Fresh Air

For four years, Georgetown Law professor and human rights activist Rosa Brooks carried a badge and a gun and worked a minimum of 24 hours a month for the DC police department — all on a voluntary basis. "If you want to change something, you have to understand it," she says. Brooks writes about her experiences as with the police in 'Tangled Up in Blue.'

Guest host Sam Sanders talks with Spike Lee about 'Da 5 Bloods,' about four Black Vietnam War vets who return together to Vietnam. Lee also talks about working with late actor Chadwick Boseman.

Also, we remember Cloris Leachman and listen back to an excerpt of her 2009 interview. She co-starred in the Mel Brooks films 'Young Frankenstein' and 'High Anxiety,' won an Oscar for her role in 'The Last Picture Show.'

Only a few weeks into the new Biden administration, infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci is encouraged by the president's approach to the pandemic. We'll talk about an early chapter of his career, during the AIDS crisis, when he was criticized for not making experimental drugs available to people with AIDS. Fauci listened to his critics and worked with them, leading to medical reforms that are benefiting us today, during the pandemic...

We remember Mary Wilson, one of the founding members of The Supremes. She died Monday at the age of 76. We'll listen back to our 1986 interview with her about the early days of the Supremes, when they were just starting out.

Also, we remember actor Christopher Plummer who died last Friday. Though he had a long stage and film career, he's best-known for his role as Captain von Trapp in 'The Sound of Music...

Jones filmed 'On the Rocks' shortly after her son's birth and her mother's death. She nearly turned down the role, and is glad she didn't. "This movie was kind of a salvation for me," she says. We talk about 'Parks & Rec,' the toxicity of fame, and growing up surrounded by musicians in her father, Quincy Jones', studio.

The world is on the precipice of cyber catastrophe, and everything is vulnerable, including our government, nuclear weapons, elections, power grid, hospitals, and cell phones. 'New York Times' cybersecurity reporter Nicole Perlroth explains how the U.S. went from having the world's strongest cyber arsenal to becoming so vulnerable to cyber attack. "We have to stop leaving gaping holes in software that could be used by adversaries to pull off some of these attacks," she says...

'New Yorker' writer Elizabeth Kolbert talks about efforts to reverse some of the harm humans have done to the natural world. Her new book, 'Under a White Sky,' details visionary ideas, like scattering tiny particles into the stratosphere to block some sunlight and cool the planet. She also reports on current efforts, like the millions spent trying to control Asian carp imported to American rivers. "We're now intervening to counter the effects of our own intervention," Kolbert says...

The new documentary 'Women in Blue' follows four women who worked for the Minneapolis Police Department. We talk with the director, Deirdre Fishel, as well as Sergeant Alice White, one of the women profiled in the film. Fishel set out to examine how women police differently. "They rely less on physical force, that they possess more effective communication skills, and that they're better at defusing potentially violent confrontations before they turned deadly," she says...

Ellen Harper, and her Grammy award-winning son, musician Ben Harper, both grew up in the Folk Music Center in Claremont, Calif. Ellen's parents founded the center in 1958, and Ellen runs it today. Her new memoir, 'Always a Song,' is her story of the folk music revival of the '50s and '60s, and about raising her three biracial sons, mostly as a single mother.

Also, John Powers reviews 'The Copenhagen Trilogy' by Tove Ditlevsen...

The late British singer Dusty Springfield was best-known for her seemingly effortless singing and distinctive voice. She had many hits in the 1960s in England and the U.S. We listen back to a 2002 interview with her longtime friend and manager Vicki Wickham, who co-wrote a biography of her. There's a new anthology that collects Springfield's singles for Atlantic Records.

Also, we remember the venerable actor Hal Holbrook...