As a fragile pause in Gaza takes hold, Israel awaits the release of hostages while thousands of Palestinians return to the ruins of their homes. We explore the latest updates from the ground, breakthroughs in breast cancer prevention and treatment, and a heartfelt conversation with best-selling author Mitch Albom about his new book, his creative process, and the power of giving back.
#GazaCeasefire #IsraelPalestine #WorldNews #PBSNewsHour #MitchAlbom #BreastCancerAwareness #Humanity #GlobalUpdate #PeaceTalks #AuthorInterview #Hope #Healing
#GazaCeasefire #IsraelPalestine #WorldNews #PBSNewsHour #MitchAlbom #BreastCancerAwareness #Humanity #GlobalUpdate #PeaceTalks #AuthorInterview #Hope #Healing
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00:00Tonight on PBS Newsweekend, as the pause in fighting in Gaza takes hold, Israel awaits
00:10the return of their hostages and thousands of Palestinians returns to the ruins of their
00:14homes. Then the latest progress and what's on the horizon for preventing and treating
00:20breast cancer. And in our weekend spotlight, bestselling author Mitch Albom talks about
00:27his latest book, his writing process and giving back.
00:31I wanted to write a book that showed that even if you had the ability, the magical ability
00:36to go back in time and change it, you might find a whole new set of problems. And you might
00:41find that you miss what you learned from what you thought was a mistake.
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02:01THIS PROGRAM WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE CONTRIBUTIONS TO YOUR PBS STATION FROM VIEWERS LIKE YOU.
02:06THANK YOU.
02:13GOOD EVENING. I'M JOHN YANG.
02:15IT'S DAY 11 OF THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, AND THERE ARE STILL NO SIGNS OF EFFORTS TO END THE
02:20CONGRESSIONAL STALEMATE THAT'S BLOCKING FEDERAL FUNDING.
02:23PRESIDENT TRUMP SAYS HE'S DIRECTED THE DEFENSE DEPARTMENT TO USE ALL AVAILABLE FUNDS TO MAKE SURE U.S.
02:29TROOPS ARE PAID ON TIME ON WEDNESDAY.
02:31TOMORROW, THE SMITHSONIAN MUSEUMS AND THE NATIONAL ZOO WILL CLOSE AS THEY RUN OUT OF THE UNSPENT PRIOR YEAR FUNDS THEY'VE BEEN USING TO KEEP THE DOORS OPEN.
02:40THE PRESIDENT'S TRYING TO INCREASE PRESSURE ON DEMOCRATS, SAYING HE'LL PICK AND CHOOSE WHICH FURLOWED WORKERS GET BACK PAY AND SLASH PROGRAMS DEMOCRATS CARE ABOUT.
02:50THE ADMINISTRATION IS ALSO MOVING AHEAD WITH PLANS FOR MASS FIRINGS.
02:54ON FRIDAY, FEDERAL WORKERS BEGAN RECEIVING NOTICES TELLING THEM THAT THEY'LL BE LAID OFF IN 60 DAYS.
03:00THE ADMINISTRATION SAYS THAT MORE THAN 4,100 WORKERS WILL BE FIRED ACROSS SEVEN AGENCIES, THE MOVES BEING CHALLENGED IN COURT.
03:08AUTHORITIES SAY THERE ARE NO SURVIVORS FROM A BLAST THAT LEVELLED AN EXPLOSIVES PLANT IN TENNESSEE FRIDAY.
03:15THEY SAY IT'S NOT CLEAR YET HOW MANY PEOPLE DIED, THOUGH EARLIER THEY SAID 18 PEOPLE WERE MISSING.
03:21ACTRESS AND PRODUCER DIANE KEATON HAS DIED, PBS NEWS HAS CONFIRMED.
03:26OVER HER LONG CAREER, SHE WENT A CLAIM FOR ROLES IN FILMS AS VARIED AS THE GODFATHER AND ANNIE HALL, FOR WHICH SHE WON AN ACADEMY AWARD.
03:33KEATON WAS 79 YEARS OLD.
03:36IN THE MIDDLE EAST, THERE'S RELIEF IN BOTH ISRAEL AND GAZA AS THE PASAN FIGHTING APPEARS TO BE HOLDING.
03:42IN TEL AVIVE, HAGAI ANGREST EARLY ANTICIPATES THE RETURN OF HIS SON, KIDNAPPED SOLDIER MATAN ANGREST.
03:49WE ARE VERY EXCITING, WAITING FOR OUR SON AND FOR ALL THE 48 HOSTAGES.
03:57WANT TO THANK, MANY THANKS FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP.
04:01HE DID IT.
04:06HE AND ALL THE AMERICAN TEAMS.
04:08IN GAZA, PALESTINIANS STREAM NORTH ON FOOT TOWARD GAZA CITY.
04:12THEIR RELIEF IS TEMPERED BY THE MAGNITUDE OF THE DESTRUCTION.
04:18I'M HAPPY THAT THERE IS NO BLOOD, NO KILLING.
04:21PEOPLE CAN SLEEP IN CALM AND ARE REASSURED.
04:24NOW WHEN THE WAR IS OVER, WHERE WILL WE GO?
04:26I'M DISPLATED IN A GOVERNMENT AREA BUILDING, BUT WE HAVE TO MOVE FROM THERE.
04:30WHERE WILL WE GO?
04:33AS ISRAELI FORCES PULL BACK IN GAZA, RELIEF ORGANIZATIONS PREPARED TO MOVE IN WITH DESPERATELY NEEDED AID.
04:40BEFORE THE CEASE FIRE TOOK HOLD, FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONENT NICK SCHIFRIN SPOKE WITH ANTOINE RENARD,
04:46THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAMS DIRECTOR FOR THE PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES.
04:50WE HAVE SEEN OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS SINCE THE OCTOBER 7TH TERRORIST ATTACK ENORMOUS SUFFERING IN GAZA.
04:58FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE, HOW BAD IS THE SUFFERING TODAY COMPARED TO IN THE PAST?
05:04TODAY IN GAZA CITY, YOU HAVE 400,000 PEOPLE THAT ARE BEING CUT OFF FROM THE REST OF THE GAZA STRIP.
05:12WE WENT WITH OUR TEAM ACTUALLY TO ALSO ENSURE WHAT WERE THE CONDITIONS OUT THERE.
05:18ON THE 22ND OF AUGUST, THE FAMINE CONDITIONS WERE ACTUALLY CONFIRMED IN THE AREA OF GAZA CITY.
05:26AND WHAT WE'VE MANAGED TO DO OVER THE LAST MONTH IS ACTUALLY TO BRING MORE VOLUME OF ASSISTANCE INTO GAZA AND THE GAZA STRIP.
05:33YOU HAVE AN ANOVERAGE, YOU KNOW, NOW TWO MEALS PER DAY, WHILE IT USED TO BE ONE MEAL PER DAY JUST, YOU KNOW, TWO MONTHS AGO.
05:41BUT YET, WHAT WAS THE AREA THAT WAS MOST AT RISKS?
05:45YOU HAVE 400,000 PEOPLE THAT ARE BEING TRAPPED AND THERE'S NO MORE ASSISTANCE THAT IS REACHING THEM.
05:51SO EXPLAIN THAT SHIFT OVER THE LAST MONTH, HOW MANY MORE TRUCKS ARE BEING ALLOWED IN AND ARE THEY REACHING THE PEOPLE WHO NEED THE AID THE MOST?
06:00THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAM HAS BEEN WORKING ACTUALLY SINCE END OF JULY IS TO HAVE AT LEAST, ON AN OVERAGE, 100 TRUCKS AT MINIMUM PER DAY.
06:09OUT OF ALL THE TRUCKS THAT I'VE MANAGED TO ENTER INTO GAZA OVER THE LAST FEW WEEKS, WFP HAS BEEN DOING PRATICALLY A THIRD OF ALL OF THOSE.
06:17WHAT WE'VE MANAGED TO BRING IS MORE THAN 55,000 METRIC TONS OF FOOD OVER THE LAST TWO MONTHS.
06:24TO GIVE YOU A REALITY OF WHAT IT IS, IT'S A THIRD OF JUST THE STAPLE FOOD THAT PEOPLE REQUIRE IN GAZA.
06:31BUT THAT IS NOT ENOUGH, BECAUSE YOU NEED ALSO TO HAVE THE PROPER FRESH FOOD THAT IS OUT HERE.
06:36PEOPLE ARE NOT JUST RELYING ON CANT FOOD AND WHEAT FLOUR.
06:40THEY'RE REQUIRED TO HAVE PROPER ACCESS TO FOODS, TO VEGETABLES, TO MEAT, TO DAIRY PRODUCTS.
06:46SO THE REALITY IS THAT WE MANAGED TO BRING A BIT MORE, BUT AT THE SAME TIME IT IS NOT ENOUGH.
06:51IN NORTH GASA, CLEARLY THE CONDITIONS, FAMINE CONDITIONS ARE STILL ARE OUT THERE.
06:58SINCE THE 12TH OF SENTEMBER, WE DID NOT MANAGE TO ACTUALLY BRING THE FOOD AS WE WERE IN THE RECENT WEEKS.
07:06IN CENTRAL AND SOUTH OF GASA, YOU ACTUALLY HAVE MORE GOODS THAT ARE COMING IN.
07:12THE PROBLEM THAT YOU HAVE IS THAT THOSE THAT WERE RECENTLY DISPLACED, HOW ARE THEY GOING TO AFFORD IT?
07:18JUST TO GO FROM GASA CITY ALL THE WAY DOWN.
07:21SOME PEOPLE ACTUALLY HAVE TO BORROW SOMETIME UP TO 1,000 U.S. DOLLARS.
07:27YOU MIGHT HAVE MORE FOOD ON THE MARKET.
07:29YOU MIGHT HAVE MORE CAPACITY FOR PEOPLE TO GET THE FOOD THERE, BUT THEY CAN'T AFFORD IT.
07:36AND THAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE THAT WE HAVE.
07:39CAN YOU GIVE US A LITTLE BIT MORE DETAIL ON THE PEOPLE OF GASA CITY?
07:43OBVIOUSLY, WE HAVE BEEN SEEING IMAGES OF PEOPLE WHO ARE STRUGGLING WITH MALNUTRITION.
07:48CHILDREN WHO HEALTH AUTHORITIES SAY HAVE DIED FROM FAMINE, FROM HUNGER.
07:53HOW DOES IT COMPARE TODAY TO WHAT YOU'VE SEEN IN THE PAST?
07:57I MEAN, I WAS IN GASA AT THE END OF JULY AND BEGINNING OF AUGUST.
08:02I WENT AGAIN TO GASA CITY, MEETING THE SAME FAMILIES.
08:07THEY SEE THE CHILDREN WHICH ACTUALLY DON'T WANT TO BE WAKED UP,
08:10BECAUSE THEY ACTUALLY DON'T EVEN KNOW IF THEY'RE GOING TO HAVE A PROPER MEAL ON A DAILY BASIS.
08:15THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE TELLING ME.
08:17AND THEY FEEL SUCH A DEJA VU OF THESE THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED AGAIN AND AGAIN.
08:21THAT'S WHY MORE THAN EVER IN GASA CITY, WE REQUIRE THE ASSISTANCE TO REACH THE POPULATION AND AT SCALE.
08:28THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE GONE DOWN TO DERIBAL HAVE GONE DOWN TO THE SOUTH.
08:32HOW GREAT ARE THE NEEDS OF THE RECENTLY DISPLACED WHO HAVE LEFT GASA CITY?
08:37AND HOW MUCH ARE YOU ABLE TO GET TO THEM?
08:40WELL, ONE OF THE CHALLENGES THAT YOU HAVE EVERY TIME THAT YOU ARE BEING DISPLACED IS THAT YOU LOSE ASSETS.
08:47YOU NEED POTENTIALLY TO AGAIN FIND A TENT IF THERE IS ANY TENT ON THE MARKET.
08:52MANY OF THEM ACTUALLY WORTH MORE THAN 1,200 U.S. DOLLARS JUST TO FIND A SIMPLE SHELTER WHERE TO GO.
08:59YOU NEED AGAIN TO SEE WHERE IS THE CUE FOR ANY OF THE HOT MEALS THAT ARE OUT THERE?
09:05WHERE IS THE ACCESS TO THE WATER? WHERE IS THE MEDICAL AREA?
09:10SO ALL OF THESE PEOPLE AGAIN ARE STRUGGLING JUST TO FIND THE BASICS.
09:14AND ON THE FLIP SIDE, ARE YOU READY TO SERGE HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE?
09:18THE REALITY IS THAT WE HAVE ALL THE FOOD, BEING IN EGYPT, BEING IN ISRAEL, BEING IN GEORGIA,
09:24AND WE HAVE ALL THE TEAMS THAT ARE ON THE GROUND.
09:26AS WE SPEAK, WE HAVE MORE THAN 100 STAFF THAT ARE ACTIVELY REINSTATING BREAD IN MANY AREAS,
09:33REINSTATING NUTRITION BECAUSE PEOPLE DESERVE TO ACTUALLY HAVE THE BAY MINIMUM.
09:38WE HAVE FOOD OUT THERE FOR THE NEXT THREE MONTHS.
09:41WE ARE READY AND WE WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN.
09:43AND FON LENARD, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
09:46THANKS TO YOU.
09:47STILL TO COME ON PBS NEWS WEEKEND, THE LATEST PROGRESS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST BREAST CANCER,
09:53AND OUR WEEKEND SPOTLIGHT ON AUTHOR AND HUMANITARIAN, MITCH ALBUM.
10:01THIS IS PBS NEWS WEEKEND FROM THE DAVID M. RUBENSTEIN STUDIO AT WETA IN WASHINGTON,
10:07HOME OF THE PBS NEWSHOUR, WEEKNIGHTS ON PBS.
10:14EVERY OCTOBER FOR THE PAST 40 YEARS, PINK RIBBONS HAVE SPROUTED AS THE SYMBOL OF BREAST CANCER
10:20AWARENESS MONTH.
10:22IT'S A GOOD TIME TO TAKE STOCK OF THE LATEST IN BREAST CANCER RESEARCH
10:26OF PATIENTS.
10:28ALI ROGEN SPOKE WITH DR.
10:30THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY'S CHIEF PATIENT OFFICER AND A DUKE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL SCHOOL
10:36AND KRISTEN DALLGREN, A FORMER NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT WHO'S A BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR
10:41AND THE FOUNDER OF THE CANCER VACCINE COALITION.
10:45THANK YOU BOTH SO MUCH FOR JOINING ME.
10:47ARIF, I'D LIKE TO START WITH YOU.
10:49WE HAVE AS A COUNTRY BEEN COMMEMORATING BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH FOR 40 YEARS NOW.
10:54WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MAJOR MILESTONES YOU SEE THAT WE'VE ACHIEVED OVER THAT TIME?
10:58YEAH, 40 YEARS IS PRETTY REMARKABLE AS WE THINK ABOUT IT STARTED IN 1985.
11:02I WOULD, YOU KNOW, REALLY CENTER AROUND THE NUMBER 40 ACTUALLY FOR A LOT OF THE GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENTS.
11:06BREAST CANCER MORTALITY HAS REDUCED BY OVER 40% OVER THAT PERIOD OF TIME.
11:11IN ADDITION, WE'VE NOW REDUCED THE AGE OF WHICH WE RECOMMEND STARTING MAMMOGRAMS NOW DOWN TO THE AGE OF 40.
11:17IN ADDITION, WE'RE STARTING TO SEE OTHER AREAS OF DISPARITIES AND GAPS CLOSING AS WELL.
11:22MAMMOGRAM RATES, FOR EXAMPLE, ARE AT ALL-TIME HIGHS ACROSS MULTIPLE COMMUNITIES.
11:26NOW WE'VE STILL GOT SOME ROOM TO GROW, BUT A LOT HAS HAPPENED OVER, YOU KNOW, A COUPLE DECADES OF TIME.
11:31AND TO THAT POINT, ARIF, STICKING WITH YOU, WHERE DO SOME OF THE MAIN CHALLENGES STILL REMAIN?
11:35YOU KNOW, AGAIN, I'LL STICK TO THE NUMBER 40 HERE FOR A MINUTE.
11:38SO BLACK WOMEN, FOR EXAMPLE, ARE 40% MORE LIKELY TO DIE OF BREAST CANCER WHEN MATCHED STAGE FOR STAGE WITH WHITE WOMEN.
11:45IN ADDITION, WE'RE STARTING TO SEE, YOU KNOW, SOME AREAS AND POCKETS OF MAMMOGRAM LOW RATES ACROSS THE COUNTRY.
11:51IN ADDITION, WE'RE STARTING TO SEE SOME OF THE EXPERIENCE BE VARYING ACROSS DIFFERENT POPULATIONS.
11:55FOR EXAMPLE, SOME DATA FROM THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY LOOKED AT LONELINESS AND SOCIAL ISOLATION.
11:59AND WE FOUND THAT BREAST CANCER SURVIVORS ONLY REPORTED ABOUT 40% OF THEM HAVING ADEQUATE SOCIAL SUPPORT DURING THE COURSE OF THEIR CANCER TREATMENT.
12:07SO WE'VE GOT SOME WORK TO GO.
12:09KRISTEN, YOU COME AT THIS FROM SO MANY INTERESTING PLACES.
12:12YOURSELF, YOU WERE DIAGNOSED WITH STAGE 2 BREAST CANCER IN 2019.
12:16AND FOLLOWING THAT, YOU'VE COMMITTED YOUR WORK TO PURSUING A VACCINE FOR BREAST CANCER.
12:22WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO MAKE THIS MORE THAN JUST YOUR OWN PERSONAL BREAST CANCER JOURNEY?
12:28I WAS A NETWORK CORRESPONDENT AND I WAS 47 WHEN I WAS DIAGNOSED.
12:33YOU KNOW, I WENT THROUGH MY TREATMENT, BUT IT WASN'T EASY.
12:36AND AS SOON AS I LEARNED AS PART OF MY REPORTING THAT THERE WERE BREAST AND OTHER CANCER VACCINES IN DEVELOPMENT, I WAS BLOWN AWAY.
12:46AND I DIDN'T BELIEVE IT AT FIRST.
12:48ONCE I LEARNED THAT THESE ARE NOT JUST PIE IN THE SKY, DOWN THE ROAD TREATMENTS,
12:54THEY ACTUALLY ARE IN CLINICAL TRIALS AND SEEING INCREDIBLE RESULTS.
12:58I HAD TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
13:00SO I DECIDED TO PUT TOGETHER A COALITION OF TOP DOCTORS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY.
13:05WE'RE BRINGING THEM TOGETHER FOR SOME COLLABORATIONS.
13:08THESE RESEARCH TRIALS TAKE A LOT OF FUNDING.
13:11SO WE'RE RAISING MONEY TO HELP ACCELERATE THE PROCESS.
13:14AND THEN WE'RE OUT THERE TALKING ABOUT IT SO THAT PEOPLE KNOW WHAT'S AVAILABLE.
13:18WE DON'T HAVE TO DO THESE TREATMENTS, YOU KNOW, THAT WERE DEVELOPED IN THE 1800S AND IN THE MID-CENTURY.
13:26AND, YOU KNOW, THERE REALLY IS THIS FUTURE DOWN THE ROAD AND IT COULD BE CLOSER IF WE GET BEHIND THIS IDEA THAT OUR IMMUNE SYSTEMS REALLY CAN FIGHT OFF CANCER.
13:36AND SPEAKING OF THAT RESEARCH, KRISTIN, STICKING WITH YOU, HOW HAS THAT RESEARCH, IF AT ALL, BEEN AFFECTED BY SOME OF THE CUTS WE'RE SEEING FROM HHS, PARTICULARLY WHEN IT COMES TO THINGS LIKE MRNA PLATFORMS FOR VACCINES?
13:48RIGHT. SO, YOU KNOW, THE HAD OF NIH WENT ON TV AND SAID OUR CONCERNS AND WHAT WE'RE DOING IN THE MRNA SPACE CUTTING RESEARCH DOES NOT APPLY TO CANCER VACCINES.
14:01THOSE ARE REALLY PROMISING. WE NEED TO PURSUE THAT RESEARCH.
14:05CANCER IS NONPARTISAN. IT DOESN'T CARE WHICH WAY YOU VOTE. IT IMPACTS ALL OF US.
14:10AND SO, WHILE THERE HAVE BEEN FUNDING CUTS, I THINK IF THE GOVERNMENT GETS BEHIND THIS TYPE OF FORWARD THINKING AND MODERN MEDICINE, WE REALLY COULD CHANGE THINGS.
14:21AND SO, IT'S SOMETHING THAT I'M REALLY PASSIONATE ABOUT ENCOURAGING OUR GOVERNMENT TO DO MORE AND MORE RESEARCH IN THIS SPACE,
14:29BECAUSE IT COULD BE WORLD-CHANGING FOR SO MANY OF US.
14:33AND YOU BOTH ARE THINKING A LOT AND DOING A LOT TO ADDRESS THE PATIENT EXPERIENCE.
14:39SO, WHAT WOULD YOUR MESSAGE BE TO SOMEBODY WHO HAS BREAST CANCER ON THE MIND RIGHT NOW, EITHER BECAUSE THEY'RE GOING THROUGH A DIAGNOSIS OR THEY'RE FACING A SCREENING?
14:47A REEF, LET'S START WITH YOU.
14:49THE REALITY IS TODAY MANY PEOPLE, EVEN WITH ADVANCE DISEASE, DON'T REQUIRE OR NEED CHEMOTHERAPY THAT MAKES THEM LOSE THEIR HAIR OR STAY IN BED FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME.
14:59OFTENTIMES NOW THE AVERAGE PERSON WITH CANCER IS SOMEONE WHO MAY BE NEXT TO YOU ON A TRAIN OR MAY BE WITH YOU AT WORK.
15:05AS CANCER BECOMES AN EXPERIENCE FOR MANY PEOPLE THAT LAST NOW, YOU KNOW, OVER MONTHS AND POTENTIALLY EVEN YEARS, IT MEANS WE HAVE TO CONTINUE TO REFORM THE ONCOLOGY DELIVERY COMMUNITY TO THINK ABOUT THESE JOURNEYS NOW BEING MEASURED OVER MARATHONS INSTEAD OF SPRINTS.
15:20KRISTEN?
15:21YEAH, I LIKE THAT BECAUSE THIS IS, YOU KNOW, A LOT OF PEOPLE DO HAVE THESE LONG LIVES AFTER A CANCER DIAGNOSIS.
15:29I KNOW FOR ME, I'M AWARE OF CANCER EVERY DAY AND I THINK WE NEED TO LOOK AT IT YEAR ROUND AS SOMETHING THAT WE'RE AWARE OF.
15:40FOR ME AS A PATIENT, I WORRY ABOUT RECURRENCE AND IT'S WHY, YOU KNOW, GETTING ADDITIONAL TREATMENTS, MORE INTERVENTIONS THAT COULD PREVENT RECURRENCE IS SO IMPORTANT.
15:49I ALSO FOUND MY OWN BREAST CANCER.
15:52I HAD HAD A MAMMOGRAM IN MAY OF 2019 AND JUST FOUR MONTHS LATER I SAW A DENT IN MY BREAST.
15:59AND I INSISTED ON MORE SCREENING.
16:01IT TURNED OUT I HAD DENSE BREAST.
16:02I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT MEANT AND THAT I COULD HAVE GOTTEN MORE SCREENING AFTER THAT INITIAL MAMMOGRAM BECAUSE OF THAT.
16:09IF WE CAN DO EARLIER DETECTION AND BETTER SCREENING AND THEN WE CAN HAVE MORE INTERVENTIONS AND THINGS THAT MAKE A BETTER OUTCOME.
16:19AS FAR AS TREATMENTS, WE REALLY COULD GET THIS DISEASE EVEN MORE UNDER CONTROL THAN WE HAVE OVER THE PAST 40 YEARS.
16:27SUCH IMPORTANT MESSAGES.
16:29DR. ARIF KAMAL AND KRISTEN DALGREN, THANK YOU SO MUCH.
16:32WE BEST.
16:40THANK YOU.
16:42FINALLY TONIGHT, A SPORTS WRITER-TURNED AUTHOR-TURNED BENEFACTOR WHO PUTS LOVE AND HOPE AT THE CENTER OF NEARLY EVERYTHING HE DOES.
16:50In our weekend spotlight, Mitch Albom.
16:54This is the big Hudson, new Hudson building.
16:57Spending the day with Mitch Albom in Detroit is not a leisurely experience.
17:02We try to keep everything happy.
17:04At Detroit Water Ice Factory, the nonprofit dessert store he started to help fund his humanitarian work,
17:10he whips up a Motown twist with his namesake, Mr. Mitch's Chocolate Peanut Butter.
17:16Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi.
17:17Is that the chocolate?
17:18Then a stop at Say Detroit Play, a one-time abandoned city rec center
17:24that Albom transformed into a multi-million dollar learning center
17:27for hundreds of school students where academics come before play.
17:33We're not going to build something that's good enough for a poor neighborhood in Detroit.
17:38We're going to build something that's good enough for the best neighborhood in all of Michigan.
17:42If you deliver high expectations, you'll get high performances.
17:45If you come in with low expectations, say, well, this is good enough,
17:48that's exactly the performances you're going to get.
17:50And all I did was kind of, you know, kind of get it going, you know.
17:54But they take the ball and run with it.
17:57And you can see it's a lot of joy here.
18:01While there, the one-time professional musician shows us his talents on the piano.
18:12He's never had a lesson.
18:13In between stops, he takes a call from the orphanage he's run in Haiti since after the devastating 2010 earthquake.
18:27This is actually my second time around in life.
18:32All of that is before two hours behind a microphone for his long-running daily afternoon radio show on Detroit station WJR
18:41and after the three hours every morning that he devotes to writing.
18:45Albom's books have sold 42 million copies.
18:49His latest, a novel entitled Twice, was published this week.
18:53It's about a boy who can go into the past in order to have a second chance at things, except when it comes to love.
19:00So your protagonist, Alfie Logan from Philadelphia, you're a Philly boy.
19:05You started out as a musician, turned to writing.
19:07Are there other similarities?
19:09Yes.
19:10Most of Alfie's screw-ups with girls were based on personal experience.
19:16And Alfie has the power to go back in time, redo things.
19:19So there's a scene in the book where he goes up to this cute blonde girl who he kind of has a crush on
19:26and he starts talking with his hands and hits a glass of milk and knocks it into her lap
19:30and she looks up with that, oh my God, and he just says, look at that, and walks away.
19:37And that is exactly what happened to me.
19:39If you want to write about a teenager with embarrassing moments in his romantic life
19:45and you already have them in your own life, why not use them?
19:48Why make up something else if they work?
19:51Tell us how he discovers he's got them.
19:53Yeah.
19:53They're living in Africa and he is supposed to sit with his mother who's sick
19:58and she's in one of those mosquito netting beds and he goes and sees that she's sleeping
20:03and his father's out and he says, well, she's sleeping, I'll just go out and play.
20:07And he realizes his mother died while he was out.
20:10And he's so upset by this that when he wakes up the next morning, it's the day before.
20:15And his father says, go sit with your mother.
20:17And he goes, what do you mean?
20:18He says, go sit with your mother.
20:19And he walks in and she's there again and it's replaying all over.
20:23But it was a very poignant scene for me because my mother had a stroke
20:30and then a series of strokes that robbed her of the ability to speak
20:34for the last several years of her life.
20:36And so I never had that last conversation with her
20:41because I didn't know the stroke was coming.
20:43And then I had gone out to see her and I flew back home.
20:48And when I landed, I got a phone call that she had died while I was in the air.
20:54And there's a line in the book that says Alfie, who was running around with a cape,
21:02a Superman cape on, just jumping up and down.
21:05And he says, my mother died while I was trying to fly.
21:09And I don't think most people will know.
21:12Well, maybe I'm telling you, but my mother died while I was flying.
21:16And so, yeah, that scene kind of choked me up a little bit.
21:22Set the stage for the book, though.
21:24It was as a Detroit Free Press sports columnist in the 1980s that album first gained prominence.
21:31His 1997 worldwide bestseller, Tuesdays with Maury, brought broader recognition.
21:38An account of his weekly visits with a beloved former professor who was dying,
21:42it's one of the bestselling memoirs of all time.
21:45I just start with what I want to write about, and then I create a story around it.
21:49So, for example, the five people you meet in heaven, people have always thought,
21:53oh, well, you want to write about heaven after Maury.
21:55And that wasn't really true.
21:56I wanted to write a story about people who think they don't matter.
22:01So I kind of picked the themes before I start.
22:03And the theme for this one was the grass is always greener.
22:06And I wanted to write a book that showed that even if you had the ability,
22:09the magical ability to go back in time and change it,
22:13you might find a whole new set of problems.
22:15And you might find that you miss what you learned from what you thought was a mistake.
22:21While not all love stories, many of album's books have lessons about love, hope, and optimism.
22:27So many of my friends I told I was coming to do this said what they love about your books
22:32is the sense of hope and optimism that runs through all of them.
22:36In America today, with so much division, so many troubles, is it hard to keep that hope and optimism?
22:46No, I actually find it's more necessary and it's somewhat easier because it's almost a counter to what's going on.
22:52I think that everybody wants hope and everybody wants inspiration.
22:57When people take out their wallets, they pull out a picture of their grandson or their child or whatever.
23:03They don't pull out a picture of their woe or their misery or how awful life is.
23:08Here, let me show you how awful, how dark life is.
23:10They aspire to hope.
23:13Since 2010, Album has been giving hope to hundreds of impoverished orphans in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
23:19He and an army of volunteers rebuilt an orphanage heavily damaged by the earthquake.
23:25He spends a week there every month.
23:27I did not know what I was doing.
23:29I'll admit that at the beginning.
23:31I didn't have children of my own.
23:32I didn't even know diaper changing or a lot of that stuff, but I learned it.
23:37And the kids are the absolute joys of our lives and the purpose for myself and my wife, I'm sure, that we were put on this earth for.
23:46Album and his wife of 30 years, Janine, became parents to two children from Haiti, just one instance when he says he's been given a second chance.
23:57So there's more to this than just a love story and a novel.
24:03I have come to realize that my life has been the embodiment of second chances.
24:10If you look at it from 30,000 feet, you know, I was a musician and I thought that's all I want to do and I failed at it.
24:21And I kind of took up writing because there was nothing else to do.
24:25But look at what writing has given me.
24:27We don't have children.
24:28We get married late.
24:30It doesn't happen for us.
24:32We figure out we're going to be a couple that doesn't have children.
24:36And then an orphanage comes into our lives.
24:40And then this little girl named Chica needs our help because she has a brain tumor and she becomes our daughter for two years.
24:46And then we lose her.
24:47And we figure, oh, my goodness, you know, that was our chance.
24:51That was our child.
24:52And then a few years ago, a little girl is brought to us who weighs six pounds at six months and has had nothing to eat but sugar water.
25:01And I hold her in my hand and she fits in one hand and her eyes are closed and she can't speak and she can barely move.
25:10We don't think.
25:11We just say we have to save her life.
25:13She's our little girl and we have the second chance with another beautiful little child full of life.
25:21What did I do to deserve all these second chances?
25:28You know, who's watching over me, you know, that's saying you're on this way, but we're going to take you this way.
25:34So this is a kind of a celebration of what life can be like if you understand what went wrong with the first time and you try to make it right the second time.
25:47And I am a walking example of that.
25:59And that is PBS Newsweekend for this Saturday.
26:02I'm John Yang.
26:03Thanks for joining us.
26:04See you tomorrow.
26:06Major funding for PBS Newsweekend has been provided by.
26:10The ongoing support of these individuals and institutions.
26:24This program was made possible by the contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.
26:40You're watching PBS.
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