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How did your life collide with the headlines in 2007? What's your holiday performance story? |
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Bringing Home Pablo
Imagine knowing your adoptive child is out there, waiting to join your family, but you can't yet bring him home. Is he healthy? Is he happy? What's he like? For months, questions like these ran through Dan Gorenstein and Erica Feldman's minds. Erica has Multiple Sclerosis and having a baby could exacerbate her condition, so they decided to adopt. Their agency connected them with Pablo, a child in Guatemala, and for months they had photos of him, but weren't able to meet him or bring him home. After months of anxious waiting, Dan and Erica were finally allowed make Pablo a part of their family. Weekend America follows them on their path towards parenthood. Online resources:
Music Bridge: Laureline - Artist: The Gentlemen
CD: Losers (Buro)
High Brow, Low Brow
Is America high, low or middle brow this week? Each month Weekend America's Bill Radke gathers together a panel to take a look at the latest developments in American culture through its brows. The panelists include: Amy Hungerford, a professor of American Literature at Yale, Dana Gould, co-executive producer of The Simpsons, and our very own weather guy, John Moe. Online resources:
Music Bridge: Success (Thievery Corporation Remix) - Artist: DJ Cam
CD: Dj Cam Revisited (Inflammable)
Pop Music Pick: Regina Spektor
Alan Light joins host Barbara Bogaev with some new pop music. He brings a new record from Regina Spektor, a new singer songwriter who grew up in the Bronx as the daughter of two Russian immigrants, and fell in love with music. We hear a track called "Samson." Heard:
A Prison Far Far Away
More and more states are sending prisoners to out-of-state private prisons. Sometimes it's cheaper to contract with a private prison company. Other times inmates are sent away because the state doesn't have enough prison space. That's the case in Alaska. Alaska ships its excess inmates 3,000 miles away to a private facility in Florence, Arizona. Florence is about an hour southeast of Phoenix, but it may as well be a world away from Alaska. Producer Rene Gutel shares the story of an Alaskan woman named Brenda Watkinson who followed her husband from Seward to Florence.
Texas POWs
In the 1940s, 150,000 German prisoners were taken from the battlefields in North Africa, all the way to Texas. Weekend America's Bill Radke talks with Carol Brincefield, a teacher and a historian with the Lavaca County Historical Committee, about a section of the Geneva Convention that led to Texas becoming the country's biggest repository for German prisoners of war. Online Resources:
Music Bridge: Hawk From a Handsaw - Artist: Gary Lucas and Josef Van Vissem
CD: The Universe of Absence (Bvhaast)
Weekend 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)
Dad's a Cheater
Richie Duchon can pinpoint the exact moment that he saw his father in a whole new light. When Richie was in college, his dad shared a story about how he had cheated on his college exams. From that moment on, Richie was able to see the complexities of the person he had only before thought of as his parent.
Exit Exam
Twenty-two states now have exit exams that students have to pass in order to get their diplomas. Weekend America's Pat Loeb spent time with two high school seniors in Southern California who have had trouble with their tests and may not be able to graduate with their classmates. Online resources:
Inventing for Good
A group of high school kids from St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, were challenged to take a social problem and solve it with an invention. This week, they presented a prototype of their invention at MIT. Weekend America hears from 15 year old Vicky Thomas, the co-captain of St Paul's team. Online resources:
Music Bridge: Funk Design (Interlude) - Artist: The Free Design
CD: New Sound Redesigned (Light in the Attic)
A Change in the Church
Three years ago, the Episcopal church under Bishop Frank Griswold's leadership, decided to consecrate its first openly gay bishop. Weekend America's Barbara Bogaev talks with Griswold, who is attending the church's tri-annual convention in Columbus, Ohio, about his tenure and about causing waves within the church. Bishop Griswold will be stepping down in the fall, and the church is set to choose a new leader this weekend. Music Bridge: Chaconne In G Minor (Interlude) - Artist: Moondog
CD: The Viking of Sixth Avenue (Honest Jons/Astralwerks)
Maiden Voyage, Part 2
It's summertime and people are taking to the highways for vacation. Bill Radke checks in with a family who have never been outside of Michigan as they hit the road. At least, that's the story they tell. Online resources:
Music Bridge: Little Dance - Artist: Tom Verlaine
CD: Instrumentals (Thrill Jockey)
Live and Let Die
Seven years ago, then-Texas-governor George W. Bush signed a bill into law that provided specific directions to help deal with cases where a patient or a patient's loved ones and a physician couldn't agree about whether to continue life support. This week, that law has been put to the test in the case of a 10 month old infant. Weekend America correspondent Alex Cohen has the story. Online Resources:
» The Texas Advance Directives Act
» The Wikipedia definition of the Texas Advance Directives Act» The Not Dead Yet disability coalition » Texas Right to Life » Children's Medical Center in Dallas, Texas is where Daniel is now
The Ethics of Everest
When dozens of climbers on Mount Everest passed a mountaineer and left him to die a few weeks back, a public debate was ignited. How could so many people leave a man in peril and proceed to climb the mountain? We learned that it's not uncommon for climbers to push past another who seems beyond hope to achieve their own dream to reach Everest's summit. Weekend America's Bill Radke talks with Daniel Mazur, who did what many wouldn't-stop to save another climber in trouble. Online resources: Music Bridge: Wonderplucks - Artist: Freeform
CD: Outside In (Skam)
Weekend Weather
Weekend America's John Moe takes a look at the weather and Saturday happenings all across the country. » Event information
Meet My Dad
Weekend America meets Myron Miller. Before Miller became a father, he led a remarkable life. His parents died before he was five years old, he grew up during the Depression and he fought in World War II. His son Jon knew all this but didn't fully appreciate his father until he accompanied him on his twice weekly volunteer rounds in this Father's Day appreciation. |
For the June 17, 2006 broadcast:
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... on our December 15 broadcast:
» Weekend America
Enhanced 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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From the July 5 broadcast
Auburn, N.Y.
Potosi, Wis.
Bruce, S.D.
Newport, Ore.
Fort Davis, Texas
Wailuku, Hawaii