If you live in Kalamazoo there’s a TOAD in your backyard but it’s no amphibian. It's the TOAD Bicycle Cooperative in the Vine neighborhood where rusty chains and broken frames are dragged in and functional bikes glide out.

Sean Cleary helped start TOAD three years ago. He says, “It’s fifty percent working on bikes and helping people get on the road, and fifty percent doing big rides and having fun, and just having a party on wheels.”

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NEAL CONAN, HOST:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan in Washington. More than 1 million people have fled to safety across Syria's borders. Many live in camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, which too often struggle to meet basic needs such as shelter, food and clean water. Some arrive wounded, and need medical care. Many suffer from the invisible wounds of trauma - everything from shelling or crossfire to the loss of a loved one, even torture. All of them have lost their homes.

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NEAL CONAN, HOST:

More than a century before Steven Spielberg's film Lincoln offered an intimate portrait of the 16th president and his family, a memoir from the first lady's dressmaker offered a glimpse into the Lincoln White House.

Elizabeth Keckley, Mary Todd Lincoln's seamstress and maybe her closest friend, told her story of slavery and self-emancipation, and her relationship with the Lincolns in a tell-all memoir called Behind The Scenes.

To remember Chinua Achebe who died last Thursday, Fresh Air listens back to an interview with the great African writer that originally aired on May 10, 1988. In it, Achebe talks about the literary trope of the white explorer or missionary living amongst the savages, and the importance of struggle.

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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This is TMM from NPR News. I'm Michel Martin. Later in this hour we'll talk about why gender matters in matters of health and issues such as drug effectiveness and even how your eyes work. We'll speak with the head of Women's Health Research at the National Institutes of Health in just a minute. That's part of our coverage of Women's History Month.

Today marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday, Passover. It's a time to think about the story of Exodus, when Moses led the slaves out of Egypt to freedom. But what does it mean for people in prison? Host Michel Martin discusses the issue with law professor Aviva Orenstein, and Jack Abramoff, a former lobbyist and convict who observed Passover while in prison.