Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It is an honor to welcome everyone to the 71st National Book awards. I am Jason Reynolds coming to you live from washington dc go this is overnight but there is so much going on in the world this is our night and it is a big deal. It is so much of a big deal i woke up this morning anxious and nervous as usual. I always, mother and i am anxious. It is 7 00 oclock in the morning and she says oh no i said i am feeling anxious about tonight have to hope the National Book awards am calling you to see if you have advice for your child go she said that she always has been to make the call. Let me ask you something, son. What did i make you say every single night before you got into bed when you were little boy . I said i dont want to do this right now she said no dont know what did i. C. E. Make you say every night when you got into bed . I said you made me say i can do anything. Exactly you can do anything. You tell me this all the time on. But i never asked
As best we can. Im going to talk to you a little bit tonight about america the ingenious. This book i wrote. The best thing about writing books is hopefully you learned something. I learned a great deal writing this. Americansof how invented, developed or learned to exploit so many of the things exploit the world. What i found even more telling was how things are invented. How invention itself is encouraged and nurtured. At least how it has been encouraged and nurtured in this country in the past. , as i do in myy book, that we are a nation of tinkerers. We americans like to think of ass natural adventurers, risktakers and entrepreneurs. But what does that mean exactly. I am a believer in american exceptionalism. It hasnes like to say, to be earned, never given. How did we earn it . How did we do what we did and how could we get back to doing it right . As the first nation to exist wholly in the modern age, United States has also insisted when making things when we were extracting them
Because of the pandemic in a country in mourning and thousands in argentina. For World Football legend, diego maradona, whos a body is down and as the world of sport pays its respects to marrow donor, we look back at his career and what made him such a special football player. So the ethiopian Prime Minister has ordered a final offensive on the Northern Region and says, a humanitarian corridor will be opened up to help those fleeing. The conflict has warned residents to stay indoors after ordering the army to move in on the regional capital of meccano. Government imposed deadline for 2 Ground Forces to surrender that expired on wednesday. And there has been nearly 3 weeks of fighting with hundreds killed and tens of thousands displaced. Well, the u. N. Is warning of critical aid shortages in that region. It says that fuel cash and food are running out, and many of those displaced have already fled over the border to neighboring sudan, who morgan is right there. Where we are, is a camp
Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcements . Yes, thank you very much, mr. Chair. In order to protect the public, Board Members and City Employees during the covid19 health emergency, the room is closed. This is taken pursuant to all various local and state federal orders, declarations and directives. Committee members will attend this meeting through Video Conference and participate in the meeting to the same extent as if they were physically present in our chamber. Public comment will be available for each item on this agenda, both San Francisco cable channel 26 and sf gov tv are scrolling a callin number across the screen. It will be available by phone by calling 14156550001, and once youve connected youll be prompted to enter the meeting id, 1462251223. Following that you will press the pound symbol twice to be connected to the meeting. When you are connected you will hear the meeting discussions but your line will be muted and in a listening mode only. When your item of interest com
Strong safety net. There needs to be a safety net in america. And, yes, farmers are the first environmentalists. And when they decide not to plow a field that is vulnerable to soil erosion, that may cause them a little money, but it helps the environment. I think we ought to have an expanded conservation reserve program. And i think that the environmental benefits that come from sound management of the land all to represent a new way for farmers to get some income that will enable them, enable you to make sensible choices in crop rotation, and when you leave the land fallow and the rest. Now, i go beyond that and say i think we need much more focus, Rural Economic Development programs. I see a time when the internet based activities are more available in the rural areas than where the extra source of income that farm families used to have from shoe factories is replaced by an extra source of income from working in the information economy. So we need to do a lot of things but ought to s