HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC — VOA’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish.
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This is Doug Johnson. On our program today:
We play music by Heather Headley …
Answer a listener’s question about the United States court system…
And report about a book festival in Washington, D.C.
Book Festival
HOST:
On October twelfth, more thanforty-thousand people gathered in Washington, D-C to see neweducational technology and to hear writers speak about their books.The Library of Congress and President Bush’s wife, Laura Bush,organized the event. Steve Ember tells us more about the secondNational Book Festival.
ANNCR:
Large crowds visited tents on the National Mall and the West Lawnof the Capitol building. People of all ages heard music, enjoyedfood and listened to readings. More than sixty writers and artiststook part.
This year, the Library of Congress wanted to show its progress indeveloping technology that helps researchers and the public. Libraryworkers used computers to show visitors how to electronically searchthe library’s collection.
Director of Public Services Diane Kresh said visitors can nowreach librarians on the Internet’s World Wide Web. They can askquestions and get answers immediately. She said aboutone-thousand-million people use the collection of the Library ofCongress. Most use computers.
At the book festival, some of the most popular talks were givenby writers of history. David Halberstam spoke about his book”Firehouse.” The book tells the story of the firefighters who diedin the World Trade Center attack last year. Mister Halberstam toldabout their heroism in life and their sacrifice in death.
Erik Weihenmayer is the first blind person to climb MountEverest. He wrote the book, “Touch the Top of the World,” about hisexperiences. He is also a very good speaker. People laughed at hisjokes as he made fun of himself and people’s difficulties in dealingwith the blind.
Nancy Milford spoke about her unusual experience researching herbook “Savage Beauty.” The book tells about the life of poet EdnaSaint Vincent Millay. Mizz Milford showed that Mizz Millay was oncea very popular poet. Yet, today she is almost forgotten.
The final speaker at the book festival was David McCullough. Hewon two Pulitzer Prizes for writing books called biographies thattell about the lives of real people. He praised Laura Bush forhelping to organize the event. Mister McCullough spoke about what hethought made a good biography. He said, “You can have all the facts,but still miss the truth.” He said we must always remember the humanside of history.
U.S. Court System
HOST:
Our VOA listener question this week comes from China. Baoming Shiasks about America’s courts of law.
The United States court systemincludes federal and state courts. Federal courts deal with criminaland civil actions involving the United States Constitution orfederal laws. Federal courts try cases involving the United Statesgovernment. They hear cases between people from different states andcases involving other countries or their citizens. They also hearcases involving situations that took place on the sea and violationsof ownership rights.
Each state has at least one federal district court. Districtcourts are the first courts to hear cases involving violations offederal laws. Then the cases may be heard again in appeals courts.The United States is divided into twelve district areas. Each onehas a court of appeals. There is also a federal court of appeals.
The federal court system also includes special courts. They trycases involving claims against the federal government, tax disputes,and military questions.
State courts receive their power from state constitutions andlaws. The first court that hears a case involving a state law islocal, such as a county court. Other local courts hear only one kindof case. For example, small claims courts try cases involving smallamounts of money. Probate courts handle family financial situationsfollowing a death. Other special courts deal with traffic accidentsand disputes among family members.
Higher state courts are known as circuit courts or superiorcourts. These hear more serious cases. The decisions from thesecases may be appealed to an even higher court. The highest court inmost states is its supreme court.
The highest court in the nation is the United States SupremeCourt. It decides questions concerning the Constitution. It alsodecides cases involving foreign ambassadors and disputes betweenstates. A person who loses a case in a federal appeals court or inthe highest state court may appeal to the Supreme Court. If theSupreme Court agrees to re-examine the case, its decision will befinal. The only way to change a Supreme Court ruling on theConstitution is to change the Constitution. The only way to overturna ruling on a federal law is to approve a new law.
To learn more about the United States Supreme Court, listen tothe VOA Special English program THIS IS AMERICA on Monday.
Heather Headley
HOST:
Singer Heather Headley is atheater performer. She was in one of the most successful musicalplays in Broadway history. Now she has released an album of her own.Mary Tillotson tells us more.
ANNCR:
Heather Headley has performed in two major musical plays onBroadway in New York City. In nineteen-ninety-six, she performed in”The Lion King.” She played the part of Nala, a lion.
Her performance led to a leading role in the Broadway musicalplay “Aida.” “Aida” is the story of a Nubian princess. HeatherHeadley won a Tony Award for that performance. Here she sings partof the song “Elaborate Lives” from the play “Aida.”
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Heather Headley released a new album earlier this month. It iscalled “This is Who I Am.” She worked with some of the best knownproducers in the music industry. They praise her singing. Listen asshe sings “He Is.”
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Heather Headley helped write several songs for her album. Shesays she wants to perform them in concerts. We leave you now withanother song from the album “This is Who I Am.” Here is the song “IWish I Wasn’t.”
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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 Lawan Davis, MarioRitter and Nancy Steinbach. Our studio engineer was Curtis Bynum.And our producer was Paul Thompson.