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NPR's Bob Mondello and Susan Stamberg read excerpts of two of the best submissions for Round 11 of our short story contest. They read Snowflake by Winona Wendth of Lancaster, Mass., and Geometry by Eugenie Montague of Los Angeles.

Hundreds of volunteers have come to Moore, Okla., to help the community following Monday's tornado. Some are helping clear debris, others bringing out water and supplies to people whose homes were damaged or destroyed, and whose lives are in disarray. One group of volunteers is cooking more than 10,000 meals a day.

Nearly 18 million tourists descend on our nation's capitol every year, and most of them are keen to spend time at the many free museums in Washington, D.C. But only about 100,000 people take the trip across the river to a museum of a different sort: the Pentagon. The Pentagon's exhaustive historical displays offer fresh insight into the range of the Defense Department's activities.

The calls are harrowing and they offer a glimmer of the chaos and emotion that followed the storm.

The congressional hearings about the IRS's handling of Tea Party applications for tax-exempt status raise the question of why and how tax-exempt groups engage in politics in the first place.

On a cold and rainy day in Boston thousands gathered to finish what two bombs stole from them. A one-mile run traced the home-stretch of the Boston Marathon, giving spectators, runners and victims a chance at closure.

As the nation prepares to mark Memorial Day, outrage has been building on Capitol Hill and beyond over the military's failure to repair a system that has placed service members in more danger of sexual assault than of battlefield injury.

Weekends on All Things Considered host Jacki Lyden speaks with Benjamin Wittes of the Brookings Institution about the Espionage Act. This Word War I-era legislation has been used more frequently in recent times to prosecute government employees who leak information to the press, but the limits set by the act are poorly defined for our modern age.

In his debut novel, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, Anthony Marra takes readers to the war-torn republic of Chechnya. People disappear, informers betray and those with humanity endure great hardships.

Today, heading out to a picnic often means a simple blanket and a basket packed with the outing's repast. But back in the day, outdoor feasts were much grander affairs, with crystal, servants, tables and gourmet fare.