Word: folke
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...many Americans, Nader, at 35, has become something of a folk hero, a symbol of constructive protest. When this peaceful revolutionary does battle against modern bureaucracies, he uses only the weapons available to any citizen--the law and public opinion ... Yet Nader has managed to cut through all the protective layers and achieve results. He has shown that in an increasingly computerized, complex and impersonal society, one persistent man can actually do something about the forces that often seem to badger him--that he can indeed even shake and change Big Business, Big Labor and even Bigger Government...
...should master English - but they should also be taught that vernacular black culture has worth. Certainly Zora Neale Hurston, who wrote such vernacular classics as Their Eyes Were Watching God - understood that. "Zora chose to write in dialect because she thought the language of ordinary, rural, self-educated black folk was beautiful," Valerie Boyd, author of the Hurston biography Wrapped in Rainbows told me. "She thought this language - the language of her youth, her primary language as a storyteller - was poetic and rich and full of vivid imagery and worthy of being celebrated and immortalized in literature...
...movies in Mazar-e-Sharif. But the bulk of Edward Girardet and Jonathan Walter's guide relates to more life-and-death matters, and it is an essential traveling companion for humanitarian-aid workers, diplomats, peacekeeping troops, journalists and others bound for Afghanistan. Although populated by plenty of hospitable folk, Afghanistan is also lawless and dangerous. One of the most heavily mined countries in the world, it is not a place in which to wander alone, especially at night. If you are traveling there, Girardet and Walter and their contributors are the people to guide...
...Elegantly draped in flowing dresses and sporting flight-attendant smiles that never flicker, the 12 women breeze their way through easy-listening instrumental stylings of everything from Japanese pop songs to Chinese folk favorites and American jazz standards. The group's composer and arranger, Liang Jianfeng, says their sound "combines the best elements of Chinese and Western music." In practice, that means retaining just enough Chinese flavor to create an exotic sheen without alienating listeners unaccustomed to the moan of the erhu (a two-stringed fiddle) or the plink of the pipa. The finished product is about as Chinese...
...Success hasn't translated into rock-star lifestyles for the band members. Their annual incomes are in the tens of thousands of dollars, according to producer Wang (who quickly adds that "most Chinese folk musicians make a lot less"). But self-advancement appears not to be a major priority. "When we're abroad, we try to think of ourselves not as individuals but as representatives of China," says Zhang, brimming with the winning patriotism of a socialist poster girl. The band's next stop: the U.S. Wang is hoping Americans will succumb to the group's siren charms when...