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Rachel Martin
Rachel Martin is a host of Morning Edition, as well as NPR's morning news podcast Up First.
Before taking on this role in December 2016, Martin was the host of Weekend Edition Sunday for four years. Martin also served as National Security Correspondent for NPR, where she covered both defense and intelligence issues. She traveled regularly to Iraq and Afghanistan with the Secretary of Defense, reporting on the U.S. wars and the effectiveness of the Pentagon's counterinsurgency strategy. Martin also reported extensively on the changing demographic of the U.S. military – from the debate over whether to allow women to fight in combat units – to the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. Her reporting on how the military is changing also took her to a U.S. Air Force base in New Mexico for a rare look at how the military trains drone pilots.
Martin was part of the team that launched NPR's experimental morning news show, The Bryant Park Project, based in New York — a two-hour daily multimedia program that she co-hosted with Alison Stewart and Mike Pesca.
In 2006-2007, Martin served as NPR's religion correspondent. Her piece on Islam in America was awarded "Best Radio Feature" by the Religion News Writers Association in 2007. As one of NPR's reporters assigned to cover the Virginia Tech massacre that same year, she was on the school's campus within hours of the shooting and on the ground in Blacksburg, Va., covering the investigation and emotional aftermath in the following days.
Based in Berlin, Germany, Martin worked as a NPR foreign correspondent from 2005-2006. During her time in Europe, she covered the London terrorist attacks, the federal elections in Germany, the 2006 World Cup and issues surrounding immigration and shifting cultural identities in Europe.
Her foreign reporting experience extends beyond Europe. Martin has also worked extensively in Afghanistan. She began reporting from there as a freelancer during the summer of 2003, covering the reconstruction effort in the wake of the U.S. invasion. In fall 2004, Martin returned for several months to cover Afghanistan's first democratic presidential election. She has reported widely on women's issues in Afghanistan, the fledgling political and governance system and the U.S.-NATO fight against the insurgency. She has also reported from Iraq, where she covered U.S. military operations and the strategic alliance between Sunni sheiks and the U.S. military in Anbar province.
Martin started her career at public radio station KQED in San Francisco, as a producer and reporter.
She holds an undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, and a Master's degree in International Affairs from Columbia University.
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LeVar Burton has three roles he'll forever be known for: Kunta Kinte on the TV series Roots, Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation and host of Reading Rainbow. Those roles have had profound impacts on people and he now understands, as he puts it, "my job is to be LeVar Burton." He talks to Rachel about the tension of that job, his changing definitions of success and learning to embrace the chaos.
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Nikki Giovanni draws a card from the Wild Card deck. She tells Rachel Martin why she doesn't think about the legacy she will leave behind.
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At 81, Nikki Giovanni isn't afraid of getting older. And the legendary poet also isn't spending any time thinking about her legacy. She's mostly focused on having fun and being able to look back on her life and feel like she did her duty. She talks to Rachel about the myth of a happy family, what she's learned on safaris and why she's fascinated with Mars.
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Ted Danson spoke to Wild Card host Rachel Martin about what he sees as a turning point in his life — meeting his wife, actor Mary Steenburgen, in the wake of a public divorce.
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Actor Ted Danson reflects on aging and regrets in a game of Wild Card with Rachel Martin.
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Ted Danson has mastered the role of the happy-go-lucky guy with a quick wit and a quicker smile – who nevertheless has a few cracks in his sunny demeanor. It's there in Sam Malone on Cheers, in Hank Larsson on Fargo and in Michael on The Good Place. And that same duality is there in Ted's real life. He goes deep with Rachel on the light and dark sides of aging, marriage and what he calls "karmic poo."
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Emmy winner Lena Waithe, who wrote for Master of None and created the show The Chi, answers questions about her life from a deck of cards.
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Lena Waithe joins NPR's Rachel Martin for a game of Wild Card.
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Comedian Taylor Tomlinson plays a game of Wild Card with NPR's Rachel Martin.
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Filmmaker David Lynch plays a game of Wild Card with NPR's Rachel Martin and talks about his upbringing and learning from failure. STATION ADVISORY: In the "WILD CARD: DAVID LYNCH" element, the world "Shit" is bleeped at 1:18 and again at 2:53.