We expect a lot more out of marriage than we used to

A psychologist compares the evolution of marriage to climbing Maslow's hierarchy of human needs: Our security and next meal assured, we want a partner who will ascend higher with us, toward fulfillment and actualization. But without proper preparation, we can suffocate.

Lily Padula for NPR Are you sitting down? You’re probably doing it wrong There's a perception that Americans sit way more than any other culture out there — or even any culture throughout time. But anthropologists say that’s not true. Tracking members of one African tribe found that while they get three times as much exercise as most Americans, they spend 10 hours per day in “resting postures” — about the same. The difference is that their resting postures are better — butts stuck out, spines straight, "like a stack of toy blocks" —  one researcher says. What’s Really Good And you thought it might've been too good to be true. Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Garcia — the taste-making hip-hop radio duo responsible for putting some of hip-hop's legends on the map — are coming back to NPR for the second season of their pop-culture interview show, What’s Good with Stretch and Bobbito. Catch the premiere with surreal soul artist Erykah Badu and an upcoming season's worth of untold stories with cultural luminaries.  Watch the gatekeepers of an era usher in a new one. Subscribe to What's Good.   Gary Waters/Ikon Images/Getty Images After a layoff, Linda Bradley struggled to find a new job — in part, she says, because some employers hide from older workers like her Workplace civil rights law prohibits discrimination against workers 40 and older, but worker advocates say some recruiters tailor their outreach to exclusively target younger candidates. Some companies only recruit on college campuses or they refuse to consider applicants above a certain level of experience. Bradley, 45, is part of a union’s lawsuit against T-Mobile, arguing that narrowly targeted Facebook ads amount to illegal discrimination. Courtesy of Nico Walker Soldier, veteran, addict, thief, jailbird and now a heralded novelist — with the proceeds repaying the banks he robbed Nico Walker wrote Cherry on a typewriter, with a hundred-or-so other guys looking over his shoulder. It has been sold in eight languages and has been hailed by Booklist as "a masterpiece." Walker writes without pretensions, detailing boot camp and a tour in Iraq from grunt's-eye level, and heroin addiction with a sober clear-eyed focus. It is easy to imagine how — out of money and dignity and used to the tension of combat — he wound up in prison, where he has two years left on his sentence. Gary Waters/Getty Images/Ikon Images '[A] marriage that would have been acceptable to us in the 1950s is a disappointment to us today.' One solution: Ask less of your partner Love has evolved through the centuries from a business partnership to an attraction of opposites to a union of shared interests and attitudes. Now we expect our spouses to not just work alongside us or infatuate us, but to also help us grow into our best, most fulfilled selves. That’s a lot to put on the shoulders of a single person. Treating your partner with more understanding, and your partnership as something with room to grow and change, can ease that burden. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images A voice that rang with liberty and demanded respect for all When Aretha Franklin sang, she embodied a nation’s brash optimism, exuded American joy, brought hope to the lowest, lent tender love to wounded hearts. Her songs brought people together and documented perseverance through a time of profound change. Her commanding performances seemed to transcend any contemporaries'. "She'll remind me of my humanity. What's essential in all of us," wrote former President Barack Obama after Franklin’s death this week. You received this message because you're subscribed to our Best of NPR emails. |  Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy | NPR 1111 N. CAPITOL ST. NE WASHINGTON DC 20002