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DOUG JOHNSON: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.
This is Doug Johnson. On our show this week:
Country music from Big and Rich …
A question from Nigeria about some place names …
And a report about an award for children’s writer Judy Blume.
Judy Blume
American children’s writer JudyBlume has won many awards. Her books have sold more thanseventy-five million copies. They have been published in more thantwenty languages. Now the National Book Foundation will honor herwith its two thousand four Medal for Distinguished Contribution toAmerican Letters. Faith Lapidus has more about Judy Blume and herbooks.
FAITH LAPIDUS: Judy Blume is sixty-six years old. But bookcritics say this grandmother has never forgotten what it feels liketo be a child. She writes mostly about the struggles of growing up.She published her first such book in nineteen sixty-nine.
Judy Blume says she writes about real life and real feelings. Andshe says children recognize themselves and their own problems in herbooks. These are problems like not having friends. Or worrying aboutphysical development. Or being afraid to grow up. Some of thechildren in her books are trying to understand why their parentshave separated. Others are not sure about their religious beliefs.
Not everyone praises Judy Blume, however. Some parents feel thatchildren should not read about some of the subjects that she writesabout. Her books have often been removed from libraries or placed inrestricted areas as a result of challenges by parents. The AmericanLibrary Association says five of her books are among the one hundredmost frequently challenged books.
Not surprisingly, Judy Blume is active against censorship. Shesays people try to ban books because it satisfies their need to feelin control of their children’s lives. She says they think ifchildren don’t read about a subject, they won’t know about it. Sheargues that children need to know about ideas different from thoseof their parents.
Judy Blume is the first writer of young-adult literature toreceive the National Book Foundation medal. This honor wasestablished in nineteen eighty-eight. It will be given at theNational Books Awards ceremony in New York City in November.
Country, Nation, State: What’s the Difference?
DOUG JOHNSON: Our VOA listener question this week comes fromKatsina State, Nigeria. Shamsu Rabiu Galadunchi would like to knowthe difference between a country and a nation. Our listener alsoasks how a town, a district, a city, a suburb and a state aredifferent.
This is a good question, because some of these terms have similarmeanings or mean more than one thing.
The American Heritage Dictionary, for example, says a nation is a”relatively large group of people organized under a single, usuallyindependent government; a country.” Now this is how the definitionfor country begins: “a. A nation or state. b. The territory of anation or state … (and) c. The people of a nation or state.”
So you see how nation and country can often mean the same thing.The United States, for example, could be called either a country ora nation. It could also be called a state.
Internationally, a country is defined as a state. The word statecan also mean the highest political power within a country, as wellas an area of territory with a country. The United States has fiftystates, such as Texas, Oregon and Michigan.
The Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary says a city is aplace “of greater size, population or importance than a town orvillage.” A suburb is an area outside a city. People who live in asuburb may or may not work in the city. But most usually do. Anexample of a suburb is Bellevue, Washington, in the PacificNorthwest. It is next to the city of Seattle.
An example of a town is Hampden, Massachusetts. About fivethousand people live there.
A district can mean a legal division of an area for a purpose,like a school district. It can also be a name given to an areawithin a city because of local ties to an industry or activity.Chicago, for example, has an area known as the Meat PackingDistrict.
Another kind of district is Washington, D.C. D.C. is the Districtof Columbia. It was created with land from two states, Virginia andMaryland, to serve as the home of the federal government.
Big and Rich
DOUG JOHNSON: Big Kenny and JohnRich, two new stars in country music, met six years ago inNashville, Tennessee. Bob Doughty has the story of Big & Rich.
BOB DOUGHTY: Kenny Alphin, known as “Big” Kenny, was performingat a club. John Rich went to see the show. He must have liked whathe heard, because soon the two men were writing songs together. Theyformed a band. Their first single, “Wild West Show,” came out earlythis year.
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In May, Big & Rich released an album. “Horse of a DifferentColor” took about four months to reach number one on the countrymusic charts. Here is the first song on that recording. It’s called”Rollin’ (The Ballad of Big & Rich).”
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Big & Rich are nominated for two Country Music Associationawards, including Duo of the Year. The C.M.A. Awards ceremony isNovember ninth at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville.
We leave you with another song from Big & Rich. This one iscalled “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy).”
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DOUG JOHNSON: This is Doug Johnson. Before we go, we want tofollow up on our report earlier this month about the history of theformer punk rock band The Ramones. On September fifteenth JohnnyRamone died. He had prostate cancer. He was fifty-five years old.
This program was written by Brian Kim, Nancy Steinbach and CatyWeaver. Paul Thompson was our producer. And our engineer was JimSleeman.
I hope you enjoyed AMERICAN MOSAIC. Our e-mail address ismosaic@voanews.com. Join us again next week for VOA’s radio magazinein Special English.