Weekend America for OCTOBER 7, 2006
Hour 1
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A School Shooting, Eight Years Later
Eight years ago, a student opened fire at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon. He killed two fellow students and wounded 20 others. The community slowly healed, but a rash of recent school shootings in America brings back bad memories. We visit Springfield to talk about what happens to a community after a traumatic event.
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- Music Bridge:
- Motivator
- Artist: Midwest Product
- CD: World Series of Love (Ghostly)
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Causes and Effects
Were two school shootings in quick succession, one in Colorado and the other in Pennsylvania, related in some way? They shared several characteristics, but the towns were thousands of miles apart, with entirely different school communities, so it couldn't be more than a coincidence, right? Not so, says school violence expert Loren Coleman. He'll talk to us about why these acts of violence happen at certain times in the year, what the media effect is, and how the two recent school shootings are related to one another.
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Who Discovered America?
Columbus Day is on Monday, and 514 years after Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World, there is still debate about who really discovered America. Weekend America's Krissy Clark takes a look at explorer lore.
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- Music Bridge:
- Divinorum (Quantic Remix)
- Artist: Ocote Soul Sounds & Adrian Quesada
- CD: ESL Remixed (ESL)
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Music Pick: Steve Reich
Critic Steve Smith shares music from Steve Reich's landmark minimalist piece, "Come Out." It's the composer's 70th birthday and for the occasion Reich has released a new 5 disc retrospective called "Phases."
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Lucky Strike
Kelly Kulick is the first female professional bowler to earn a full exemption for an entire year from the Professional Bowling Association. This is bowler-speak for an all access pass for her to compete in any PBA game in the upcoming season. She got the honor in June when she earned 6th place in the 2006 Denny's PBA Tour Trials. This weekend, Kulick is in Ithaca, New York, for a tournament, and Bill talks with her about the art of the strike.
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- Music Bridge:
- Orange Alert (DFA Remix)
- Artist: Metro Area
- CD: Remixes: Chapter One (DFA)
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Hi g r u n @ 3
In his text messages to a 16-year-old page, former representative Mark Foley typed things like "LOL" and "me 2." While those words are pretty close to English, texting and e-mail have tested the limits of language. Weekend America's Hillary Frank takes a look at how this kind of lingo caused confusion on one college campus.
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- Music Bridge:
- Dacha
- Artist: TBA
- CD: stupid rotation (Max Ernst)
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Bats on a Bridge
According to the movies, bats are, at best, large, blind rubbery beasts that get caught in people's hair. At worst, they bite your neck and sentence you to a dark eternity of feasting on human blood. So it was no surprise that when bats first arrived in Austin, Texas 26 years ago, the city wanted to exterminate them. The conservation group Bat Conservation International actually moved their headquarters to Austin to educate the public on the benefits of these bats. They eat tens of thousands of pounds of insect pests every night and bring millions of tourist dollars to Austin. Now the city is designing bridges so they can accommodate bats. Weekend America's Michael May introduces us to the bats, and a local woman who has dedicated her life to taking care of them.
Hour 2
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Pass Pride
Pass Christian, Mississippi, was hit hard last year by hurricane Katrina. Ninety percent of homes in the town were destroyed, and most of the town's residents are still living in FEMA trailers. The Pass Christian Pirates, a high school football team, really felt the sting. Many of the players, and the coaches, lost everything. Independent producer Eve Troeh stopped by the football field to see how this season is going.
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- Music Bridge:
- Blues for Jimmy
- Artist: Diego Urcola
- CD: Viva (Camjazz)
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Good News, Bad News, No News
We look at the week's happenings through the lens of good news, bad news or no news. To rate the week's events, we turn to the usual suspects: Amy Hungerford, a professor of American literature at Yale, Dana Gould, co-executive producer of The Simpsons, and our very own news maven, Barbara Bogaev.
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- Music Bridge:
- Mint Cairo
- Artist: Feathers
- CD: Synchromy (Home Tapes)
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Music Pick: John Adams
Critic Steve Smith shares new music from composer John Adams. He has a new, two disc set out, called "The Dharma at Big Sur" and "My Father Knew Charles Ives." We start with a track called "The Mountain."
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Music for a Marathon Man
When independent producer Gideon D'Arcangelo learned about ultra-marathoner Dean Karnazes' plan to run 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days, he had just one question, and it wasn't, "Are you crazy?!" Actually Gideon wanted to know what would be coming out of Dean's headphones. For the next installment of our Listening In series, Gideon ran with Dean to find out what music motivates him to go the extra mile, or the extra 1,299 as the case may be.
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- Music Bridge:
- Bittersweet Symphony
- Artist: The Verve
- CD: Urban Hymns (Virgin)
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Poker Run
For some, nothing makes a better weekend than one that includes bar hopping. Independent producer Gregory Warner uncovered a small town variation on the theme, called the "poker run." The catch is that you do your bar hopping, via motorcycle. All the drinking raises money for charity. Gregory Warner hops on a hog and to learn about the Poker Run.
