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Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.
This is Doug Johnson.
On our show this week: some music from the band called Phish.
And a listener wants to know about American political parties.
But first, we report about some young and successful Americanwomen golfers.
Women In Golf
A fourteen-year-old girl fromHawaii is making big news in women’s golf. Some people thinkMichelle Wie [pronounced wee] is not only good enough to competewith professional women golfers. They think she is good enough tocompete with the men, too. Shep O’Neal has more.
SHEP O’NEAL: This year, Michele Wie finished thirteenth in theUnited States Women’s Open golf competition. She had the same scoreas another young non-professional player, seventeen-year-old PaulaCreamer.
Michele Wie is one of the young players who is changing women’sgolf. The only difference is that she is the youngest. A year ago,she became the youngest player to win a United States GolfAssociation championship. She won the United States Women’s AmateurPublic Links Championship. That competition decides the bestnon-professional player who is not a member of a private golf club.At the time, she was only thirteen years old.
At the Public Links Championship this year, Michele Wie lost inthe final to Taiwanese player Ya-Ni Tseng. But Michele has a lot tolook forward to. She was the youngest player to be permitted to playin the United States Women’s Open. And she will be back next yearbecause of her finish in the top twenty.
Michele wants to compete with professional male golfers. Herfather says she wants to compete in the two-thousand-five Men’sUnited States Open. Michele has already played in a men’sprofessional event, the Sony Open in Hawaii. She came within oneshot of entering in the second level of the competition. This meansshe played better than many professional male players.
Some sports writers say the number of skilled young players inwomen’s golf has increased. They say younger players startedaffecting the game a few years ago. South Korean player Se Ri Pakwon the United States Women’s Open and the Ladies Professional GolfAssociation Championship in nineteen-ninety-eight. She was onlynineteen years old.
But older players are still doing well. At the recent Women’sUnited States Open, Meg Mallon scored eleven shots better than thetwo young players, Michele Wie and Paula Creamer. But that shouldnot be too much of a surprise. Meg Mallon started playingprofessional golf before either of those young ladies was born.
Major American Political Parties
DOUG JOHNSON: Our VOA listenerquestion this week comes from Jordan. Mohamed Issa Amer All Dan asksabout the establishment of the two major political parties in theUnited States.
This is a good time to answer that question. The Democratic Partywill hold its presidential nominating convention next week in thenortheastern city of Boston, Massachusetts. At the convention, theDemocratic Party will officially nominate Massachusetts Senator JohnKerry as its presidential candidate. The vice-presidential candidatewill be North Carolina Senator John Edwards.
The Democratic Party is the olderof the two major American political parties. Thomas Jeffersonfounded the party in seventeen-ninety-two. It was first called theDemocratic-Republican Party. Thomas Jefferson was the first memberof the party to be elected President, in eighteen-hundred. Ineighteen-forty-four, the party changed its name to the DemocraticParty.
Democrats today say their party became an important force inAmerican politics in the nineteen-hundreds. They say the partyrepresents the idea that government should be used to help solvesocial problems. They also say the party supports equal opportunityfor all citizens – the chance for everyone to succeed.
The Republican Party began in the early eighteen-fifties as aresult of efforts by anti-slavery activists and others. They wantedthe government to give western lands to settlers free of charge.Delegates to the party’s first official meeting ineighteen-fifty-four chose the name Republican for two reasons. Itsuggested the idea of equal rights for all. And it led people tothink of Thomas Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party.
The Republicans became a national party in eighteen-fifty-sixwhen they nominated John Fremont as presidential candidate. He didnot win. But four years later, Abraham Lincoln became the firstRepublican President.
Republicans today say their party was responsible for banningslavery, guaranteeing all Americans equal legal protections andgiving African-Americans voting rights. They also say it played aleading part in giving women the right to vote. The Republican Partysays its members believe that citizens, not government, can make thebest decisions. The Republican Party nominating convention willbegin in New York City at the end of August. The party’s nomineeswill be President George Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney.
Phish Breaks Up
DOUG JOHNSON: The popular bandPhish is breaking up after twenty years together. Gwen Outen hasmore about the band, spelled P-H-I-S-H.
GWEN OUTEN: Critics say that people are either greatly affectedby the group’s decision to quit, or are not affected at all. That isbecause Phish was not really interested in recording. The fourmembers of the group were more interested in becoming greatmusicians. They loved to perform and just wanted to play music. Hereis an example, the song “Maze.”
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Most people who like Phish’s music are about thirty years old oryounger. Many follow the band from city to city. They enjoy thegroup’s concerts and also trade recordings of the shows. Here is amore recent Phish song, “Forty-Six Days”:
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Phish is now performing in many American cities on its finaltour. Reports say that all the tickets to the band’s final two showsnext month are already sold. About seventy-thousand people willattend the final concert August fifteenth in the band’s home stateof Vermont. We leave you now with the song that some Phish fans saytruly shows what the group is all about. It is called “You EnjoyMyself.”
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DOUG JOHNSON: This is Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed AMERICANMOSAIC. Join us again next week for VOA’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish.
Our program was written by Mario Ritter and Nancy Steinbach. CatyWeaver was the producer. And our engineer was Jim Sleeman.