There is something truly winning about a politician who doesn't just talk the talk but jumps the jump. Zambia's tourism minister Given Lubinda jumped off a bridge this week and popped up smiling.

The soulful folk song, born in the low country of South Carolina, has migrated from representing strength and power in togetherness to reflecting weakness and wimpiness. Somehow, it's morphed into a cynical code word.

Maybe even if it weren't a general-election year, President Obama would still be proposing that Congress give him the power to merge federal agencies to make the government smaller and more efficient. But it is an election year and the president's proposal gives him a way to counter GOP charges that he's a big-government Democrat.

He's also given Comedy Central's Jon Stewart control of his SuperPAC. What high jinks will they get up to?

Nathan Hoskins knew from an early age that he was gay. But when he was growing up in rural Kentucky, his mother took extreme steps to convince him otherwise. Looking back on it now, he says, "I am who I'm supposed to be."

Can a book of elegies rise above maudlin morbidity? Author Stewart O'Nan says yes — and he recommends a great one by Christie Hodgen. It's a book that will break your heart, and warm your soul.

Janklow was a force in the state's politics. He was known as a colorful politician, who got things done even if he had to be forceful.

The veteran broadcaster returns to public television with a new public affairs program. Critic David Bianculli says it might be hard to find, but it's important to watch.