Hip-hop is the soundtrack to poet Marcus Wicker's daily life, and his love for the music comes out naturally in his writing, which addresses topics like the violence perpetrated against black bodies. Wicker offers his Brief but Spectacular take on beats, rhymes and poetry.

When Martha Lane Fox was starting her career in tech, the internet felt like the "most incredible, redistributive, democratic, empowering force for good." So what went wrong? Fox, a current board member of Twitter and founder of Doteveryone, offers her Brief but Spectacular take on how to make sure the internet lives up to its potential.

For Major Jackson, poetry is a vehicle of exploration. His poem "Stand Your Ground" responds to Florida's law that was famously invoked in the killing of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old boy. Jackson gives his Brief But Spectacular take on leaving his mark.

You can choose not to see the sky, but it exists. That’s how Reni Eddo-Lodge responds when somebody tells her they don’t see race. Trying to raise the topic in white-dominated social circles often led her to an immediate shutdown, one that might spring from others’ fear of being wrong, she says. Eddo-Lodge offers her Brief but Spectacular take on talking to white people about race.