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Fresh Air Weekend: WNBA star Brittney Griner; Discovering plant 'intelligence'

Brittney Griner stands in a defendants' cage before a court hearing in Khimki, Russia, on Aug. 2, 2022.
Evgenia Novozhenina
/
POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Brittney Griner stands in a defendants' cage before a court hearing in Khimki, Russia, on Aug. 2, 2022.

Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:

Brittney Griner reflects on 'Coming Home' after nearly 300 days in a Russian prison: The WNBA star, who is six feet, nine inches, says she felt like a zoo animal in prison. "The guards would literally come open up the little peep hole, look in, and then I would hear them laughing."

Sonny Rollins' big-hearted music speaks for itself on newly reissued 'Freedom Weaver': In 1959, Rollins was a few years into one of the great hot streaks in jazz history when he took a three-week trip to Europe. Three hours from that tour are heard on a new Rollins-approved reissue.

Plants can communicate and respond to touch. Does that mean they're intelligent? Climate journalist Zoë Schlanger says research suggests that plants are indeed "intelligent" in complex ways that challenge our understanding of agency and consciousness. Her book is The Light Eaters.

You can listen to the original interviews and review here:

Brittney Griner reflects on 'Coming Home' after nearly 300 days in a Russian prison

Sonny Rollins' big-hearted music speaks for itself on newly reissued 'Freedom Weaver'

Plants can communicate and respond to touch. Does that mean they're intelligent?

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Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.