美国国家公共电台 NPR--A holiday display features a diverse group of Santas to better reflect the community

A holiday display features a diverse group of Santas to better reflect the community

Transcript¹

Santa Claus is a timeless tradition, but not everyone is comfortable with how Santa is portrayed². A holiday display in Denver is trying to appeal to a more diverse audience.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

For millions, Santa is a beloved symbol of Christmas. A holiday display in Denver helps make him more relatable to a diverse audience. Colorado Public Radio's Kevin Beaty explains.

KEVIN BEATY, BYLINE³: Angelo Mendez stares into a mirror. He sticks a white mustache onto his lip. And with that, the actor becomes Santa. But he brings his own background to the role.

ANGELO MENDEZ: When I do Santa - and as I'm getting into it right now (laughter) - I don't forget that Santa not only loves sugar cookies, but he loves bunuelos, pastelitos de guayaba (laughter).

BEATY: Did you grow up with Santa Clauses that looked like you or spoke⁴ Spanish?

MENDEZ: Never (laughter).

BEATY: Really?

MENDEZ: No.

BEATY: Mendez plays the big guy at Camp Christmas, an immersive holiday exhibit organized by the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. It's a huge installation of holiday lights and colorfully decorated rooms.

MENDEZ: Bienvenidos (laughter).

BEATY: Another Santa is Black, and one is fluent in American Sign Language. The diverse casting is intentional⁵ after some past criticism, says Lonnie Hanzon, the artist behind Camp Christmas.

LONNIE HANZON: There was a gentleman that wrote, you know, I walked into a bar with a thousand white Santas staring at me, and it told me that I did not belong. And it really - that really, you know, was like - it was a wake-up call.

BEATY: Santa's depiction⁶ as a jolly fat white guy who brings gifts is rooted in advertising⁷ from companies like Coca-Cola in the 1930s. Hanzon wants him to connect with more kids.

HANZON: We can make the holidays what we want to make it. And it can be a good thing.

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Singing) Run, run Rudolph...

BEATY: And while representation is important to these Santas, James Brunt, the Black Santa, says it all really comes back to holiday spirit.

JAMES BRUNT: I want to just bring joy. You never know what someone's going through. And I've met people who are, like, sick and, like, stuff like that, and they were just, like, so floored to, like, be able to see me. And it just, like, warmed my heart. Like, it made me go - that, like, nothing really matters except for making people happy.

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: Merry Christmas.

BEATY: For NPR News, I'm Kevin Beaty in Denver.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 intentional   

adj.故意的，有意（识）的

参考例句：

• Let me assure you that it was not intentional.我向你保证那不是故意的。
• His insult was intentional.他的侮辱是有意的。

6 depiction   

n.描述

参考例句：

• Double rhythms, resounding through the lyric depiction and connecting with each other, indicate the thespian place of mankind and the cognition of the writer to this thespian place. 这双重旋律互为表里，表明了人类的某种悲剧性处境以及作家对这种悲剧性处境的感受和认识。
• A realistic depiction of scenes from everyday domestic life. 日常家居生活的写实画。

7 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。