HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC – VOA’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish.
(HEME)
This is Doug Johnson. On our program today:
We play music by Shemekia Copeland …
answer a question about lie detectors …
and tell about a book festival held recently in Washington, D.C.
National Book Festival
HOST:
Earlier this month, twenty-five-thousand people gathered inWashington, D-C. to celebrate reading and story-telling. The Libraryof Congress and President Bush’s wife Laura Bush organized theevent. Shep O’Neal tells us more about the first National BookFestival.
ANNCR:
Missus Bush invited everyone at the National Book Festival totake pleasure in the written word — and so they did. Many peoplestood on the steps of the Library of Congress. They filled severalrooms in the huge library. Other people stood or sat under tentsclose to the nearby United States Capitol.
The Festival offered something for everyone. People of all agesheard readings and discussions by famous writers, history expertsand poets. They listened to musicians from Navajo Indian country andthe South Carolina Sea Islands. The Pan Masters Steel Orchestraplayed the lively rhythms of the Caribbean Islands.
National Basketball Association players urged people to read.Storybook characters like Peter Rabbit welcomed children and theirfamilies.
Visitors to the National Book Festival could hear presentationsby almost sixty writers and artists. Many people heard John HopeFranklin. He has written more than twenty books about AfricanAmerican history.
Other popular speakers included mystery writers Sue Grafton andNevada Barr. Mizz Grafton has written sixteen books about aCalifornia woman private investigator. Mizz Barr has written ninebooks about a woman who works in American national parks.
People also crowded into a large Library of Congress hall to hearpoetry. University of Maryland professor Michael Collier read fromhis works. Mister Collier is the official poet of the state ofMaryland.
Several other poets who read their work also had served in thatposition. They included Lucille Clifton. Some of Mizz Clinton’s bestknown poems deal with the lives and struggles of African Americanwomen.
Lie Detectors
HOST:
Our VOA listener question this week comes from Ukraine. VladimirMarchuk asks about a device called a lie detector.
A lie detector is a machine that is designed to show if a personis telling the truth or not. It does this by measuring a person’sbodily reactions while being questioned. It is also known as apolygraph.
American medical student John Larson invented the polygraphmachine in Nineteen-Twenty-One. “Polygraph” means many writings. Thename was chosen because the machine records many body reactionswhile a person answers questions. The machine is based on the ideathat stress produces changes in the body when a person does not tellthe truth.
Taking a lie detector test involves placing several devices ondifferent areas of a person’s body. Rubber tubes on the chest andstomach record breathing. Two small metal plates attached to thefingers measure sweat gland activity. A device on the arm measuresblood pressure. The body’s reactions are recorded by another device.
During a lie detector test, an expert first asks a series ofquestions that show how the person’s body reacts when giving trueand false answers. Then the expert asks the important questions. Allthis takes about two hours. Later, the expert reads the informationand decides if the person answered the questions truthfully or not.
Lie detectors are used in the United States mostly by lawenforcement agencies. Lawyers also sometimes use them.
There is much debate about the use of a lie detector. Some peoplebelieve it violates a person’s privacy. Many people do not believeit really can tell if a person is lying or not. The AmericanPolygraph Association says a trained expert can tell most times ifthe person has lied. But even that organization admits that mistakeshappen.
Polygraph results generally are not considered legal evidence inmost United States courts. They are permitted in some courts and insome states. Some areas of the country have banned the use of liedetector tests as evidence. The Supreme Court has not yet ruledabout the use of lie detector test results in the American legalsystem.
Shemekia Copeland
HOST:
In August, Down Beat Magazine asked music critics to choose thebest jazz and blues musicians. Almost all agreed that blues singerShemekia Copeland should receive more recognition. Shirley Griffithtells us about her.
ANNCR:
Shemekia Copeland did not want to be a singer. Her father was thegreat blues guitarist, Johnny Clyde Copeland. He recognized hisdaughter’s ability when she was just a child. In fact, she firstperformed in public when she was only eight years old at New YorkCity’s famous Cotton Club.
When she was fifteen years old, Mizz Copeland says she not onlywanted to sing, but she needed to sing. She has now produced twoalbums of blues music. The most recent is called “Wicked.” Listen toShemekia Copeland sing “The Fool You’re Looking For.”
((CUT ONE: “THE FOOL YOU’RE LOOKING FOR”))
Shemekia Copeland says no one wants to hear you sing just becauseyou want to sell more records or make more money. She says peoplewill only listen to you if they know you have to sing, that singingis a part of your soul.
Shemekia Copeland says she has to sing the blues. She says manyyoung people do not like blues music. However, they love it afterthey see and hear her sing.
We leave you now with another Shemekia Copeland song. This one iscalled “It’s My Own Tears.”
((CUT TWO: “IT’S MY OWN TEARS))
HOST:
This is Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. And Ihope you will join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC-VOA’sradio magazine in Special English.
This AMERICAN MOSAIC program was written by Nancy Steinbach, Paul Thompson and Jerilyn Watson. Our studio engineer was Tom Verba. Andour producer was Paul Thompson.