T-A-K-E-A-W-A-Y, what does that spell? F-U-N! We got some spirit going on here as we delve deep into the world of cheerleaders with our guest, Kate Torgovnick. She is the author of Cheer! Inside the Secret World of College Cheerleaders.
Today the Takeaway is asking, "What are you doing right now and what's on your mind?" When we asked a similar question last week we got hundreds of responses. But some people said they didn’t care. One of those listeners, Christine from Brooklyn, talks to another listener, Richard from Hazel Park, MI, who tells us why he took part and why he wants to hear other listeners "check in".
Early this morning in L'Aquila, Italy, the funerals began for some of the 289 people killed in Monday's earthquake. While normally in the Catholic tradition no funerals are allowed on Good Friday, the Vatican granted a dispensation for the funeral mass for the earthquake victims. For more on the somber scene, we turn to BBC Correspondent Helen Fawkes joins us from L'Aquila, Italy.
In October 1975, two of the world's greatest fighters, Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier, battled it out for the title of Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World. The fight was one of the most extraordinary fighting bouts of all time and capped off a long rivalry between the two boxers. The heavyweight title was up for grabs because Muhammed Ali was stripped of his title and right to fight after refusing to enlist in the army during the Vietnam War. Ali got his boxing privileges restored only after President Nixon gave into the repeated prodding of none other than Joe Frazier. This set the stage for a series of epic fights between the two champs culminating in the third and final meet up of the two, the Thrilla in Manila. And Frazier was ready to rumble because Ali used his sharp tongue to take harsh racially-charged pot shots at his rival. The fight was close and the legacy is large.
Former heavyweight champion of the world Joe Frazier joins The Takeaway with a look back at one of the most brutal fights in boxing history. On Saturday, HBO will air the documentary "Thrilla in Manila" an analysis of the fight and the racial politics that surrounded it. John Dower, the director of the film, will also be a guest.
Yesterday Vice President Biden announced the federal government is releasing $2.3 billion in recovery act funding for child care and vaccines. The announcement is the latest in a flurry of national and local announcements on how stimulus spending will be spent. Some states, such as Maryland, have immediately jumped on the money and started planning, spending, and even building. Other states (New York, for example) have done next to nothing with the money yet. Joining us to discuss the stimulus spending in the the states is Takeaway Correspondent Andrea Bernstein, who is watching stimulus spending for our ShovelWatch Project, and Mark Steiner, host of the Marc Steiner Show on WEAA in Baltimore.
And we're continuing our investigation of the stimulus plan on air and online. What are your elected officials telling you is coming to your area? What do you know about the projects coming to your community? Where should the stimulus money go instead? Crowdsource the stimulus plan.
"There's real conversation going on here in Baltimore about how do you use this money to really stimulate a local economy as opposed to just giving people temporary jobs that'll be over in a year" —Marc Steiner of WEAA on stimulus spending in Baltimore
Now that the Pentagon has lifted its 18-year ban on press coverage of the return of America's war dead, will the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan return to the national conversation? Or has the moment passed us by? Is the American public war weary and ready to move on? For a look at what exposure to Dover Air Force base means, The Takeaway turns to Kathleen Hall Jamieson. She is Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of numerous books, including Presidents Creating the Presidency and unSpun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation.
"We tend to focus on the financial cost of war when this policy is in place, but to downplay the human cost of war." —Kathleen Hall Jamieson from the Annenberg Public Policy Center, on media coverage of war
The Somali pirates seized an American cargo ship a few days ago and while the rest of the crew escaped and took control of the ship, the captain, is still being held prisoner in a small lifeboat. As FBI hostage negotiators rush to the scene off the Somali coast and U.S. Navy destroyer attempts communications with the pirates, more ships are moving into the area. The captain attempted an escape, but the bandits were able to re-capture him before he could reach the Navy vessel. For the latest we turn to the BBC's Africa Editor Mary Harper. We are also joined by Wangari Mathai, the Nobel Prize winning peace activist who can provide an African perspective on the pirates' actions.
Contributor's Note :
When Somali pirates seized a giant Saudi oil tanker, the Sirius Star, last November, I managed to get a hold of a phone number to call them. But every time I rang them, they would put the phone down as soon as I said I was from the BBC. I became so obsessed with calling them that I programmed their number into my mobile phone so that I could ring them anytime, from anywhere. My twelve year old daughter had seen me repeatedly ringing the pirates, and one day, when we were stuck in a long traffic jam, she asked if she could try. I refused, but she eventually wore me down, and I gave her the phone. She pressed P for Pirates and...the phone rang, and a bizarre conversation ensued between her and a pirate. This opened a crucial door, and the next day I was able to get a real scoop by interviewing not only the pirate, but the captain of the ship who had been taken hostage. All thanks to my daughter, who insisted on dialing P for pirates. — Mary Harper, BBC's Africa Editor
Here is the AP's report on the current status of the hostage situation:
The Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia started yesterday with a wild start by Chad Campbell who threatened the record books by almost breaking the score for most under par on one of the world's most difficult courses. Campbell ended the day with a seven-under-par 65, which wasn't quite enough to break the record but put him firmly in the lead. It wasn’t as good a day for Tiger Woods who finished the day with a two under par 70 and tied for 20th. Joining us is sports blogger Ibrahim Abdul-Matin to tell us more about what has been happening down there on the green in Georgia.
When Wangari Maathai suggested to women in her village that they should plant trees for fire wood and to stop soil erosion, she had no idea that this simple act of planting trees would eventually garner her the Nobel Peace Prize. The Takeaway is joined by Wangari Maathai Nobel Prize winning activist, founder of the Greenbelt Movement, and author of the new book, The Challenge for Africa, about her vision for the future. Her life is subject of the documentary Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai, which premiered on the PBS series Independent Lens this week.
As a follow up to our experiment of asking people to check in with The Takeaway as they go about their daily lives, we turn to the man who suggested the project to begin with, our producer Jim Colgan. He joins us to explain why listeners, like our other guest, Richard Lavely, would want to call in and why others just didn't get it.
The Takeaway is a national morning news program produced in partnership with The New York Times, the BBC World Service, WNYC, Public Radio International and WGBH Boston. More »
