Weekend America

Business School in the Slammer

This weekend, some 50 students will graduate from one of the more intensive business programs in the country. In just four months, these graduates will have gone from knowing very little about business to getting the chance to propose their own business plans to a group of expert investors. The students are all prisoners. They're mostly drug dealers, and should now know enough to turn their skills in illicit transactions into legitimate careers. The program has graduated around 250 inmates, and the recidivism rate is only 2.8 percent, compared to 30 percent for the general prison population. Weekend America's Michael May visited students and teachers at a prison in Bryan, Texas.

The Fix is In: Scandal in the NBA

The sports world is awash in scandal: An NBA referee accused of fixing games and winning big; a football star accused of running dog fights; and never-ending allegations of doping. For some perspective, Weekend America's John Moe talks with Richard Lustberg, a sports psychologist who explains why athletes sometimes get into trouble and how our society reacts.

America in the 1920s

This is the final weekend of an exhibit at the University of Texas in Austin about the social and cultural changes that took place in America in the 1920s and their impact on the literature, music and art of the time. Many of those changes are with us still. We hear from Danielle Sigler, an American Studies scholar at the Harry Ransom Center, where the exhibit is housed.

Listener Letters: Moxie, Hell and Voice Mails

This week, Ken Solo from Toledo, Ohio, teaches us about Moxie Synchronicity, Aine McCormick of St. Paul, Minn., shares a sentimental voice mail and Reginald Broadnax of Concord, N.C., tells us to go to Hell. And we do. John Moe speaks with John Colone, the unofficial mayor of Hell, Mich., about the making of a kitsch economy.

The Cutting Edge of Rollercoasters

Weekend America's Krissy Clark takes us into the secret world of thrill ride research and development to find out what's the next big thing in thrill rides. She learns that the amusement park arms race is headed in a new direction. It's not quite as hair-raising as she thought.

The Evolution of Beauty

Technology doesn't only change to accommodate our bodies, sometimes our bodies change to accommodate technology. Or at least our ideal bodies. Michael J. Lewis teaches art history at Williams College. He's writing a book about the way different technologies -- first photography, then film, and now digital media -- have changed what Americans consider "beautiful" in a face and body.

A Jazz Shuffle

Pianist Donal Fox can't be nailed down into one particular musical category. He grew up playing the music he loved, which was basically a mix of classical, jazz, funk, pop, and whatever else struck him as interesting. Sometimes he plays a tune that incorporates all these styles at once. For example, Fox might start in on a Bach piece, playing it at lightning speed like a concert pianist. Slowly he'll add the bass, drums and vibes, and eventually he takes the harmonies and starts riffing on them, moving from one century into the next. He joins Weekend America's John Moe to play some us of his fusion compositions.

Immigration, City by City

It's every city for themselves these days. In Phoenix, the sheriff has set up a controversial tip-line for folks to report on suspected illegal immigrants. The city of New Haven, Conn. has started issuing I.D. cards to the undocumented. Although Congress didn't pass an immigration reform package this session, the immigration remains as volatile an issue as ever. Weekend America checks in.

Cuban Jews Look Back

Not all immigrants here wanted to come. For Jews from Cuba this week was a time to reflect on that. The Jewish day of observance, Tisha B'av, is a solemn commemoration. Cuban Jews say it resonates with their experience of leaving an island they considered paradise. After the takeover of Fidel Castro in the early 1960s, some 90 percent of Cuba's Jews left the country. Reporter Alicia Zuckerman meets some of them.

Good News, Bad News, No News

Good News, Bad News, No News

Our panel of non-experts review the week's events in a parlor game to gauge what kind of week America had. This week we have Hollywood writer Dana Gould; John Ridley, the author of "The American Way;" and Stacey Grenrock Woods, the author of "I California."

America's Weekend, via Flickr

As you might have seen, we've been making this magical computer collage of your pictures of the weekend from Flickr on our Web site. It randomly grabs the latest 98 pictures from Flickr that are tagged "Weekend America" -- or just "weekend" -- and posts them on our Web site. It's been looking really cool lately, and we decided to ask a few of the photographers who appeared on it to tell us about their photos, and their weekends.

Weekend Soundtrack

Weekend Soundtrack: Aquamarine

We've been asking listeners to tell us the special song that means the weekend to them. This week we hear from James "Dewey" Dewhurst, a private contractor in Afghanistan. His weekend soundtrack is Carlos Santana's "Aquamarine."

The 35th Annual Van Nationals

Before beat-up Hondas and Fords were given new leases on life in "Pimp My Ride," a select group of automobile owners called vanners were installing bubble windows, air brushing murals on the side of their rigs and putting up wood paneling. Vanners loved their vans, and spared no expense to help the rest of the world fall in love with them too. Vans had their heyday in the 1970's, but their appeal has never left for some people. This weekend we visit vanners in Cortland, Ohio, for the 35th Annual Van Nationals.

The Frances Farmer Scandal

Long before the current wave of troubled starlets (Paris, Britney, Lindsay), there was Frances Farmer, a beautiful and talented actress of the 1930's. She had a troubled collapse of her own. Weekend America's John Moe examines Farmer's life and how it does and doesn't parallel Lohan's or Spears'.

The Blind World Series

There's a world series that's unlike anything you've ever seen. The balls beep. The bases buzz. The pitchers are on the same team as the hitters. Reporter Alex Helmick has the story of the Chicago Comets, a team made up of blind players. It's a team that's truly in a league of its own.