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How did your life collide with the headlines in 2007?
Iraq, the subprime crisis, Facebook, immigration, oil prices - 2007 had no shortage of hefty headlines. We'd like to hear about how these and other major news events of the past year affected you. Where did your life collide with the news in 2007?

What's your holiday performance story?
The office talent show, the neighborhood caroling posse, the school pageant ... At holiday time we often sing, dance, and dress as shepherds. Did you bloom in the warmth of your audience's adulation, or freeze up like the snowman you'd rather be building? Did your holiday performance change your life or that of someone close to you?

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Broadcast Date: April 8, 2006
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Listen IconImmigrant City
The current political wrangling over immigration is centered largely on Latinos coming across the border illegally into the United States. But there are other immigrant groups eager to make a new life here in the U.S. And they too have become a powerful force in American communities. In Monterey Park, California for example, 68 percent of the town is made up of Asian immigrants. Weekend America's Pat Loeb gets their perspectives on the recent debate, and learns why the town has kept such a low profile in the current immigration discussion.
Online resources:
» The City of Monterey Park, California's official web site

Music Bridge: Unseen Moment - Artist: I'm Not a Gun
CD: We Think as Instruments (City Centre)
Listen IconImmigrant Trafficking
Immigration officials can be inconsistent in their attitudes toward undocumented workers. For example, those who are smuggled into the U.S. and forced to remain against their will are pitied and frequently protected, while others who sneak across the border and find their own work seldom get the same reception by federal officials. We talk about human trafficking and how it plays into the debate over immigration.

Listen IconMemories of a Disaster
Some photographs are imprinted in our minds for life. What is it about those images that stay with us? That's something Corey Keller thought a lot about as she waded through hundreds of pictures from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. She's compiled the best in a new exhibit commemorating the quake at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. She joins host Bill Radke to talk about them.
Online resources:
» San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's "1906 Earthquake: A Disaster in Pictures" exhibit

Music Bridge: Broken Monitors - Artist: B. Fleischmann
CD: The Humbucking Coil (Morr)
Music Picks
Listen IconJazz: Pat Martino
Jazz guitarist Pat Martino plays tribute to another guitar great, Wes Montgomery on his latest CD. Jazz Times Magazine's Nate Chinen joins host Bill Radke to talk about it.
Online resources:
» Pat Martino | "Four on Six" and "West Coast Blues" | From the album, "Remember" (Blue Note)

Listen IconBeckoning Beckett
This week marks 100 years since the birth of playwright Samuel Beckett. To commemorate the anniversary, "Weekend America" looks back at one of his plays, "Krapp's Last Tape." Appropriately, it's about a man who tapes his thoughts every year on his own birthday to commemorate his life. Host Alex Cohen talks to three actors who played the lead role: Rick Cluchey, Jordan Smith and R.S. Bailey.

Music Bridge: Chaconne In G Minor - Artist: Moondog
CD: The Viking of Sixth Avenue (Honest Jons/Astralwerks)
Weekend Weather
Listen IconWeekend Weather
Weekend America's John Moe takes a look at the weather and Saturday happenings all across the country.

» Event information

Music Bridge: Beat Connection (Disco Dub Version) - Artist: lcd soundsystem
CD: DFA compilation #2 (DFA)
Listen IconSwing Bridge Brothers
Twin brothers Duane And Dwight Lewis are a couple of local celebrities in Boothbay, Maine. For several decades, it's been their job to control a hand-operated swing bridge, which keeps their community running. Their story is also one of three winning entries to a "Weekend America" contest that invited listeners to celebrate the unsung heroes in their communities. Amanda Davis brings Weekend America the twins' story.
Online resources:
» More about the "Weekend America" story competition winners

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Listen IconMumps Mystery
Thanks to immunizations, it's pretty hard for children to get mumps these days. There are usually only a few hundred cases across the country each year. And for years, Iowa has had only a handful of mumps cases, but this year, hundreds have contracted the disease, despite being vaccinated against it. Independent producer Kyle Gassiott investigates this sudden Iowa outbreak.
Online resources:
» The Iowa Department of Public Health's information on Mumps

Listen IconManaging the Mumps
Health officials across the country are keeping an eye on a recent mumps outbreak in Iowa. "Weekend America's" Bill Radke talks to Illinois state epidemiologist Dr. Mark Dwarkin about how his state has dealt with previous outbreaks and what we can learn from them about containing other kinds of disease outbreaks.

Music Bridge: Tic Tac - Artist: Eliot Lipp
CD: Tacoma Mockingbird (Hefty)
Listen IconThe Trials of Darryl Hunt
Darryl Hunt spent 18 years, nearly half his life, behind bars for a rape and murder he didn't commit. Since DNA testing revealed he wasn't responsible, Hunt has been pardoned, exonerated and financially compensated for his wrongful conviction. But can he get his life back? This weekend, a film about Hunt's experience is being shown at a film festival in North Carolina. Hunt talks to host Bill Radke about his life behind bars and how he's trying to move on.
Online resources:
» The Darryl Hunt Project for Freedom and Justice web site
» The Trials of Darryl Hunt film site
» The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival web site
» The Innocence Project web site

Music Bridge: Buildings and People - Artist: Marconi Union
CD: Distance (Hannibal)
Music Picks
Listen IconJazz: Francesco Cafiso Quartet
At age 16, Francesco Cafiso of Italy is blowing away great saxophonists who've been playing for decades. Nate Chinen of Jazz Times Magazine talks to host Bill Radke about Cafiso's new CD and the sax player's serious technical chops.
Online resources:
» Francesco Cafiso Quartet | "Happy Time" and "Goodbye Elvin" | From the album, "Happy Times" (CAM Jazz)

Listen IconSetting Boundaries in Cyberspace
Recent reports linking sexual predators to a popular teenage Internet gathering spot have only raised many parents' fears about their children's safety on the Web. How do parents set boundaries for their kids with something as exciting and freewheeling as cyberspace? "Weekend America" talks with a mother and her teenage daughter about how they negotiated rules for using the Internet.
Online resources:
» Reporter and mom Catherine Saillant's MySpace page
» Read the Los Angeles Times Story: "Testing the Limits of MySpace," by Catherine Saillant

Music Bridge: Monkey See, Monkey Do - Artist: The Budos Band
CD: The Budos Band (Daptone)
Listen IconWhy MySpace?
Millions of Americans log onto MySpace.com daily to talk about themselves, share music and make friends. It's so popular that Fox media magnate Rupert Murdoch paid millions to buy the Santa Monica, California-based website. What makes this site so unique and what does it say about those who use it? Host Alex Cohen looks for answers with James Verini, who reported on the site for Vanity Fair Magazine.
Online resources:
» Read the Vanity Fair story: "Will Success Spoil MySpace?"

Weekend Weather
Listen IconWeekend Weather
Weekend America's John Moe takes a look at the weather and Saturday happenings all across the country.

» Event information

Music Bridge: Beat Connection (Disco Dub Version) - Artist: lcd soundsystem
CD: DFA compilation #2 (DFA)
Listen IconThe Story of John Prine
Singer-songwriter John Prine first drew national attention in 1971 and has had a loyal following ever since. Independant producer Gideon D'Arcangelo caught up with Prine in his Nashville studio to learn what first inspired him to write his own songs.
Online resources:
» Find all things Prine at the John Prine shrine
» Oh Boy Records, the label started by John Prine in 1984
» Albums by John Prine

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As Mentioned on Weekend America
... on our December 15 broadcast:

» Weekend America
iPodEnhanced Podcast:
Skip back and forth through stories, see images on iTunes and on your iPod, all with better sound quality.
» The Huckabee Mystique: See video of Mike Huckabee and Chuck Norris.
» Another Great Moment in Small Talk: Read how Charlie Schroeder became an unpopular "tool" because of Borat.
» Listener Letters: Renewable Christmas Trees: Read listeners' alternate endings to "Puff the Magic Dragon."
» Sign Up for the Weekend America weekly newsletter: Find out what's on the upcoming show, and listen to the most popular previous segments.
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Weekend Weather

From the July 5 broadcast