How Dost Thou Love Me? – Everyday Americans Talk About What Makes Them Feel Cherished

For some people, Valentine's Day is a time be sentimentalValentine’s Day is usually associated in the public mind with candy and lots of pink hearts. But beneath the fun and frippery lies a core human need — to feel loved, cherished and cared for by one’s romantic partner. I spoke with a random sampling of happily-bonded everyday Americans about the things that make their hearts feel full.


Posted in Americana, Holidays-Season Specific, Person on the Street Interviews, Spirituality Tags: , , , ,

Jenks vs. Broken Arrow (OK) High School Football

In small town Oklahoma, high school football runs a close second to the Bible in popularity and team spirit. Here is a story I did (as a sidebar to the State Fair I was covering) about one game between two rival small town football teams.  For a New Yorker like me, this is almost as exotic as it gets!


Posted in Americana, Holidays-Season Specific Tags: , , , , , , ,

Jewish Humor in America

A sound-rich look at the ways the Jews in America have influenced what Americans find funny, while expressing themselves and their take on life at the same time.


Posted in Americana, Immigrants and Ethnic Life, New York, Religion Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Karme Choling Tibetan Buddhist Community in Vermont

Tibetan Buddhism has changed and blossomed in the American context.  Nowhere has it taken deeper root than in the Karme Choling (Tail of the Tiger) center in Barnet Vermont, in the heart of the Green Mountains. This is not a monastery; men and women live together, cook together, make drama together and walk a path toward enlightenment together.  This long form doc explores this community and the Buddhist and all-to-human-experience this pressure cooker brings alive.


Posted in Americana, Buddhism, Long form docs (15" and up), Religion, Spirituality

Kay Ryan, US Poet Laureate (2008-present)

Since October 2008, Kay Ryan has been serving as America’s 16th poet laureate, tapped by the librarian of Congress to be ambassador for American poetry. She has published more than half a dozen books of collected poems. and is cherished for her  compact, vivid and accessible verse.  This profile is based on my interview with her at the Academy of American Poetry in New York City.

Here is a link to the VOA story I did about her and includes audio links to an extended excerpt from our interview and sound files of Ryan reading several of her poems.

See also my profiles of US Poet Laureates Charles Simic and Donald Hall.


Posted in Americana, Books, Poetry, Profile, Women

Labor Day: Everyday Americans Reflect on the Meaning of Work

Labor Day in America is a day most Americans associate with a three day weekend and a farewell to summertime. However, this national holiday is also a time to honor workers and the central place their labor has in our lives. For this report, Adam asked a range of New Yorkers about what “work” means to them.


Posted in Americana, History, Holidays-Season Specific, New York, Person on the Street Interviews

Little League’s Big Adventure

Little League is Americana itself, and I was shocked and privileged to be a part of it all as my son’s coach in Washington DC in the late 1990s. I produced this profile of one game for the Voice of America. In it, I had to explain the game of baseball to our foreign listeners, keep it personal, and report on the game itself – the closest I may ever get to being a sportscaster.* The Marlins won, by the way…

* See also my story about a high school football game between Jenks and Broken Arrow, in rural Oklahoma.


Posted in Americana Tags: , , , , , ,

Maine Fisherman Plots Endangered Ground Fishing Ecology

Legend has it that cod, haddock, perch and other North Atlantic fish were once so plentiful off the coast of New England that fisherman could almost literally scoop them from the water. Today, that bounty is almost gone, due mainly to many decades of severe-over-fishing. Innovative research into the area fish decline is helping scientists and fishermen understand what makes the marine ecosystem and how fish populations might be restored – for humans and the untold numbers of other living things that depend on them.


Posted in Americana, Science Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Memorial Day: Vets Remember The Fallen

Memorial Day in America is supposed to be a time to remember those who have died in our wars, and to thank them for their sacrifice.  However, for many of us, Memorial Days does not mean much more than a three-day weekend, and perhaps some flag-waving and parades.  I wanted this piece to serve as a counterpoint in which  veterans from World War One, World War Two, and the wars in Korea, Vietnam and the First Gulf War actually remember and speak about someone they personally knew who died alongside them in combat — who were they, what were their names, how did they die, how did they live?


Posted in Americana, History, Holidays-Season Specific, Oral History-oid Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Middletown NJ: A Town Aims to Heal (9/11/02)

The middle class suburb of Middletown New Jersey lost upwards of 45 people in the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, devastating the town. This piece checks in a year after the event on some of the families who lost loved ones that day, along with town officials, as Middletown continues its path toward recovery — or not.

It is a follow-up from a mini-doc made with many of the same people in the immediate aftermath o 9/11.


Posted in Americana, History, September 11th and Its Aftermath Tags: , , , , , , , ,
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