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Even a former first lady who’s lived an extraordinary life has ordinary and relatable fears.

NPR All Things Considered host Juana Summers sat down with Michelle Obama, who talked about how she navigates the world, even when it feels like things are at their “lowest point,” and about her new book, “The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times.”

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Climate change is a present tense disaster in some parts of the world. In Senegal, rising seas are destroying neighborhoods and once-fertile farm fields.

That’s pushing young Senegalese like Mamadou Niang to make the treacherous journey to Europe. He’s attempted it three times: twice he was deported, the third time, he narrowly escaped drowning. But he says he’s still determined to make it there.

We visit Senegal to see how climate migration is reshaping life there. And we meet a rapper named Matador, who is trying to help young people realize a future in Senegal, so they don’t have to go to Europe.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

A surge in anti-Semitic and racist tweets, an incoherent rollout of a paid verification service, and thousands of layoffs. Then a scramble to rehire some employees. This is only a couple of weeks into Elon Musk’s ownership of Twitter.

It’s impossible to deny that Musk is a highly successful businessman who made some high-visibility missteps on the way to Tesla and SpaceX. But unlike those two companies, Twitter is not about goods and services. For millions of users, it’s about community. And many feel that Musk will end up destroying these virtual communities.

Disgruntled Twitter users have sparked a mini-movement with the hashtag #TwitterMigration, leaving the platform for the social network Mastodon over concerns about increasing hate speech and misinformation.

But others are defiantly staying put – ready to fight back to sustain the influential communities that have made the platform their home.

Host Michel Martin speaks with Meredith Clark, Associate Professor in Journalism and Communication studies at Northeastern University, and the author of a forthcoming book on Black Twitter.

Takeoff, from the Atlanta trio known as Migos, was shot and killed at the beginning of November outside a bowling alley in Houston.

The issue of violence, specifically gun violence, is often associated with rap culture. But those who follow the industry closely, and know its history, say the culture isn’t the culprit.

We speak to A.D. Carson, a professor of hip-hop at the University of Virginia, about how death and violence have impacted the rap and hip-hop industry, and how the music is just a mirror reflecting back the larger issue of gun violence that plagues all of America.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

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As Russian forces have retreated in Ukraine, people in newly liberated towns and villages have been trying to pick up the pieces. But it’s a process that can be long and painful.

NPR’s Kat Lonsdorf met a woman named Ludmilla, six months ago in the liberated town of Borodianka. Somehow, Ludmilla happened to know Kat’s childhood neighbors in Wisconsin. She had stayed with them years ago. That random encounter stayed with Kat, so she checked back in with Ludmilla to see how she is doing.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

The “red wave” of Republican gains that some predicted didn’t come to pass during the midterm elections. As of Wednesday afternoon, control of both houses of Congress was still up for grabs.

But it appears likely that the country is headed for a divided government. And if history is any guide, that could mean a lot of stalemates. Two political veterans explain what to expect: Ron Bonjean, a strategist with a long career of working for Republicans in both chambers of Congress, and Jim Messina, former Deputy Chief of Staff to President Obama.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

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Haiti is a country in crisis. Armed gangs have overtaken the capital of Port-au-Prince. Electricity and clean drinking water are in very short supply and there’s been an outbreak of cholera. Half the population is facing acute hunger.

Haiti’s government has asked for international assistance. But many Haitians don’t want that.

NPR’s Eyder Peralta spoke to Haitians who are actively resisting the idea of international intervention.

NPR’s Michele Kelemen reports on the debate at the United Nations over whether to send an international force into Haiti to help stabilize the situation.

And NPR’s Rachel Martin speaks to Robert Fatton, a Haitian American professor of politics at the University of Virginia, about Haiti’s long, complicated and painful history with international intervention.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

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National issues are increasingly crowding out more local concerns in elections across the country.

With that in mind, we hear from five NPR correspondents covering some of the issues that may shape the course of the midterms.

Scott Horsley unpacks inflation. Sarah McCammon explains how this year’s Supreme Court decision striking down a constitutional right to abortion is shaping voter decisions. Joel Rose puts immigration numbers in context. Martin Kaste explains why Republicans are making crime an election issue. And Miles Parks explains why Democrats say Democracy itself is on the ballot.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

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Over the last four decades, affirmative action has helped transform diversity on college campuses in the United States. But soon, affirmative action in higher education may come to an end.

This week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments challenging affirmative action policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina. Many Court observers believe that the current 6-3 conservative supermajority will rule that higher education can no longer consider race as a factor in admitting students.

If affirmative action is overturned, what tools can colleges and universities use to make their campuses more diverse? For answers, we look to California. In 1996 the state banned the use of affirmative action in public universities.

Mitchell Chang is Associate Vice Chancellor of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the University of California, Los Angeles. He spoke with NPR’s Adrian Florido.

The extremes of climate change are wreaking havoc on the Mississippi.

Over the past two months, this critical waterway has seen below average rainfall. In some places, water levels haven’t been this low for more than 30 years.

NPR’s Debbie Elliot explains how that is helping the salty waters of the Gulf of Mexico push upriver, threatening municipal and commercial water supplies.

Then Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco and Eva Tesfaye, of The Mississippi River Basin Ag and Water Desk, show us how life on the river can be just as hard when climate change produces too much water.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.