People & Life
People & Life on Weekend America
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Sleepover!
Two intrepid reporters, Hillary Frank and Jonathan Menjivar, brave the world of PJs, giggles and video games to see what really goes down at weekend slumber parties. Frank and Menjivar went to two sleepovers, a girl's slumber party and a boy's one, respectively, to get the goods on what really goes on once the lights go out.
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This Weekend in 1968: Miss America
In Las Vegas this weekend it's the 88th annual Miss America pageant. At the 1968 competition, outside Atlantic City's Convention Hall, a group of women gathered on the boardwalk. They held signs that read "Women's Liberation." Their demonstration was a window into the emergence of a movement that would gain considerable strength in the decade to come.
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Fist Fight
For more than 15 years, Rob McGinley Myers has been telling a story about the only fist fight he's ever been in. He stood up to one of the toughest, scariest guys in his high school, even though Rob was a puny freshman at the time. The thing that makes this story slightly more complicated is that the tough, scary guy he stood up to was his older brother, Scott.
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Bringing Banh Mi to the Masses
This week is the Lunar New Year, a celebration that's all about good food, and one item sure to pop up at street events is the "banh mi," a Vietnamese sandwich with hybrid origins. Banh mis have been slowly conquering the suburbs of California along business arteries where you'd expect to find a McDonald's or Wendy's. Reporter Corey Takahashi went deep into California to discover the future of banh mi.
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Nine Step Weekend Recovery Program
In November 2002, Kathryn Kern was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her treatment was successful, but in the process, she had to give up her travel business and take a corporate job. The combination of facing a life-threatening illness and changing careers made her value her weekends more than ever. Now she has a Nine Step Program for keeping her weekends free, pleasant and worry-free.
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The Art of Field Recording
Most people think of folk music as a thing of the past. It seemed to disappear in the '60s when rock and roll and the Beatles swept the music scene. But if you search hard enough, folk music and the musicians who play it are still around. Art Rosenbaum has made it his life's work to find and record it. He's become the Indiana Jones of folk music. Independent Producer Philip Graitcer traveled with Rosenbaum to visit a few traditional musicians.
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Race and Forgiveness
Members of Macomb County's Renaissance Unity church faced the legacy of racism eight years ago. Out of the blue, their white, female minister asked whites to apologize to blacks in a forgiveness ceremony. The church has had several ministers since then. But church members say they'll never forget the impact of that moment.
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Sheriff's Calls
In Northern California's West Marin County, you can find all of this weekend's events listed in the local newspaper, the Point Reyes Light. But what most people turn to first in that paper is a weekly column called Sheriff's Calls. It highlights some of the more nefarious happenings in West Marin. Recently, Reporter Nancy Mullane got a behind the scenes look at how the column gets made each week.
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Lady Dottie
Dorothy Mae "Lady Dottie" Whitsett is the lead singer of Lady Dottie and the Diamonds, based out of San Diego, Calif. The sound is a bit of soul, blues and garage. Whitsett's background is gospel music. San Diego isn't known for blues or soul, but Lady Dottie has an intense following in the indie scene. Producer Angela Kim reports.
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Butchery Class
In San Francisco's Bernal Heights neighborhood, the main commercial strip is usually filled with people pushing baby strollers, walking their dogs or carrying their yoga mats. But the third Sunday of every month, the local butcher shop invites folks to sharpen their knives and really get to know where their food comes from.
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Conversations with America: le thi diem thuy
As America prepares to inaugurate a new president, we've been asking writers and thinkers about transitions in their own lives. Le thi diem thuy is a poet and solo performance artist. She and her family went through a big transition when they left their native Vietnam by boat in 1978. The family settled in Southern California, but we caught up with thuy on a visit to New York City.
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Faux Bono
This weekend promises a groovy pre-inaugural concert. Crossing the stage in front of the Lincoln Memorial will be performers including Beyonce, Garth Brooks, Herbie Hancock, and, yes, Bono. But not the not-Bono. Did you know Bono has a doppelganger? He can be found not at the Lincoln Memorial, but in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago.
