VOA – CONNECT
EPISODE # 144
AIR DATE 10 16 2020
TRANSCRIPT
OPEN ((VO/NAT))
((Banner))
The Art of Yam
((SOT))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
It's taken me a while to say that I make art because at first, I
was just yarn bombing and covering things in the street with
yarn. But I do it because it makes people smile. I do it
because it brings people joy. And it makes me happy too.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
The Art of Slow
((SOT))
((Emily Coffey, VP of Conservation, Atlanta Botanical
Garden))
During the pandemic, we have seen that people who were
sheltering-in-place, the moment they could get outside and
they got to a park or they got to the Botanic Garden, they all
of a sudden started to feel better and more healed.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
The Art of the Pie
((SOT))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist))
Really, really, it was on fire. And then my wife, she got
angry. She said, “One day you are going to burn the
house.” I said, “Honey, it’s okay. Don’t worry. You see, I
won the championship because of that.”
((Open Animation))
BLOCK A
((PKG)) YARN BOMB
((Banner: Blooms in East Harlem))
((Reporter/Camera: Aaron Fedor))
((Writer/Producer: Kathleen McLaughlin))
((Editor: Kyle Dubiel))
((Map: New York, New York))
((Main character: 1 female))
((Sub characters: 6 female; 2 male))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
My name is Naomi Lawrence, also known as NaomiRAG. I'm a fiber
artist, yarn bomber and I live here in East Harlem.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So, right now, we are on Second Avenue, 109th street. This is a fence
I've used before. I'm going to install these. They were somewhere
else and they got taken down. So, I'm going to put them up here and
see how long they last.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Speaker 1))
This is amazing.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Aw, thanks. Thank you. Oh, it's so good to see you. She got so big!
Do you like…..
((Speaker 2))
My grandma, mine, she does everything like these.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yeah?
((Speaker 2))
Yeah.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Is that grandma?
((Speaker 3))
Yeah, my mom.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Oh really?
((Speaker 2))
Yeah, she does it.
((Speaker 3))
And I.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
You do it, too? You can make this, yeah.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So, I was originally from Liverpool and I moved to London in my
twenties and then found myself in Cambridge with my husband when
he was at seminary. He was offered a job in Spanish Harlem.
So, we emigrated here in 2014 with our two children.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So right now, we're on the corner of 104th Street and
Lexington Avenue and I live just around the corner and this
is Lexington Academy and we've used this fence many,
many times. The principal asked me to do a monarch
butterfly because the school is full of immigrants and he
wanted to respond to how beautiful migration is.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So, we installed the monarch in November and it's now been
ten months. It's pretty grubby and it's actually started to get
a little baggy. I'm going to have to move across. I'm hoping
she's going to go somewhere like Mexico. She was going to
go to Mexico, but then COVID. I hope she can finish her life
somewhere in Central America and do the actual path that
monarchs actually follow. But she's got plenty of life left in
her. So, just fingers crossed, hope for the best.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Speaker 4))
Woo!
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Woo!
((Speaker 4))
Woo!
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Oh my God. Just look how dirty my hands are.
((Photo Courtesy: Naomi Lawrence))
It's taken me a while to say that I make art because at first I
was just yarn bombing and covering things in the street with
yarn. But I do it because it makes people smile. I do it
because it brings people joy. And it makes me happy too.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So, this is El Barrio Loves You. I think, El Barrio Loves You.
((Speaker 4))
El Barrio Loves You.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
We put this up by Metropolitan Hospital during COVID. Six
different people work on this, five women and one guy, all
who live in this part of East Harlem.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
You know, I'm going to put these two together to save zip
ties.
((Speaker 5))
Oh, okay. Yeah.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
And we just wanted a message to the hospital to say, you
know, "We support you. You're having a rough time. We're
all in this together. Thank you for your hard work."
((NATS))
((Speaker 5))
Did you bring any…..
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
There's yarn and needles. I'll show you where the needles
are. So, you have no idea?
((Speaker 5))
I don't know what I'm doing.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
It’s the usual story. Plus two.
((Speaker 5))
Do you have.....
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
I have this color yarn. You can just like make it up.
((Speaker 5))
Okay yeah, yeah.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
My ears are sore. Okay, so this is crochet and I would
consider myself to be a crochet fiber artist who uses the
street as my gallery, I guess. I'm a very slow knitter and I
use knitting to make garments, but it would take way too
long to do this in knitting, so.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yeah, well, I've had 30 contributors to send these flowers
and, oh this one was Flo. But people from like all over, they
take some of the patterns I’ve sent them.
((Speaker 6))
This one’s really nice.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yeah, that was one of the patterns I sent. That's clematis.
But some people just sort of did whatever they felt like and
this is what survived. So, I'm going to need help to sew it
together and then obviously, to pull it up. And it's going to
take a couple of hours to pull it up.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yeah, that was Christie. I've got Kay here. So, I guess, I'll
just put these on afterwards. So…..
((Speaker 6))
You should glue them on there.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Glue them on! I think there will be a bit of gluing.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Speaker 7))
I teach here. I teach 7th and 8th grade Special Ed
((Photo Courtesy: Naomi Lawrence))
and we love this and we're starting to put it into the
curriculum. I think it's cool.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber)))
Oh, you are? Oh, that's wonderful.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So, we'll all be set for Sunday, five o'clock I think people said
they could make.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So for years, I’ve worked on the large flowers on my own,
but I’ve been very keen to work in collaboration with others
from the neighborhood, women who were either born here or
from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic or who’ve emigrated
here just like me.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
And it's much easier as long as you don't sew it to the grass.
Yeah, your O's are round. They're great.
((Photo Courtesy: Naomi Lawrence))
And then we'll get some funny pictures again, like we did last
time.
((Speaker 7))
Cool.
((Photo Courtesy: Naomi Lawrence))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
That's always fun at the end of it, to have some silly pictures.
Okay. Let’s just check.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yeah, they're all supposed to be 40 inches [1 meter]. So, I
think, we're pretty much almost done.
((Speaker 8))
Yes, one more, I think.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Okay. Just finish that row then. Thank you. Yeah, it's great
that you're involved.
((Speaker 8))
Thank you.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
We're always trying to get new people to join our collective.
((Speaker 8))
And then we put the letters, right?
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yes.
((Speaker 8))
Perfect.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Sew them on top. That's it, I think.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
This quote is by Ladybird Johnson.
((Photo Courtesy: Naomi Lawrence))
"Where flowers bloom, so does hope. And hope is the
precious, indispensable ingredient without which the war on
poverty can never be won." When I came across the quote,
it just stood out to me because it really is just about hope.
It's about the passerby walking down the streets, stumbling
across something that they never expected to be there. And
it just gives them a sense of, "I'm cared for, my
neighborhood's cared for, and there's love, there's love out
there.” And it makes you smile.
((NATS/MUSIC))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up…..
((Banner))
Art of Prosthetics
((SOT))
((Derrick Camana, Founder, Bionic Pets))
Whenever an elephant, no matter where it is around the
world, has an injury, I seem to get called upon.
BREAK ONE
((ANIMATION EXPLAINER -- W/ GFX, CAPTIONS,
PHOTOS))
US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2020:
NOMINATION CONVENTION
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK B
((PKG)) SLOTHBOT
((Banner: In Praise of Slowness))
((Reporter: Elizabeth Lee))
((Camera: Carlos Andres Cuervo))
((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki))
((Map: Atlanta, Georgia))
((Main characters: 1 female; 1 male))
((NATS))
((Prof. Magnus Egerstedt, Georgia Institute of
Technology))
The SlothBot is the world's slowest robot. The deployment
of the SlothBot at the Atlanta Botanical Garden is really just
the first step. Right now, it's primarily a proof of concept. It's
up there. It's measuring things. What we really would like to
do is take it down to South America. The Atlanta Botanical
Garden have a program. They're working down in
Ecuador. And the idea is really to bring this lost bot down
there.
((NATS))
((Emily Coffey, VP of Conservation, Atlanta Botanical
Garden))
We’re just starting to get baseline data where we're starting
to look at the temperature, the barometric pressure, the
lights are PAR, the photosynthetically active radiation, which
is the light available to trees and plants as well as carbon
dioxide. So, we're getting baseline data and that will help us
then to develop and understand how best to, you know, put
plants in particular environments and also what's going on in
that canopy versus the ground level.
((NATS))
((Prof. Magnus Egerstedt, Georgia Institute of
Technology))
I started reading up about sloths and got more and more
convinced that slowness is a strategic advantage in some
situations. Not only do you become more energy efficient,
but there are all sorts of other reasons why being slow is
actually a good thing. The whole idea came where I started
to embrace slowness as a design paradigm in robotics.
((NATS))
((Emily Coffey, VP of Conservation, Atlanta Botanical
Garden))
You could put somebody in the canopy to understand what’s
going up there. And something that’s happening 50 feet
above our heads in a really dense canopy, a really
wonderful, you know, tropical forest similar to this, the
tropical rotunda that we're in right now, is very hard and it's
very time consuming and it's often very expensive. And so,
this will actually break down those barriers, allow us to get
into places that we can't. When we can't put a researcher in
a forest for three to six months at a time, we could put the
SlothBot there instead.
((NATS))
((Prof. Magnus Egerstedt, Georgia Institute of
Technology))
From a conservation research and conservation biology
point of view, what it's doing, it's collecting data that
scientists like Emily Coffey and the other researchers here at
the Atlanta Botanical Garden can use to make models of
what's happening in various ecosystems.
((NATS))
((Emily Coffey, VP of Conservation, Atlanta Botanical
Garden))
The more data that we have to input into a system, an
ecological model, let's say, the stronger that data can, the
stronger that output of that model will be. During the
pandemic, we have seen that people who were sheltering-in-
place, the moment they could get outside and they got to a
park or they got to the Botanic Garden, they all of a sudden
started to feel better and more healed and they started to
actually realize that being around green spaces are critical
for our human health and our human nature. It is so good
for our mental well-being.
((NATS))
((Emily Coffey, VP of Conservation, Atlanta Botanical
Garden))
I'm hoping that during these extremely challenging and really
heartbreaking times, that we can all learn to appreciate
nature a little bit more.
((NATS))
((PKG)) ANIMAL BRACES AND PROSTHETICS
((Previously aired January 24, 2020))
((Banner: Bionic Pets))
((Reporter/Camera: Deborah Block))
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: Sterling, Virginia))
((Main characters: 1 male))
((Sub characters: 1 female))
((Courtesy: Derrick Campana))
((Derrick Campana, Founder, Bionic Pets))
I am hand-sculpting each one of these devices from scratch
using plaster and building with plastics and foams and it’s,
it’s an art every step of the way. Veterinary orthotics and
prosthetics aren’t an exact science. It’s really more of an
art. I was working in the human prosthetic industry for a
couple of years and one day, a veterinarian brought her dog
named Charles to my human facility. And luckily my boss
quit that day and the veterinarian was sitting with her dog, a
black lab named Charles, for about three hours and I said,
“You know, I've never helped a dog before.” And I gave it a
try and it worked. And I had such fulfillment and gratitude
from not only the veterinarian
((Courtesy: Derrick Campana))
but the dog that I realized this is the fulfillment I always want
from each patient. And I started Animal Ortho Care back in
2005.
((NATS))
((Derrick Campana, Founder, Bionic Pets))
So, we do a lot more braces than prosthetics. It's a lot more
common for an animal to injure an ACL [anterior cruciate
ligament] like we do. So, an ACL is just like what we have in
our knee and they, it's called a CCL [Cranial cruciate
ligament] for dogs. They tweak their knee. It's a ligament
rupture. So, we put a knee brace on the leg to stabilize it
and then eventually the ligament will scar over and they don't
need surgery at all. So, we're actually saving people lots of
money. Surgeries cost between three and five thousand
dollars. A lots of times, vets won't tell you that we can
stabilize with a knee brace and you can avoid surgery
altogether. So, we're saving you a few thousand dollars with
this device here. That's the gold mine.
((NATS))
((Derrick Campana, Founder, Bionic Pets))
Have to do it a certain way. Since there's only about ten of
us in the world that do veterinary orthotics and prosthetics
full time, not a lot of people are in close proximity to these
facilities. So, we do allow caretakers to cast their own pet
when necessary or we send casting kits to veterinarians
around the globe to cast the patient and ship that cast to
us.
((NATS))
((Derrick Campana, Founder, Bionic Pets))
So, I helped a couple of elephants in Thailand about four
years ago, who lost their legs from landmines. And from
there, I just kind of overnight became the Elephant
Man. And so, whenever an elephant, no matter where it is
around the world, has an injury, I seem to get called upon.
((Courtesy: Derrick Campana))
((NATS))
((Derrick Campana, Founder, Bionic Pets))
So Jabu, the African elephant from Botswana, he actually fell
into a termite hole and he twisted his wrist really bad. So, I
was able to make a brace to stabilize the leg so he wouldn't
get attacked, and so he could get around because, you
know, if an elephant can’t get around, then he can’
live. Every day, I get kind of a new request and
((Courtesy: Derrick Campana))
a new challenge, and I like that. But, how did I get there? I
don't really know. I think people just kind of saw something
and then they realized that I could do it and they reached
out.
((NATS))
((Customer))
I just want him to live the last few years of his life, you know,
the best he can.
((Derrick Campana, Founder, Bionic Pets))
It still gives me, you know, goose bumps where you fit a dog
and he is starting to regain his mobility.
((NATS))
((Courtesy: Derrick Campana))
((Derrick Campana, Founder, Bionic Pets))
That joy you see, that smile, that sparkle, that wagging of
their tail, I get such a joy out of helping animals.
((NATS))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up…..
((Banner))
Giving Back
((SOT))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist))
I want to make like one of the best restaurants with a shelter,
training center and then create like a job for homeless. And
you know what? This is easy. It’s possible.
BREAK TWO
((ANIMATION EXPLAINER -- W/ GFX, CAPTIONS,
PHOTOS))
US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2020:
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK C
((PKG)) HOMELESS MILLIONAIRE
((Previously aired January 17, 2020))
((Banner: Paying It Forward))
((Reporter: Anna Nelson))
((Camera: Vladimir Badikov, Dmitrii Vershinin, Natalia
Latukhina))
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou))
((VOA Russian))
((Map: New York, New York))
((Main characters: 1 male))
((Sub characters: 1 male; 1 female))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist))
I’m so happy I was homeless and I don’t have nothing and I
start from nothing that day, because if I had something, I
would not be who I am today, I believe.
((NATS))
((Popup Banner: Hakki Akdeniz, an ethnic Kurd from
Turkey, made his way to New York in 2001 with $240 in his
pocket))
((NATS: Hakki and Jessie))
Hi Jessie. How are you? How are you feeling baby? It’s me
again.
You made my day.
Oh, I like the blanket, the black one. That’s the one that I
brought for you? Yeah, that’s good. It’s warm, yeah?
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist))
Because those days, I learned so much to be better, to have
a good heart. And after ten years later, I find myself to be
who I am today.
((NATS: Hakki and Jessie))
And why would they scare you though?
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist))
I come over here with a huge dream, with a big hope, but a
lot of things go wrong. That moment when you become
homeless, that’s what I said, that’s what I want to support
them. And when you don’t have nothing, you don’t have
even family, you don’t have friends. Everybody like turns
their face. They don’t want to see you. They don’t want to
answer their phone. I met one guy. His name is Ronnie
from Senegal. And he told me about The Bowery
Mission. There’s a shelter. You go there. You sleep
there. They teach you a little Bible and, you know.
((NATS: Hakki))
There was people sleeping on the second floor too, no?
No.
Only just him?
Only four or five.
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist))
That’s where I used to sleep over here, you know that?
25 to 30 people there were sleeping in my area. In the
morning, we wake up like 8 o’clock, 9 o’clock to go get a
breakfast and after that, we could go out, come back for
lunch. After ten p.m., you cannot get in. And that was just
like smooth.
((NATS))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist))
I was good on the street, making money. I was not good at
school and I told my son, you know, like I want you to be
really good in school. “Daddy, how about you? You were
good?” I said, “No, son. I was not good. That’s why I want
you to be good.”
When I was a little kid, I have like my box, my first business.
I have a box putting like a lighter, pens, gum. After that, I
was doing like, shoe shining. And sometimes in the
morning, I used to sell like lahmacun, Turkish lahmacun. It’s
pizza but it’s a thin crust they call lahmacun.
It’s not about what we are today. It’s about what we can be
tomorrow.
((NATS))
((Popup Banner: Akdeniz got jobs working in New York
pizzarias. After years of saving, he opened his own tiny
pizza place.))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist))
How I made my first store. I sleep in the store for five days,
six days, I swear to you. Only one or two days, I used to go
sleep in my worker’s home. Then later on in April, I believe it
was April, in PMQ Magazine, I think somewhere over here I
have PMQ Magazine. So, they put me on the cover. So, I
go in front of the school and I just give those magazines to
kids. I just, you know, give it to them. And those kids, they
go home and they show their parents. And the next day I
become a little busy, a little busy. And one week, two
weeks, I become so busy. So, those kids, they bring
magazine and they get me to sign autograph for them. I
never forget that.
((NATS))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist))
Always I play with, you know, dough, 29 years. And I think
like what can we do, something that no one ever done,
crazy, to make everybody, wow! I tried to do flaming dough.
Step one, wet the dough. Grab the dough. Spin the pizza
and step back, you know, so you don’t get confused and
flame and dough same thing. When there’s the flame, I
burned like my carpet. My first apartment, my carpet was on
fire. Really, really, it was on fire. And then my wife, she got
angry. She said, “One day you are going to burn the
house.” I said, “Honey, it’s okay. Don’t worry. You see, I
won the championship because of that.”
((NATS))
Single file, please!
Thank you.
((NATS))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist))
One day, I want to open up a restaurant with people that
graduate from that kitchen. So, those people that are going
to graduate from my kitchen and those kitchens are going to
be built by homeless people. And the chef is going to
homeless. The manager is going to be homeless. The cook
in back, like the line cook is going to be homeless. I want to
have one kitchen, a big restaurant. I want to make like one
of the best restaurants with a shelter, training center and
then create like a job for homeless. And you know what?
This is easy. It’s possible. If I put in my heart, anything is
possible. You just got to believe it.
Dream is not about money. Dream about what you want to
leave.
((NATS))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist))
We make money, you know, we give it back.
((NATS))
CLOSING ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect
BREAK THREE
((ANIMATION EXPLAINER -- W/ GFX, CAPTIONS,
PHOTOS))
US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2020:
CAN ANYBODY BE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES?
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
CLOSING ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect
SHOW ENDS
EPISODE # 144
AIR DATE 10 16 2020
TRANSCRIPT
OPEN ((VO/NAT))
((Banner))
The Art of Yam
((SOT))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
It's taken me a while to say that I make art because at first, I
was just yarn bombing and covering things in the street with
yarn. But I do it because it makes people smile. I do it
because it brings people joy. And it makes me happy too.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
The Art of Slow
((SOT))
((Emily Coffey, VP of Conservation, Atlanta Botanical
Garden))
During the pandemic, we have seen that people who were
sheltering-in-place, the moment they could get outside and
they got to a park or they got to the Botanic Garden, they all
of a sudden started to feel better and more healed.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
The Art of the Pie
((SOT))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist))
Really, really, it was on fire. And then my wife, she got
angry. She said, “One day you are going to burn the
house.” I said, “Honey, it’s okay. Don’t worry. You see, I
won the championship because of that.”
((Open Animation))
BLOCK A
((PKG)) YARN BOMB
((Banner: Blooms in East Harlem))
((Reporter/Camera: Aaron Fedor))
((Writer/Producer: Kathleen McLaughlin))
((Editor: Kyle Dubiel))
((Map: New York, New York))
((Main character: 1 female))
((Sub characters: 6 female; 2 male))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
My name is Naomi Lawrence, also known as NaomiRAG. I'm a fiber
artist, yarn bomber and I live here in East Harlem.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So, right now, we are on Second Avenue, 109th street. This is a fence
I've used before. I'm going to install these. They were somewhere
else and they got taken down. So, I'm going to put them up here and
see how long they last.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Speaker 1))
This is amazing.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Aw, thanks. Thank you. Oh, it's so good to see you. She got so big!
Do you like…..
((Speaker 2))
My grandma, mine, she does everything like these.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yeah?
((Speaker 2))
Yeah.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Is that grandma?
((Speaker 3))
Yeah, my mom.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Oh really?
((Speaker 2))
Yeah, she does it.
((Speaker 3))
And I.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
You do it, too? You can make this, yeah.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So, I was originally from Liverpool and I moved to London in my
twenties and then found myself in Cambridge with my husband when
he was at seminary. He was offered a job in Spanish Harlem.
So, we emigrated here in 2014 with our two children.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So right now, we're on the corner of 104th Street and
Lexington Avenue and I live just around the corner and this
is Lexington Academy and we've used this fence many,
many times. The principal asked me to do a monarch
butterfly because the school is full of immigrants and he
wanted to respond to how beautiful migration is.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So, we installed the monarch in November and it's now been
ten months. It's pretty grubby and it's actually started to get
a little baggy. I'm going to have to move across. I'm hoping
she's going to go somewhere like Mexico. She was going to
go to Mexico, but then COVID. I hope she can finish her life
somewhere in Central America and do the actual path that
monarchs actually follow. But she's got plenty of life left in
her. So, just fingers crossed, hope for the best.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Speaker 4))
Woo!
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Woo!
((Speaker 4))
Woo!
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Oh my God. Just look how dirty my hands are.
((Photo Courtesy: Naomi Lawrence))
It's taken me a while to say that I make art because at first I
was just yarn bombing and covering things in the street with
yarn. But I do it because it makes people smile. I do it
because it brings people joy. And it makes me happy too.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So, this is El Barrio Loves You. I think, El Barrio Loves You.
((Speaker 4))
El Barrio Loves You.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
We put this up by Metropolitan Hospital during COVID. Six
different people work on this, five women and one guy, all
who live in this part of East Harlem.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
You know, I'm going to put these two together to save zip
ties.
((Speaker 5))
Oh, okay. Yeah.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
And we just wanted a message to the hospital to say, you
know, "We support you. You're having a rough time. We're
all in this together. Thank you for your hard work."
((NATS))
((Speaker 5))
Did you bring any…..
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
There's yarn and needles. I'll show you where the needles
are. So, you have no idea?
((Speaker 5))
I don't know what I'm doing.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
It’s the usual story. Plus two.
((Speaker 5))
Do you have.....
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
I have this color yarn. You can just like make it up.
((Speaker 5))
Okay yeah, yeah.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
My ears are sore. Okay, so this is crochet and I would
consider myself to be a crochet fiber artist who uses the
street as my gallery, I guess. I'm a very slow knitter and I
use knitting to make garments, but it would take way too
long to do this in knitting, so.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yeah, well, I've had 30 contributors to send these flowers
and, oh this one was Flo. But people from like all over, they
take some of the patterns I’ve sent them.
((Speaker 6))
This one’s really nice.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yeah, that was one of the patterns I sent. That's clematis.
But some people just sort of did whatever they felt like and
this is what survived. So, I'm going to need help to sew it
together and then obviously, to pull it up. And it's going to
take a couple of hours to pull it up.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yeah, that was Christie. I've got Kay here. So, I guess, I'll
just put these on afterwards. So…..
((Speaker 6))
You should glue them on there.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Glue them on! I think there will be a bit of gluing.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Speaker 7))
I teach here. I teach 7th and 8th grade Special Ed
((Photo Courtesy: Naomi Lawrence))
and we love this and we're starting to put it into the
curriculum. I think it's cool.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber)))
Oh, you are? Oh, that's wonderful.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So, we'll all be set for Sunday, five o'clock I think people said
they could make.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
So for years, I’ve worked on the large flowers on my own,
but I’ve been very keen to work in collaboration with others
from the neighborhood, women who were either born here or
from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic or who’ve emigrated
here just like me.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
And it's much easier as long as you don't sew it to the grass.
Yeah, your O's are round. They're great.
((Photo Courtesy: Naomi Lawrence))
And then we'll get some funny pictures again, like we did last
time.
((Speaker 7))
Cool.
((Photo Courtesy: Naomi Lawrence))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
That's always fun at the end of it, to have some silly pictures.
Okay. Let’s just check.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yeah, they're all supposed to be 40 inches [1 meter]. So, I
think, we're pretty much almost done.
((Speaker 8))
Yes, one more, I think.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Okay. Just finish that row then. Thank you. Yeah, it's great
that you're involved.
((Speaker 8))
Thank you.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
We're always trying to get new people to join our collective.
((Speaker 8))
And then we put the letters, right?
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Yes.
((Speaker 8))
Perfect.
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
Sew them on top. That's it, I think.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Naomi Lawrence, Fiber Artist, Yarn Bomber))
This quote is by Ladybird Johnson.
((Photo Courtesy: Naomi Lawrence))
"Where flowers bloom, so does hope. And hope is the
precious, indispensable ingredient without which the war on
poverty can never be won." When I came across the quote,
it just stood out to me because it really is just about hope.
It's about the passerby walking down the streets, stumbling
across something that they never expected to be there. And
it just gives them a sense of, "I'm cared for, my
neighborhood's cared for, and there's love, there's love out
there.” And it makes you smile.
((NATS/MUSIC))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up…..
((Banner))
Art of Prosthetics
((SOT))
((Derrick Camana, Founder, Bionic Pets))
Whenever an elephant, no matter where it is around the
world, has an injury, I seem to get called upon.
BREAK ONE
((ANIMATION EXPLAINER -- W/ GFX, CAPTIONS,
PHOTOS))
US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2020:
NOMINATION CONVENTION
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK B
((PKG)) SLOTHBOT
((Banner: In Praise of Slowness))
((Reporter: Elizabeth Lee))
((Camera: Carlos Andres Cuervo))
((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki))
((Map: Atlanta, Georgia))
((Main characters: 1 female; 1 male))
((NATS))
((Prof. Magnus Egerstedt, Georgia Institute of
Technology))
The SlothBot is the world's slowest robot. The deployment
of the SlothBot at the Atlanta Botanical Garden is really just
the first step. Right now, it's primarily a proof of concept. It's
up there. It's measuring things. What we really would like to
do is take it down to South America. The Atlanta Botanical
Garden have a program. They're working down in
Ecuador. And the idea is really to bring this lost bot down
there.
((NATS))
((Emily Coffey, VP of Conservation, Atlanta Botanical
Garden))
We’re just starting to get baseline data where we're starting
to look at the temperature, the barometric pressure, the
lights are PAR, the photosynthetically active radiation, which
is the light available to trees and plants as well as carbon
dioxide. So, we're getting baseline data and that will help us
then to develop and understand how best to, you know, put
plants in particular environments and also what's going on in
that canopy versus the ground level.
((NATS))
((Prof. Magnus Egerstedt, Georgia Institute of
Technology))
I started reading up about sloths and got more and more
convinced that slowness is a strategic advantage in some
situations. Not only do you become more energy efficient,
but there are all sorts of other reasons why being slow is
actually a good thing. The whole idea came where I started
to embrace slowness as a design paradigm in robotics.
((NATS))
((Emily Coffey, VP of Conservation, Atlanta Botanical
Garden))
You could put somebody in the canopy to understand what’s
going up there. And something that’s happening 50 feet
above our heads in a really dense canopy, a really
wonderful, you know, tropical forest similar to this, the
tropical rotunda that we're in right now, is very hard and it's
very time consuming and it's often very expensive. And so,
this will actually break down those barriers, allow us to get
into places that we can't. When we can't put a researcher in
a forest for three to six months at a time, we could put the
SlothBot there instead.
((NATS))
((Prof. Magnus Egerstedt, Georgia Institute of
Technology))
From a conservation research and conservation biology
point of view, what it's doing, it's collecting data that
scientists like Emily Coffey and the other researchers here at
the Atlanta Botanical Garden can use to make models of
what's happening in various ecosystems.
((NATS))
((Emily Coffey, VP of Conservation, Atlanta Botanical
Garden))
The more data that we have to input into a system, an
ecological model, let's say, the stronger that data can, the
stronger that output of that model will be. During the
pandemic, we have seen that people who were sheltering-in-
place, the moment they could get outside and they got to a
park or they got to the Botanic Garden, they all of a sudden
started to feel better and more healed and they started to
actually realize that being around green spaces are critical
for our human health and our human nature. It is so good
for our mental well-being.
((NATS))
((Emily Coffey, VP of Conservation, Atlanta Botanical
Garden))
I'm hoping that during these extremely challenging and really
heartbreaking times, that we can all learn to appreciate
nature a little bit more.
((NATS))
((PKG)) ANIMAL BRACES AND PROSTHETICS
((Previously aired January 24, 2020))
((Banner: Bionic Pets))
((Reporter/Camera: Deborah Block))
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: Sterling, Virginia))
((Main characters: 1 male))
((Sub characters: 1 female))
((Courtesy: Derrick Campana))
((Derrick Campana, Founder, Bionic Pets))
I am hand-sculpting each one of these devices from scratch
using plaster and building with plastics and foams and it’s,
it’s an art every step of the way. Veterinary orthotics and
prosthetics aren’t an exact science. It’s really more of an
art. I was working in the human prosthetic industry for a
couple of years and one day, a veterinarian brought her dog
named Charles to my human facility. And luckily my boss
quit that day and the veterinarian was sitting with her dog, a
black lab named Charles, for about three hours and I said,
“You know, I've never helped a dog before.” And I gave it a
try and it worked. And I had such fulfillment and gratitude
from not only the veterinarian
((Courtesy: Derrick Campana))
but the dog that I realized this is the fulfillment I always want
from each patient. And I started Animal Ortho Care back in
2005.
((NATS))
((Derrick Campana, Founder, Bionic Pets))
So, we do a lot more braces than prosthetics. It's a lot more
common for an animal to injure an ACL [anterior cruciate
ligament] like we do. So, an ACL is just like what we have in
our knee and they, it's called a CCL [Cranial cruciate
ligament] for dogs. They tweak their knee. It's a ligament
rupture. So, we put a knee brace on the leg to stabilize it
and then eventually the ligament will scar over and they don't
need surgery at all. So, we're actually saving people lots of
money. Surgeries cost between three and five thousand
dollars. A lots of times, vets won't tell you that we can
stabilize with a knee brace and you can avoid surgery
altogether. So, we're saving you a few thousand dollars with
this device here. That's the gold mine.
((NATS))
((Derrick Campana, Founder, Bionic Pets))
Have to do it a certain way. Since there's only about ten of
us in the world that do veterinary orthotics and prosthetics
full time, not a lot of people are in close proximity to these
facilities. So, we do allow caretakers to cast their own pet
when necessary or we send casting kits to veterinarians
around the globe to cast the patient and ship that cast to
us.
((NATS))
((Derrick Campana, Founder, Bionic Pets))
So, I helped a couple of elephants in Thailand about four
years ago, who lost their legs from landmines. And from
there, I just kind of overnight became the Elephant
Man. And so, whenever an elephant, no matter where it is
around the world, has an injury, I seem to get called upon.
((Courtesy: Derrick Campana))
((NATS))
((Derrick Campana, Founder, Bionic Pets))
So Jabu, the African elephant from Botswana, he actually fell
into a termite hole and he twisted his wrist really bad. So, I
was able to make a brace to stabilize the leg so he wouldn't
get attacked, and so he could get around because, you
know, if an elephant can’t get around, then he can’
live. Every day, I get kind of a new request and
((Courtesy: Derrick Campana))
a new challenge, and I like that. But, how did I get there? I
don't really know. I think people just kind of saw something
and then they realized that I could do it and they reached
out.
((NATS))
((Customer))
I just want him to live the last few years of his life, you know,
the best he can.
((Derrick Campana, Founder, Bionic Pets))
It still gives me, you know, goose bumps where you fit a dog
and he is starting to regain his mobility.
((NATS))
((Courtesy: Derrick Campana))
((Derrick Campana, Founder, Bionic Pets))
That joy you see, that smile, that sparkle, that wagging of
their tail, I get such a joy out of helping animals.
((NATS))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up…..
((Banner))
Giving Back
((SOT))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist))
I want to make like one of the best restaurants with a shelter,
training center and then create like a job for homeless. And
you know what? This is easy. It’s possible.
BREAK TWO
((ANIMATION EXPLAINER -- W/ GFX, CAPTIONS,
PHOTOS))
US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2020:
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK C
((PKG)) HOMELESS MILLIONAIRE
((Previously aired January 17, 2020))
((Banner: Paying It Forward))
((Reporter: Anna Nelson))
((Camera: Vladimir Badikov, Dmitrii Vershinin, Natalia
Latukhina))
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou))
((VOA Russian))
((Map: New York, New York))
((Main characters: 1 male))
((Sub characters: 1 male; 1 female))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist))
I’m so happy I was homeless and I don’t have nothing and I
start from nothing that day, because if I had something, I
would not be who I am today, I believe.
((NATS))
((Popup Banner: Hakki Akdeniz, an ethnic Kurd from
Turkey, made his way to New York in 2001 with $240 in his
pocket))
((NATS: Hakki and Jessie))
Hi Jessie. How are you? How are you feeling baby? It’s me
again.
You made my day.
Oh, I like the blanket, the black one. That’s the one that I
brought for you? Yeah, that’s good. It’s warm, yeah?
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist))
Because those days, I learned so much to be better, to have
a good heart. And after ten years later, I find myself to be
who I am today.
((NATS: Hakki and Jessie))
And why would they scare you though?
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist))
I come over here with a huge dream, with a big hope, but a
lot of things go wrong. That moment when you become
homeless, that’s what I said, that’s what I want to support
them. And when you don’t have nothing, you don’t have
even family, you don’t have friends. Everybody like turns
their face. They don’t want to see you. They don’t want to
answer their phone. I met one guy. His name is Ronnie
from Senegal. And he told me about The Bowery
Mission. There’s a shelter. You go there. You sleep
there. They teach you a little Bible and, you know.
((NATS: Hakki))
There was people sleeping on the second floor too, no?
No.
Only just him?
Only four or five.
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist))
That’s where I used to sleep over here, you know that?
25 to 30 people there were sleeping in my area. In the
morning, we wake up like 8 o’clock, 9 o’clock to go get a
breakfast and after that, we could go out, come back for
lunch. After ten p.m., you cannot get in. And that was just
like smooth.
((NATS))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist))
I was good on the street, making money. I was not good at
school and I told my son, you know, like I want you to be
really good in school. “Daddy, how about you? You were
good?” I said, “No, son. I was not good. That’s why I want
you to be good.”
When I was a little kid, I have like my box, my first business.
I have a box putting like a lighter, pens, gum. After that, I
was doing like, shoe shining. And sometimes in the
morning, I used to sell like lahmacun, Turkish lahmacun. It’s
pizza but it’s a thin crust they call lahmacun.
It’s not about what we are today. It’s about what we can be
tomorrow.
((NATS))
((Popup Banner: Akdeniz got jobs working in New York
pizzarias. After years of saving, he opened his own tiny
pizza place.))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist))
How I made my first store. I sleep in the store for five days,
six days, I swear to you. Only one or two days, I used to go
sleep in my worker’s home. Then later on in April, I believe it
was April, in PMQ Magazine, I think somewhere over here I
have PMQ Magazine. So, they put me on the cover. So, I
go in front of the school and I just give those magazines to
kids. I just, you know, give it to them. And those kids, they
go home and they show their parents. And the next day I
become a little busy, a little busy. And one week, two
weeks, I become so busy. So, those kids, they bring
magazine and they get me to sign autograph for them. I
never forget that.
((NATS))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist))
Always I play with, you know, dough, 29 years. And I think
like what can we do, something that no one ever done,
crazy, to make everybody, wow! I tried to do flaming dough.
Step one, wet the dough. Grab the dough. Spin the pizza
and step back, you know, so you don’t get confused and
flame and dough same thing. When there’s the flame, I
burned like my carpet. My first apartment, my carpet was on
fire. Really, really, it was on fire. And then my wife, she got
angry. She said, “One day you are going to burn the
house.” I said, “Honey, it’s okay. Don’t worry. You see, I
won the championship because of that.”
((NATS))
Single file, please!
Thank you.
((NATS))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist))
One day, I want to open up a restaurant with people that
graduate from that kitchen. So, those people that are going
to graduate from my kitchen and those kitchens are going to
be built by homeless people. And the chef is going to
homeless. The manager is going to be homeless. The cook
in back, like the line cook is going to be homeless. I want to
have one kitchen, a big restaurant. I want to make like one
of the best restaurants with a shelter, training center and
then create like a job for homeless. And you know what?
This is easy. It’s possible. If I put in my heart, anything is
possible. You just got to believe it.
Dream is not about money. Dream about what you want to
leave.
((NATS))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist))
We make money, you know, we give it back.
((NATS))
CLOSING ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect
BREAK THREE
((ANIMATION EXPLAINER -- W/ GFX, CAPTIONS,
PHOTOS))
US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2020:
CAN ANYBODY BE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES?
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
CLOSING ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect
SHOW ENDS
