What we now call soul food originally came out of black culture in the southern United States. At its core, soul food is a hearty, spicy food rich with the calories and protein African Americans needed to make it through long days of hard work, first as slaves on plantations and then after Emancipation working as sharecroppers on farms in the rural south.  But over time soul food has become high cuisine and it's at the heart of some great Washington, DC, restaurants. VOA's Unshin Lee reports.

Two documentaries offering a female perspective on the death and destruction in the war-torn Syrian cities of Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta received Oscar nominations for Best Documentary. Waad al-Kateab's film "For Sama" and Feras Fayyad's film "The Cave" document civilians' struggle for survival in devastated cities where doctors in makeshift hospitals tend to throngs of injured and dying.  Amidst airstrikes, barrel bombs and chemical attacks, citizen journalist-turned-filmmaker al-Kateab chronicles her daily life in besieged Aleppo since the beginning of the rebellion against the Assad regime in 2012."When I filmed everything you've seen in the film, I had no idea that I would do a film. So, I was just documenting all these moments because I was sure that I would be killed and I wanted this story not to be dead," al-Kateab told VOA."For Sama" is a visual diary dedicated to her daughter, Sama, born in the middle of destruction.Over five years in Aleppo, al-Kateab filmed thousands of hours of footage, recording her personal life as a young student, as a young bride living with her husband, Hamza, a doctor in Aleppo, and then as a mother.FILE - Director/producer/cinematographer Waad al-Kateab, left, and director Edward Watts participate in PBS's "For Sama" panel at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour in Beverly Hills, Calif., July 30, 2019.While thousands of people who were looking for a better life abandoned the city, al-Kateab and her husband chose to stay, with Hamza working at a makeshift hospital where he was one of the few doctors left tending to injured civilians, mostly women and children.While airstrikes were hitting the hospital, al-Kateab kept filming the incoming casualties, holding the camera with one hand and her baby with the other. "I can't really separate myself between Waad the mother and Waad the journalist. Everything I was trying to do was mixed between these two, and you can see that in the film," she said.Filming everything around her served as a coping mechanism for al-Kateab. When she would feel hopeless as a mother, unable to give her daughter a better life, she would keep filming. And when she could no longer bear to film the horrors she witnessed, she would find solace in her baby daughter. She also drew hope that her footage would humanize the refugees on the world stage by showing how dangerous life is in Syria."Behind every one of us, there is a story, ...

Beth Jensen suffered a stroke when she was just eight years old, and though she survived, she was almost completely paralyzed and unable to talk as a result. Yet, Jensen has refused to let her condition stop her from living a life filled with activities, art and love. Iryna Matviichuk met with the artist. Anna Rice narrates her story

This New Year's Eve, an estimated 1 million people will pack the streets of New York City's Times Square to watch the famous ball drop. It's a tradition that dates back to 1907, as visitors from around the world gather to count down the final seconds to the New Year. VOA's Tina Trinh heads to the rooftop of One Times Square for a look at the New Year's Eve ball, the centerpiece of one of the world's most anticipated New Year's Eve celebrations.

A quilt is a multi-layered blanket, often used as a home decoration or as a baby blanket. Quilts are an ancient craft but really took off in the United States in the late 1600's. Today, in the northwest state of Oregon quilting remains vital by incorporating all kinds of new styles and fabrics -  some of them from Indonesia. Ariadne Budianto reports.

The Christmas spirit encompassing the old and the new is alive in historic Williamsburg, Virginia. The colonial town dates back to the 1600s, while nearby Busch Gardens amusement park opened in the 1970s. Both places are displaying different but unique holiday decorations, making Williamsburg one of the best places in the United States to visit during the Christmas season. VOA's Deborah Block takes us on a tour.