Americana - 13/09/2009

Matt Frei presents an insider guide to the people and the stories shaping America today. Combining location reports with lively discussion and exclusive interviews, the show provides new and surprising insights into contemporary America. Matt Frei talks with historian Richard Norton Smith about growing incivility towards the President, and what American football teaches us about American politics. President Obama kicked off the academic school year with a speech directed at students aged four to eighteen and was full of advice and encouragement. Americana speaks to high school senior Casey Tong about her impressions of Obama's speech. Tong attends the same school that President Obama attended in Honolulu, Hawaii, and she has some of her own advice to offer the President. Producer Dan Collison offers a montage of Hawaiian voices telling of the impact of a foreigner who came to Hawaii, stayed, and is causing significant impact: a frog called the Coqui.