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How did your life collide with the headlines in 2007?
Iraq, the subprime crisis, Facebook, immigration, oil prices - 2007 had no shortage of hefty headlines. We'd like to hear about how these and other major news events of the past year affected you. Where did your life collide with the news in 2007?

What's your holiday performance story?
The office talent show, the neighborhood caroling posse, the school pageant ... At holiday time we often sing, dance, and dress as shepherds. Did you bloom in the warmth of your audience's adulation, or freeze up like the snowman you'd rather be building? Did your holiday performance change your life or that of someone close to you?

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Broadcast Date: October 22, 2005 | Map these stories
Listen IconThe Worst Call in History
This week, a few baseball umpires took a lot of heat for making some questionable calls during the playoffs. Retired umpire Don Denkinger knows how they feel. In 1985 he made a bad call in the ninth inning of a game 6 that some say cost the Cardinals the series victory. It's been called "the worst call in World Series history." Weekend America host Bill Radke talks to Denkinger about the mistake he can't forget.
Online resources:
» History of the World Series - 1985 (SportingNews.com)
» The best World Series games since Fisk (ESPN.com)

WA Production Image
Listen IconTale of Two Teams
Chicago White Sox fans are excited that they're hosting the World Series for the first time in over 40 years. But not all Chicago baseball fans are sharing in the enthusiasm. The North Side has always had more of an allegiance to the city's other team, the Cubs. The South Side has been partial to the Sox. Can the two rivals unite as the Sox go to bat against the Houston Astros? Reporter Yolanda Perdomo talks to fans on both sides.

Listen IconIt's Reading Time
Weekend America visits the public library in Burbank, California, and finds out how the librarian in charge of the children's reading hour keeps her kids reading and engaged.
Online resources:
» Burbank Public Library

Listen IconReading Scores Low
Parents know of the importance of reading to their kids, but it seems the reading skills of our children are not improving. This is according to the latest scores from the National Assessment for Educational Progress. Weekend America speaks with Pat Wyman, an educator and former teacher, who says she know why.
Online resources:
» More about Pat Wyman
» The Nation's Report Card 2005 (ED.gov)

Music Bridge: An Ear Out - Artist: Bright
CD: Bells Break Their Towers (Strange Attractors Audio House)
Music Picks
Listen IconClassical Music: Evgeny Kissin
Evgeny Kissin was a very popular Russian pianist in the 1980s. Then, it seemed he disappeared from the spotlight. But now, he's back and classical music critic Steve Smith offers his take on Kissin's latest recording.
Online resources:
» Evgeny Kissin | Petrouchka - first Movement | From the album, Scriabin: Sonata No. 3; Five Preludes; Medtner: Sonata Reminiscenza; Stravinsky: Three Movements from Pétrouchka (RCA)

Listen IconInternational Adoption
Fifty years ago, large-scale international adoption began in Korea? In a new documentary, American Radio Works looks at the impact of international adoptions on adoptees and their families. Weekend America host Alex Cohen talks with producer Sasha Aslanian about making the documentary, Finding Home. Then, Weekend America shares an audio diary of an adoptee from Korea, who's decided to return to her ancestral home.
Online resources:
» Finding Home: Fifty Years of International Adoption (AmericanRadioWorks.org)

Music Bridge: Dead King - Artist: Espers
CD: The Weed Tree (Locust)
Weekend Weather
Listen IconWeekend Weather / Hometown Happenings
Weekend America's John Moe takes a look at the weather and Saturday happenings all across the country.
Online resources:
» Event information

Music Bridge: Beat Connection (Disco Dub Version) - Artist: lcd soundsystem
CD: DFA compilation #2 (DFA)
Listen IconEncyclopedia of New England
Every region of America has distinctive qualities and New England is no exception. Two professors took 13 years to write what may be the definitive book on the area. Their work, The Encyclopedia of New England is a compelling saga of almost 1600 pages. Producer Shannon Mullen taps the brains of the encyclopedia's editors, Burt Feintuch and David Watters in search of Yankee knowledge.
Excerpts from the New England Encyclopedia (in pdf format):
» Introduction (22 MB)
» Boston Red Sox - Part 1 (64 k)
» Boston Red Sox - Part 2 (64 k)
» Diners - Part 1 (2 MB)
» Diners - Part 2 (550 k)
» Industry, Technology and Labor - Part 1 (1.2 MB)
» Industry, Technology and Labor - Part 2 (56 k)
» Industry, Technology and Labor - Part 3 (63 k)
» Burt Feintuch's book, Encyclopedia of New England, is available at the Public Radio BookSource.

Listen IconWeekend America Under the Microscope
As flu season gets underway, people become more conscious of germs, where they might be and how to avoid contact with them. Microbiologist Chuck Gerba thinks about germs all the time and spent four years testing for them everywhere. Weekend America invited him give our workplace the once-over.
Online resources:
» Experts provide tips on best practices to avoid illness-causing germs (NCTimes.com)
» More about Dr. Chuck Gerba

Music Bridge: One After the 808 - Artist: Static
CD: Re: Talking about Memories (City Centre)
Listen IconLet's Go
Even though it's been around for thousands of years, chances are you've never heard of the game, Go. Created in China, it's a board game that involves the placing of stones on a grid. One of the game's top players, Feng Yun, lives in New Jersey. But this week she's gone back to her homeland in China to participate in an international tournament. She sits down with independent producer Blake Eskin to talk about the game.

(This piece was produced for the Third Coast International Audio Festival, which is taking place this weekend. Thanks to Chicago Public Radio.)


Online resources:
» Learn more about the Go board game (Wikipedia.com)

Music Bridge: Daddycation - Artist: Food
CD: Last Supper (Rune Grammofon)
Listen IconClassical Music: Arvo Pärt
There's a new CD of music out by Estonian Composer Arvo Pärt. It features a work based on a piece of sculpture by Aneesh Kapoor. Can the music help you visualize Kapoor's giant mass of steel? Music Critic of Time Out New York thinks so. He joins host Alex Cohen to explain why.
Online resources:
» Arvo Prt | Lamentate | From the album, Lamentate (Ecm Records)

Listen IconOn the Rails
There's a new generation of kids who have taken to riding the rails. They don't do it out of necessity, like in the old days. Instead, they are hopping on trains for the thrill and adventure of the ride. Correspondent, Sanden Totten visited some of these kids in a Minnesota train yard.

Listen IconLodging at the Cave Motel
Looking for a vacation destination that's really different? Pay a visit to Elk Bend, Idaho, for some stone-age accommodations at Richard Zimmerman's Cave Motel. Host Alex Cohen talks to a frequent visitor, who's a good friend of the 89-year-old proprietor about why he enjoys staying in the underground dwellings.
Online resources:
» For reservations, call the Elk Bend Sports Lodge at 208-894-2455.
» More photography by Adair L. Oesterle

Weekend Weather
Listen IconWeekend Weather / Hometown Happenings
Weekend America's John Moe takes a look at the weather and Saturday happenings all across the country.
Online resources:
» Event information

Music Bridge: Beat Connection (Disco Dub Version) - Artist: lcd soundsystem
CD: DFA compilation #2 (DFA)
Listen IconQueen of Scream
Anyone can shriek repeatedly and lose their voice. But what if you're a loud rock star who screams for a living? As Host Bill Radke discovers, there is a right way and a wrong way to cut loose vocally. He gets a lesson from vocal coach Melissa Cross.
Online resources:
» Melissa Cross Web site

Music Bridge: Jesu - Artist: Godflesh
CD: Hymns (Koch)
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As Mentioned on Weekend America
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As Mentioned on Weekend America
... on our December 15 broadcast:

» Weekend America
iPodEnhanced Podcast:
Skip back and forth through stories, see images on iTunes and on your iPod, all with better sound quality.
» The Huckabee Mystique: See video of Mike Huckabee and Chuck Norris.
» Another Great Moment in Small Talk: Read how Charlie Schroeder became an unpopular "tool" because of Borat.
» Listener Letters: Renewable Christmas Trees: Read listeners' alternate endings to "Puff the Magic Dragon."
» Sign Up for the Weekend America weekly newsletter: Find out what's on the upcoming show, and listen to the most popular previous segments.
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Weekend Weather

From the July 5 broadcast

As Mentioned on Weekend America
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