2004-11-11
(MUSIC)
DOUG JOHNSON: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.
This is Doug Johnson. On our show this week:
Music by Lalah and Donny Hathaway ...
A listener question about the
White House ...
And an international organization known as "Sweet Potato Queens."
Sweet Potato Queens
HOST:
A few years ago, Jill Conner Browne had to work at four jobs to
pay her debts. Today, she is a writer whose books have sold almost
two million copies. She also leads an international movement. Shep
O'Neal tells us more.
SHEP O'NEAL: Jill Conner Browne started an organization called
Sweet Potato Queens. Its purpose is friendship and fun. Thousands of
people belong to the Sweet Potato Queens. Most are women. Sweet
potatoes grow in the American South.
During the past five years, four thousand groups of Sweet Potato
Queens have organized in the United States and in foreign countries,
including Saudi Arabia. Members share interests in food, love and
life after forty years of age.
Mizz Browne started her Sweet Potato Queens movement on Saint
Patrick's Day, nineteen eighty-two. A friend had organized a parade
to celebrate the holiday in Jackson, Mississippi, Jill Conner
Browne's hometown.
Browne rode in an open truck wearing extremely unusual clothing.
Her appearance surprised other drivers. She called to other women,
urging them to join her. On that day, few did.
But later, she made copies of the unusual clothing. She put
together shining green costumes with material that makes the chest
and lower back look bigger. Over her own hair, she wore a bright red
wig.
After that, many other women joined the celebration. Now, the
Sweet Potato Queens take part every year in the Saint Patrick's Day
parade in Jackson. Before long, local groups of her organization
formed throughout the world.
Mizz Browne's first book was published in nineteen ninety-nine.
It is called "The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love." In it, she
offers observations about what she calls "issues." These include the
four main food groups. And how to wear one's hair. The book also
lists words she says are guaranteed to get any man to do what you
want. The book was a big success. So she wrote three more books.
Jill Conner Browne' s latest book is called "The Sweet Potato
Queens' Field Guide to Men: Every Man I Love is Either Married, Gay
or Dead."
The White House
DOUG JOHNSON: Our listener question this week comes from Nigeria.
Barrister Ikechukwu Edwin Ike asks why the United States capitol
building is called the White House.
The short answer to that question is that the United States
capitol building is not called the White House. The capitol building
has a dome-shaped roof that rises above all the other buildings in
Washington, D.C. The two houses of Congress, the Senate and the
House of Representatives, meet in the Capitol building.
The building known as the White House is the home of the
President of the United States and his family. The President also
has his office there.
America's first President, George Washington, helped choose the
land for the new presidential home in seventeen ninety. A
competition was held to find a designer to build it. Architect James
Hoban won the contest. He planned a building of grayish white
sandstone. The color gave the house its name.
Work started in seventeen ninety-two. But the house was not ready
before the end of President Washington's term. America's second
President, John Adams, and his wife, Abigail, moved into the house
on November first, eighteen hundred. By then, the building had six
completed rooms.
Many of the rooms were still empty when John Adams left office a
few months later. Other Presidents tried to complete the White
House. But the British burned it during the War of Eighteen Twelve.
The White House was re-built after that war. Since then, it has been
enlarged, repaired and almost totally re-built.
Today, the White House has one hundred thirty-two rooms. Visitors
can walk through some of the public ones.
Visiting has been restricted since the terrorist attacks three
years ago. But anyone with a computer can make an electronic visit
to the White House. You can see the public rooms, and the Oval
Office, where the President does his work.
The Internet address is www.whitehouse.gov. White House is all
one word.
Lalah and Donny Hathaway
Singer and songwriter Lalah Hathaway says music has always been a
major part of her life. Her father was the rhythm-and-blues singer
Donny Hathaway. Shirley Griffith has our story.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Lalah Hathaway released her first album in
nineteen ninety. The smoky sound of her voice captured music critics
and fans. Her singing is similar to the way her father sang.
Here is "We Were Two" from her recent album, "Outrun the Sky."
(MUSIC)
Lalah Hathaway says the songs on her new album are about learning
to deal with the joys of life, and the unhappiness. Her father
suffered from depression. In nineteen seventy-nine, he killed
himself.
Donny Hathaway had a brief musical career. But he is remembered
as one of the greatest soul singers of all time. His music is still
influential and popular.
Lalah Hathaway says it seems unreal that her father has a new
album twenty-five years after his death. A collection of songs by
Donny Hathaway was released recently. The album "These Songs for
You, Live!" includes this famous song, "Someday We'll All Be Free."
(MUSIC)
We leave you with Lalah Hathaway and a song from another album
released this year, "Forever, For Always, For Luther." It is a
collection of songs made famous by Luther Van Dross. who survived a
stroke last year. Several recording artists came together to honor
him with this album.
Here now is Donny Hathaway's daughter Lalah with "Forever, For
Always, For Love."
(MUSIC)
DOUG JOHNSON: This is Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed AMERICAN
MOSAIC.
This program was written by Lawan Davis, Jerilyn Watson and Nancy
Steinbach. Paul Thompson was the producer. And our engineer was
Efeem Drucker. Join us again next week for American Mosaic, VOA's
radio magazine in Special English.
---
This is the one-thousandth program of AMERICAN MOSAIC.