HOST:
Welcome
to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.
(MUSIC)
I'm Doug
Johnson. This week…
We
listen to guitarist Buddy Guy singing the blues …
Answer a question about great American
tennis players …
And,
tell about twenty-five creative people who won large amounts of money from the
MacArthur Foundation.
(MUSIC)
MacArthur Fellowships
HOST:
Imagine
receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars as recognition for showing creative
ability in your job. Last week, twenty-five artists, scientists, writers and
other experts received a very special telephone call from the MacArthur
Foundation. They learned they had won a MacArthur fellowship worth five hundred
thousand dollars. Bob Doughty tells us
more.
BOB
DOUGHTY:
Since
nineteen eighty-one, the MacArthur Foundation, based in Chicago, Illinois, has
been awarding experts for excellence in their work. The foundation looks at
creative ability, a record of past success and a clear promise for continued
work in the future. Winners must live in, or be from, the United States.
![Wafaa El-Sadr, one of this year's MacArthur fellows Wafaa El-Sadr, one of this year's MacArthur fellows](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090118113531im_/http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/images/elsadr_macfound_210_se_0.jpg) |
Wafaa El-Sadr, one of this year's MacArthur fellows |
This year's MacArthur fellows include
several medical doctors. Wafaa El-Sadr is an infectious disease specialist at
Columbia University in New York City. She has done important work to prevent
the spread of H.I.V./AIDS and tuberculosis by examining the social and economic
realities of patients.
Regina
Benjamin is a doctor who treats patients in rural areas of the southern state
of Alabama. She started a health center to help people living in this poor
area.
Other award-winning scientists study the
earth and skies. Adam Riess is an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore, Maryland. He has made important discoveries about the physics of the
universe. David Montgomery is a geomorphologist in Seattle, Washington. He
studies the ways in which the surface of the Earth is changing over time. His
work combines science, history, and environmental studies.
Many
other MacArthur fellows work in the arts. Miguel Zenon plays the saxophone. He
inventively combines the sounds of jazz with Latin influences from his native
Puerto Rico. Mary Jackson is a fiber artist in South Carolina. She makes fine
containers out of sweetgrass and other natural materials. She has also created
an organization to protect this ancient artistic tradition. Chimamanda Adichie
writes expressive stories about her native Nigeria.
With this reward money, these creative
thinkers will have the financial freedom to follow their goals and explore new
interests.
American Tennis Players
HOST:
Our
listener question this week comes from Russia.
Kate Tikhonova wants to know more about some great American players in
the sport of tennis.
John McEnroe was one of the most successful
American tennis players. He now broadcasts major tennis competitions. McEnroe
was born in Germany while his father was serving in the United States Air
Force. At eighteen years old, John was the youngest man to play in the
important Wimbledon competition in England. But he lost to another great
American tennis player, Jimmy Connors.
Both McEnroe and Connors played
tennis in the nineteen seventies and eighties. Both became famous for their
intense and aggressive playing and the strong emotions they showed on the
tennis court. Jimmy Connors has recently been coaching another great American
tennis player named Andy Roddick.
![Pete Sampras Pete Sampras](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090118113531im_/http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/images/sampras_tennisfame_201_se.jpg) |
Pete Sampras |
We often hear the name of Pete Sampras
in tennis today. That is because Roger Federer of Switzerland is trying to
break Sampras' record of fourteen major, Grand Slam tournament victories. Pete
Sampras was the top tennis player in the world for six years in a row between
nineteen ninety-three and nineteen ninety-eight.
One
year later, Andre Agassi became the best tennis player in the world. In two thousand one, he married the great
German tennis player Steffi Graf. His Agassi
Charitable Foundation has raised more than sixty million dollars for poor
children in the state of Nevada where he lives.
Lindsay Davenport is one of the great
female tennis players. She won the Olympic Gold medal in tennis in nineteen
ninety-six. When she became pregnant in two thousand six, she said she would
not play tennis anymore. But she is now playing professional tennis again and
her young son often travels with her.
The
Williams sisters may be the most famous American women tennis players. Venus and her younger sister Serena grew up
playing tennis in California. Their father was their coach. They are powerful,
athletic players. Serena Williams recently won the United States Open after
beating her sister in a semi-final match. The African American sisters also
became famous for their tennis clothes. Both women studied clothing design.
Serena Williams has her own designer clothing called Aneres.
Buddy Guy
![Buddy Guy Buddy Guy](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090118113531im_/http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/images/buddyguy_myspace_210_se.jpg) |
Buddy Guy |
HOST:
Blues
guitarist and singer Buddy Guy has been making music for over fifty years. The
seventy-two-year-old performer has been a major influence on rock musicians
including Jimmy Hendrix, Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones. Buddy Guy's
latest album is called "Skin Deep." Critics say it is a good example of his
fierce and electrifying guitar skills. Barbara Klein has more.
(MUSIC)
BARBARA
KLEIN:
That
was the song "Out in the Woods" which Buddy Guy performs with the guitarist
Robert Randolph. The story it tells could be Buddy Guy's own.
He grew
up on a farm in the southern state of Louisiana. When Buddy was seven years old
he made a guitar from two strings, wood and his mother's hairpins. In nineteen
fifty-seven, Buddy Guy boarded a train going to Chicago, Illinois. There, he
began to work with some of the most important blues artists in the country. He
soon found work playing the guitar with the great blues musician Muddy Waters.
Later, he began making his own music.
Here
is "Every Time I Sing the Blues," performed by Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton.
(MUSIC)
Buddy
Guy performs with several younger musicians on his album, "Skin Deep." He says
he tries to get the best players to be on his records so that he can see what
they can do and learn from them. He says that "my eyes and ears are wide
open" because "you never know what's gonna happen."
Buddy
Guy has won many awards during his long career. These include five Grammy awards and the National Medal of Arts. He is also a member of the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame. We leave you with "I Found Happiness." This song is sure to bring
happiness to listeners as well.
(MUSIC)
HOST:
I'm Doug
Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today.
It was
written by Karen Leggett and Dana Demange, who also was the producer. To read
and listen to our programs online, go to voaspecialenglish.com.
Send your questions about American life
to mosaic@voanews.com. Please include your full name and where you are from. Or
write to American Mosaic, VOA Special English, Washington, D.C.,
two-zero-two-three-seven, U.S.A.
Join
us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine in Special
English.