Georgia Gazette

Good afternoon and welcome to Georgia Gazette. I'm Bruce Dawden. On today's edition we'll visit Lake Baikal in southern Siberia and get a first-hand report on the town of Irkuts and the people who live there. Arthur Luisa Teesh talks about Kwanza, the seven-day African-American celebration that starts the day after Christmas and you'll get a first-listen to a gospel Christmas with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the All-Atlanta Choir before the program airs Monday night. Georgia Gazette is a radio magazine and joy it and pass it on. You're listening to Georgia Gazette. Today is Friday, December 16th. There are nine days

left before Christmas, ten days until Kwanza and fifteen days left in the whole of 1994. On this date in 1770, composer Ludwig Van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany. The Boston Tea Party took place on this date in 1773. The entertainment trade publication Variety came out with its first issue on this date in 1905. Fifty years ago today, German forces launched a surprise counterattack against World War II Allied forces in Belgium and began the Battle of the Bulge. And on December 16th, 1989, Federal Appeals Court Judge Robert Vance was killed by a male bomb at his Alabama home, Walter Marroy Moody Jr. of Rex Georgia, who was later convicted of the crime. People celebrating birthdays today include Arthur C. Clarke, 77. Actress Liv Olman turns 55 today. CBS News correspondent Leslie Stahl is 53. And football player William, the refrigerator Perry, is 32 today. While civil conflict continues in Russia, where military forces have been called out to

subdue the breakaway region of Chechnya, far to the north. In Siberia, life goes on as usual. Susanna Kapeludo went to Siberia last week as part of her Friendship Force Journalist Exchange Program. There she visited Lake Bicol, the world's deepest lake and one of its oldest natural mysteries. Lake Bicol in southern Siberia contains one-fifth of the world's fresh water. On a world map, the lake is easy to find because of its size and its distinctive sickle shape. But native Siberians really refer to it as Lake Bicol. They call it just Bicol or the old man. On a cold but sunny day, walking along Bicol shore near the mouth of the huge Angara River, our Siberian guide and translator Lina Sazonova tells us the legend. Once upon a time, there was an old man Bicol lived in the lake with 336 sons and that is the number of the rivers in turn into the

lake that flow into the lake. Yeah, really just up to nowadays. And so the old man Bicol had the only daughter, the beautiful Angara River. That very river was called the only daughter of Bicol and indeed it's the only river to flow out of the lake. So Angara was kept in prison because she refused to marry the Irkutriva. Instead, the Angara had fallen in love with a giant genesis river in the north and the legend says Angara was determined to meet him. So one night she ran away from the father but one Bicol awoke. It was too late to stop her. He got very angry and he launched a cliff after her. The rock missed and now stands where the river Angara leaves the lake on its way to the United

Pavilion. And that is that very stone. Locals call it the Shaman Stone and say it has special powers. While most lakes survive only 50,000 years before they dry up, it is estimated that leg by call is more than 25 million years old and many of the fish and animals that live around and in the lake are found nowhere else in the world. At the Lake Research Institute in the small village of Liszt-Vianca, scientists like Valentina Ivanova Galinka study the lake environment. One of the most amazing things about leg by call is its water. It is so clear you can see down 120 feet in some places. That's because of the Bicol epishura. Billions of the tiny crustaceans constantly clean the lake of waterweeds and microscopic bacteria. And according to Galinka, they can only live in leg by call.

One of the angaroves goes out of the lake. This epishura also comes with her, but epishura cannot live in Angara river. Scientists don't know what region, probably of its currents, but it can't live in river and it dies. The leg by call area has two railroad lines, but very few roads leading in or out. About 100,000 people live along the lake shores. Many of them work at the large paper mill just across the lake from the research institute. Galinka says the mill may be helping the people, but it's hurting the ancient lake. So we can say that this mill was in the lake, but we know for sure that the mill influenced the lake at the area of about 50 km and the flora and fauna in this area is rather poor.

Several international groups are also studying the lake in its environment. Michael Barz is a student from California. He spent seven months doing research at the Limalogical Institute in Yakutsk. He says the paper mill is not the only pollution source endangering lake by call. Some of the major sources of pollution are from trains that go around Lake by call, because in each train there's some sort of pollution that drips off of the train. For instance, when they transport benzene, petroleum, they always are dripping, and that will accumulate. Then when the rains come, it'll wash into the lake or when the snow melts it all melts right into the lake. The second, which is even the more dangerous source, is the Langa River, which is very polluted. It's from Mongolia, and it includes a large, well over 50% of the lake by call watershed, and this water comes through the border from Mongolia very polluted, and

then in Ulanuday there are about 50 different factories on the river, which dump their own pollution into the river. So that when it comes into Lake by call, it's tremendously polluted. In Russia, where the government struggles with economic stability, environmental stability is not a top priority. But what may save Lake by call is its people, and the fact that local Siberians, like Lena, have a special place in their hearts for their old men by call. It's a great presence of nature to people, because it's really magnificent, it's great, and people through us can admire such a beautiful and really picturesque place. The sound with you, I think. It is beautiful. Even though it's winter, it's still a beautiful lake. It's not sleepy. Thank you, Susanna. With me in the studio now is Peach State Public Radio Marketing Director

Margarit Nutter, who accompanies Susanna Kapaludu on her Russian adventure. What was the one thing that you probably experienced that you did not think you would experience while you were there? I remember in the interview last week, over the phone, you were telling us how you had all these predetermined ideas. That's true. I guess maybe because I've already been there for so long, it just everything seems comfortable and the way it should be. I think we had the city, Airquits, which is the capital of Western Siberia, is absolutely just a stunning and beautiful city in the winter time. I think I was expecting Siberia to be this sort of barren, snow-covered land, bears, salt mines. It's absolutely lovely. The city is a mix of old and new architecture, some of which is absolutely beautiful and others, which is very sort of Soviet and bureaucratic.

The people are absolutely delightful and friendly and we had just a wonderful time. I think the thing I was surprised about most was traveling over there. I wasn't sure I was going to have such a wonderful time because I didn't really know as much about Russia as I think I should have before I went over, but it wasn't a problem. The people were very warm and inviting and made it. I was very sad to leave. Tell us a little about the people. The group of us that went over split up in three different sections in Susanna and I went to Airquits and we met what I sort of, they turned themselves new Russians and I guess in America you would kind of call them Russian yuppies without such a negative connotation, but they're young, inner-pricing business people between 25 and 40 who have just taken advantage of the fall of communism and they're out to stake their territory to make their claims and what's really nice, we met so many different people, caterer, restaurant owner, women's homes, a business supply place, radio station, manager, a man who runs a

video, audio operation and they all worked together. They all acknowledged how difficult it is to be in this position starting up and they all do things to help each other out and it's really, I found it really interesting in Susanna and I had decided that we wanted to be new Russians too because these are the people I think who are going to turn Russia around, they're going to make a break what's going on over there and seeing the people we met, we felt very hopeful for the future, they're absolutely wonderful, energized and they worked way too many hours. One thing we hear a lot about or at least we have heard a lot about our food lines. No food lines where we were, in fact everything is actually pretty abundant, the problem is of course people don't have a lot of money inflation has eaten away at the income that they're making so the stores we saw in Moscow, the shelves are full, the stores in Irkutsk, the shops are full of food and items and things are very plentiful there,

it's just the problem of people actually having money to buy them and one of the strange things are interesting things we noted that most, I would say the majority of the items that are available in Russia right now are imported, not a lot of locally made products, things from Germany and France and Sweden and the United States, filled the shelves and very little local products. Speaking of shopping you told me a very interesting thing a few minutes ago and I'd like you to share that with our listeners. Oh, shopping is not a recreational event in Russia like it is here. I know when I go out shopping, sometimes shopping doesn't always mean going out and buying things, shopping means going out and browsing, seeing what's in the stores and Susanna and I had wanted when we were in Irkuts to pick up something for our friends and family, you know little items, you know jewelry or something to bring home and our interpreter, Lena took us out to, well here's a place where you can get some jewelry and we looked and it was

okay but we wanted to see more and she didn't understand that we wanted to just look around and let's go check another place across the street and we saw an interesting row of shops over here. Let's go look around. The whole idea was very foreign to her. I think they think of shopping as we know what we want, we're going to go and get it and then we're going to leave. No browsing. No browsing. No browsing. I think American men probably enjoy shopping much more than most people in Russia. It was very interesting. We were in an open air market where they were selling food and all sorts of other products and just people bustling and hustling around and we went there to pick up some chocolates and Lena had to pick up a few foods and some cheeses and stuff and that's all we did. We were, Suzanne and I were starting to scatter out in the store just to see what was around and look at the people and Lena was getting frantic because she didn't know what we were doing and we're trying to explain. It's like no shopping doesn't mean buying, shopping means just looking around and having fun and the whole concept just baffled her.

So we're hoping that she comes over here and we can teach her what shopping is and she'll probably collapse but it'll be a lot of fun. I'm talking to Marguerite Nutter who just just returned along with Suzanne Capeludo from 12 days in the Soviet Union and most of that time was spent in Siberia. You managed to do a lot of traveling while you were there. Well, yes, I suppose it was, Irkuts is a six hour plane flight from Moscow and so we spent a lot of time in the air and we spent a lot of time on foot running around Irkuts and just saw, oh, there's lots of wonderful churches, things are being restored. We stopped at the local language school and interviewed some students there, met the chief of police of Irkuts and really what I enjoyed I think most about it was being with Susanna who is one of our reporters here. He gave me the opportunity to see the city as a journalist and to see things I never would have had the opportunity to see as a tourist, really meeting the people, getting their take

on what's happening in town, what's happening with the changing government and the problems that are happening right now in Russia and hearing what they think and they were just as interested to get our impression of what we thought of Irkuts in Siberia. What does a people do for entertainment? We had talked about that. Where do you go to get here local music in Irkuts because people at the radio station were discussing musicians like REM because they know they came out of Athens and we said, well, are there little taverns or something you go to and you hear the local bands from Irkuts and they were very puzzled by this. I guess the taverns are places where people with guns go and it's just not a very, you just don't do that. There are a couple of restaurants which provide music, but not very many, and they do- Not much of a nightlife. No, not really. People shut down about 10 o'clock at night. It gets dark about four and it's like midnight about seven o'clock. Most people, I think, socialize in their own homes.

It's very expensive to go out to restaurants and dining. It's not something everybody does right now. But entertainment is done with family and friends. They do have some movie theaters there. We saw a children's theater and there's a circus because I think every town in Russia has a circus, but not really the kind of entertaining social activities that we're used to here. It's a lot more quiet. What's the one thing since you've returned as you reflect? What's the one thing you brought back with you that you really did not think you would? I know you've got a lot of memories. No, no, it's difficult to pinpoint. I think the one thing I got was probably a much better understanding of Russia. I mean, I know that sounds really sort of maybe a little too broad, but at least actually going into aircoots, which we enjoyed so much more than Moscow, and meeting the people

and I think it's a combination of people being kind of western, but still very Russian. Just seeing how warm and friendly everybody is, and there's going to be a group of people from aircoots who come over here and visit us in February, and Suzanne and I were talking about just how could we possibly be as generous or gracious hosts as they were. I think it was just, I was really surprised and very pleasantly surprised at just how friendly and warm people were and how easy they made it for us to be visitors in their city. We felt more like family than like visitors, and I miss everybody that we met and that we stayed with and the people who did so much for us, and I think that's kind of I brought back a really nice warm feeling in the heart about the folks that we were with. Thank you, Pete State Marketing Director, Marguerite Nutter.

Hosting a Georgia Gazette, I'm Bruce Dorton. With me on the telephone now from Washington, D.C., Dr. Bobby Camille, Executive Director of Cable in the Classroom, Dr. Camille, thank you very much for being with us on Georgia Gazette. Well, thank you for having me. Perhaps briefly you could talk about what Cable in the Classroom is. Cable in the Classroom is the community service effort of the Cable Television Industry. The Cable Television Industry is two different parts. One part is the group that puts the cable to your home or your school, that's called the Cable Company, and we have all kinds of members who have made a commitment to connect public schools and private schools to the Cable.

They've also agreed to get out information about programming and to do training and help teachers to begin to use this great resource we're putting in. Now, let's talk about the influence of television, especially on the young. The statement, do you use TV or do you let TV use you? Can you define that for me? Well, I think what we're basically saying is, if you use television as a babysitter, if you put a child in front of it and you have no idea what that child is watching, that television becomes a user of you. If on the other hand you watch television with your child, you interact, you watch a program like Sesame Street with a young child, and you help the child to interact rather than sitting passively, you're now using television as a phenomenal teaching tool. What are some of the tricks a parent can do to figure out what the commercials are trying to keep you tuned in for?

Well, I think just understanding that commercials are the reason that programs are made is a good start. And so, as you talk to your child about television, as you say, now, why did they put the commercial at that point in the program? Is it the most exciting part? Do you want to stay with this program or are you going to go channel surfing? Just discussions like that help children to begin to realize that commercials are a very important part of why television is out there and how it's out there. I understand there are certain tricks that a parent can use to spot the commercials that are designed to keep you sort of glued to that program and to sell you something in the process, correct? That's correct. I think for sure, for example, you might just take a piece of paper and figure out how the child write down what the show is, what products are advertised so that kids begin to realize the difference between the program and the advertising.

You know, half of the time when you watch a young child watch, they haven't even made that decision. They think that the advertising is just the same as the program. How much time did that advertising take? How much time has the program been on? Who's the target of that advertisement? Is it you, a child? Is it for frosted flakes? Is it for soap, detergent? So you begin to realize that when you're watching a children's program, you're going to be advertising children's products and kids start to become very sophisticated viewers of that. That's really why we talk about starting to teach media literacy. We think it's really important that you and your child sit down together and discuss what the good use of time. How much time should you be in front of the television? If you have to choose programs, what are you looking for? What makes that program funny?

Is it really funny? Are there any consequences to the actions that those people are taking? I mean, some of the characters are shot and then they're right up again. Is that real? I think children sometimes don't know the difference. I'm talking to Dr. Bobby Camille, executive director of Cable in the classroom and we're discussing television and it's powerful influence, especially on the young. I often wonder, television's image is it a real image? I mean, we don't live like, for example, the Brady Bunch and a lot of us don't live like Roseanne and other shows and our kids watch these programs. Do they expect real life to be like what they're watching on television? My worry is that without you spending time with your child discussing that, they will, in fact, begin to believe that there's something wrong with their life if it's not being led in a certain way. If it doesn't match the television sitcom, if all the problems are installed in a half

hour, I mean life isn't like that. And therefore, you need to be sitting there saying, what are some of the real consequences of what we just saw? Does a child who's watching a program on kids worrying about being too thin? See that problem solved in a half hour and now all of a sudden the child is feeling better about themselves and not worrying about being too thin. Those problems don't solve themselves in an hour. I know. I want to hit someone and there's no consequence to that. Isn't the kind of role model you want and you want children to stop and ask questions about what did just happen there? Is that the only way to solve a problem? Dr. Camille, I want to thank you very much for taking time and being with us executive director of cable in the classroom and I'd like to keep in touch with you down the road and let's talk some more about television and its influence on children and on families.

But again, thank you very much for taking the time and being with us on Georgia Gazette by now. Well, sports fans may want to stock up on snack food because according to Georgia Gazette Sports Guy Mike Savage, this weekend has a lot to offer in the way of football and basketball. Thank you Bruce and good afternoon. To Georgia High School football playoffs conclude this weekend with some great match-ups. After a last-second victory over previously unbeaten Southwest decab last weekend, Valdosta is in the class Quad-A State Championship game against nationally ranked Colquit County. In the triple-A final, Thomas County Central attempts to win a third straight title at home against Dublin Saturday night. Central's defense is solid. They've given up only seven points in the postseason. In class AA, number one ranked Washington County takes on Screven County, Washington

County advanced to its second championship game in three years with the semifinal victory over number two ranked Carrollton last week. And in the class A final in Quitman, Brooks County is at home against Manchester after defeating Central of Talbotton in last week semifinal. Moving to high school basketball, there are four state ranked teams that will compete in the Cobb County holiday basketball classic that begins Friday in Atlanta. McEckeren and Walton are fifth and sixth in the Quad-A boys' poll while Lasseter is ranked number nine. Lasseter's girls' team is ranked third in the girls' poll. In college, basketball James Forest scored 26 points to help 14th ranked Georgia Tech beat rival Georgia Wednesday, 86-78. The 15th annual cup and hammer classic will be played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta Saturday. Georgia plays Pittsburgh at five and Georgia Tech takes on Louisville at 730. In pro football, the Atlanta Falcons are still mathematically alive for a playoff spot

with just two games to go in the season. Atlanta takes on Green Bay Sunday at one. And finally, South Africa and Estonia are two more countries that are sending Olympic athletes to train in Georgia cities. Up to 120 South Africans will train in the West Georgia City of Lagrange while Estonia will send athletes to the City of Social Circle located east of Atlanta. They join 11 other Georgia cities outside of Atlanta that will host Olympic teams. That's it for the Friday sports page. I'm Mike Savage for the Georgia Gazette. As we get ready for Christmas, many African-Americans are also making plans for the day after. When Kwanza begins, the week-long celebration is still a relatively new tradition that few outside African-American communities know about. Well, in a book, Carnival of the Spirit, seasonal celebrations and rights of passage, Arthur Louisa Teesh talks about the history and the meaning of Kwanza.

Irrespective of the differences in our skin and in our culture, there are certain things that all people do. For example, a harvest celebration, everybody celebrates a harvest. In Africa, it may be the YAM. In North and South America, it's corn. In Asia, the crop may be rice. But we all understand that the earth has given us something that sustains us and that we should celebrate them. I was in my community. I was one of the people who was participating in Kwanza very, very early. I used to be the person who issued new names to people. Arthur was put together by Malana Ron Karinga, who is a Ph.D. in African-American history

and culture. He took the components of the feast of the first fruits out of East Africa and he put it together with basic African ideas about culture and celebration and created the seven principles. He was looking to offer an alternative to Christmas, to black Americans, but one that would not interfere with Christmas so that Kwanza starts the day after Christmas and it goes until New Year's Day. This allows people to participate in Christmas with their families and then to go on and do this seven-day cultural celebration. Now what has happened with Kwanza is that the seven principles of Kwanza, which are things like clarity of purpose, creativity, collective work, shared economics, faith in one's community.

All of those things are, in fact, virtues that are good for everybody. And there's a great lesson in this because through Kwanza, we are learning how individuals create culture. He pulled something together that addressed the need that he saw in 1968 and it has stood the test of time. It has gone much further than he himself expected it to go. And I've talked to him about this, you see, it's gone much further than he himself expected it to go because the principles of it came to be recognized as something that was really important in this culture. So now we're going from what we had in 1968, which was isolated little communities doing Kwanza.

To Kwanza moving into mainstream America and so people are saying, okay, can non-black people participate in Kwanza? My personal answer to it is, yes, they can because the principles are good for everybody. What must be guarded, okay, is it must be kept in mind that this started out as an African-American holiday and it should not be appropriated and, you know, and said that whoever's now publishing the books created it. We have to remember who created it, why they created it, when they created it, and chart its growth into mainstream. One thing Kwanza and Christmas have in common is food, lots of food. You might not be able to lose any weight during the holidays, but according to nutritionist

Dr. Stephanie Belling, you don't have to put on extra pounds either. She shares some tips with Beth Angler. It's a true fact that the average American gains between four and seven pounds each holiday season and we then struggle to lose it after the new year. We eat and drink and we're married during the holiday season and what that often means is a six week period of partying. Here's an example of how the calories can add up during this period of time. Just consider an extra 400 calories a day. From one slice of pie, four to five cookies, a few crackers with cheese, or a small amount of chocolate candy, not to mention the alcohol consumed, eating every day for six weeks will add as much as five pounds and often more, often 10 to 15. A healthier approach would be to eat moderately most of the time during this period and save the splurges for the two or three individual holidays. The secret to weight maintenance is to balance calories over the long run. She says planned for parties by eating less one or two days preceding the party and also

bank some exercise calories prior to the big event. It's far better to be ahead of the game in terms of calories than try to play catch up. It's really much better to have money in your bank before you write the check, than to write your check and hope you remember to run to the bank with enough money after you've written it so that you can catch it before it bounces, that sometimes doesn't work. It's really the same here, but most importantly is not to starve yourself on the day of the party. It's very hard to maintain control when you're really hungry, so eat a light breakfast and lunch and even have a snack such as fruit or bread before leaving home. This is what I call preventive eating and it really works. So eat lightly for two or three days before, but on the day of the party make sure that you have enough calories so that you don't go into this humongous buffet or cocktail spread very, very hungry. It takes the edge off your appetite and allows you to make healthier food choices. Now let's talk a little bit about the food choices.

Do you remember the numbers 4, 4, 9 and 7? Those are the number of calories in 1 gram of protein, carbohydrate, fat and alcohol respectively, 4 for the carbohydrate and protein, 9 for the fat and 7 for the alcohol. Now those are the numbers in each gram of those substances and 1 gram is a very small amount. There are 28 grams in each ounce and it's easy to see why fat is so fattening. One ounce of fat contains 252 calories compared to 112 calories in one ounce of protein or carbohydrate. Butter, mayonnaise, sauces, toppings and dips contribute to the holiday weight gain according to Dr. Belling. Most of them contain 100 calories per tablespoon. Hidden sources of fat include cheese, crackers, chips, eggnog, chocolate candy and nuts. Remember to balance these high fat foods with low calorie, fruits, vegetables and whole

grains. Alcohol calories also add up fast, but not just alcohol. Watch out for the mixers. For example, the tomato juice in a bloody Mary contains just 40 calories per cup. While that cup of eggnog comes into the hefty 340 calories and I'm not talking, the alcohol I'm talking the cream in the eggnog versus the tomatoes in the bloody Mary. So we can see that just by choosing maybe one eggnog and then follow it up with a mineral water might be less than two cups of eggnog or one bloody Mary might certainly be less than eggnog altogether. You know, I just think if one, again, has to have awareness about all of this, you can still enjoy yourself and it doesn't mean you never have that pecan pie. But whatever you choose, enjoy it, know you're having it and alternate it with some of the lower fat, lower sugar, items. That Bethanyl report produced by our sister station WMAC with support from the School of

Public Health at State University of New York in Albany. And on the phone now with me, Eleanor Ringel, our movie critic, Eleanor Good Afternoon. How you doing, Bruce? Oh, just great. Enjoying this cool weather reminds me of Boston. Not that I want to go back during the winter. Of course not. No. What are we going to talk about this week? Well, this week I want to recommend a political, romantic comedy called Speechless and it cast Gina Davis and Michael Keaton as a pair of rival speechwriters who are working for opposing candidates during a scenario race. But at first you see neither one knows what the other one does, they're too busy falling in love. But when truth comes out, things get complicated. And to make things even worse, Gina Davis's former boyfriend, played by Christopher Reeve, also turns up. We used this kind of hot shot TV report of the kind of guy that wears one of his tratton all shredded, wore a correspondent vest everywhere, like to dinner and stuff like that. Directed by Ron Underwood who did T-flickers.

And I guess the best thing I could say about this movie is it's a movie that we sort of all hoped that last summer's I Love Trouble, starring Julia Roberts, Nick Noti would be kind of opposite the tratt, you know, feisty comedy where they're on different sides of things and they still come to care about each other. Maybe it's just that Keaton and Davis don't look like father and daughter like Nick Noti can enjoy your Roberts, do, or maybe just a better chemistry or better writers or something. But I think it's a real fun holiday treat kind of movie. And it's called Speechless. It's called Speechless. Okay. Anything else? There's also this very strange movie called Nostradamus. Now, do you know who Nostradamus was? He was the 16th century seeker, right, that, uh, particularly everything from like Hitler to Hiroshima. And they made this kind of interesting movie starring, I cannot pronounce this much of his name is, to Chucky Cario. Anyway, he was, he was in Lutton, Nikita, and he's a real nice looking guy and he makes the perfectly fine Nostradamus, but the movie itself, well, it's kind of wacky. I mean, it's part of it's kind of like a PBS fundraiser kind of movie, and then part

of it's kind of like a Heaving bosom costume drama, and part of it's just parole, you know, pure Nostradamus mysticism. And since I'm a little familiar with his little Byzantine couplets, it's fun for me to see them kindered up on screen. I just had fun watching this thing. I'm just not sure that it's everybody's cup of tea. So you recommend speechless and Nostradamus, uh, you can go either way on, huh? Yeah. I mean, it's, it's wacky fun. All right, Ellen, what about, uh, on video this week, anything? Uh, well, I just loved Lassie. I mean, you know, they did remake this summer and it wasn't exactly remake of Lassie come home because it didn't, wasn't set in England and it didn't have Roddy MacDowell and Elizabeth Taylor, but this one's set in Virginia and it's got Lassie and what, what could you want in a Lassie movie? And Lassie's them as American as Apple Pie. Exactly. All right, Ellen. Well, thank you very much for being with us. Next week we do not have a show. You'll have a week off.

So I will probably talk to you between Christmas and New Year. So in the interim, let me wish you a very happy holiday to you and your family. Same to you. Thanks for this. Bye-bye. Good afternoon, I'm Kim Tiernan with an update of events happening this week in Georgia. William Noll and the Ritz Carlton Orchestra return to Spivey Hall this weekend, backed by popular demand with a big band Christmas for performances tonight at 8.15 and Saturday and Sunday afternoon at 3. This event, a pops orchestra, presents their holiday festival of lights at 4 and at 8 on Saturday and handles Messiah is this weekend at Symphony Hall at the Woodruff Art Center in Atlanta. Robert Shaw leads the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in chorus in these performances. The Atlanta Symphony Chamber Orchestra, led by Daryl Oene, will present its 16th annual holiday concert at the Madison Morgan Cultural Center this Saturday. On stage in Georgia, the Augusta Players Children's Wing present a Christmas Carol at the

Playhouse in Augusta, showtimes are at 7.30 tonight and tomorrow night and at 3 on Sunday. This is the last weekend to catch Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice's Broadway musical Joseph and the amazing technical or dream coat at the Springer Opera House in Columbus. And at the Theatre Makin this weekend, you can see a 1940s radio hour by Walton Jones featuring comedy, big band music and a cast of characters straight out of Damon Rennian. In other events, you're invited to attend the reception for works on paper and decorative art objects from the McCall Family Collection, Saturday night from 7 to 9 at the Chattahoochee Valley Art Museum in Lagrange. And in Athens, the state botanical gardens of Georgia invites you to the 10th annual season of Reflections Holiday Open House. And musical performances for this event will take place from 2 to 8 on Sunday in the Conservatory. The arts calendar is a regular feature of the Georgia Gazette.

If you have any questions concerning these listings, don't hesitate to call at 1-800-654-3038. For Georgia Gazette, I'm Kim Tierning. And now Georgia author Terri Kaye adds to holiday tradition with his Christmas classic to whom the Angels spoke. I first wrote to whom the Angels spoke as a reading about 25 years ago or longer because I'd been invited to do a reading at a church within a 15-minute time parameters, what they want. I couldn't find anything that I really liked, so I thought I would sit down and write a story of my own within that time parameters. This is a story of the three shepherds, other shepherds that the Angels speaks to on the night of the birth of Christ. I made them three, selected the number three for a very specific reason. The purpose behind this story is really, really simple. The three men are different, are totally, totally different.

But because they hear a voice one night and because they believe they are alike, that's the theology behind the story. And I call to whom the Angels spoke, a children's book for adults. By that I mean, I think it's a book that children can enjoy for the simplicity of the story, but I hope that adults can understand and pause over the theology itself. Everyone who lived back then, back in the time of the three shepherds remembered the night. Sunset opened with a splatter of color, orange and red and purple, slender streams of light reaching out from the palm of the sun, reaching out high and long to catch something in their bright fingers, trees, hills, the buildings of Bethlehem, something, anything. The three shepherds marveled at the sunset, they stood side by side, the in-between shepherds standing in-between the tall shepherds and the short shepherds.

And they cupped their hands over their eyes to shade out the glare. The lights settled over them and threw their shatters, tall in-between short shatters against the mountain. Beautiful said one shepherd, magnificent said another shepherd, wonderful said the third shepherd, for one rare moment the three had agreed on something. Even the sheep, which usually had little concern for such things, looked at the sunset, some of them bleated, all of them looked. And then the sunset disappeared and stars began to pop out against the blot of darkness, the stars spangled and flamed and seemed to dance with brightness. I see bad weather in this night said one of the shepherds, as he prepared to raise a tent. I think it is a good omen said another shepherd. I think we will have days of good grazing, valleys of thick grass and flowing streams of water. I do not know said the third shepherd, if it is not one, perhaps it will be the other. The brightness kept the shepherds awake.

One was afraid, another was fascinated, the third was curious. And the sheep were restless. I think this is strange said the black shepherd, or it might have been the white shepherd, or even the bronze shepherd, anyway one of them said it. I think above us is the brightest star the heavens ever held. His friends nodded, yes said one, quite so said the other. Again the three shepherds had agreed on something. The star above them glittered like a brilliant giant jewel turning with a wind. It caught the light of the moon and the other stars, and through the light toward earth, toward Bethlehem. The three shepherds whispered in awe, each saying the same thing, look, look, look. And as they were watching the star pour down its golden light upon Bethlehem, and the hills around Bethlehem, the three shepherds heard something that sounded like a voice, word from the throat of the wind, rushing up from a distant valley, sliding over the lap

of the hills, and a whistling cry like the gathering of a sudden storm. What was that, cried one of the shepherds, a voice, I know it, a wind voice muttered a second shepherd, yes I heard it too whispered the third shepherd, it said something like, like fear not, yes, yes that was it the first shepherd agreed, fear not, but why am I so afraid? The three shepherds moved closer together, huddling like their sheep, and listened. And they heard the rushing sound of the wind voice again, mightier than before, and the light of the star rolled over them, and the three shepherds fell to their ground terribly frightened. They threw their cloaks over their faces, trying to hide from the light, and the wind voice. And I'll stop there, I've gotten caught up in this reading, but this is what it's about, you know, the difference of people, because I kind of think I did this because I wanted to, some description of my own sense of theology, having two older brothers who are Methodist ministers, I thought I should have my own, so this is mine.

And what is the message? The message is that people are alike, if they believe, but that everyone is different. There's a conclusion of this thing that I think tells it all, and so the three shepherds went into Bethlehem following the bright path of the brightest star above them, and they came to place for the child who would be named Jesus' lay, wrapped in swaddling clothes as the wind voice had promised. One by one they bowed quietly before the child, and then each went away to tell a different story of what had happened, because the three shepherds, those to whom the angels spoke, were different as all people everywhere are different, yet they heard a voice one night, and because they believed what the voice told them they were alike. And again that voice speaks to all who are different, but are seekers and askers and believers, that voice is heard always at the Christmas. It says, as it said to the three shepherds, for until you is born this day in the city of

David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord, Amen, Amen. Georgia author Terry K. You listening to Georgia Gazette? I'm Bruce Dorton, with me in the studio now it is indeed a thrill and a pleasure to have Sally B. Parish, director of the all-Atlanta chorus, comprising singers from five local congregations. Sally, thank you very much for coming in and being with us on Georgia Gazette. Thank you for inviting me. Now you are putting together, or actually you have put together, the all-gospel show, this year features the point of sister's, correct? That's correct. Give us a little background on the show and what does it include? Well, our very first show with the symphony was in 1992, and it was absolutely set

up, particularly to draw the Christian community together with the classical community, which is the Atlanta symphony orchestra. So in organizing this group, I saw that different churches in the community to give voices to donate to this particular effort, so that we could have at least a hundred voices for more people to come together to sing for this particular, yes, for gospel Christmas. You have 125 voices. We have 125 voices. How did the point of sister's get involved? Well, the point of sister's got involved because we want to bring in a professional group to share this particular music event with us, so that's how they really got involved. Have you been with it since it's beginning? That's right. One of the coordinators, and I guess you could say founders of it, who had a vision for this particular group coming together, it gives us, as a church, to come together in

Christian community, to have an outreach ministry in another area that we are not usually singing with or having an event with. I am sure that the turnout is just tremendous for the show, correct? It is, correct. That's correct. How long in the planning stages, or how far back did you begin to plan this year's show? We began in February, early this year. And you bring in groups from different churches? Is it the same five churches every year? Well, what really happened? The planning session for the show itself began in February. That's basically with the administration. As far as getting the choir together, I began about August of September in targeting different churches and, again, permission from pastors who have the vision to share what they are doing in their church without music ministry to be a part of this all-Atlanta chorus for gospel Christmas.

I'm talking to Sally B. Parish, director of the All-Atlanta chorus, and this year, of course, the chorus, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra will be presenting, gospel Christmas, and it will be airing on Georgia Public Television Monday night, the 19th at 8 o'clock, and then on a national broadcast, Wednesday night, the 21st at 8.30. Sally, the people who are involved in your show, the musicians, the singers, and whatnot, what walks of life are they from? The people that is involved in this show initially come from the Christian community. They are normally the musicians or people who come from different churches who have position as musicians in the church, and the people who are singers come from different church music ministries in the city that are in Metro Atlanta. Now when we talk about the chorus itself, all the different singers, do we take the show on the road or is it just something we do and keep in Atlanta? This show so far has been specifically for gospel Christmas with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

It sounds to me like something that the whole world should see, not just our audience here in Georgia, because this is the beginning, right? Well, this is the beginning, and there are visions that we will branch out into other areas very soon. Now, getting back to the point or sister's, I remember talking to them years ago, and their father was a minister, or probably still is a minister. And so their background obviously is right with the gospel roots, correct? Oh, yeah, they have a background in Christian music, because they were brought up in the church with their father being a pastor, but they still had selected to do secular music, but they have an enrichment of background in sacred music as well. If there is any one particular part of the show, one particular number in the show that is done that you like above all the others, what is it? I think it would be the finale. It's Amen.

How about that? Because everyone can relate to that. At some point or another, everyone have heard that song. So it's a song that brings the audience to their feet, that they can also participate. Amen. Sally B. Parrish, director of the All Atlanta Gospel Chorus, and getting together with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Again, the program, gospel Christmas will be broadcast Monday night at 8 o'clock on Georgia Public Television, and Wednesday night at 21st at 8.30. Sally, I'd like to thank you very much for coming in and being with us on Georgia Gazette and I am looking forward to seeing the show. Thank you for inviting me. That's our program for this week. Georgia Gazette will be taking the week off next week, but we will return on December 30th until then.

I think it's safe to say I speak for all the members of the Georgia Gazette team and the staff and management of Peach State Public Radio and wishing you and yours a joyous and safe holiday season. Georgia Gazette is a production of Peach State Public Radio News. The executive producer is Bruce Gordon. The series producer is Sid Hoskinson. The contributing editors are Susanna Capeluto, James Argroves, Mike Savage, Brian Smith, Winston King, and Kim Tiernan. Additional support provided by the staff of WUGA Athens and listeners like you. If you have questions or comments about this program, write to Georgia Gazette, 1540

Stewart Avenue, Southwest, Atlanta, Georgia, 30310. For a cassette copy of today's program, call 1-800-659-TAPE. The program number is the same as the date the program aired. You can also reach us online to get our internet address, just call 1-800-654-3038. We're listening to the Peach State Public Radio Network. From National Public Radio, I'm Martin Goldsmith and this is Performance Today. This woman may also have aroused such passion that Beethoven called her his immortal beloved. Its possibility is suggested in a major motion picture that's opening today, Beethoven's

birthday. Jake Pattowell takes a look at the film for us this hour. Then John Elliott Gardner guides his revolutionary and romantic orchestra through a concert performance of Beethoven's fifth. And from Atlanta, we'll hear the overture to Beethoven's only opera. It's all coming up on Performance Today. One of the women who might be Beethoven's immortal beloved is an Italian Countess, who is torn between two suitors, Beethoven and another composer. She and her father secretly judge Beethoven's worthiness by hiding in a closet as he plays his moonlight sonata. The

You