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Playlist: Maya Angelou

Compiled By: PRX Editors

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Maya Angelou & Guy Johnson - Mother and Son Poets become themselves

From Sedge Thomson | 44:47

Mother and son poets meet to talk about the courage of poetry, the pleasures of red rice and language. Funny, moving.

Angelou3-sized_small The mother is a poet, the son is a poet. She raised him in San Francisco, New York, later, in Egypt, Africa, Paris. She earned her way cooking creole food in a San Francisco restaurant. She found her way raising her son to learn courage, poetry, and manners. She learned how to prepare "my black boy to be raised in a white society." The mother is the renowned poet and memoirist, Dr. Maya Angelou. The son is Guy Johnson, poet and novelist. She travels to the Bay Area from time to time to visit her son and grandchildren. In this program, we hear Guy talk about his writing, his motivation, the energy of his poetry, and the deep emotion of being a parent. Then, his mother comes on stage and she talks about the conditions of raising him as a mother of 17, her own relationships with her mother and her mother's slave antecedents. You can't learn poetry unless you have courage; you must love yourself to find your way, to be somebody; her son Guy made her who she is. It's a joyful, funny, moving and inspiring story of parental and filial love, a memoir of America in a certain time; the influence of a mother on a child; and the importance of knowing how to cook red rice.

Tongue-Tied America

From With Good Reason | 28:59

Two law professors examine great speeches--by public figures like Ronald Reagan, Bobby Kennedy, and Maya Angelou--that changed the course of history.

Robert-f-kennedy_small Law professors Molly Bishop Shadel and Robert N. Sayler say oral advocacy is key to a healthy democracy. Effective speeches can even change the course of history. On this episode of With Good Reason, Shadel and Sayler take a look at some famous speeches by public figures like Ronald Reagan, Bobby Kennedy, Barack Obama, Lou Gehrig, and Maya Angelou. Also featured: It’s a highly debated approach to improving workplace relations: emotional intelligence training. But there’s a reason EI, as its called, is growing in popularity. One management expert says emotionally intelligent people—those with an ability to understand the emotions of themselves and others—make better workers. And better workers means better business.