Walter Mosley / Leisure Activities / The Scissor Sisters

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2004-9-30

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DOUG JOHNSON:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

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This is Doug Johnson. On our show this week:

Music from the Scissor Sisters ...

The newest crime mystery from author Walter Mosley ...

And a question from a listener who wants to know what Americans
do in their free time.

Walter Mosley

DOUG JOHNSON:

Walter Mosley has published eight books in his Easy Rawlins
mystery series. Gwen Outen tells us about this popular author and
his most recent book.

SHEP O'NEAL:

Walter Mosley is fifty-two years old. He was born in Los Angeles,
California. He is the son of an African-American father and a Jewish
mother. His books have been published in more than twenty languages.

Walter Mosley calls himself a political writer. His books gained
popularity during the nineteen ninety-two presidential campaign.
Bill Clinton named him as one of his favorite writers.

Walter Mosley is best known for his mystery series about a
private investigator. Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins is African-American. He
is tough and powerful, yet caring and gentle.

Most of the books in the series have names of colors in their
titles. First in the series was "Devil in a Blue Dress." It was
published in nineteen-ninety. Other titles include "White
Butterfly," "Black Betty" and "A Little Yellow Dog."

Walter Mosley recently published "Little Scarlet." Scarlet is a
kind of red. The story is about a woman named Nola Payne. She is
known as Little Scarlet because she has red hair. The story takes
place in nineteen sixty-five at the time of the race riots in Watts.
Watts is a poor area of Los Angeles.

Nola Payne, a black woman, is found murdered after she provided
shelter to a white man attacked by rioters. The man becomes a
suspect in her murder. Because of racial tensions, white police
officers call Easy Rawlins to help solve the murder.

Walter Mosley has won many awards. These include an O'Henry Award
and an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. That award honors works that
increase the understanding of racism or the value of different
cultures. This year the Robert Redford Sundance Institute honored
Walter Mosley with a "Risktaker Award."

What's next for Walter Mosley? He plans to publish his first book
for young adults next year. It will combine history, science fiction
and exploration. He is also working on an Easy Rawlins television
series. And Walter Mosley says he is working on his next Easy
Rawlins mystery novel. It, too, will be published next year.

Leisure Activities

DOUG JOHNSON:

Our VOA listener question this week comes from Ghana. Jonathan
Mutuo asks what Americans do when they are not working.

Well, the average adult spends almost two hours a day on
household activities like cooking, cleaning and paying bills. How do
we know? The Department of Labor has just released a study of how
Americans use their time.

The study confirmed something that many people already knew.
Women spend more time on child care and housework than men do even
when the women are employed. Men, however, spend more time at work.
Men also spend more time on leisure activities and sports. They
average five hours twenty minutes a day, half an hour more than
women.

Leisure activities include things like watching television,
seeing friends or exercising. Both men and women reported that they
spent about half their leisure time watching television. Visiting
friends and attending social events was the next most common leisure
activity for both sexes.

Older Americans spent more of their leisure time watching TV and
reading than younger people. Younger people reported spending more
time with friends, using the computer and playing sports. In all,
nineteen percent of men and sixteen percent of women played sports
on any given day. That was another finding of the Labor Department
study.

We did a little study of our own. We asked a few people how they
spend their time outside of work.

A student in a coffee shop in Washington, D.C., told us that she
reads or studies for school. She also likes to run and swim. And she
enjoys eating with friends or watching movies. When she's at home,
she enjoys cooking.

A worker at a bookstore likes to experience the local nightlife.
He enjoys meeting with his friends for drinks and food. He also goes
dancing in clubs. When he wants a quiet night, he turns off his
telephone and sleeps as long as he wants.

And a professor at American University in Washington told us that
she spends her free time on home repairs. "There is a lot to be done
when you own your own house," she says. She and her husband also
enjoy movies. And on nice days, they walk in the woods or visit
museums.

The Scissor Sisters

DOUG JOHNSON:

The Scissor Sisters were popular in Britain first. But now the
band is gaining popularity in the United States. Shep O'Neal has our
report.

GWEN OUTEN:

The five members of the Scissor Sisters are not really sisters.
They are not even all female. The Scissor Sisters are four men and
one woman from New York City. Music critics say you have to go back
at least thirty years to singers like the Bee Gees or Elton John to
find music like theirs.

Here is an example from their recent album. The name of the song
is "Laura."

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One of the most popular songs on the album was first recorded by
the British group Pink Floyd. But music critics say the Scissor
Sisters have taken it to a new level. The song is "Comfortably
Numb."

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Fans say the Scissor Sisters are making today's pop music
exciting again. Anyone old enough to remember disco dance music will
recognize the sound.

We leave you now with another song from the group. This one is
called "Better Luck."

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DOUG JOHNSON:

This is Doug Johnson.

Send your questions about American life to mosaic@voanews.com.
Please include your name and postal address. And, if you'd like, you
can also e-mail us a picture of yourself that will appear at
voaspecialenglish dot com if we use your question.

This program was written by Lawan Davis, Brian Kim and Nancy
Steinbach. Paul Thompson was the producer. And our engineer was Jim
Sleeman.

I hope you enjoyed AMERICAN MOSAIC. Join us again next week for
VOA's radio magazine in Special English.


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