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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Beverly Guy-Sheftall; Interview With Jane Sigal
Aired April 25, 2004 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Acts of bravery become so routine for some U.S. troops in Iraq that they sometimes don't realize the significance of their deeds. Well, CNN's Casey Wian has the story of a soldier who was just doing her job and earned one of the Army's highest honors.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SGT. KRISTEN SKETCHLEY, U.S. ARMY: Have you ever looked at this, dad?
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sergeant Kristin Sketchley is at home in Danville, California for the first time in over two years. She's been to Iraq twice, flying medivac, treating soldiers and Iraqi civilians.
SKETCHLEY: In medicine, you can never say you've seen it all, but I sure saw a lot.
WIAN: Saving lives is routine for Sketchley, but one particular rescue earned one of the army's highest honors, a soldier's medal for bravery. Holed up during a sandstorm, Sketchley and her team hear a helicopter and scramble outside to see it trying to land.
SKETCHLEY: All of a sudden you hear this bam, bam, bam, and we just hit the ground, we thought we were being attacked, we didn't know what was happening. And then this sound that I will never forget of just crunching metal, and just this turning and churning. It sounded like just something from outerspace.
WIAN: The helicopter crashed and Sketchley rushed to pull the pilot from the wreckage.
SKETCHLEY: We didn't know what was going to happen. The external fuel tanks had exploded, there was ammunition everywhere.
WIAN: The pilot survived with only minor injuries. Weeks later, Sketchley learned there would be another reward for her heroism.
SKETCHLEY: My commander pulled me aside and said congratulations, Sergeant Sketchley, and I'm like, what for? I'm thinking, oh great, what, what did I do? And he said that you were awarded the Soldier's Medal. And my jaw just dropped. I couldn't believe it.
WIAN: Sketchley plans to be a nurse when her military career ends next spring.
Casey Wian, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLAWAY: And we bring you hero's stories every week here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
Well, extreme makeover shows like "The Swan" have put plastic surgeons in the spotlight. Is a nip and tuck the right thing for you? Some answers from a plastic surgeon coming up live next hour. And then at 9:00 Eastern, actress Kathleen Turner joins us live from the site of today's women's rights march on Washington. Also at 9:00, the rising popularity of Christian music. The leader of one of the hottest acts joins us live, David Kratter of The David Kratter Band will be here live at 9:45.
And coming up this hour a vacation idea complete with gourmet meals and fine wine. Sounds great to me. The catch here, though, this doesn't sound so great. You got to prepare it yourself. Cooking schools, a tasty new trend. Cooking vacations here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAN MIGUEL: It's getting hot for rapper Nelly, one of the most popular artists in the music industry. The sexual nature of some of his videos has come under fire. One of his most controversial songs is called "Tip Drill" and includes graphic pictures of how to pay strippers. The steamy images in the video have outraged some students at Atlanta's Spelman College.
As our Carol Lin reports, they are calling for a national boycott of the rapper's music.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): This is the video causing all the fuss, "Tip Drill." In parts we're not going to show you, it has naked African-American women and a scene where a credit card slides between a dancer's buttocks.
So when Nelly was scheduled to appear on the campus of Spelman College in Atlanta, an all female historically black college last month for a bone marrow drive sponsored by his foundation, the students made it clear to the rapper to expect a protest. News of the planned demonstrations caused Nelly to cancel the event.
NELLY, RAPPER: Even if you don't agree with my music, it's not about that. This is not the time and the place to make the judgment about the music. This is the time and the place to make the announcement about saving lives.
LIN: Nelly's sister, Jackie Donahue, has leukemia, a disease that is often treated with bone marrow transplants. And the rapper hoped a drive on the Spelman campus would help get more African- American donors.
NELLY: You're talking about a video as opposed to saving a life. If you took half the time that you took to really discuss my video and my problems to discuss what we were trying to do, then you can educate so many more people.
BEVERLY GUY-SHEFTALL, PROF., SPELMAN COLLEGE: We need to convey a message to the industry and to the producers of this disgusting, nasty stuff, that we're sick of it.
LIN: Last week, students at Spelman held a standing room only forum, to complain about what they call negative images of African- American women in music videos.
ASHA JENNINGS, PRESIDENT, SGA: I feel like "Tip Drill" has legalized strip clubs two young children.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These videos are all people know about black people.
LIN: Disappointed, they didn't get a chance to confront the artist face to face. The students have now called for a national boycott of Nelly's music.
Carol Lin, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAN MIGUEL: The campus uproar at Spelman renews a debate over explicit material in music videos. It's a topic that you can trace back at least as far as 1990, when the music by rap group Two Live Crew was ruled obscene and was ordered removed from record stores nationwide.
A Miami record store owner was arrested for selling a copy of the album "As Nasty as You Want to Be" to an undercover police officer. Members of the rap group are also later arrested for performing the lyrics on stage. And then in October of 1990, all three were found not guilty of the obscenity charge.
Joining us here in Atlanta is co-author of "Gender Talk," a book that examines the split between black men and women. She is Beverly Guy-Sheftall. You saw her in Carol Lin's package. She is professor at Spelman.
Thank you for joining us this morning. We appreciate your time.
BEVERLY GUY-SHEFTALL, CO-AUTHOR, "GENDER TALK": Thank you for inviting me.
SAN MIGUEL: One of the first things that we heard from Nelly in that video, in the piece by Carol Lin was the idea that all this was overshadowing the issue the cause, that he was going to come to Spelman for -- which was to raise awareness about bone marrow donations. Are you concerned that that has become overshadowed by this controversy over Nelly's music? GUY-SHEFTALL: No, in fact, we really welcome Nelly to come to the campus and talk about bone marrow. He chose not to come. And the students are still committed to having a bone marrow drive, which we will be having in a week.
So we think it would have actually heightened the attention to the bone marrow drive if he had come and been willing to talk to us also about the video.
SAN MIGUEL: A lot of folks have been -- there's been some editorials written about this. And some of the people who say that, you know, it's not the artist. It's some of the channels that are running these videos, like BET, which airs this uncut show at 3:00 a.m. in the morning and MTV and some of the others. What about organizing against them instead of the artists?
GUY-SHEFTALL: We want to organize against this billion dollar multi media industry, which makes millions of dollars off of the pornographic images of black girls and men. We want to engage in dialogue with rap artists. And we want to also try to appeal to young people about the harmful effects of this music.
SAN MIGUEL: How do you think -- I mean, there's a lot of talk about how black women are portrayed in these videos. We were supposed to have Luther Campbell here. And we'll talk more about that in a second, too. That of course, Luther Campbell.
I was going to ask him how he feels black men are portrayed in these videos, like in the one that we're talking about here with Nelly going to the strip clubs, and the way that they are treating women. Do you have an opinion?
GUY-SHEFTALL: Of course I have an opinion.
SAN MIGUEL: I thought you might.
GUY-SHEFTALL: First of all, let me just say that these pornographic images of black women remind us of slavery and the auction block. And I will also say that these stereotypical images of black men as predators is also consistent with historic images of black people that we have been trying to eradicate. So they don't present positive images of black girls, women, or black men.
SAN MIGUEL: You have heard this argument. And you know what's coming next is that the women who appear in these videos, just like in you know the arguments we've heard in the pornography industry and everything else, nobody is holding a gun to these women's heads. It goes the argument. They are being paid and paid well for their appearances in that.
What about that argument? And why not try to organize the women to not appear in these videos?
GUY-SHEFTALL: Well, women in these videos, because they earn money to be in videos, it would be to me just like saying that because women who are being battered stay there and are battered, that we should blame them. So our argument is that we need to get rid of this kind of music and then women won't be able to get paid to be in these kinds of videos.
SAN MIGUEL: Which goes to an economic type of argument.
GUY-SHEFTALL: Yes.
SAN MIGUEL: The idea of trying to hurt them in the bottom line, where it counts. Because you know, many are saying Nelly's just following the money.
GUY-SHEFTALL: Yes, absolutely.
SAN MIGUEL: And trying to make a living in this industry. Why not encourage the likes of some of the female stars of this industry, like Missy Elliott, Beyonce, to speak out, to make a stand on some of this? And I think in some of Missy Elliott's lyrics as well, you know, she can may be taken for task for sexual imagery in some of her lyrics, but she's also been seen as being proactive when it comes to women in music.
GUY-SHEFTALL: I don't think we can expect artists who are benefiting financially from this music to wage war. It is consumers and socially conscious people in our communities who have the responsibility to wage war. We can't expect people who are profiting from this music to join our battle against it.
SAN MIGUEL: What about the argument that women at Spelman may be listen to Nelly?
GUY-SHEFTALL: Well, lots of women at Spelman listen to Nelly. There were some students at Spelman who were not happy about the protests, but there were also a larger group of women at Spelman who were courageous enough to speak out. And those are the women that we should be talking about.
SAN MIGUEL: We appreciate you waking up early on a Sunday morning to talk with us. Beverly Guy-Sheftall, professor at Spelman College, co-author of the book, "Gender Talk," which leads right into what we're talking about today, the issue of black men and women and the struggle for women's equality in African-American communities. Here you see the sub-title.
Thanks so much for joining us.
GUY-SHEFTALL: Thank you.
SAN MIGUEL: We appreciate your time today. As we had said, we had wanted to talk with Luther Campbell, the founder of Two Live Crew, about this issue as well. In the past, he has been a very articulate, engaging spokesman for the -- for rap artists and the rap industry. We had scheduled him to appear out of our Tallahassee studios -- out of a Tallahassee studio. He never showed up. We had hoped that maybe we can have him on in the future.
In the meantime, we want to know what you think about this issue. Our e-mail question this morning, are women getting a bad rap in popular music? And yes, the rap pun is attended. But this also could include some rock lyrics and videos that you have seen perhaps on MTV and some other channels.
Send us an e-mail at wam@cnn.com and we'll read some of them later on in the show -- Catherine?
CALLAWAY: In Florida, a school for at risk children is being charged with fraud, accused of taking advantage of the state and the kids. Here's CNN's John Zarrella.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Parents had nothing to say, as they dropped their children off at a Scambia Charter School outside Pensacola. If they are worried about the school's future, they're keeping it to themselves. The charter school has been charged by state prosecutors with criminal organized fraud.
RUSS EDGAR, ASST. STATE ATTORNEY: In essence, we have alleged that the school is being paid to teach the children. And at the same time, the school is being paid to remove them from the school during classroom times for weeks on end.
ZARRELLA: Prosecutors say the school was getting money from the State Department of Education to teach 140 at risk kids. At the same time, it was also getting money from the State Department of Transportation. More than a million dollars over the past five years.
The contract with the DOT paid the school $16.25 an hour to put each student to work on road crews, cleaning up rights of way and medians. Of that, students got paid $10 an hour.
(on camera): Putting the students to work was perfectly legal under the state's youth work experience program. The program allows them the opportunity to get public service work. The problem prosecutors say is that the students spent most of their time working and only a fraction of the required time learning.
(voice-over): Prosecutors say the fraud began in 1999 when the school made about $40,000 a year in profits. The school president told the local newspaper the school is now complying with education requirements. The county school superintendent says the school's charter is not being pulled, but...
JIM PAUL, SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT: If they're using those students in order to help them, help that school stay financially afloat, then there's a very serious problem.
ZARRELLA: State education officials say the local school board had the primary responsibility for insuring that education money was being used to educate.
JIM HORNE, FLORIDA EDUCATION COMMISSIONER: It's really up to the local district. We fund the district and the district funds the charter school. So we don't fund charter schools directly. ZARRELLA: Prosecutors say the school got away with the fraud by falsifying class attendance records and course schedules. County officials say for the sake of the kids, the school will remain open at least until the end of the school year.
John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLAWAY: Stay with us, everyone. CNN SUNDAY MORNING will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAN MIGUEL: If a typical beach vacation leaves you hungry for more, we might have just the thing for you. The senior editor of "Food and Wine" magazine, Jane Sigal, joins us now with a tasty new trend that seems to be catching on around the world. And that is cooking vacations.
Ms. Sigal, thanks for being with us this morning.
JANE SIGAL, "FOOD & WINE" MAGAZINE: It's great to be here. I love talking about France.
SAN MIGUEL: And you know, I love talking about food. So there you go.
A cooking vacation may sound a little expensive to some people. Is that always the case?
SIGAL: Well, you know what? You are living a lifestyle. It's the John Malkovich experience. You get to be, for instance, Patricia Wells, who is an amazing person. Everybody wants to be Patricia Wells. She's the restaurant critic for "The Herald Tribune." She is a contributing editor to "Food and Wine." She's written more than half a dozen cookbooks. And instead of going to the 7.5 floor of an office building in New York, you get to spend five days cooking with Patricia Wells at her hilltop farmhouse in Provence. And it's an amazing experience.
SAN MIGUEL: And this amazing experience, we should point, will cost you $3500 for five days. But if you have that kind of cash on hand, it sounds like an incredible experience.
Do I need to already possess some kind of basic culinary skills to get in on these? I'm trying to think about this for main street Americans. And you know, somebody like me, who you know, my idea of cooking is a barbecue grill or a microwave. Do you need to have a little bit more, you know, experience on this to enjoy one of these?
SIGAL: You absolutely don't. You can -- if you're doing this kind of vacation, which is a lifestyle education experience, you absolutely do not need to do. Patricia Wells, for instance, will take you to the farmer's market at (UNINTELLIGIBLE). And she will take you to the cheesemaker. She will take you to her butcher. And then will take her home. And you will cook together. And you will make a leg of lamb, for instance, in her wood burning oven. And you'll all sit down and by the way, drink some of her wine from the (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
SAN MIGUEL: Wow, that's sounds great. Let's talk a little bit about L'Ecole du Grand Chocolats. What can we expect there?
SIGAL: OK. Now this is for somebody who is a type A personality and loves chocolate, because they have sessions devoted entirely to ganache making. So -- ganache, which is that wonderful creamy interior, bitter sweet chocolate mixed with creme fraiche or just pastry -- chocolate pastry making.
And by the way, note to self, if you do go there, it's in the Rome Valley. And it's a stone throw from some of the greatest wine makers, like Chacutier and the Rhone Valley.
SAN MIGUEL: And then we move on to -- is it Dante Bocrause? I hope I'm saying these right.
SIGAL: Um...
SAN MIGUEL: Dante -- that's what I was told here. Dante Bocrause. Is it in Italy? Is it -- does it focus on Italian cuisine? Are all of these French? I mean, you talk about -- talking about France, but are there any other countries that offer this and any other cuisines that are highlighted by some of these particular cooking vacations?
SIGAL: Right, of course. What I know about is France especially. But of course, all of the cooking authors that you know, that you read about, are offering cooking classes in different countries. So you can find them in Italy. You can find them in Spain. You can find them in Mexico.
I suggest you go onto the Foodandwine.com Web site and you can read about all the different terrific cooking school vacations that you can find.
SAN MIGUEL: OK, we'll do some research there. L'Atelier de Cuisine?
SIGAL: L'Atelier de Cuisine. This is a really interesting new category. This is French master chief teaching cooking classes to the French. This is something that's completely new. Before studying cooking was something that 16-year old French boys used to do. And now, you have people like the Porceau (ph) -- the twin brothers who have a three star restaurant in Montpelier in the south of France. And across the street from their three star restaurant, they're giving cooking classes.
Those classes -- you can take just one at a time for $45. They focus on a seasonal ingredient. So if you were to go there right now, you would be learning how to cook with a big, fat juicy white asparagus.
SAN MIGUEL: Got you. SIGAL: Yes.
SAN MIGUEL: It sounds great. And we should also point out before we leave that you need to check on whether some of these costs also include lodging or not, if they also provide you with a room as well.
We have to leave it at that. Jane Sigal, senior editor of "Food and Wine" magazine, talking about cooking vacations. Thanks so much for your time. We appreciate you joining us this morning.
SIGAL: Thanks for having me. Bonne journee! Great day to everybody.
SAN MIGUEL: Thank you.
CALLAWAY: Well, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the first kidney transplant. But as much as technology's been perfected, people are still confused about the process. And today on "House Call," Dr. Sanjay Gupta will put to rest the myths about the donation process and talk about the controversy surrounding organ donation from who pays to whether celebrities are given preferential treatment. That's coming up at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time right here on CNN.
SAN MIGUEL: Oprah's inner beauty, what the talk show queen is doing to promote the beauty of women when CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: Hello, Atlanta!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAWAY: Oprah Winfrey comes to Atlanta to hold a pep rally for women. The day long event in the city's Piedmont Park offered health and beauty advice and a little pampering. Winfrey's tour is "Hi, Gorgeous" and is meant to help women feel good about themselves.
SAN MIGUEL: Yes.
CALLAWAY: One thing for sure, they had great weather.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Boy, they did.
CALLAWAY: Rob Marciano, I hope you're going to give us some more of that.
MARCIANO: Yes, one more day. We could use the rain, as you know, not only in Atlanta, but across much of the southeast. And it's not going to get here until later on tonight.
Where it is raining this morning in spots that have already seen some rain, including just to the east of Dallas, Houston at least for the moment is dry, although a threat for thunderstorms does exist through the afternoon. And then you go up the Sabine and up the Mississippi, through Cincinnati and across the Ohio River Valley and across much of Michigan. Detroit, temperatures in the upper 40s right now and rain. And so, there's cool air coming in behind this system. And cold air right now, bottled up across northern New England. Temperatures well below freezing in parts of Maine, but out ahead of this system, there is warm air. And that will be infiltrating the Northeast before the rains hit tomorrow.
Warm air out west with temperatures well above normal offshore flow in L.A. and San Francisco and Portland and Seattle as well. Boston, New York, and D.C. temps everywhere on the cool side today. You warm up tomorrow, but we also bring in the threat for rain tomorrow, as that little cool front slides to the east.
Thunderstorms again in Nashville today. 75 degrees expected. You'll be dryer tomorrow and somewhat cooler. 82 degrees in Atlanta. Dry probably until about sun down. And rain and thunderstorms expected overnight tonight.
Chicago, just a couple of showers possible. 63. You'll be cooler and dryer tomorrow. And Detroit, we'll see some -- well, you're seeing rain right now. And you might see some thunder and lightning as well, as we go through the afternoon. And St. Louis, look for a high of about 68 degrees tomorrow.
Dallas, 75. Most of the rain is to the east of you. 58 and then 70 in Denver. Near 100 in Phoenix. So the southwest corner of the U.S. really heating up. It'll be 82 degrees in San Francisco and 78 in L.A.
I forgot Clearwater. Can we show that real quick? Temperatures right now about 71 degrees. There's the Gulf of Mexico, looking good. WTVT. You'll get up to about 85 this afternoon.
Great beach weather across Florida for this Sunday.
Back to you kids in the studio.
SAN MIGUEL: All right, we'll talk with you later, thank you.
CALLAWAY: Did he call us kids?
MARCIANO: That's right.
SAN MIGUEL: That's fine with me. I'll accept that.
We want to get a quick check of the top stories at this hour. A coalition soldier is dead after a roadside bomb exploded in northeast Baghdad today. At least two other soldiers were wounded in the attack, which happened near the Martyr's Monument. There are unconfirmed reports of Iraqis killed as well.
The Pentagon has identified the remains of Reserve Sergeant Elmer Krause as the last victim of the fuel convoy attack west of Baghdad two weeks ago. Today would have been Krause's 41st birthday. He leaves behind a nine-year old son.
CALLAWAY: You know, we asked you this morning are women getting a bad rap in popular music? And all of a sudden, we have -- we've so many e-mails, they just popped up all of a sudden. And we want to read a couple of them for you if we can.
This one is from T.J.
SAN MIGUEL: Mm-hmm. "I am a fan of rap music, particularly intellectual rap music. I find it offensive when the artist needs to take advantage of the beauty of a woman to promote his art."
CALLAWAY: And here's one from John. "This is a touchy subject, but I believe that those women are grown and can do whatever they want. Furthermore, this is part of rap music and to try and stop rap, would be impossible."
We want to keep hearing from you, guys.
SAN MIGUEL: Yes, don't stop the e-mails, please.
CALLAWAY: And like I said, I think everybody woke up at one time.
SAN MIGUEL: This particular issue, maybe they're writing in, but we'll take all your e-mails. Please write in.
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Aired April 25, 2004 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Acts of bravery become so routine for some U.S. troops in Iraq that they sometimes don't realize the significance of their deeds. Well, CNN's Casey Wian has the story of a soldier who was just doing her job and earned one of the Army's highest honors.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SGT. KRISTEN SKETCHLEY, U.S. ARMY: Have you ever looked at this, dad?
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sergeant Kristin Sketchley is at home in Danville, California for the first time in over two years. She's been to Iraq twice, flying medivac, treating soldiers and Iraqi civilians.
SKETCHLEY: In medicine, you can never say you've seen it all, but I sure saw a lot.
WIAN: Saving lives is routine for Sketchley, but one particular rescue earned one of the army's highest honors, a soldier's medal for bravery. Holed up during a sandstorm, Sketchley and her team hear a helicopter and scramble outside to see it trying to land.
SKETCHLEY: All of a sudden you hear this bam, bam, bam, and we just hit the ground, we thought we were being attacked, we didn't know what was happening. And then this sound that I will never forget of just crunching metal, and just this turning and churning. It sounded like just something from outerspace.
WIAN: The helicopter crashed and Sketchley rushed to pull the pilot from the wreckage.
SKETCHLEY: We didn't know what was going to happen. The external fuel tanks had exploded, there was ammunition everywhere.
WIAN: The pilot survived with only minor injuries. Weeks later, Sketchley learned there would be another reward for her heroism.
SKETCHLEY: My commander pulled me aside and said congratulations, Sergeant Sketchley, and I'm like, what for? I'm thinking, oh great, what, what did I do? And he said that you were awarded the Soldier's Medal. And my jaw just dropped. I couldn't believe it.
WIAN: Sketchley plans to be a nurse when her military career ends next spring.
Casey Wian, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLAWAY: And we bring you hero's stories every week here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
Well, extreme makeover shows like "The Swan" have put plastic surgeons in the spotlight. Is a nip and tuck the right thing for you? Some answers from a plastic surgeon coming up live next hour. And then at 9:00 Eastern, actress Kathleen Turner joins us live from the site of today's women's rights march on Washington. Also at 9:00, the rising popularity of Christian music. The leader of one of the hottest acts joins us live, David Kratter of The David Kratter Band will be here live at 9:45.
And coming up this hour a vacation idea complete with gourmet meals and fine wine. Sounds great to me. The catch here, though, this doesn't sound so great. You got to prepare it yourself. Cooking schools, a tasty new trend. Cooking vacations here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAN MIGUEL: It's getting hot for rapper Nelly, one of the most popular artists in the music industry. The sexual nature of some of his videos has come under fire. One of his most controversial songs is called "Tip Drill" and includes graphic pictures of how to pay strippers. The steamy images in the video have outraged some students at Atlanta's Spelman College.
As our Carol Lin reports, they are calling for a national boycott of the rapper's music.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): This is the video causing all the fuss, "Tip Drill." In parts we're not going to show you, it has naked African-American women and a scene where a credit card slides between a dancer's buttocks.
So when Nelly was scheduled to appear on the campus of Spelman College in Atlanta, an all female historically black college last month for a bone marrow drive sponsored by his foundation, the students made it clear to the rapper to expect a protest. News of the planned demonstrations caused Nelly to cancel the event.
NELLY, RAPPER: Even if you don't agree with my music, it's not about that. This is not the time and the place to make the judgment about the music. This is the time and the place to make the announcement about saving lives.
LIN: Nelly's sister, Jackie Donahue, has leukemia, a disease that is often treated with bone marrow transplants. And the rapper hoped a drive on the Spelman campus would help get more African- American donors.
NELLY: You're talking about a video as opposed to saving a life. If you took half the time that you took to really discuss my video and my problems to discuss what we were trying to do, then you can educate so many more people.
BEVERLY GUY-SHEFTALL, PROF., SPELMAN COLLEGE: We need to convey a message to the industry and to the producers of this disgusting, nasty stuff, that we're sick of it.
LIN: Last week, students at Spelman held a standing room only forum, to complain about what they call negative images of African- American women in music videos.
ASHA JENNINGS, PRESIDENT, SGA: I feel like "Tip Drill" has legalized strip clubs two young children.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These videos are all people know about black people.
LIN: Disappointed, they didn't get a chance to confront the artist face to face. The students have now called for a national boycott of Nelly's music.
Carol Lin, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAN MIGUEL: The campus uproar at Spelman renews a debate over explicit material in music videos. It's a topic that you can trace back at least as far as 1990, when the music by rap group Two Live Crew was ruled obscene and was ordered removed from record stores nationwide.
A Miami record store owner was arrested for selling a copy of the album "As Nasty as You Want to Be" to an undercover police officer. Members of the rap group are also later arrested for performing the lyrics on stage. And then in October of 1990, all three were found not guilty of the obscenity charge.
Joining us here in Atlanta is co-author of "Gender Talk," a book that examines the split between black men and women. She is Beverly Guy-Sheftall. You saw her in Carol Lin's package. She is professor at Spelman.
Thank you for joining us this morning. We appreciate your time.
BEVERLY GUY-SHEFTALL, CO-AUTHOR, "GENDER TALK": Thank you for inviting me.
SAN MIGUEL: One of the first things that we heard from Nelly in that video, in the piece by Carol Lin was the idea that all this was overshadowing the issue the cause, that he was going to come to Spelman for -- which was to raise awareness about bone marrow donations. Are you concerned that that has become overshadowed by this controversy over Nelly's music? GUY-SHEFTALL: No, in fact, we really welcome Nelly to come to the campus and talk about bone marrow. He chose not to come. And the students are still committed to having a bone marrow drive, which we will be having in a week.
So we think it would have actually heightened the attention to the bone marrow drive if he had come and been willing to talk to us also about the video.
SAN MIGUEL: A lot of folks have been -- there's been some editorials written about this. And some of the people who say that, you know, it's not the artist. It's some of the channels that are running these videos, like BET, which airs this uncut show at 3:00 a.m. in the morning and MTV and some of the others. What about organizing against them instead of the artists?
GUY-SHEFTALL: We want to organize against this billion dollar multi media industry, which makes millions of dollars off of the pornographic images of black girls and men. We want to engage in dialogue with rap artists. And we want to also try to appeal to young people about the harmful effects of this music.
SAN MIGUEL: How do you think -- I mean, there's a lot of talk about how black women are portrayed in these videos. We were supposed to have Luther Campbell here. And we'll talk more about that in a second, too. That of course, Luther Campbell.
I was going to ask him how he feels black men are portrayed in these videos, like in the one that we're talking about here with Nelly going to the strip clubs, and the way that they are treating women. Do you have an opinion?
GUY-SHEFTALL: Of course I have an opinion.
SAN MIGUEL: I thought you might.
GUY-SHEFTALL: First of all, let me just say that these pornographic images of black women remind us of slavery and the auction block. And I will also say that these stereotypical images of black men as predators is also consistent with historic images of black people that we have been trying to eradicate. So they don't present positive images of black girls, women, or black men.
SAN MIGUEL: You have heard this argument. And you know what's coming next is that the women who appear in these videos, just like in you know the arguments we've heard in the pornography industry and everything else, nobody is holding a gun to these women's heads. It goes the argument. They are being paid and paid well for their appearances in that.
What about that argument? And why not try to organize the women to not appear in these videos?
GUY-SHEFTALL: Well, women in these videos, because they earn money to be in videos, it would be to me just like saying that because women who are being battered stay there and are battered, that we should blame them. So our argument is that we need to get rid of this kind of music and then women won't be able to get paid to be in these kinds of videos.
SAN MIGUEL: Which goes to an economic type of argument.
GUY-SHEFTALL: Yes.
SAN MIGUEL: The idea of trying to hurt them in the bottom line, where it counts. Because you know, many are saying Nelly's just following the money.
GUY-SHEFTALL: Yes, absolutely.
SAN MIGUEL: And trying to make a living in this industry. Why not encourage the likes of some of the female stars of this industry, like Missy Elliott, Beyonce, to speak out, to make a stand on some of this? And I think in some of Missy Elliott's lyrics as well, you know, she can may be taken for task for sexual imagery in some of her lyrics, but she's also been seen as being proactive when it comes to women in music.
GUY-SHEFTALL: I don't think we can expect artists who are benefiting financially from this music to wage war. It is consumers and socially conscious people in our communities who have the responsibility to wage war. We can't expect people who are profiting from this music to join our battle against it.
SAN MIGUEL: What about the argument that women at Spelman may be listen to Nelly?
GUY-SHEFTALL: Well, lots of women at Spelman listen to Nelly. There were some students at Spelman who were not happy about the protests, but there were also a larger group of women at Spelman who were courageous enough to speak out. And those are the women that we should be talking about.
SAN MIGUEL: We appreciate you waking up early on a Sunday morning to talk with us. Beverly Guy-Sheftall, professor at Spelman College, co-author of the book, "Gender Talk," which leads right into what we're talking about today, the issue of black men and women and the struggle for women's equality in African-American communities. Here you see the sub-title.
Thanks so much for joining us.
GUY-SHEFTALL: Thank you.
SAN MIGUEL: We appreciate your time today. As we had said, we had wanted to talk with Luther Campbell, the founder of Two Live Crew, about this issue as well. In the past, he has been a very articulate, engaging spokesman for the -- for rap artists and the rap industry. We had scheduled him to appear out of our Tallahassee studios -- out of a Tallahassee studio. He never showed up. We had hoped that maybe we can have him on in the future.
In the meantime, we want to know what you think about this issue. Our e-mail question this morning, are women getting a bad rap in popular music? And yes, the rap pun is attended. But this also could include some rock lyrics and videos that you have seen perhaps on MTV and some other channels.
Send us an e-mail at wam@cnn.com and we'll read some of them later on in the show -- Catherine?
CALLAWAY: In Florida, a school for at risk children is being charged with fraud, accused of taking advantage of the state and the kids. Here's CNN's John Zarrella.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Parents had nothing to say, as they dropped their children off at a Scambia Charter School outside Pensacola. If they are worried about the school's future, they're keeping it to themselves. The charter school has been charged by state prosecutors with criminal organized fraud.
RUSS EDGAR, ASST. STATE ATTORNEY: In essence, we have alleged that the school is being paid to teach the children. And at the same time, the school is being paid to remove them from the school during classroom times for weeks on end.
ZARRELLA: Prosecutors say the school was getting money from the State Department of Education to teach 140 at risk kids. At the same time, it was also getting money from the State Department of Transportation. More than a million dollars over the past five years.
The contract with the DOT paid the school $16.25 an hour to put each student to work on road crews, cleaning up rights of way and medians. Of that, students got paid $10 an hour.
(on camera): Putting the students to work was perfectly legal under the state's youth work experience program. The program allows them the opportunity to get public service work. The problem prosecutors say is that the students spent most of their time working and only a fraction of the required time learning.
(voice-over): Prosecutors say the fraud began in 1999 when the school made about $40,000 a year in profits. The school president told the local newspaper the school is now complying with education requirements. The county school superintendent says the school's charter is not being pulled, but...
JIM PAUL, SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT: If they're using those students in order to help them, help that school stay financially afloat, then there's a very serious problem.
ZARRELLA: State education officials say the local school board had the primary responsibility for insuring that education money was being used to educate.
JIM HORNE, FLORIDA EDUCATION COMMISSIONER: It's really up to the local district. We fund the district and the district funds the charter school. So we don't fund charter schools directly. ZARRELLA: Prosecutors say the school got away with the fraud by falsifying class attendance records and course schedules. County officials say for the sake of the kids, the school will remain open at least until the end of the school year.
John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLAWAY: Stay with us, everyone. CNN SUNDAY MORNING will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAN MIGUEL: If a typical beach vacation leaves you hungry for more, we might have just the thing for you. The senior editor of "Food and Wine" magazine, Jane Sigal, joins us now with a tasty new trend that seems to be catching on around the world. And that is cooking vacations.
Ms. Sigal, thanks for being with us this morning.
JANE SIGAL, "FOOD & WINE" MAGAZINE: It's great to be here. I love talking about France.
SAN MIGUEL: And you know, I love talking about food. So there you go.
A cooking vacation may sound a little expensive to some people. Is that always the case?
SIGAL: Well, you know what? You are living a lifestyle. It's the John Malkovich experience. You get to be, for instance, Patricia Wells, who is an amazing person. Everybody wants to be Patricia Wells. She's the restaurant critic for "The Herald Tribune." She is a contributing editor to "Food and Wine." She's written more than half a dozen cookbooks. And instead of going to the 7.5 floor of an office building in New York, you get to spend five days cooking with Patricia Wells at her hilltop farmhouse in Provence. And it's an amazing experience.
SAN MIGUEL: And this amazing experience, we should point, will cost you $3500 for five days. But if you have that kind of cash on hand, it sounds like an incredible experience.
Do I need to already possess some kind of basic culinary skills to get in on these? I'm trying to think about this for main street Americans. And you know, somebody like me, who you know, my idea of cooking is a barbecue grill or a microwave. Do you need to have a little bit more, you know, experience on this to enjoy one of these?
SIGAL: You absolutely don't. You can -- if you're doing this kind of vacation, which is a lifestyle education experience, you absolutely do not need to do. Patricia Wells, for instance, will take you to the farmer's market at (UNINTELLIGIBLE). And she will take you to the cheesemaker. She will take you to her butcher. And then will take her home. And you will cook together. And you will make a leg of lamb, for instance, in her wood burning oven. And you'll all sit down and by the way, drink some of her wine from the (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
SAN MIGUEL: Wow, that's sounds great. Let's talk a little bit about L'Ecole du Grand Chocolats. What can we expect there?
SIGAL: OK. Now this is for somebody who is a type A personality and loves chocolate, because they have sessions devoted entirely to ganache making. So -- ganache, which is that wonderful creamy interior, bitter sweet chocolate mixed with creme fraiche or just pastry -- chocolate pastry making.
And by the way, note to self, if you do go there, it's in the Rome Valley. And it's a stone throw from some of the greatest wine makers, like Chacutier and the Rhone Valley.
SAN MIGUEL: And then we move on to -- is it Dante Bocrause? I hope I'm saying these right.
SIGAL: Um...
SAN MIGUEL: Dante -- that's what I was told here. Dante Bocrause. Is it in Italy? Is it -- does it focus on Italian cuisine? Are all of these French? I mean, you talk about -- talking about France, but are there any other countries that offer this and any other cuisines that are highlighted by some of these particular cooking vacations?
SIGAL: Right, of course. What I know about is France especially. But of course, all of the cooking authors that you know, that you read about, are offering cooking classes in different countries. So you can find them in Italy. You can find them in Spain. You can find them in Mexico.
I suggest you go onto the Foodandwine.com Web site and you can read about all the different terrific cooking school vacations that you can find.
SAN MIGUEL: OK, we'll do some research there. L'Atelier de Cuisine?
SIGAL: L'Atelier de Cuisine. This is a really interesting new category. This is French master chief teaching cooking classes to the French. This is something that's completely new. Before studying cooking was something that 16-year old French boys used to do. And now, you have people like the Porceau (ph) -- the twin brothers who have a three star restaurant in Montpelier in the south of France. And across the street from their three star restaurant, they're giving cooking classes.
Those classes -- you can take just one at a time for $45. They focus on a seasonal ingredient. So if you were to go there right now, you would be learning how to cook with a big, fat juicy white asparagus.
SAN MIGUEL: Got you. SIGAL: Yes.
SAN MIGUEL: It sounds great. And we should also point out before we leave that you need to check on whether some of these costs also include lodging or not, if they also provide you with a room as well.
We have to leave it at that. Jane Sigal, senior editor of "Food and Wine" magazine, talking about cooking vacations. Thanks so much for your time. We appreciate you joining us this morning.
SIGAL: Thanks for having me. Bonne journee! Great day to everybody.
SAN MIGUEL: Thank you.
CALLAWAY: Well, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the first kidney transplant. But as much as technology's been perfected, people are still confused about the process. And today on "House Call," Dr. Sanjay Gupta will put to rest the myths about the donation process and talk about the controversy surrounding organ donation from who pays to whether celebrities are given preferential treatment. That's coming up at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time right here on CNN.
SAN MIGUEL: Oprah's inner beauty, what the talk show queen is doing to promote the beauty of women when CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: Hello, Atlanta!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAWAY: Oprah Winfrey comes to Atlanta to hold a pep rally for women. The day long event in the city's Piedmont Park offered health and beauty advice and a little pampering. Winfrey's tour is "Hi, Gorgeous" and is meant to help women feel good about themselves.
SAN MIGUEL: Yes.
CALLAWAY: One thing for sure, they had great weather.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Boy, they did.
CALLAWAY: Rob Marciano, I hope you're going to give us some more of that.
MARCIANO: Yes, one more day. We could use the rain, as you know, not only in Atlanta, but across much of the southeast. And it's not going to get here until later on tonight.
Where it is raining this morning in spots that have already seen some rain, including just to the east of Dallas, Houston at least for the moment is dry, although a threat for thunderstorms does exist through the afternoon. And then you go up the Sabine and up the Mississippi, through Cincinnati and across the Ohio River Valley and across much of Michigan. Detroit, temperatures in the upper 40s right now and rain. And so, there's cool air coming in behind this system. And cold air right now, bottled up across northern New England. Temperatures well below freezing in parts of Maine, but out ahead of this system, there is warm air. And that will be infiltrating the Northeast before the rains hit tomorrow.
Warm air out west with temperatures well above normal offshore flow in L.A. and San Francisco and Portland and Seattle as well. Boston, New York, and D.C. temps everywhere on the cool side today. You warm up tomorrow, but we also bring in the threat for rain tomorrow, as that little cool front slides to the east.
Thunderstorms again in Nashville today. 75 degrees expected. You'll be dryer tomorrow and somewhat cooler. 82 degrees in Atlanta. Dry probably until about sun down. And rain and thunderstorms expected overnight tonight.
Chicago, just a couple of showers possible. 63. You'll be cooler and dryer tomorrow. And Detroit, we'll see some -- well, you're seeing rain right now. And you might see some thunder and lightning as well, as we go through the afternoon. And St. Louis, look for a high of about 68 degrees tomorrow.
Dallas, 75. Most of the rain is to the east of you. 58 and then 70 in Denver. Near 100 in Phoenix. So the southwest corner of the U.S. really heating up. It'll be 82 degrees in San Francisco and 78 in L.A.
I forgot Clearwater. Can we show that real quick? Temperatures right now about 71 degrees. There's the Gulf of Mexico, looking good. WTVT. You'll get up to about 85 this afternoon.
Great beach weather across Florida for this Sunday.
Back to you kids in the studio.
SAN MIGUEL: All right, we'll talk with you later, thank you.
CALLAWAY: Did he call us kids?
MARCIANO: That's right.
SAN MIGUEL: That's fine with me. I'll accept that.
We want to get a quick check of the top stories at this hour. A coalition soldier is dead after a roadside bomb exploded in northeast Baghdad today. At least two other soldiers were wounded in the attack, which happened near the Martyr's Monument. There are unconfirmed reports of Iraqis killed as well.
The Pentagon has identified the remains of Reserve Sergeant Elmer Krause as the last victim of the fuel convoy attack west of Baghdad two weeks ago. Today would have been Krause's 41st birthday. He leaves behind a nine-year old son.
CALLAWAY: You know, we asked you this morning are women getting a bad rap in popular music? And all of a sudden, we have -- we've so many e-mails, they just popped up all of a sudden. And we want to read a couple of them for you if we can.
This one is from T.J.
SAN MIGUEL: Mm-hmm. "I am a fan of rap music, particularly intellectual rap music. I find it offensive when the artist needs to take advantage of the beauty of a woman to promote his art."
CALLAWAY: And here's one from John. "This is a touchy subject, but I believe that those women are grown and can do whatever they want. Furthermore, this is part of rap music and to try and stop rap, would be impossible."
We want to keep hearing from you, guys.
SAN MIGUEL: Yes, don't stop the e-mails, please.
CALLAWAY: And like I said, I think everybody woke up at one time.
SAN MIGUEL: This particular issue, maybe they're writing in, but we'll take all your e-mails. Please write in.
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