If you can get Nightline (ABC), you might want to tune in..... -v -------- Original Message -------- Subject: NIGHTLINE: An Old Friend Date: Mon, 07 Jan 2002 11:09:43 -0800 From: Nightline <listeditor@abcnews.go.com> To: "Nightline Mailing List" <nightlinemail-l@alist0.starwave.com> TONIGHT'S SUBJECT: About a year ago, we introduced you to an architect named Sambo Mockbee. His work was in great demand by the rich, but he spent most of his time building houses for the poor, using old tires and other junk that had been thrown away. We were saddened to learn over the weekend that he had passed away, and so we want to run our profile of him one more time. When we set out to do stories, and by "we" I mean all journalists, someone, an editor, or a coworker, correspondent or producer, will say something to the effect of "You need to find a good character." Meaning an interesting person who will make what might otherwise be a run-of-the-mill story something more special. Sometimes, you don't even need a broader story, sometimes the person is a story in and of themselves. That's the case with Sambo Mockbee. I don't want to give away his whole story, but he grew up in the segregated South, served in the Army, which challenged his conceptions and experience of race, and went on to be a celebrated architect. He was so good that last year he was awarded a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant. That foundation gives cash awards to people determined to be geniuses in their field. But what made Mockbee so much more than just a talented architect, of which I'm sure there are tens of thousands, was his sense of the obligation we all have to be decent. The way he put that into practice was to build houses for people who desperately needed them. Actually he built homes, and I think the distinction between house and home is important in this case. Mockbee and his students would gather up things like old tires, or car windows, or other stuff that had been thrown away, and turned them into buildings. The students learned how to be creative, poor people got new homes, and Mockbee was able to give back in the way he thought was necessary. Robert Krulwich's profile of him ran about a year ago. Yesterday, we all opened the Sunday paper only to see his obituary. He had died of complications from Leukemia last week. It just seems fitting to air the program again tonight. I hope that those of you who saw the broadcast the first time will want to revisit an old friend, and for those of you meeting him for the first time, it will be a real treat. And finally, the last Monday Night Football game of the season will air tonight. Starting next week, we'll be back to our regular schedule. Monday, January 7, 2002 Leroy Sievers Executive Producer Nightline Offices Washington, D.C. ----------- If you have questions or comments regarding this message or a recent "Nightline" broadcast, please do not hit reply; simply click on this link to send your message directly to the "Nightline" staff: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/nightline/Nightline/Nightline_email_form.html Or log on to the new "Nightline" Message Board: http://boards.go.com/cgi/abcnews/request.dll?LIST&room=nightline Chat with "Nightline" guests and find articles, transcripts and video excerpts on our Web site at: http://abcnews.go.com/Sections/Nightline/ Ask your friends to sign up! Send them this link: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/nightline/DailyNews/nightline_login.html