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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 Steve Ember. This week:
Beyonce Knowles of Destiny’s Child is out with some music of herown.
A question about what Lee Iacocca is doing these days, now that he is no longer heading a major car company.
But first, a report about living the wild life in New York.
Pale Male
HOST:
Do you know any famous birds? Big Bird from Sesame Street and thecartoon character Woody Woodpecker come to mind. But, in New York, areal bird has been famous for years. Hundreds of people follow hisevery move. Shep O’Neal tells us more about the bird they call PaleMale.
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Pale Male is a red-tailed hawk. Ahawk is a fierce hunting bird. It kills small animals, includingother birds, for food. This hawk is called Pale Male because thefront of his chest is almost white. Experts say Pale Male is thefirst hawk known to have moved into New York City. The bright lightsand noise do not seem to bother him.
Pale Male built a nest on the side of a tall building across thestreet from Central Park, an area of nature in the middle of thecity. People who live in the building pay as much as ten or fifteenmillion dollars for their apartments. Pale Male lives there forfree. Many who watch him say he is a smart bird to do what he hasdone.
People who love to watch birds have been observing Pale Male foralmost ten years now. They have watched him raise about twenty younghawks. Pale Male has had four different mates in that time. His matenow is a young female that bird watchers call Lola.
Bird experts say Pale Male is a very good father. He catches foodin Central Park and brings it back to the nest for his chicks. Healso is very good at helping his young hawks learn to fly. He doesthis by flying slowly past the nest as he carries food. The younghawks see the food and want to follow. They begin jumping up anddown, moving their wings.
Bird watchers know when this event is about to happen. Day afterday, they watch the nest from across the street. They watch for thefirst flight of the young hawks. They usually begin watching at fiveo’clock in the morning. They take pictures.
These watchers were rewarded recently. One of the young hawksjumped from the nest and fell for several meters. Slowly, he spreadhis wings and flew out over the trees of Central Park. Momentslater, a second young hawk followed.
Pale Male is the subject of “Red Tails in Love,” a best-sellingbook by Marie Winn. The story is soon to become a major film byproducer Nora Ephron about this red-tailed hawk and the people whowatch him. After that, Pale Male just may be the most famous bird inthe world.
Lee Iacocca
HOST:
Our VOA listener question thisweek comes from Tulskaya Province, Russia. Mikhail Avrutin[ah-VROO-tin] asks about Lee Iacocca, the man well known as a leaderin the American automobile industry.
Lee Iacocca was born in the eastern state of Pennsylvania innineteen-twenty-four. His parents named him Lido Anthony Iacocca. Helater changed his first name for business purposes. He said Lee waseasier to understand and recognize.
His parents had come to the United States from Italy. The familywas poor. He says the ethnic prejudice he faced from others inschool led him to set high goals for himself. He says it also ledhim to recognize people for their abilities, not for their race ornationality.
Lee Iacocca graduated from Lehigh University and did graduatework at Princeton University. His first job was at the Ford MotorCompany. He rose in the organization after improving Ford sales.Later, he led a committee to develop a new kind of car. The resultwas the nineteen-sixty-four Mustang. Lee Iacocca became known as theFather of the Mustang — a very popular car. He became president ofthe Ford Motor Company.
While president of Ford, Lee Iacocca helped develop the minivanand the Pinto, a small car. The Pinto, however, was a fire danger ifhit from behind. Lee Iacocca also became involved in disputes withHenry Ford the third. In July of nineteen-seventy-eight, the companydismissed him. Four months later he went to work for Chrysler.
Chrysler Motors was in financial trouble. Lee Iacocca helped getgovernment loans of more than one-thousand-million dollars. And hereduced his pay to one dollar a year. By nineteen-eighty-three,Chrysler was able to pay back all the loans. Lee Iacocca retiredfrom the company in nineteen-ninety-two.
Many people still remember him from his television appearances ashead of Chrysler to help sell cars. He has also written a number ofbooks about his life.
Most recently, Lee Iacocca started a business to produce newkinds of electric powered vehicles. These include an electricbicycle and a vehicle that Lee Iacocca named the Lido. This is avery small car designed to be used for short trips near home.
Beyonce
HOST:
Members of the rhythm-and-blues group Destiny’s Child have beenmaking records together since nineteen-ninety-seven. Recently thethree members each decided to make a record on their own. KellyRowland and Michelle Williams released their albums last year. Nowit is time for Beyonce Knowles. Phoebe Zimmermann tells us more.
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Beyonce [be-YON-say] Knowles is asinger, songwriter, actress and model. She is one of the foundingmembers of Destiny’s Child. She helped write and produce many hitsongs for the group. She received the ASCAP Pop Songwriter of theYear Award in two-thousand-one for “Say My Name.”
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The first independent project by the performer known simply asBeyonce is called “Dangerously in Love.” She wrote and producedsongs for this album. She worked with performers from severalmusical influences. Here she sings “Crazy in Love” with rapperJay-Z.
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Beyonce also appears on television and in magazines. She was inthe movie “Austin Powers in Goldmember” and an MTV production of”Carmen.” And, later this year, she is in the movie “The FightingTemptations.”
We leave you with another song from “Dangerously in Love.” Thisone is called “Me, Myself and I.”
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HOST:
This is Steve Ember. Do you have a question about American life?Send it to mosaic at v-o-a news dot com. Or write to AmericanMosaic, VOA Special English, Washington, D.C.,two-zero-two-three-seven, USA. If we use your question, we will sendyou a gift. So make sure to give your name and postal address.
Our program was written by Lawan Davis, Nancy Steinbach and PaulThompson — who was also our producer. And our studio engineer wasJim Harmon.
I hope you enjoyed our program! Join us again next week forAMERICAN MOSAIC — VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.