HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC – VOA’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish.
(THEME)
This is Doug Johnson. On our program today …
We play some patriotic songs …
answer a question about Thanksgiving …
and report about the Emmy Awards for the best American televisionprograms.
The Emmy Awards & “The West Wing”
HOST:
The American Academy of Television Arts and Sciences postponedits yearly Emmy Award ceremony two times this year because of theterrorist attacks in September. It finally presented the awards lastweek. The Emmys honor the best American television programs. ShirleyGriffith tells us about the awards.
ANNCR:
A program called “The West Wing” won the Emmy Award for bestdrama series. It also won the best drama Emmy last year.
“The West Wing” is about people who work in the White House forthe President of the United States. The people in the show are notreal. But the issues they discuss are real. For example, in the showbroadcast last week, the President is discussing the gun controlissue with his Vice President. Martin Sheen plays the President. TimMathieson is the Vice President.
((TAPE CUT 1:
VP: You want to send me to Texas?
P: It’s what Texans do…you know, a decade ago we passed a fewnational gun control laws, then the gun control lobby turned itsback on Congress and started focusing on the states. The N-R-Asystematically worked the legislatures to weaken conceal and carrylaws, the effect of which is to increase gun sales and pad its ownmembership.
VP: Well, I don’t necessarily agree with that…
P (interrupts): The National Conference of State Legislatures ismeeting next weekend at the Convention Center in San Antonio.
VP: You want me to go to Texas and speak for you.
P: Yeah.
VP: ‘Cause that’s what Texans do.
P: It’s also what Vice Presidents do. ))
“The West Wing” won several other Emmy awards this year. Theseincluded the best supporting actor award to Bradley Whitford forplaying a presidential adviser. Actress Allison Janney won the bestsupporting actress Emmy for playing the President’s press secretary.
Mizz Janney said she felt proud to be part of a show thatcelebrates the process of freedom that makes the United Statesgreat. The Academy also honored people from the television industrywho died in the terrorist attacks. One of these was Emmy winnerDavid Angell, who wrote for the popular comedy shows “Frasier” and”Cheers”.
Thanksgiving
HOST:
Our VOA listener question this week comes from listeners in Maliand Brazil. Mahamadou Modibo Kante and Renato Francisco Amaral askabout the American holiday called Thanksgiving.
Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving next Thursday, Novembertwenty-second. It is a day for giving thanks to God, families andfriends for all the good things that have happened in the past year.
Settlers in America began observing days of thanks hundreds ofyears ago. But most Americans link the first Thanksgiving Day to agroup of people called Pilgrims. They arrived in what is now thenortheastern United States in Sixteen-Twenty. Soon, more than halfhad died of disease or lack of food.
Those who survived held a day of thanksgiving in the autumn ofSixteen-Twenty-One. They thanked God for protecting them. They alsothanked the Native American Indians. The Indians helped save thePilgrims by showing them how to fish and plant crops. The Pilgrimsfeasted for three days. About ninety Indians joined the celebration.They ate deer, ducks, geese, and turkeys.
The modern holiday of Thanksgiving is the result of the effortsof Sarah Hale. She was a writer and editor in the NineteenthCentury. She believed all Americans should give thanks on the sameday.
Sarah Hale worked for many years to establish a national holidayfor this purpose. She published articles and gave speeches. Shewrote letters to state governments and presidents. Finally,President Abraham Lincoln approved her idea. InEighteen-Sixty-Three, he declared the last Thursday in November as anational holiday of Thanksgiving. Later, Congress declared theholiday would be celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November.
Today, friends and family members gather together forThanksgiving. They may attend religious services … take part in aparade … watch sports events on television. And almost everyonedoes what the Pilgrims did. They have a feast. On Thanksgiving,Americans eat some of the same foods the Pilgrims ate – turkey,sweet potatoes, squash, corn, cranberries and pumpkin pie.
Patriotic Songs CD
HOST:
Americans have always liked songs about their country. Since theterrorist attacks, they are singing them more often than ever. A newrecord album includes many of these songs. Money earned from thesale of the album goes to a fund for the victims of the World TradeCenter attack. Jim Tedder has more.
ANNCR:
The name of the album is “God Bless America.” That is also thename of the first song on the album. The song “God Bless America”has become extremely popular since the terrorist attacks. It waswritten by Irving Berlin in Nineteen-Eighteen. Irving Berlin wasborn in Russia. The song expresses his love and thanks to the UnitedStates for giving him a chance to succeed. Celine Dion sings ithere.
((CUT 1: GOD BLESS AMERICA))
Another song on the album is “America the Beautiful.” KatherineLee Bates wrote the words to the song in Eighteen-Ninety-Three.Samuel Ward Howe wrote the music. Here Frank Sinatra sings it.
((CUT 2: AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL))
No record about patriotic songs would be complete without theofficial song of the United States, “The Star- Spangled Banner.”Francis Scott Key wrote the words in Eighteen-Fourteen, following abattle during the War of Eighteen-Twelve. Later, music was added tohis poem. We leave you now with the National Anthem of the UnitedStates, performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
((CUT 3: THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER))
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.
Remember to write us with your questions about American life. Wewill try to answer them on future programs. Listeners whosequestions are chosen will receive a Random House Webster’s CollegeDictionary.
Send your questions to American Mosaic, Special English, Voice ofAmerica, Washington, D.C. two-zero-two-three-seven, USA. Or use acomputer to e-mail your question to “Mosaic at V-O-A news dot com”.Please include your name and postal address. This AMERICAN MOSAICprogram was written by Nancy Steinbach. Our studio engineer was TomVerba. And our producer was Paul Thompson.