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B.A. Parker

@baparker

co-host of code switch on npr (she/her)

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Latest posts by B.A. Parker @baparker

Haven’t posted in a month. Life updates:
- I just watched all of Lonesome Dove for the first time, and I’m a better person for it.
- I’m learning “Bet On It” from High School Musical 2 on the banjo.
- For my birthday, I finally own wine glasses.
- Code Switch is now 2 eps a week. Yes, we are tired.

10.03.2026 20:38 👍 9 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Jeffrey Bezos is destroying the Washington Post for the same reason Musk destroyed Twitter and Ellison is destroying CBS—oligarchs oppose the free press when if it threatens their wealth and power.

They don’t want normal people to see what is happening in America.

04.02.2026 14:47 👍 14117 🔁 4481 💬 407 📌 203

I respect the thought on Ms. Parks’s heavenly birthday… but I’m a Black lady with a bad back, I’m taking that seat.

04.02.2026 19:15 👍 9 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

The entire time they’ve been on this journey, the monks have been met with racism, cops, and content creators. A sad indictment of the current state of affairs.

02.01.2026 20:55 👍 16 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0

For the first time in my life I saw a gun ad on tv tonight. Is that… common?

30.12.2025 01:22 👍 6 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
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For 50+ years, the NPR Network has offered America trusted information, free of charge. As public media faces a future without federal funding, we're relying on you to sustain this work in 2026 and beyond.

Donate now to power Tiny Desk concerts, local reporting and more: n.pr/4pCcFIx

26.12.2025 21:13 👍 2045 🔁 672 💬 70 📌 32

If I never hear a media person use the term “North Star” again, it’ll be too soon. Also, the reader of NYT and viewer of 60 minutes isn’t a Venn diagram. Especially when it comes to access to news. Just absolutely disingenuous.

22.12.2025 15:45 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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And there it is...

22.12.2025 02:55 👍 8493 🔁 2542 💬 181 📌 149

What a cool, exceptional lady. May she rest in power.

22.12.2025 04:04 👍 17 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

What a waste of time and money and energy. All for the syntax to make it seem like he’s also in memoriam.

19.12.2025 20:30 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

The way “she thinks ‘farewell to arms’ is a diet book” has stuck with me since childhood.

13.12.2025 05:28 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0

Really curious with so many elevators currently “under renovation” in NYC, how are people with mobility challenges navigating the city independently right now?

11.12.2025 04:02 👍 6 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0

And those facts are still locked in.

10.12.2025 18:10 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Between seeing Jay Kelly, Sentimental Value, and Hamnet, it’s been a real “absentee dad for the sake of his art” kinda day.

06.12.2025 05:47 👍 10 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

girl, i guess

18.11.2025 02:59 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0
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CPB agrees to revive a $36 million deal with NPR killed after Trump's pressure The Corporation for Public Broadcasting agreed Monday to fulfill a $36 million, multi-year contract with NPR that it had yanked after pressure from the Trump White House.

CPB revives $36 million NPR deal killed after Trump’s pressure

www.npr.org/2025/11/17/n...

18.11.2025 02:37 👍 53 🔁 13 💬 0 📌 1

I mean, I’m out here doing my darnedest tho

12.11.2025 14:49 👍 9 🔁 2 💬 3 📌 0
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A sneak peek at the cover of next week’s issue, which celebrates Zohran Mamdani’s historic win. #NewYorkerCovers
https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/451hFM

05.11.2025 03:15 👍 11081 🔁 2297 💬 94 📌 174
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NPR 'founding mother' Susan Stamberg has died Susan Stamberg, an original National Public Radio staffer who went on to become the first U.S. woman to anchor a nightly national news program, has died.

Susan Stamberg, an original National Public Radio staffer who went on to become the first U.S. woman to anchor a nightly national news program, has died. n.pr/4qjVMDS

16.10.2025 19:32 👍 1203 🔁 309 💬 66 📌 87
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Home - Elijah Cummings Youth Program in Israel The Elijah Cummings Youth Program in Israel is an elite two-year leadership fellowship for high school students in Baltimore.

This still exits by the way. And still feels… questionable. But it basically creates generations of talented tenth Black kids coming home regaling their very curated time in Israel with seemingly no knowlege of, say, the harm of the Balfour Declaration. www.ecyp.org/r

16.10.2025 17:17 👍 6 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

This explains a childhood mystery. A big tentpole of my city’s district of Bmore was our Rep’s push to get Black h.s. kids to apply for a summer in Israel to encourage historical Black & Jewish bonds. Which seemed valid, but we always thought wouldn’t it be easier to talk to Jewish ppl in Bmore??

16.10.2025 17:04 👍 9 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
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RIP D'Angelo (1974-2025) 🕊️😔

14.10.2025 16:04 👍 595 🔁 314 💬 11 📌 50

Thanks, KGB!! We’re tryin!

12.10.2025 14:25 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Books stacked atop each other:

Interview with the Vampire by Ann Rice
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
True Grit by Charles Portis
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
Dune by Frank Herbert
Waiting to Exhale by Terry McMillan

Books stacked atop each other: Interview with the Vampire by Ann Rice Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen True Grit by Charles Portis The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain Dune by Frank Herbert Waiting to Exhale by Terry McMillan

NPR’s announcement of “Books We’ve Loved.” A new limited series from Book Of The Day. Hosted by Book of the Day’s Andrew Limbong and Code Switch’s B.A. Parker.

NPR’s announcement of “Books We’ve Loved.” A new limited series from Book Of The Day. Hosted by Book of the Day’s Andrew Limbong and Code Switch’s B.A. Parker.

Some cool news: I got to do a fun side project. I’ll be co-hosting a limited series called “Books We’ve Loved.” It’s where we revisit some of our fave books or read classics for the first time. I’m stoked. It starts Saturday, October 18th in the Books We Love feed from NPR. The said books are below:

11.10.2025 23:56 👍 25 🔁 4 💬 2 📌 0

Losing Robert Redford, David Lynch and Diane Keaton in the same calendar year might break me.

11.10.2025 19:58 👍 22 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

See? Audio can be inadvertently funny sometimes.

09.10.2025 16:18 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Bob Ross paintings to be auctioned to support public TV stations after federal cuts Thirty paintings by Bob Ross are set to be auctioned to support public television stations

Bob Ross paintings to be auctioned to support public TV stations after federal cuts

07.10.2025 18:46 👍 2500 🔁 813 💬 42 📌 60

He learned that he could do that and a lot of his viewers would be ok with it, and there would be no real ramifications. So sadly, we were the ones to learn a hard lesson.

02.10.2025 19:14 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Why Malala Yousafzai is a hero in the West but not back home

A new Code Switch ep is out that I’m really proud of. My colleague Mariya tries to reconcile Pakistan’s relationship with Malala with the West’s. And how maybe the western stamp of approval puts her in a different light back home. open.spotify.com/episode/6N72...

02.10.2025 18:59 👍 6 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0