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The podcast is a reinvestigation of the 1999 murder of Maryland high school student Hae Min Lee. Her ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed is serving a life sentence but has always maintained his innocence.

Tom Toro was a directionless 20-something film school dropout. Then, after an inspired moment at a used book sale, he started submitting drawings to The New Yorker -- and collecting rejection slips.

Before he was Ivan Drago or He-Man, Lundgren was just another 6-foot-5-inch Swede with a black belt in karate and a degree in chemical engineering — who turned down a scholarship to MIT for showbiz.

Anthony Matthews is a master of the consumer complaint, writing and collecting some of the best letters to customer service. Two of his tips for success: use humor and write a real, hard-copy letter.

As the son of a preacher, McDonald often had to practice his magic tricks in secret while he was growing up. Now he's the first black president of the Society of American Magicians.

Critic Juan Vidal has an appreciation of the hymn — its rhythm, sonorous language, discipline and structure. "No matter where you stand on heaven and hell," he writes, "there is power in a hymn."

Bill Hillmann, a writer from Chicago, contributed to the book Fiesta: How to Survive the Bulls of Pamplona. He was gored at this year's running of the bulls in that city, but says he plans to return.

Geena Davis has played unforgettable roles in movies like Beetlejuice and A League of Their Own. But before her acting debut in Tootsie, she worked at a clothing store in window displays.

NPR's Eric Deggans says the comedian was a show business survivor whose tireless work ethic kept her relevant long after other comics would have faded away. She died Thursday at 81.

The art of letter writing is also an act of preserving history. The correspondences gathered in the book Letters Of Note tell stories of delight, hope and loss — and the nature of human connection.