HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC – VOA’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish.
(THEME)
This is Doug Johnson. On our program today we:
Play music by some new members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame…
Answer a question about a memorial light in New York City …
And celebrate National Women’s History Month.
Women’s History Month
HOST:
March is National Women’s HistoryMonth. It honors women who have improved life in the United States.The National Women’s History Project is one organization that honorswomen this month. It was established in Nineteen-Eighty to recordand recognize women’s influence on society. It is honoring six womenthis year. Shep O’Neal tells us about them.
ANNCR:
The six women being honored are all more than seventy years old.They have worked to keep history and cultural traditions alive andto improve people’s lives.
Historian Gerda Lerner was born to a Jewish family in Vienna,Austria in Nineteen-Twenty. She came to the United States inNineteen-Thirty-Eight after resisting Nazi oppression. Miz Lernerhelped establish women’s history as an important subject for study.In Nineteen-Eighty-One, she became the first woman in fifty years tohead the Organization of American Historians.
Native American storyteller Mary Louise Defender Wilson is beinghonored for helping keep alive the spirit of the Dakotah-Hidatsatribes. She has traveled around the United States to tell storiesabout heroes, birds, plants and animals.
Human rights activist Dorothy Height is also being honored thismonth. She was born in Nineteen-Twelve. Mizz Height helped lead theAmerican civil rights movement during the Nineteen-Sixties. She ledthe National Council of Negro Women for more than forty years.
Labor leader Dolores Huerta has worked to improve conditions forfarm workers who must travel to different areas of the country topick crops. With activist Cesar Chavez, she established and led theUnited Farm Workers Union.
Congresswoman Patsy Mink is also being honored. Her grandparentsmoved to the American state of Hawaii from Japan. She became thefirst Asian-American woman elected to Congress. She has worked forequal educational chances for women. Mizz Mink has representedHawaii in the House of Representatives for twelve terms.
Sportswoman Alice Coachman was the first African-American womanto win an Olympic gold medal. She broke the record for the high-jumpevent in the Nineteen-Forty-Eight Olympic Games in London.
Each of these women is being recognized by lawmakers in her homestate with a special party in her honor. And all their stories arebeing told in schools and other education centers around thecountry.
Tribute in Light
HOST:
Our VOA listener question thisweek comes from Vietnam. Chu Mong Hung asks about the Tribute inLight in New York City.
Tribute in Light is the name for two tall beams of lightextending into the night sky over New York City. The lightsre-create the image of the two World Trade Center buildings. Thelights appear as the two huge buildings did before they weredestroyed in the September eleventh terrorist attacks. The lightsare also a temporary memorial to the more thantwo-thousand-eight-hundred people who were killed in the attacks.
Experts say the lights extend up to three kilometers high. Peoplecan see the lights from as many as thirty-two kilometers away.
The project was the idea of two building designers and twoartists. The two teams joined together when they learned of eachothers’ work.
The towers of light are produced by eighty-eight individualhigh-power lamps on the ground near the ruins of the Trade Centerbuildings. New York’s electric company is providing the lightwithout charge.
The Tribute in Light was first lit at a ceremony on Marcheleventh, six months after the terrorist attack. Twelve-year-oldValerie Webb lit the Tribute in Light. Her father was a policeofficer who was killed in the attack. Her mother died two years ago.
The towers of light will shine every night until Aprilthirteenth. Later, a permanent memorial will be built.
The newspaper USA Today published some peoples’ reactions to theTribute in Light. Some people said the lights cannot replace thebuildings. Others said it was a good way to remember them.
One woman said looking at the towers of light fills an emptinessshe feels each day when she sees that the World Trade Centerbuildings are not there.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
HOST:
Several famous recording artists were named to the Rock and RollHall of Fame last week during a ceremony in New York City. The Hallof Fame has been honoring rock and roll singers and songwriters forseventeen years. Musicians can become members of the Rock and RollHall of Fame twenty-five years after their first recordings. MaryTillotson tells us about the new members.
ANNCR:
A group called the Ramones becamea member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last week. They performedwhat is called “punk rock.” Perhaps you remember their song, “IWanna Be Sedated.”
((CUT 1: “I WANNA BE SEDATED”))
Two other groups were chosen for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.They are The Talking Heads and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.Singer Gene Pitney, musician Chet Atkins and record producer JimStewart also were made members of the Hall of Fame.
The only woman to become a memberof the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year is Brenda Lee. She singsmostly country music today, but started out singing popular music asa child. Brenda Lee recorded one of her best known songs before shewas sixteen years old. It is “I’m Sorry.”
((CUT 2: “I’M SORRY”))
Another new member of the Rock andRoll Hall of Fame is African American performer Isaac Hayes. He isprobably best known for the theme song from the hit movie “Shaft.”He performed that song at the Hall of Fame ceremonies in New York.We leave you now with Isaac Hayes’ recording of the “Theme fromShaft.”
((CUT 3: THEME FROM “SHAFT”))
HOST:
This is Doug Johnson . I hope you enjoyed our program today. AndI hope 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 andJerilyn Watson. Our studio engineer was Tom Verba. And our producerwas Paul Thompson.