This week on "Sunday Morning" (August 25)

The Emmy Award-winning "CBS News Sunday Morning" is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET.  "Sunday Morning" also streams on the CBS News app beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET. (Download it here.) 

Guest host: Seth Doane

COVER STORY: Young women on Girls State: "The most life-changing week of my life"
At a time when politics leaves many of us bitterly divided, high school students from all walks of life attend the week-long Girls State to participate in an exercise in democracy. "Sunday Morning" anchor Jane Pauley (herself a veteran of Hoosier Girls State, where she was elected governor) talks to young women in Indiana engaging in mock political campaigns to create a model government; and meets Emily Worthmore, now a college sophomore, who was featured in the Apple TV+ documentary "Girls State," who talks about how the experienced shaped her life.

For more info:

• Girls State, sponsored by the American Legion Auxilary
• Hoosier Girls State
• Watch "Girls State" on Apple TV+

         
ALMANAC: August 25
"Sunday Morning" looks back at historical events on this date.

MUSIC: Opera for Peace: A master class for diversity in the arts
By inviting singers from around the world, the non-profit Opera for Peace hopes to develop greater diversity among performers of opera, and to inspire the next generation of opera audiences. Correspondent Seth Doane talks with African American singer Hannah Jeané Jones, who traveled to Rome to participate in the program; and with soprano Forooz Razavi, who sang with an R&B group in Iran before she fell in love with opera.

For more info:

• Opera for Peace
• Hannah Jeané Jones (Facebook)
• Forooz Razavi (Instagram)
• Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program

TECHNOLOGY: The electric-plane future is about to take off
Correspondent David Pogue checks out advances being made in aviation technology that allow a plane to be powered by batteries, promising a more environmentally-friendly, quieter and cheaper ride that doesn't require a runway. 

For more info:

• Beta Technologies, Burlington, Vt.
• Archer Aviation, San Jose, Calif.

U.S.: The tiny N.Y. town where bookstores rule
The tiny town of Hobart, New York, is home to around 400 residents and seven bookstores. Correspondent Conor Knighton finds out how this "book village" became a dream destination for bibliophiles. 

For more info:

• Hobart Book Village
• William H. Adams' Antiquarian Books, Hobart, N.Y.
• Blenheim Hill Books, Hobart, N.Y.
• The Book Nook (Children's lending library), Hobart, N.Y.
• Creative Corner Books, Hobart, N.Y.
• Liberty Rock Books, Hobart, N.Y.
• More Good Books, Hobart, N.Y.
• New York Books & Ephemera, Hobart, N.Y. (Facebook)
• Quarry Books, Hobart, N.Y.
• Hobart Festival of Women Writers
• Hobart Farmers' Market, Hobart, N.Y. (Facebook)

       
COMMENTARY: "Siri, what the heck?" David Sedaris on talking to one's devices
Commanding your device to do things you could just as well do yourself is a mark of technological progress that humorist David Sedaris finds peculiar, when your voice-activated app is not up to the job.

For more info:

• davidsedarisbooks.com
• "Happy-Go-Lucky" by David Sedaris (Little, Brown), in Hardcover, Trade Paperback, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org

       
PASSAGE: In memoriam
"Sunday Morning" remembers some of the notable figures who left us this week.

      
U.S.: The 92nd Street Y at 150
One-hundred-and-fifty years ago, New York City's 92nd Street Y was founded as a community and performance center, an inclusive meeting place where people could go to make their lives more meaningful. Correspondent Faith Salie talks with 92NY's CEO Seth Pinsky about its remarkable history, stemming from a simple mission.

For more info:

• 92nd Street Y, New York City
• Photos courtesy of the 92NY, Jack Prelutsky, Lura Burnette and Michael Priest Photography 

MUSIC: The Rolling Stones on life, and music, after the loss of drummer Charlie Watts
The Rolling Stones' "Hackney Diamonds" was the band's first album of original music in 18 years – and their first since the death, in 2021, of drummer Charlie Watts. Correspondent Anthony Mason sat down with Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and Ronnie Wood to discuss their unique chemistry; reuniting with the Stones' original bassist Bill Wyman; and what becoming octogenarians meant to Jagger and Richards. (This story was originally broadcast on October 15, 2023.) 

You can stream the Rolling Stones album "Hackney Diamonds" by clicking on the embed below (Free Spotify registration required to hear the tracks in full):

For more info:

• rollingstones.com
• Electric Lady Studios, New York

U.S.: Saving Walden Pond: How a treasured landmark is under threat
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has listed Walden Pond and Walden Woods, where Henry David Thoreau wrote his 1854 classic "Walden," one of "America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places." Historian Douglas Brinkley reports on how the Concord, Mass., pond and its surrounding, spiritually-nourishing woods – a storied part of our national heritage – is under threat from nearby development. 

For more info:

• The National Trust for Historic Preservation: "America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places"
• Walden Pond State Reservation, Concord, Mass.
• The Walden Woods Project
• Friends of Walden Pond
• Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation: Park Alerts
• Minute Man National Historical Park, Concord, Massachusetts
• "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau (Project Gutenberg)

     
See also:

• Passage: The life of Henry David Thoreau ("Sunday Morning")
• Nature: Walden Pond ("Sunday Morning")

WORLD: How handmade rugs are providing a future for Afghanis
After the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan, education for girls and boys has been a rare commodity in a country where families must make devastating choices in order to guarantee their survival.  Correspondent Tracy Smith talks with Nargis Habib, a California entrepreneur who pays artisans in Afghanistan to produce beautiful woven rugs for a price that helps support families' financial freedom.

For more info:

• The Rug Mine – Showroom, Vista, Calif.
• Afghan Literacy Foundation

       
COMMENTARY: "N/A" playwright Mario Correa on the power of removing labels
An Off-Broadway play, "N/A," features characters based on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who remain nameless. The play's author, Mario Correa, talks about the hope that one day names and labels will no longer magnify loyalties and divide audiences.

For more info:

• "N/A," at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, Lincoln Center, New York (through September 1) | Ticket info

      
NATURE: Monument Valley
       

WEB EXCLUSIVES: 

NEWS: "CBS Sunday Morning" anchor Jane Pauley, documentarian Alex Gibney to receive lifetime Emmy honors
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced the special awards to be presented at next month's News & Documentary Emmy ceremonies.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Jane Pauley interviews doc filmmaker Alex Gibney | Watch Video
Filmmaker Alex Gibney is prolific - he has made 14 documentaries in just five years. His subjects range from Enron and the fall of former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer to the Church of Scientology. His latest project puts Apple founder Steve Jobs in his crosshairs. Jane Pauley reports on the director who shines a spotlight onto the grey areas of stories that may appear at first very black-and-white. (Originally aired September 20, 2015.)

GALLERY: Notable Deaths in 2024
A look back at the esteemed personalities who've left us this year, who'd touched us with their innovation, creativity and humanity.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Robert Redford x 3 (YouTube Video)
Academy Award-winning actor-director Robert Redford turned 88 on August 18, 2024. To celebrate, we look back at three "Sunday Morning" interviews with Redford over the years: From 1994, with Charles Kuralt, who visited Redford's home in Utah and talked about his early career, and his advocacy of Native American art and culture; from 2008, with Rita Braver, discussing his iconic roles in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "All the President's Men," and how he nurtures young filmmakers through the Sundance Institute and Sundance Film Festival; and from 2018, with Lee Cowan, at the actor's ranch in New Mexico, where – at age 82 – he discussed his last film appearance, "The Old Man & the Gun," and why he doesn't like watching himself on screen.

The Emmy Award-winning "CBS News Sunday Morning" is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. Executive producer is Rand Morrison.

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