Weekend America

Presidential Transparency

Transparency is a key issue in President Obama's new administration. The executive branch wants to shake government free from the veil of secrecy that cloaked the previous administration. And if you happened to be watching the official White House website this past Tuesday, you might have seen transparency in action. Whitehouse.gov has undergone a major overhaul.

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.

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.

Letters

Letters: Ocean Pollution and Goodbyes

We open the Weekend America mailbag to hear your responses to recent stories. Weekend America's last episode is January 31, and listeners have been writing us to say goodbye. We also revisit our story on ocean pollution from earlier this month, which prompted questions from listeners about the pharmaceutical pollution entering U.S. waterways.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Good News, Bad News, No News

Good News, Bad News, No News: Executive Transparency, Printed Blogs, and Hotel Cutbacks

It's time for our weekly parlor game to keep track of the good, bad and unworthy news of the week. We're joined by Luke Burbank, host of the radio show "Too Beautiful To Live" in Seattle; Kerry Howley, contributing editor to Reason magazine; and Yale University Professor of Literature Amy Hungerford.

Garageland: Hydrogen in the Garage

President Obama and Congress are promising to kick into serious negotiations this week over the proposed $800 billion economic stimulus package. The stimulus might provide $100 billion to alternative energy and energy efficiency. In New Jersey, Mike Strizki is already living the energy-efficient dream. He's turned the garage at his house into a hydrogen and solar power plant.

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.

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.