VOA – CONNECT
EPISODE 60
AIR DATE 03 08 2019
TRANSCRIPT
OPEN ((VO/NAT))
((Banner))
Mother of the Everglades
((SOT))
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Healing Musicians
((SOT))
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Chocolate
((SOT))
((Banner))
Gardens in the Sky
((SOT))
((Open Animation))
BLOCK A
((PKG)) MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS
((Banner: Marjory Stoneman Douglas))
((Producers: Beth Mendelson, Tom Detzel, Cliff Hackel))
((Camera: Brian Beryl, Esha Grover, Sean Lunski))
((Map: Everglades, Florida))
((NATS))
((Video Montage of Parkland shootings))
((Banner:
After Parkland
Episode 5
Mother of the Everglades))
((NATS))
((Banner: “Be a nuisance where it counts, but never give up.” – Marjory Stoneman Douglas))
((VO Sari Kaufman)): And that’s actually the quote
((Sari Kaufman, Student, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School))
that’s on the fence that covers the building that the shooting occurred.
((VO Sari Kaufman)): We went through such
((Sari Kaufman, Student, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School))
a trauma and sometimes we were at our very low and seeing those quotes around our school
((VO Sari Kaufman)) and especially from Marjory Stoneman Douglas, who our school was named after, reminds us to never give up.
((Locator: Everglades National Park, Florida))
((VO Robert Schentrup)): Marjory Stoneman Douglas is a great example of the change that one person can have.
((Robert Schentrup, Former Student, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School))
She was instrumental in making sure that the Everglades was a protected area that became a national park
((Source: Wolfson))
((VO Robert Schentrup)): and to stop the encroachment of development. She almost single handedly saved the Everglades.
((VO Marjory Stoneman Douglas)): When I came down in 1915, nobody had ever written about the Everglades except the very few pamphlets that I found.
((Source: Florida Department of State))
((Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Mother of the Everglades))
Nobody knew anything about it.
((Theodora Long, Executive Director, MSD Biscayne Nature Center))
Marjory Stoneman Douglas was a little 4-foot-8 (142 cm) spitfire.
((Source: Florida Department of State))
((1st still Source: AP))
((2nd still Source: Florida Department of State))
((VO Theodora Long)): She was basically a writer. Her father owned the Miami Herald. She called her dad and her dad said,
((Theodora Long, Executive Director, MSD Biscayne Nature Center))
"Get on the train and come to Florida."
((Source: Florida Department of State))
((VO Theodora Long)) And that sparked her big interest in the Everglades.
((VO Marjory Stoneman Douglas)): I love the whole
((Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Mother of the Everglades))
Florida thing, the sunflower thing.
((VO Marjory Stoneman Douglas)): I love the tropics and the light, and the sun, and the openness of the landscape and being near the sea and so on.
((VO Cesar Becerra)): Well, she gets her start out of nepotism. You know her father hired her for the Miami Herald.
((Cesar Becerra, South Florida Historian))
She starts to take over a society page, talking about the little intricacies of everything from the women's clubs to there's a new bridge being opened etc.
((Source: AP))
((VO Cesar Becerra)): Later on, she actually goes to Europe. She signs up with the American Red Cross and it's in Paris where she really, really struggles with what she really wants to do in life
((Source: Miami Herald))
((VO Cesar Becerra)): and writing becomes the key thing. Above anything, she wants to be a writer.
((VO Theodora Long)): Marjory was well known for trying to save the Everglades.
((Theodora Long, Executive Director, MSD Biscayne Nature Center))
But earlier in her life, with women's suffrage, she would take the train to Tallahassee time and time again
((Source: Reuters))
((VO Theodora Long)): and it was about getting the right for women to vote, and she didn't give up until they did get the right to vote.
((Source: Miami Dade County))
((Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Mother of the Everglades))
I think we should think strongly about Florida….
((VO Theodora Long)): She didn’t have an environmental background. She was retired, so she was free to go sit at a commission meeting or a group gathering to convince politicians to change the rules and regulations.
((NATS))
((Source: Miami Dade County))
((VO Cesar Becerra)): Marjory Stoneman Douglas writes about the light in the Everglades and the light in Florida and she was very, very moved by it.
((Cesar Becerra, South Florida Historian))
She came from a very tough, early beginning and the light was very key in her life.
((VO Cesar Becerra)): And she also talks very poetically in how it hit everything from the sawgrass to the flaps of the birds. So, light was very key in her prose. When I take groups out to the Everglades, I actually remember Marjory Stoneman Douglas', one of her famous lines was that
((Cesar Becerra, South Florida Historian))
"We are never, ever finished with learning."
((Source: Miami Herald))
((VO Cesar Becerra)): Marjory was so good at the science that she actually sometimes knew more than some of the politicians and had to actually school them.
((Source: AP))
((VO Cesar Becerra)): That was actually her gift. She used to her advantage this kind of older grandmotherly figure that a lot of politicians like to placate.
((Cesar Becerra, South Florida Historian))
She would snap them right out of it: "I'm not here to play games. I don't care what you think about me. Let's get to what we're here to really, really talk about."
((Locator: December 6, 1947, Wolfson))
((Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Mother of the Everglades))
I don't believe in compromise. You only compromise from weakness. If you're winning, you don't have to compromise. The people losing are the ones who compromise.
((Source: AP))
((VO Cesar Becerra)): It's really interesting. When Harry Truman came down to inaugurate the park, I'm sure Marjory Stoneman Douglas was smiling. There were lots of people that came together that really struggled to create this park.
((Cesar Becerra, South Florida Historian))
It took twenty years to protect the park and Marjory was there from the very beginning.
((Source: November 30, 1993, William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum))
((VO Cesar Becerra)): Marjory Stoneman Douglas was bestowed with the highest honor, The Presidential Medal of Freedom.
((VO Theodora Long)): Marjory certainly deserved receiving that award.
((Theodora Long, Executive Director, MSD Biscayne Nature Center))
To receive the Medal of Freedom Award at a hundred and
((Source: William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum))
((VO Theodora Long)): three years old. And President Clinton called Marjory "The Grandmother of the Everglades."
((VO Cesar Becerra)): But I think that she passed it onto the next generation
((Cesar Becerra, South Florida Historian))
that we still had a lot of work to be done.
((Locator: March 24, 2018, Washington, D.C.))
((Emma Gonzalez, Student, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School))
Fight for your lives before it's someone else's job.
((VO Theodora Long)): It was really touching to watch these children on television when that Parkland incident happened.
((Cameron Kasky, Student, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School))
Since this movement began people have asked me: "Do you think any change is going to come from this?" Look around. We are to change.
((VO Theodora Long)): And it was just very ironic that they had her spirit.
((Cameron Kasky, Student, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School))
….learned that our voices are powerful and our votes matter.
((VO Theodora Long)): All of us who knew her, we all called each other and
((Theodora Long, Executive Director, MSD Biscayne Nature Center))
said, "Can you believe these students and, you know, what a job they're doing?" and they're doing it just like
((Source: Miami Herald))
((VO Theodora Long)): Marjory would have done it.
((VO Samantha Novick)): Just like Marjory Stoneman Douglas paves the way for us, as a woman,
((Samantha Novick, Former Student, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School))
as an activist, as a compassionate human being, who led
((Source: Wolfson))
((VO Samantha Novick)): from her heart, and who wasn't motivated by ego, or power, or money. She was motivated by
((Source: Miami Herald))
((VO Samantha Novick)): doing what's right. And I see
((Samantha Novick, Former Student, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School))
the same thing in these students.
((VO Samantha Novick)): They’re taking a stand and they’re saying that, “We care about the world and we care about humanity.”
((Source: Miami Herald))
((VO Theodora Long)): She went on to live to be a hundred and eight
((Theodora Long, Executive Director, MSD Biscayne Nature Center))
and up until, I want to say, the day she died, she was still talking about saving
((Source: AP))
((VO Theodora Long)): the Everglades.
((VO Marjory Stoneman Douglas)): You got to stick with it. You got to see it through. You got to be tough.
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up
((Banner))
Plogging
((SOT))
BREAK ONE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK B
((Banner: The Environment))
((PKG)) ROOFTOP GARDEN
((Banner: Rooftop Farming))
((Reporter: Julie Taboh))
((Camera: Steve Baragona))
((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((NATS))
((David Bell, Bell Architects))
This roof has a greenhouse. It has stairs and elevators to access the roof. We put in a weather station. We put in cisterns to irrigate. So, all of those things are critical components to its success.
((NATS))
((Sandi Farber Bandier, “Master Gardener” Coordinator))
This is the future for food. What we have established here at this college is the food hub concept of, you grow it here, you prepare it, you prepare it in a commercial kitchen, you distribute it through farmers markets, food trucks, and then you recycle.
((NATS))
((David Bell, Bell Architects))
We're really excited about this project because it started to do something more than just dealing with storm water management. It took advantage of a resource above the city that you see all over.
((NATS))
((Caitlin Arlotta, University of The District of Columbia))
In an urban environment, you don't have, maybe, all that many spaces to choose from, and so, rooftops are just unutilized space. So, it's a really good way to not have to restructure your city necessarily and be able to incorporate green roofs. So, bringing fresh food into cities where you wouldn't necessarily have that access. These are the tomatoes that we're growing. We have the same experiment running with tomatoes as we do with strawberries. So, we're doing variety trials and we're trying just to see which variety grows the best in a green roof setting.
((NATS))
((Caitlin Arlotta, University of The District of Columbia))
In the U.S., it may not seem very common to use hibiscus leaves and sweet potato leaves as food, but in many places around the world it is.
((Sandi Farber Bandier, “Master Gardener” Coordinator))
My biggest surprise was that we produced 4,250 pounds (2000 kg) of produce the first year and was able to disseminate that to people in need.
((NATS))
((David Bell, Bell Architects))
I’d like to see this as becoming more a part of the standard where people design and build buildings with farming on the roof, with the ability to actually go up there and enjoy it and have a better connection to nature, but also to provide better fresh foods to people.
((NATS))
((PKG)) PLOGGING
((Banner: Plogging))
((Reporter: Faiza Elmasry))
((Camera: Adam Greenbaum, Mike Burke))
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((NATS))
((Jeff Horowitz, Plogger, Personal Trainer))
This is just my personal ethic, where I would go for a run, and if I happen to see a piece of garbage laying around and it was within my reach, it was a kind of a little test of mine to see if I can grab it and throw it in a nearby trash can without stopping. And then I come to find out, this has actually become an international movement, that there are people all around the world now doing this. As I understand, the name ‘Plogging’ originated in Sweden, using their language to combine picking up with jogging, and you get plogging, I guess. And, it’s picked up now throughout the country and again around the world. Less of a sport than really just an approach to socialize with other people in a very positive, healthy way.
((NATS))
((Dana Allen, Plogger, Sports Event Organizer))
I wouldn't say I do it all the time. Sometimes we get groups together on a Saturday or Sunday. We go for a run, we’ll pick up some garbage, then we’ll actually go for brunch after and we’ll kind of make a little bit of an event of it.
((NATS))
((Jeff Horowitz, Plogger, Personal Trainer))
You can't just suddenly bend over in front of someone else. It’d become like a three stooges event and everyone would fall over. You want to make sure that you, kind of, cover a little bit different territory. People kind of naturally fall into that role. So, if I'm a little bit more to the curb side, I'll look towards the gutter and someone else a little bit closer to the hedges, they fall into picking up there. So, you get a rhythm going between people.
((NATS))
((Jeff Horowitz, Plogger, Personal Trainer))
We usually start with doing some body weight squats, some calisthenics, some balance work. Gloves are important. You want to make sure that this is going to be healthy for you. Even if you have good intentions, you never know what you’ll find. There might be broken glass, medical waste.
((Azell Washington, Plogger))
Big piece. Big piece. I feel much better. I am rewarded myself, and then I'm looking out for everybody else that's going to be running in these streets as long as I will.
((NATS))
((Dana Allen, Blogger, Sports Even Organizer))
I would just hope people would think twice before dropping their garbage on the ground. We have receptacles, seems like every block. So, it's easy to put your garbage in the trash, in the trashcans. I just think people should think about it a little bit more and be cognizant of, you know, keeping the city as beautiful as possible.
((NATS))
((Jeff Horowitz, Plogger, Personal Trainer))
We didn't change the world, but we made it just a little bit better than it was.
((NATS))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up
((Banner))
Boat Building
((SOT))
BREAK TWO
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK C
((Banner: ))
((PKG)) BUILDING BOATS CHANGING LIVES
((Banner: Building Confidence))
((Reporter/Camera: Deborah Block))
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: Alexandria, Virginia))
((NATS))
((Chris Adkins, Apprentice))
It’s been fun to learn how to use these tools, and not only have I learned how to use a lot of tools that I never would have even known, like even sawing, you never really think about it, but to saw a straight line is a lot harder than like a lot of people make it look. Learned to definitely measure it twice and cut once.
((NATS))
((Jimmy Gottfried, Director, Seaport Center))
Many of the apprentices in our program have faced many challenges in their life, such as a lack of family support, dropping out of school, having run-ins with the law, and they’re looking for a way to gain back the confidence they need to go back out into the workforce.
((NATS))
((Chris Adkins, Apprentice))
One of the reasons that I came to the program was because they want to help you. And, I guess, what is hard for me is because I’m not used to someone wanting to help me or enthusiastic about it or if anything would believe in me because I’ve always had to prove that I’m worth a value versus having someone already know I’m worth value.
((NATS))
((Fred Geiger, Volunteer))
So that you can translate this information to this information. That’s what they find here. They start to get that self-confidence slowly, and it’s amazing. There’s something tactile about working with wood. When you work with wood, you feel it, it becomes part of you. So, as their self-confidence goes, gets better, then you can start to address some other things in their lives, like, what’s your driver’s license like? Do you have any fines against you? Are you paying your bills? You know, where are you living? Have you seen a doctor lately? You know, all these kinds of things.
((NATS))
((Chris Adkins, Apprentice))
I believe there’s no such thing as failure than failure without gaining knowledge.
((Volunteer))
Yes, so this is, this is eventually it, you know. It goes in like this as it turns in its stem, you’re feeding the end of the plank into it.
((Apprentice))
Oh, okay, I was going to….
((Fred Geiger, Volunteer))
Did they leave a checklist for you to do?
((Chris Adkins, Apprentice))
They, well, they said they were going to wait because they’re still deciding right now a few things with it.
((Chris Adkins, Apprentice))
It’s turning out definitely to be more than I thought it would be. They’ve helped me with some commission work so that I have even extra money in my pocket. I’ve learned calculus since I’ve been here. How to do logic.
((Volunteer))
Yeah, go ahead and set the other one. Okay.
((Chris Adkins, Apprentice))
How to build a boat and how to do furniture.
((Volunteer))
That’s, that’s the nose of the stem and now I go two inches (5 cm), another four inches (10 cm) and that’s where I’m going to drill down.
((Chris Adkins, Apprentice))
Some things that even people that go to carpentry school don’t know because I’ve been able to have the opportunity to work with such great shiprights that know so much more than what a normal carpenter would know.
((Jay Helinski, Apprentice Program Manager))
I think Chris is getting a place that’s teaching him something, but that also has his back. That’s something that he didn’t have before. This is a kid who came to us off the bat at the ready for any project, ready to learn whatever he could.
((NATS))
((Chris Adkins, Apprentice))
Yeah, I think we just need a little more.
Through the whole process, it made me realize, like, if you can build a boat, you can basically do anything because you start with nothing and it becomes a work of art.
((NATS))
((PKG)) HEALING MUSICIANS
((Banner: Healing Musicians))
((Reporter: Faiza Elmasry))
((Camera: Mike Burke))
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: Baltimore, Maryland))
((NATS))
((Serap Bastepe-Gray, Co-Founder, Johns Hopkins Center for Music and Medicine))
Four out of five musicians who play an instrument will get injured during their career at least once.
((NATS))
((Chelsea Strayer, Student, Peabody Conservatory))
I've had pain in my arm before, here, but it’s never been in my wrist area before and I've gotten bruising, quite a few times now, in the same place in my hand.
((NATS))
((Serap Bastepe-Gray, Co-Founder, Johns Hopkins Center for Music and Medicine))
One will recover and get back merrily to playing their instrument. Of the remaining three, two will continue playing but will have chronic problems with acute episodes along the way. And unfortunately one will discontinue their art because of injury.
((NATS))
((Sarah Hoover, Associate Dean, Peabody Conservatory))
Musicians suffer injury and pain at very high rates. And that this is really, really a form of suffering.
((NATS))
((Chelsea Strayer, Student, Peabody Conservatory))
Coming here and, you know, telling my teacher, like okay I’m getting pain in my wrist, like I can’t play, like this is starting to hurt a lot and him being so concerned, I never was like that before. Like, I was always just kind of brushed it off, you know, like oh, it’s probably nothing. But, so he was like, okay, well, you need to go and get this checked out because it was a different kind of pain which I’ve never experienced before.
((NATS))
((Trainer))
You really want to avoid any pressure on your elbow.
((NATS))
((Sarah Hoover, Peabody Conservatory Associate Dean))
We need to have better tools to address, better strategies for helping to educate musicians in ways that they can be, avoid injuries, and how we can respond to injuries when they do occur.
((NATS))
((Serap Bastepe-Gray, Co-Founder, Johns Hopkins Center for Music and Medicine))
That nerve in this position is bent right here, so it's under pressure. So, if you’re spending eight hours like this, before you know, you’ll have issues. I came up with this idea of Smart Guitar and the smart, Peabody Smart Instrument Series, which will be able to measure the forces, finger forces on the entire fretboard so that we can get better data. I think it would be valuable in training musicians with evidence based pedagogy so that they can develop certain motor skills more quickly without a lot of repetition, which repetition is also one of the occupational hazards.
((NATS))
((Chelsea Strayer, Student, Peabody Conservatory))
I think one of just my biggest mistakes is playing through pain. But two, I think we didn’t realize that I had like, some, you know, health issues with, you know, thinking that there might be blood clotting in my hand, you know, so, like I think that that really helped to, you know, bring awareness to this, just to like, bigger overarching problems to be aware of, you know, and if something happens then…or, if like those symptoms where you show up, we at least kind of know what it is and how to deal with it.
((NATS))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up
((Banner))
Chocolate!!
((SOT))
BREAK THREE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK D
((PKG)) MAKING CHOCOLATE
((Banner: Making Chocolate))
((Reporter: Julie Taboh))
((Camera: Adam Greebaum, Mike Burke))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Bethesda, Maryland; Washington, D.C.))
((NATS))
((Sarah Dwyer, Owner, Chouquette))
So, after its long journey and processing, this is what we use to make our famous chocolate covered caramels.
((Locator: US Botanic Garden, Washington, D.C.))
((NATS))
((Bill McLaughlin, Plant Curator, U.S. Botanical Garden))
What we’re looking at today is our chocolate tree or cacao tree. The scientific name for this is Theobroma cacao, and Theobroma is Greek. Theo is for god, and broma for fruit. So, here we have a cacao pod, which has been cut from our own tree, and inside we see this white pulp that’s surrounding the actual coco beans. These are typically just piled up and fermented, and it’s that fermentation process that drives the flavor into the beans themselves. Once they are at that stage, they can be dried and they can be processed in any number of ways, but I think the one way we’d like to hear about is chocolate.
((NATS))
((Sarah Dwyer, Owner, Chouquette))
Chouqette specializes in chocolate covered caramels. We started in 2010, and now we have about 200 stores that carry our chocolates. We have a great staff.
((NATS))
((Sarah Dwyer, Owner, Chouquette))
So, I’m often inspired by memories, which I think a lot of chefs are, but also location. And so, when we did some of our first designs, the first ones I did were ‘Happy Birthday’. And then we also did a set of (Washington) D.C. monuments. And so, we took the five monuments that I love best in D.C., and made chocolates with those designs on top. And that was one thing that stores really responded to and so did people on my website.
((NATS))
((Sarah Dwyer, Owner, Chouquette))
We’ve got more people salting the chocolates over here, and then the last step is unmolding the chocolates and then packaging them.
((NATS))
((Sarah Dwyer, Owner, Chouquette))
I can’t imagine doing anything else. I love this. I look forward to coming to the kitchen, and maybe thinking of a new recipe. And when clients ask me, can you do a different design, yes, I want to learn how to do that. This is the first job I’ve ever had where I didn’t get bored.
((NATS))
NEXT TIME ON VOA CONNECT
((Banner))
Opioids in America
((SOT))
CLOSING ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect
SHOW ENDS
