geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. tonight on "pbs news weekend," on this juneteenth, we explore the day's evolution into a national holiday and meaningful ways to celebrate its significance. then, blown-glass artist dale chihuly's latest exhibit takes inspiration from the arizona desert's landscape. and, a special father's day weekend spotlight, npr's scott simon reflects on the joys and challenges of being a dad. simon: you work for their joy. you work to try and do what's right for them and for the world. and i actually think -- i think that's a great motivating factor. geoff: all that and the day's headlines on tonight's "pbs news weekend."

♪ >> major funding has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering plans designed to help people do more of what they like. our u.s. based customer service team can help find a plan th fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour. ♪

♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: good evening. it'good to be with you. we start with the day's headnes, and news of an ethnic killing in ethiopia that has claimed the lives of more than 0 people, one of the deadliest mass killings in the east african nation. most of the dead are of the ahm-hara people, the country's second-largest ethnic group. witnesses say a rebel group, the oromo liberation army, perpetrated the attack in the oromia region. the group denies responsibility. fighting in ethiopia, fueled by ethnic divisions, has been ongoing for years. back he in the u.s., treasury

secretary janet yellen says she expects an economic slowdown is coming, but not necessarily a recession. sec. yellen: i expect the economy to slow. it's been growing at a very rapid rate, as the economy, as the labor market, has recovere and we have reached full employment. i don't think a recession is inevitable. geoff: on wednesday, the federal reserve approved the largest interest rate hike in more than a quarter-century to combat inflation. yellen also said today the administration is considering temporarily cutting the federal gas tax, amounting to 18.4 cents a gallon, to provide some relief at the pump. after record flooding last week forced its first closure in 34 years, yellowstone national park will partly reopen on wednesday. floodwaters wiped out bridges, washed out miles of roads, and forced the park to close just as peak tourist season is starting. only the park's southern loop will reope the north loop will remain closed until further notice.

officials are still evaluating the damage, but rebuilding could take years and cost upwards of $1 billion. the massive heat wave that set records in the west and southwest has expanded to parts of the gulf coast, great lakes and the carolinas. punishing humidity levels ans it feels even hotter. tens of million of americans across the lower-48 are under heat warnings and advisories. in all, more than 240 million people will see temperatures over 90 degrees over the coming days. and, flight delays and cancellations continued for a fourth day, leaving passengers stranded across the country. this weekend has seen the highest travel volume this year -- numbers not seen since last thanksgiving. and it could not come at a worse time, as airlines struggle to cope with staffing shortages and severe weather. thousands of flights were cancelled on thursday and friday, in addition to a whopping 6400 delays yesterday. cancellations today have already

topped 800. and, swimming's international governing body has adopted new rules for transgender athletes. the sports federation, fina, voted to only allow swimmers who transitioned before the age of 12 to compete in women's events. fina also proposed creating a new competition category for swimmers whose gender identity is different than their sex at birth. some lgbtq advocates are calling that decision discriminatory. and, still to come, the arizona desert supplies the inspiration for blown glass artist dale chihuly's latest exhibit. and npr's scott simon reflects on fatherhood, lessons learned and precious moments. >> this is pbs news weekend. geoff: tomorrow marks the second time that juneteenth, which

honors the emancipation of enslaved african-americans, is being observed as a federal holiday. but some people are still figuring out how best to mark that holiday. my colleague john yang spoke with two organizers about juneteenth's meaning. john: geoff, juneteenth dates back more than a century. it's gained traction in recent years with the police killings of george floyd and breonna taylor. and it's come to mean different things to different people. two perspectives now from athenia rodney, founder of juneteenth, nyc, and melissa rohlfs, an organizer of juneteenth events in san bruno, california. melissa and athenia, thank you very much for joining us. athenia, i'd like to start with you, and if you could just tell us a little bit about sort of your personal experience or history with juneteenth. when did you first become aware of it and learn about its meaning? athenia: sure. well, i first became aware from my best friend when i was in high school. she talked about juneteenth and black solidarity day.

and then i went to college and it became something that became more prominent to me becau a lot of people would ask questions and i didn't know the answer. so it forced me to really learn and understand my history. and when i came back to new york from being away from college, i wanted to make sure that others knew the same because i didn't feel like it was something that was being taught in the school system. and it felt like the only way that we would be able to learn john: melissa, how about you?. how did yo u first become aware of juneteenth and learn about its meaning? melissa: yeah, i didn't grow up learning about it in school and certainly not celebrating it as a child. but i have always been involved in my community in terms of culture and art. so it's been very recent as i've learned about the history of juneteenth, and i was excited to incorporate it into my own community and talk to others about incorporating it, you know, just locally as a celebration.

john: and athenia, how do you think this is best marked, best commemorated? ist a day of celebration? is it a day of reflection? is it a call to action for the future? athenia: i think this day should be marked with all of those. it is a day of celebration for all of the history that we have been able to achieve and the new marks that we've been able to make, the strides we've been able to make. it is also a day of reflection, to think about those who lost their lives and think about the blood that was shed, to think about slavery in itself and how it impacts and still continues to impact us now. and also, it's about unity. it's about how we are coming togeth as a community and how we continue to grow what we're doing so that we become more successful. john: and melissa, tell me about when you organized events in san bruno, what you thought about and how you thought about how these events should be held? melissa: well, for me, i was invited to help plan the

celebration with city employees who really lead cultural and arts programming for the community. and in our earliest conversations, one of the things that was important to me was i said, i think it's important to celebrate black joy, black community, and black culture the way we celebrate those things for lots of other communities. and i think that message resonated with a neighbor who was also helping to plan the event, with the staff, with the city employees. so it really talked about it being a celebratory event and a little like a picnic that you might see on the 4th of july. john: and athenia, we've seen merchants getting into the act. jcpenney, i know, is advertising juneteenth date sales. we even had walmart marketing juneteenth ice cream. what do you makef that? athenia: part of my main mission really has been since it became become a national holiday, is that it doesn't become commercialized, but it's more or

if it does become commercialized, whether it's rough using those who are creating things in their own communities. so, for example, if walmart would have contacted a business that was creating ice cream themselves, that was their brand, that was their business and what they were doing, and then they said to them, hey, how can we help to improve what you're doing? how can we put what you're doing on our shelves? i think that would have been a better way tkind of do this. john: melissa, but i would imagine your focus also is that you want people to remember the real meaning of how this day started. what was the original commemoration of this day? do you worry that that might get lost over the years? melissa: no. i think, you know, the independence day holiday, we all have barbecues and cookouts and things, but we remember why, you know, those fireworks that we enjoy, they're just beautiful now, are a reminder of the battles that were fought. i think it is important to explain the history lesson.

and certainly in san bruno's celebration, there was a discussion and speakers that talked about the history, but was overall just a happy celebration. john: and athenia, how about you? do you worry that, as the years go by, that the sort of the central meaning of this day may get lost? athenia: i do. i am concerned about that because i feel like with martin luther king day, with black history month, i feel like it has gotten lost in translation, so to speak. and that's why weave focused our organization on three pillars. and one of our main pillars is education. and then the second is empowerment, and the third is edutainment, where we're education, educating through entertainment. john: athenia and melissa, thank you very much. athenia: thank you. ♪

geoff: in the desert of arizona, you can visit one of famed architect frank lloyd wright's homes. but for the past few months, the site has also been home to an installation by glass artist dale chihuly. special correspondent mike cerre looks at how these two artists' work came together among the rugged landscape. mike: for generations, arizona's desert have attracted and inspired american artists and creative. it was here that architect frank lloyd wright built his taliesin west, outside of scottsdale, arizona. it is now home of the frank lloyd wright foundation. >> taliesin west has a long history of artists and architects living and working here, but not a long history of doing art exhibitions. >> beautiful. mike: dale chihuly, an admirer

of wright's incorporation of design with nature, is the first artist allowed to display his work at taliesin west. >> is a dream come true. taliesin west is such a complex, great honor to make this exit -- this. mike:hiansd ted reeds and bulbos globes in the surrounding pond. it took four years of working and reworking the designs between the taliesin team and the studio team, with thousands of hand close -- handblown glass pieces made in seattle. dale's wife is the head of his studio and workshop. >> the idea was to work in

concert with nature, to first notice the nature, appreciate the surroundings. in site, a wa that was complementary to and not dissonant to the beautiful time -- natural surroundings. mike: dale originally studied architecture before becoming a glass artist. >> it's about the way you look through it. >> it's very much a dance of heat and light and vision. and it's a dance of experimentation, playfulness. building on ideas. you can see, even if you look at the works around this property, the two of them both have a curious mind, a hungry mind when it comes to beauty, beautiful objects, and then placing things within the interior and exterior settings. >> they are both inspired by the natural world, by nature, and

they feel like the organic architecture of the world, of nature, of the trees, the ground, the mountains should determine how it thbuilding or the sculpture sits in thepace. mike: 30 minutes south of wright's home is phoenix's botanical garden, where julie -- chihuly's art was first displayed in 2008. they collaborated on this chihuly in the desert exhibition. >> the agave is a much shorter form, but the spiky points of it, the way it catches the light, and also the elongation that he creates really draw your eye to it. mike: visitors from around the country have their own reactions to this mix of art and desert. >> i was surprised at how beautiful the juxtaposition of the art and nature was. >> there's a boat filled with

all these colors. at first glance, this is an indigenous to the desert at all. >> every color you see, you can find here in the garden. the orange of some of the cactus flowers. then we have greens and yellows and reds. during the day, the light is reflected, the sunlight, and it changes and transforms throughout the day, until we get to the sunset. the sunlight becomes more subdued. the lights that are on the installations start to come on and illuminate the pieces. the colors shift. the forms become more evident as you are looking at the pieces, so it's a very different experience. >> it's a very good combination of natural plants and artificial things. very well designed. mike: as popular as the exhibit has been, there were concerns about how chihuly's art would work with wright's austere

architecture and the environment. >> there may have been concerned about what the final effect would be. people have come to see frank lloyd wright's architecture in a desert landscape without interference. >> you cld have any interest -- experience you want. you can have an experience of taliesin with or without the chihuly, an you get to decide. >> does it punctuate the beauty of the plans or does it detract from it? >> it's a nice contrast with it. >> they do see thertwork and then there -- their eye actually goes to the plants. it becomes about their own discovery. mike: i'm mike cerre. ♪ geoff: now to our weekend spotlight. and on this father's day, i can think of no one better to talk to than scott simon, author and

host of npr's weekend edition saturday. earlier in my career, i worked with scott as a weekend edition producer and editor. and few people have spoken as honestly and opey about the joys and challenges of fatherhood as scott has. we sat down together at npr recently, and he shared his perspectives on being a father. -- dad. how has being a father change you? scott: what i discovered is, from the first moment when you hold your child, and it only expands, your heart leaps outf you. your heart leaps into them. they carry around a part of your heart. if they are cold, you are cold, too. if you are frightened -- they are frigened, you are frightened. if they are hungry, you are hungry. you are magically never alone. even before, i think we held each of our daughters, when we saw their pictures, when they

came from the adoption agency in china, i think we began to feel that way. to hold them, i can't explain it, but there's almost a magical transference. it goes through yr heart, your arms. you hold them, and you just feel ey've absorbed a part of your heart. geoff: i've always thought, as your kids get older, they need you less. i have a son who is nine now, and i realized that's not the case at all. as they get older, they need you more. scott: we discover that also. there are ways in which -- they can make sandwiches by themselves. they certainly can handle the remote control. but in all the important ways, they need you more than er. they are encountering more in life. they have more questions. i think they have more anxieties as their world grows larger. one of the things that we have to adjust to in terms of being a parent is to understand, as they grow up, the days when they just kind of toddle across the floor and hold up their hands and ask for your help, for the most part, that's gone.

they have different ways of asking for help, and we have to learn to recognize the signals and the language and be of what help we can, without lecture. geoff: what are your greatest joys as a dad? scott: my greatest joy as a father is to see her children growing up and growing independent -- see our children growing up and growing independent and becoming brilliant, as far as i'm concned. but also remembering where i can fit into the world. one of the great joys is you realize you need them. it's not a one-way relationship. you work for their smiles. you work for their joy. you work to try and do what's right, for them and for the world. i actually think it's a great motivating factor. geoff: i feel like kids, when they have ambitious parents, will pick up that ambition. kids who have resilient parents will pick up that resilience. but i found it harder to instill empathy in kids. how have you done that?

scott: i think the most important thing, and it came hard, i've learnedbout being a father. i learned about being a parent. you can't really teach anything. the only thing that counts is your example. your children will see what kind of person you are. your children will see what kind of values you have. your cldren will see c hhiowld u treat each other, in the marital relationsh your children will see how people react to you. the whole idea, do as i say, not as i do, that doesn't work for children. they know the difference. they are not going to let us off that easy, and i think that's fine. i think children help us to be maybe better than we set out to be, because we want to be that in their eyes. geoff: your girls are 15 and 19. as you think back, what are so of the moments that bring smiles to your face? scott: our oldest daughter was four when we adopted our

youngest daughter, who i think was seven months old. we got this little picture from the adoption agency of this little girl. this baby. we went to china for our second time, and they said, stay in your room. they knock on the door. they bring in this little girl. this baby. and maybe because she was like three or four months older than when we got the picture, they put her down on thtable, and my wife said, are you sure she's the right one? and our oldest daughter reached out her hand and she took the hand of this little baby, her new sister, and said, it doesn't matter. and, of course, she was right. and my wife and i looked at each other, like, where did she learn that goodness? where did that come into her heart? we stayed in a hotel room once.

it was in the early days, when the in-house coffeemakers were just coming in, and i thought this was great. so, after like two days, wherever we were, we get into the cab, and our oest daughter was hauling around a little pink backpack with llo kitty on it. we picked up the backpack, got into the cab to go to the airport, and it was much heavier than usual. you can see where this is going. she had put the coee maker in it. geoff: [laughter] scott: will never forget her smile. well, you like the coffee maker. see what i did? it was just hilarious. i think what happens when you have the vision of a parent or a father is that you see your children as being all ages at once. i mean, i look at our 19-year-old and our 15-year-old and i know they are just about grown. i hope i recognize them as adults, but also, at some point, when i look at them, they are

always the two and three and four-year-old that i remember. you don't forget that. you see them as being at all ages at once. and that's something that's really precious. there are times, i think particularly over the past two years, when i've been anxious, haven't been able to sleep. i confess, i think about our daughters, and i think about some of those wonderful, winsome times when they were just discovering the world and i might've been around to help. and the memory of them and their presence in my life that i feel even now has put me in touch with the kind of joy and a kind of relief that gets me through the next hour. every now and then -- our daughters kid be a lot, and i think that's great. every now and then, i hear from another parent, your daughters really think you are ok. [laughter]

i just think, well, that's th biggest problem and i've ever had -- biggest compliment i've ever had. ♪ geoff: and online, after his passing yesterday, we remember our friend mark shields and s more than 30 years contributing to our broadcast. that's on our website, pbs.org/newshour. and that's "pbs news weekend" for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. for all of us here, thanks for spending part of your sunday with us, and happy father's day. >> major funding for pbs news weekend has been provided by -- and with the ongoing support of these individus and institutions [captioning performed the national captioning institute, which is respoible for its caption content and accuracy.]

>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

(man) this program is made possible in part by contributions to your pbs stations from viewers like you. thank you. uateretirement? you can. can you all live the ultimate retirement? you can. (man) from the new world center in miami beach, acclaimed personal finance expert suze orman provides essential advice to make your retirement more successful and secure. every little action at you take can make a tremendous difference. it's never too soon to begin. fear no more. (man) join us for suze orman's "ultimate retirement guide." please welcome suze orman! [loud cheers & applause]