Christmas With Leslie Odom Jr.

Coming up on today’s show:

• For many, Christianity is a key part of Puerto Rican culture. Christmas celebrations on the island typically start just after Thanksgiving and extend well into January. But with the island still in crisis following Hurricane Maria, how will Puerto Ricans celebrate this year? Pastor Bert Pizarro of Connected Life Church in San Juan, weighs in.

• Veterans make up just over nine percent of all homeless adults in the U.S. Identifying and connecting homeless veterans to the services they need can be a challenge, especially for those in rural communities, according to Sarah Harris, a contributor to North Country Public Radio. She visits a small town in upstate New York to see how veterans and their advocates cope with this reality. This story was produced by the American Homefront Project, a public media collaboration that reports on American military life and veterans. Funding comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Bob Woodruff Foundation.

• For the first time since 2010, there was an increase in the number of homeless people in the United States. That’s according to a report from the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs. Julie Watson has been part of a reporting project on homelessness from The Associated Press, called “Crisis on the Coast.” She says there’s been a dramatic increase in America’s homeless population, particularly on the West Coast.

• Conversations about gender and the treatment of women entered the forefront of the American conversation in 2017. Which is why we hear from Koa Beck, editor-in-chief of Jezebel, and Jessica Bennett, gender editor at The New York Times, each week. Together, they talk about one piece of this #MeToo moment.  We revisit our first conversation with them today on The Takeaway.

• Mark Twain died in 1910, and since then he’s had numerous posthumous works published. The latest book that’s been added to that list is the children’s book “The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine.” Mythili Rao, a producer at The New Yorker Radio Hour, has the details.

• Most actors wait an entire lifetime for a role that allows them to showcase their full range as a performer. For Leslie Odom Jr., that chance came at the relatively young age of 34 when he first starred as Aaron Burr in the groundbreaking musical “Hamilton.” Right now, Odom Jr. is tackling film and music, appearing in the movie “Murder on the Orient Express,” and releasing the deluxe edition of his album “Simply Christmas.”

This episode is hosted by Todd Zwillich