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HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC — a VOA Special English program aboutmusic and American life. And we answer your questions.
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This is Doug Johnson. This week – some hip-hop music from thenewest album by Mary J. Blige. And a listener wants to know whyAmerica is named for someone other than Christopher Columbus.
But first – we look at a new kind of mob activity that isspreading around the world.
Flash Mobs
HOST:
Have you ever taken part in a flash mob? Do you even know what aflash mob is? Well, here is Shep O’Neal to explain.
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A flash mob is where young peoplesuddenly gather in a large group for no apparent reason. Flash mobscan involve hundreds of people. The people do not all know eachother. But they all meet at the same time, then leave the areaquickly. A flash mob can be held for any reason, but usually just tohave some fun.
The people involved in a flash mob do not know the time or placeof the meeting until just minutes before it takes place. They getthe details from a Web site, or by e-mail or as a text message ontheir wireless phone.
What do people do at flash mobs? Flash mobbers in a store willall ask for the same product. On a street, they may sing a song atthe same time. Or shout meaningless words. Or hug each other. Ormake some kind of noise. Then, just as quickly as they came, theyleave. It all happens in a flash.
Flash mobbing reportedly started in New York City. But some saythe first ones were in Europe. However it got started, flash mobbinghas become popular around the world. Flash mobs have been reportedin Japan, Britain, Germany, New Zealand, and at many colleges anduniversities in America.
The founder of the New York mob is known as Bill. He began with alist of fifty people. The list grew over time. Now, internationalflash mobbers are said to number in the tens of thousands.
Last month, the American cartoonist Gary Trudeau used his”Doonesbury” comic strip to call for a flash mob. He told people togather at the bottom of the Space Needle in Seattle, in the PacificNorthwest. He told them to link arms, form a circle, jump up anddown and yell “the doctor is in!” The purpose of the gathering wasto support Howard Dean, one of the Democratic presidentialcandidates and also a doctor. About one-hundred people went, butsaid it was not a real flash mob since it was not calledelectronically. They say flash mobbing shows how computers and theInternet are linking people.
So, are you ready to join a flash mob? No, we are not going tocall one — not unless you could all get to Washington at the sametime! But we will tell you how to learn more about flash mobs. Thereare Web sites, including flashmob dot com and flashmob dot info.
Columbus Day
HOST:
Our question this week comes by e-mail from China. A listenerasks why America is not named after Christopher Columbus, the firstEuropean to find the New World.
This is a good time to answer that question. Monday is ColumbusDay in the United States. Columbus Day is observed on the secondMonday in October. The holiday honors the first visit to America byColumbus in fourteen-ninety-two. Yet the land is named for someoneelse. Here is the story.
Christopher Columbus visited theNew World three times. Yet he never recognized that he was outsideAsia. He always believed that he had found the Indies. He called thepeople “Indians.”
His voyages were important, though. They opened the area toothers. One of these was an Italian explorer named Amerigo Vespucci.
In fourteen-ninety-nine, Amerigo Vespucci made his first trip towhat is now known as South America. He named many areas. And he madeimportant improvements to navigation during his trip.
Vespucci made another trip a few years later. That was when herecognized that he was not in India, but on a separate continent. Heconfirmed this by following the coast of South America as far southas he could.
Amerigo Vespucci wrote letters about his explorations. Theydescribed the people he found and told how they lived. The letterswere published in many languages and widely read in Europe.
In fifteen-oh-seven, a German mapmaker named Martin Waldseemullerprinted a map with a land he called “America.” He named it afterAmerigo Vespucci. Waldseemuller sold copies of that map all overEurope. People started to use the name America. Later, it was alsoused to describe the area discovered to the north. The last knowncopy of that map, by the way, was recently bought by the Library ofCongress.
Some history experts think these areas of the New World shouldhave been named for Christopher Columbus. But others say it wasright to honor Amerigo Vespucci. After all, he first recognizedthese lands as a separate, new part of the world.
Mary J. Blige
HOST:
Mary J. Blige is often called the queen of hip-hop music. Shebecame popular by singing about love and loss. But her newest albumtakes a new turn. It is called “Love and Life.” Jim Tedder has more.
ANNCR:
The songs of Mary J. Blige have always told of the painfulexperiences in her life. The thirty-two-year-old singer and hersister were raised alone by their mother. They lived in a poorneighborhood just outside New York City. In this song from her firstalbum, Mary J. Blige sings of searching for “real love.”
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By her second album, Mary J. Blige was recognized for hersongwriting skills. She sang about bad relationships and drug use.
In two-thousand-one, she released an album called “No MoreDrama.” In the title song, she sings of living a better life.
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Mary J. Blige has recorded sixalbums in all since nineteen-ninety-two. Her newest one, “Love andLife,” is different from all the others. The words to her songs donot include so much pain. She has happier things to sing about. Shesays drugs and alcohol are behind her now. And she is going to bemarried.
We leave you with a song from her new album. Here is “Love atFirst Sight.”
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HOST:
This is Doug Johnson. Our program was written by Lawan Davis andNancy Steinbach. Our producer was Paul Thompson. And our engineerwas Eva Nenicka.
I hope you enjoyed AMERICAN MOSAIC. Join us again next week forVOA’s radio magazine in Special English.