Weekend America

Politics over Turkey

Scientists in Texas and Nebraska are trying to prove that political views can be inherited. But some of us know from Thanksgiving dinners that there's no connection between genes and political views. Two brothers, Brian and Allen Mann, are at opposite ends of the political spectrum. They tell us how they get through family dinners, with the family in tact.

Moving Up

When Russ and Michelle Cline travel to Wyoming this weekend, it will be their first trip to the state, even though they are about to move there. The Clines live in Detroit, where Russ Cline was recently laid off from Ford Motor Company. They are going to Wyoming because there's a labor shortage and the state has been recruiting people to move on in. Bill Radke talks with the Clines about their upcoming relocation.

Pop Pick: Neil Young

Music critic Alan Light reviews a newly released album from Neil Young. The album is called "Live at the Fillmore 1970," and it's a live recording of Neil Young and Crazy Horse performing material from their first album together.

Bookworm

If you are book lover, the thought of them being eaten away by time may be disturbing to you. Artist Rosamond Purcell is a book lover, but she also sees the possibility in disintegrating things, which she documents with her camera. Barbara Bogaev talks with Purcell about her new collection of photographs, compiled in a new book called "Bookworm."

An Open Letter to Lifetime Television

Lucy Baker has whiled away way too much time--not reading or taking photographs--but watching Lifetime Television. She blames a lot of time wasted on the TV channel. We hear a letter she has written about it.

Song & Memory

Song and Memory

Is there a song that brings back a strong memory from your childhood? In this installment of our ongoing series, "Song and Memory," we meet Reverend Ruth Shaver. She is a Weekend America listener and she is new minister at the United Church of Schellsburg in Pennsylvania. Shaver tells us about a song that's stayed with her throughout her life called "Family of God."

Military Homecoming

Because of various overseas deployments, members of the Vasquez family hadn't all been together in more than five years. And prior to Thursday, the family hadn't spent a Thanksgiving together for 13 years. The family was finally all together this Thanksgiving, and they are together this weekend. Bill Radke talks with two family members, Rosanna Vasquez Brown and her brother Martin Vasquez, about how their holiday went.

Listening to RFK

The film "Bobby" opens in theaters across the country this weekend. It takes place on June 4, 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel in California, where Robert F. Kennedy was shot. The movie weaves archival footage and fictional story lines together to tell the promise lost that day. Independent producer Curt Nickisch shares some rarely heard audio recordings of the late RFK.

Junk King

People around eastern Maine call Jerry Blackburn the "Junk King." His yard is piled high with artifacts: skis, windows, bed frames, cars. You name it, he has it. We meet Jerry Blackburn and hear about his life-long dream of creating a museum to house some of the more interesting stuff he has collected over the past 20 years. Independent producer Joshua Gleason shares his story.

A Play a Day

A couple of weeks ago, we talked with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks. Parks wrote a play a day for a year and she was on our show giving advice to actors performing in them. This week we catch up with Lizzie Calogero and Juan Socarros. Both are performing in a Parks production. Calogero is an actress in the Bay Area. Socarros is an architecture student in San Antonio.

Bayou Classic

This weekend Southern University and Grambling State University are playing in the 33rd Annual Bayou Classic football game in New Orleans, La. Alumni and fans from Louisiana and across the country are in New Orleans to watch the two football teams, but they are also there to watch the two marching bands duke it out. We talk with band directors from each school about the preparation and excitement surrounding this big event.

Fight Song

Florida Gulf Coast University is finally getting a fight song. You know, that song that gets you cheering and pepped up at pep rallies. Last spring the university announced a contest where the winner's lyrics would be the school's official fight song. And this fall a winning song was announced. We'll talk to Rod Chesnutt who's the head of Instrumental Studies at Florida Gulf Coast. He's been selected to write the music to accompany the lyrics.

Hugging Saint

If it's cold where you are this weekend, you can hug for warmth. Chances are, if you hug, it will be with someone you know. Such is not the case with a woman named Amma. In the last few days, Amma has hugged about 10,000 people. And next week she'll hug several thousand more. A couple years ago, she hugged Weekend America's Krissy Clark in San Francisco.