Radio Pictures

Sam Phillips' songs unfold like perfect, miniature pop dramas. Her album, "Don't Do Anything," is loaded with great ones. Of all her incarnations as a performer - first as a Christian singer, then as a pop singer - the current Sam Phillips is one of the most alluring. On this Tiny Desk performance, recorded live at the desk of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen, Phillips performs four songs from her latest CD.

Munira Shahamorad was 20 years old and dressed head to toe in all-concealing black robes when she showed up at the gates of the U.S. Marine base in Fallujah, Iraq, looking for a job. She was desperate to escape her brother, who she says beat her and dragged her around by the hair.

Who's just as cute as a button? Who's the most deliciously delirious young woman, always up to her false eyelashes in madcap romps? It's the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, of course.

Chinese pianist Lang Lang, at age 26, is one of the most visible, in-demand classical musicians in the world today.

A firetruck restoration expert uses his skills to honor the FDNY fallen.

While politicians attended the two major parties' conventions, NPR set out on a different kind of adventure: a cross-country road trip to discover who people admired in their own communities and who they considered to be their leaders.

Thao Nguyen's songs are raw and infectious. Her voice has a distinctive swagger, and she's a remarkably nimble guitarist. The singer/songwriter stopped by NPR's offices recently to give an intimate performance at the desk of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen.

In the most closely-watched health care experiment in the U.S., Massachusetts is requiring nearly all of its citizens to carry health insurance. A year after its implementation, support remains strong for the program, and the number of uninsured has dropped by half.

As part of our "In Character" explorations, we convinced Cookie Monster to come to NPR's New York studios, where Elizabeth Blair talked to him about the boundaries of his appetites - and got him to answer a version of the Proust Questionnaire.

Three months before the Olympic Games in Beijing, U.S. shot-putter Adam Nelson mades a risky move to tweak his technique while training in Charlotte, Va.

For a musician, Lee is something of a late bloomer. He says he never really pursued music in his youth. "I played basketball and that was about it," he says. Before pursuing a full-time career in music, Amos Lee was a second-grade schoolteacher in Philadelphia. Then, one day, Norah Jones heard his music and liked it. His recent album, "Last Days at the Lodge," emphasizes his grounding in folk and soul.

Go behind the scenes of NPR's Studio 4A to watch the birth of a new song. "Cavendish" turned out to be a wonderful theatrical journey from Nellie McKay - someone who seems connected with the past and unsure of her present. She knocked us out with her creation.

Even in these high-tech days of voter profiling and targeted e-mail, there's no better way to reach out to voters than by standing on their front stoop. Knocking on doors puts campaign volunteers face-to-face with voters. The key, according to a volunteer for John Edwards, is to "be nice, be friendly and don't bug people if they don't want to be bugged."

In recent years, poppy production has skyrocketed in Afghanistan. A group of businessmen has been trying to offer an alternative, by urging farmers to grow flowers for perfume instead of for drugs. It has been a frustrating and costly project.

In Afghanistan, many Marines feel a world away from the debates over Iraq and Afghanistan in the U.S. presidential campaign. "All it is is old men talking and young men dying," says one.