, the owl who escaped from the Central Park Zoo, remains free. NPR's Scott Simon marvels at how successfuly Flaco has adapted to the wilds of New York City.

NPR's Scott Simon reflects on football coach Sean Payton's new contract with the Denver Broncos as well as NFL player safety ahead of Sunday's Super Bowl game.

You can say "I wuv u - not" by bestowing your ex's name on a hissing cockroach! NPR's Scott Simon muses on a fundraiser for a Chicago Zoo, and whether the roaches really deserve it.

NPR's Scott Simon wonders why teaching children about the Holocaust is not mandatory in most states and the lessons they are missing.

NPR's Scott Simon wonders about 8 characters on an old runestone found in Norway. It goes on display today, so others may look and ponder. It is a curse? A love poem? A receipt for Viking take out?

NPR's Scott Simon remembers Charles Simic, former U.S. poet laureate who was born in Belgrade right before World War II. He died this week after a long career of writing and teaching.

NPR's Scott Simon praises the humble bagel as an American cultural icon.

NPR's Scott Simon recounts Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's words to a joint session of Congress this week, and how his country has managed to survive, so far, against Russian aggression.

NPR's Scott Simon reflects on the life Joseph Kromelis, Chicago's famous "Walking Man", and the harsh conditions that many unhoused people live with every day.

NPR's Scott Simon notes how common mass shootings have become in the U.S., and asks how this violence affects how we think about our everyday lives.

Mike Gerson, the Washington Post columnist and former speechwriter for George W. Bush, died this week from cancer at the age of 58. NPR's Scott Simon has an appreciation.

NPR's Scott Simon reflects on several electoral races in which candidates were posthumously elected.

There is humanity in the evidence that a Stone Age child was interred wrapped in a cloak and with a dog.

NPR's Scott Simon ponders a diminishing and vanishing election year tradition: candidate debates.

NPR's Scott Simon is an unabashed, unreformed, unapologetic lover of pumpkin spice. He knows his ardor is not universal. He does not care.