HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC – VOA’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish.
(THEME)
This is Doug Johnson. On our program today:
We play some saxophone music …
answer a question about American life and the movies …
and report about a popular college football coach.
Joe Paterno
HOST:
Most large American universities have football teams. Oneuniversity team has had the same head coach for more than thirtyyears. And he has just broken an important record in the history ofcollege sports. Shirley Griffith has more.
ANNCR:
His name is Joe Paterno. He is the head football coach at thePennsylvania State University in University Park, Pennsylvania. Hehas helped train college football players there sinceNineteen-Fifty. He has been the head coach since Nineteen-Sixty-Six.
On October twenty-seventh, Mister Paterno won histhree-hundred-twenty-fourth game as head coach in college football.That broke a record set by another famous college football coach,Paul “Bear” Bryant. Mister Bryant coached the University of Alabamafootball team from Nineteen-Fifty-Eight to Nineteen-Eighty-Two.
Mister Paterno has now won more football games than any othercoach of a major college in history. Yet, he almost did not become afootball coach at all.
In Nineteen-Fifty, Joe Paterno was planning to study law. But hiscollege football coach offered him a job as an assistant at PennState. He took the job, and has been there ever since. He isseventy-four years old.
Joe Paterno has coached five undefeated teams. His teams have wontwo national championships. He has won the College Football Coach ofthe Year award four times. His players have won many awards, too.Mister Paterno and the players he has coached have won almost everykind of award in college football.
Other coaches and sports reporters have praised Mister Paterno asa leader among college coaches. He has worked for improved educationfor college athletes. He has also provided more than four-milliondollars to the Pennsylvania State University for educationalpurposes.
This year, Mister Paterno’s team has not been as successful as ithas been in the past. Penn State has won only two games so far. YetCoach Paterno says he has no plans to retire. He just wants tocontinue winning.
America & The Movies
HOST:
Our VOA listener question this week comes from Indonesia andChina. Three people asked the same question. They want to know iflife in the United States is like what they see in the movies.
The short answer is no. Movies do not attempt to show the livesof all the people of the United States. Many movies contain sometruth. But even a movie that deals with true subjects represents theideas of the person who wrote it, the people who acted in it and theperson who directed it.
Often, at the beginning of a movie, words on the screen say”Based on a real incident.” That usually means the person who wrotethe movie wrote about something that really happened and then addedaction to make the movie more interesting.
Such American movies might make it seem like violence andcriminal acts are extremely common in the United States. They show afalse image of America and its people.
Many American movies are made for young people in high school orcollege. They tell stories that are funny or that are about sex.That does not mean that these situations are realistic or are aboutthe lives of young people in America.
Over the years, some Americans have tried to ban some kinds ofmovies. These include movies that are violent or show people havingsexual relations. People have taken legal action to stop suchmovies. But court decisions have said that the right to make anykind of movie is protected by the part of the United StatesConstitution that guarantees freedom of speech. In the UnitedStates, people have the right to produce a bad movie or write a badbook.
People who make movies try to provide entertainment andexcitement. Sometimes they succeed. Sometimes they fail. However,entertainment and excitement often have nothing to do with the realworld.
Washington Saxophone Quartet
HOST:
The Washington Saxophone Quartet performs in the nation’s capitaland around the world. This weekend, the group will play at a localchurch. The money earned will go to an organization that provideshot meals to homeless people in Washington. Shep O’Neal tells usmore about this musical group.
ANNCR:
The Washington Saxophone Quartet plays famous music pieces thathave been specially written for four different saxophones. The fourmusicians have been playing together since Nineteen-Seventy-Six.They have shown that four saxophones can produce sounds of manyinstruments.
Their latest album is called “Daydream.” Here they play “Pavane”by French composer Gabriel Faure (Faw-RAY).
((CUT ONE: PAVANE))
The members of the Washington Saxophone Quartet are ReginaldJackson, James Steele, Rick Parrell and Rich Kleinfeldt. You mayrecognize that last name. Rich Kleinfeldt worked at the Voice ofAmerica for many years. He was an editor, classical music programhost, and Special English announcer.
The Washington Saxophone Quartet plays many different kinds ofmusic. This piece is called “Oblivion.” It was written by AstorPiazzolla, who was called Argentina’s “King of Tango.”
((CUT TWO: OBLIVION))
The Washington Saxophone Quartet also plays modern music piecesby famous American composers. We leave you now with “Lullaby” byGeorge Gershwin.
((CUT THREE: LULLABY))
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 Shelley Gollust,Mario Ritter and Paul Thompson. Our studio engineer was Tom Verba.And our producer was Paul Thompson.