By Michelle Kosinski, NBC News correspondent

Life's simple pleasures…are NOT so simple, when life has been hard. Not so easy to sit back and soak in the notes of a musical performance, or a quiet day in nature. Or to simply express yourself by putting what's INSIDE--out there. To be honest, that can be tough for any of us. It can be a challenge to just live in those little moments that are somehow good for our spirits.

I have to admit, when I heard about this story, it sounded sweet, but a lot like something I had heard and seen many times before: using the arts to help, for this group or that. A wonderful concept, but it didn't really register as something unique.

And then we sat for five minutes, in Luanne Allgood's class called Creative Living. At the Miami Rescue Mission.

It took about that long to realize that her completely unselfconscious exuberance, her unembarrassed expression of joy in just about every moment--that can make some of us squirm a little at first--was truly being embraced by a group of diverse guys who, in many cases, had spent a dozen years homeless, in prison, or mired in addiction.

People that might have been written off as 'untouchable,' by many, throughout their lives.

It was a little shocking, at first, to see grown men-- some of whom fully look the part of the tough guy, and seem to relish that, others with a palpable gentleness in their faces and demeanors-- sing and dance to one of Luanne's little songs. To see them paint a picture of flowers or smiling faces. To play kids' games in the park. To spontaneously burst out in song, without worrying about pitch or what the guy next to you thinks.

I say this not because I am amazed that these men can take enjoyment from these things-- but only because I know that we all might have a hard time letting loose enough for Luanne's no-holds-barred style.

In a way, these activities are SO simple, we were talking about how we might at first feel slightly put-off or even insulted-- thinking "oh, come one" or "is this for real," if an almost comically cheerful person suddenly wanted us to sing happy tunes for a few hours. Or play tug-of-war or three-legged-races in the park. We might feel self-conscious, worried about looking foolish. Or might think we had a lot more important things to do.

The fact is, we take a lot for granted.

Luanne, a producer of TV commercials and a lover of music and art, had originally planned to volunteer for a day at the shelter serving food. That was twelve years ago. She realized that the men there had a hunger for much more enrichment in their lives than just a warm dinner. But there was no one, at the time, to share that with them. And she had much more to give.

"They're numb," she says. "So many people that are living broken lives are numb to the beauty that exists out there. To their options, their choices. We try to get them to FEEL. Because feeling is key."

Now, a few times a week, she takes these men on outings to the symphony or theater-- opening them to a new experience, or just allowing them to feel a part of society again. She takes them to parks and botanical gardens. Helps them learn to just let go and feel a moment. Feel comfortable relaxing and working with other people.

Feel comfortable in their own skin.

And we all know, that's a gift.

Rondell Fairell is 50 years old, and can now talk freely about his past. He says as an addict, he lost the trust and support of his family. A year ago, he found the shelter, and eventually, Luanne Allgood's class. He explains that when you feel like a misfit, that is the part you continue to play. Now, he has relished these opportunities to observe the world from a position engaged within it, not outside of it. To find pastimes that are healthy and safe. Things he didn't really know how to approach before.

"Now I'm letting that part of me come out," he told us. "I look at the beauty. I can look at people as people, as human beings. And start to love them again."

Some of the students called this a second half of their lives, that they are only just starting. The first half, they know they can't get back. And now is a chance to LEARN how to live well.

It is too easy to forget how welcome something as human and simple as laughter is, when we need it. How exciting an invitation can be, after a difficult time. How supportive an arm around your shoulder or a high-five can feel. Luanne stepped in to help them, with exactly those elements. Not difficult, for her. But precious, to them. And to any person who has felt the absence of those small gifts.

They are trying to find a new way. And for many, emotions are starting to sprout back up along the path.

As student Chanse Reece put it, Luanne Allgood's class "is about learning how to enjoy."

Something we all might need a refresher course on, from time to time.

 

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

We're quite proud of the slight twist on our popular "Making A Difference" series this week -- we've selected five specific women to highlight. Last night's story was about Marie Nevins, my new friend here in New York. Tonight's story originates in Miami -- and there are three more to follow.

If you are among those who cannot watch us in real time, please make it a point to view the individual segments on our website. Here's what I love about our viewers: many people have already made donations to Marie's foundation after seeing last night's story. That means several thousand dollars will now go to people who need the money to keep a roof over their heads. Thank you.

On another topic in the news, I also wanted to pass along, for those interested, this portrait of the new man in charge of the war effort in Afghanistan. 

We hope you can join us for tonight's broadcast. 

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

A lot of journos are watching this story, and I can't help but think it all goes back to NASCAR. Toward the end of a race, you often need to partner up with another driver to win (there's something called "bump-drafting" -- don't try it at home -- where the driver behind you can "push" you to the front, while taking advantage of the vacuum of the leader's car to bring him to the front -- it works), and its often a matter of finding someone to "go with you" if you're planning a bold initiative. The Wall Street Journal is apparently planning such a bold initiative, during a dire time for professional journalism. It will be interesting to see who goes with them.

And a great piece of journalism today: of all things, its an obituary in the New York Times. A story from history that might have been lost had they not chosen to write about it today.

And so we begin preparing for Monday night's broadcast -- we hope you can join us.

By Mara Schiavocampo, Nightly News Digital Correspondent

I just returned from Iowa, where I was reporting on the effects of the swine flu on the pork industry for Nightly News. I visited a hog farm in Collins, Iowa, about 40 minutes outside of Des Moines.

I was prohibited from interacting with the hogs. Some were kept in an open-air pen, and I was allowed to watch them from the other side of a fence. I was allowed no access to those in a closed barn. Why? For health safety reasons. But it's not what you might think. 

                    

Below is my exchange with farmer Dave Struthers:

Schiavocampo: Can we go in here and interact with some of the pigs?
Struthers: With the concerns with the flu basically, just to try to control traffic, human traffic in and out of the facilities. Not that I'm too leery of it but you came from New York and you've got the flu in New York.
Schiavocampo: You're worried about me making the pigs sick? Not them making me sick?
Struthers: I'm not worried at all about my pigs making you sick.
Schiavocampo: And is that industry protocol right now?
Struthers: It is.

                          

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

As I slog through a long Friday at the office -- and perhaps because I was up late writing the Rescue One/Making A Difference story that will air Monday night, I have these few items: first, since we ran the original article on a possible replacement for Justice Souter, and since the author has since amended his work (and reacted to a strong response) I thought we owed him a link here.

Also: a nice piece by Peggy Noonan on Jack Kemp, who was remembered today in Washington. And a piece from Time.com that says a lot about where journalism is right now.

We sure do hope you can join us tonight. Have a great weekend and we'll see you again on Monday.

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

Today I visited Rescue One in Manhattan for a Making A Difference story that is airing next week. In the FDNY, the Rescue Companies are the specialists. They carry no water, no hoses.  As they like to say,"firefighters fight fires...we rescue firefighters."  Their "elite" status, of course (as scuba divers and climbers and the like), is fodder for all the derision and sarcasm that rival firehouses within the FDNY can muster. If you've heard the North Dakota vs. South Dakota jokes, then that will give you some idea.  But at the end of the day, they are all one team.  Rescue One lost 11 members on 9-11. Having coffee in their kitchen this morning, it all felt very close. The photos, the names, the memories are very much alive and so vivid, just like the guys standing before you who, by luck or by quirk of the schedule, survived that day.

As I told them today, when I was a volunteer firefighter in Jersey, FDNY members were like the Yankees to us--the pros--the top of their game. They always were and still are. Rescue One, as firehouses in this country go, is the stuff of legend.  So are all the names on the wall, and the guys on the rig. If you're ever in midtown Manhattan and see a firetruck go by, look for their markings.  While "Rescue 1" is clearly visible from several angles, there's something else to look for: across the hood in gold lettering, it says, "OUTSTANDING!"  That was the motto of Captain Terry Hatton, who never made it out of the World Trade Center. The rig was his design, his pride and joy. He rides along with it every day, to this very day. 

My thanks to everyone at Rescue One.

We hope you can join us tonight. 

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

For music fans, a new suggestion: Camera Obscura. Actually, they've been around for a while -- but some new cuts on their latest effort named "My Maudlin Career" deserve a listen. Specifically, "The World Is Full Of Strangers," "Swans," "Away With Murder" and "The Sweetest Thing." Among my fellow Dylan fans, consensus seems to be that "Forgetful Heart" is among the best efforts from his new "Together Through Life." If you haven't heard Dylan in a while, here's a hint … he sounds … like a much older Bob Dylan. Looking for something ephemeral? Try "Floating" by Julee Cruise, a standby for me. It's good when you're trying to fall asleep on an airplane. If she sounds familiar, she did the theme song for "Twin Peaks" a few years back.

Okay. I'm out -- from the music business we turn our attention back to the news business. My thanks to Ann Curry for allowing me some time off. We hope to see you tonight.

By NBC's Ann Curry

In for Brian tonight so he can get some r and r.  Rest, Brian.

Our top stories tonight:

FINALLY hopeful economic news.  Fed chief Ben Bernanke today said the economic downturn is close to bottoming out, though he warned more significant job cuts will come before it does. Is Bernanke being optimistic, or does he know something?  Trish Regan will report.

Pakistan is spiraling further as thousands are leaving the Swat valley amid battling between the Taliban and the Pakistan army.  Richard Engel will join on set.

Chuck Todd will report on a meeting tomorrow between Pakistan's President Zadari and President Obama at the White House.

Growing swine flu numbers are now not being attributed to the disease spreading, but test results are being tabulated. Also, the official recommendation now is that schools no longer need to be closed.

There's more, but we are distracted by the popping champagne bottles for researcher Garrett Haake, who is getting a cake and bubbly from the Nightly team because he's getting married. He looks too happy to be convinced otherwise.

Don't worry, I won't drink champagne until after the broadcast.

Brian's back tomorrow.

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

Because of my Souter departure obsession, today I want to share with you some interesting writing I found over the weekend...starting with a former Souter clerk (a familiar name from American history) and a great essay by a journalist who covers the court.  My favorite (provocative) essay is on the subject of who should NOT be appointed to the court (sorry, Harvard and Yale) and there is a very tough examination of a current favorite for the court.

We're back with our Monday night broadcast tonight, and we hope you can join us.

By Mara Schiavocampo, Nightly News Digital Correspondent

It's the start of the work week for most of us. But thousands of Chrysler employees are home, forced to take a temporary break while the automaker goes through bankruptcy proceedings. On Nightly News, I'll take a look at what that reality is like for two Chrysler workers. You can read part of their stories below:

 

Kenneth Mefford, 47
Inspector, Warren Truck Assembly

"My boss just came by and said, 'Clean up your areas and go home.' He just said that some of the bondholders had held out and they're declaring bankruptcy and that's it. All the rest of Chrysler's shut down.

'See you in five or six weeks. Don't call us, we'll call you.'

I'm a Gulf War vet. I was in Saudi. When somebody just walks up and says put down your stuff, have a nice day and go home, and the next thing you know your company is bankrupt, nobody can prepare you for that. The last feeling I can compare it to is when I got off a C-130 and they handed me a rifle and said 'Welcome to a combat zone.'

My grandfather worked at River Rouge at Ford, retired after 40 years. My dad did 30-plus and retired from Mound Road Engine, which is now a parking lot. So this is pretty much all I know. I'm 47, I have six years in the Army, 15 years in a factory and a high school diploma. A house note and a car note. What am I supposed to do?"

Aric Holloway, 51
Inspector, Warren Truck Assembly

"They actually told everybody 'You're going home', and 'We'll see you in four to six weeks'. They even said, 'Don't call us, we'll call you.' I was shocked the way we got it. Because normally we get an FYI from the union or from the company. We didn't get [any information].

You had to go on the Internet or talk to your own friends. They didn't tell us nothing.

It's affecting my life and my family a great deal. Because I had a son that was in college, he had to come home. I'm worried about the bankruptcy. I'm very worried about it. I don't know how they can do, what they can do to make it better."

By Jay Blackman, NBC News producer

They say it's the small things, but when it comes to mothers, the small things really do add up. Whether it's driving to karate, making doctor appointments, or paying the bills, Mom's job is never done--and she does it all for free.
 
For the ninth year in a row, compensation experts at Massachusetts-based Salary.com have figured out just what mom's time is really worth. They take the top ten jobs mom does--from van driver to cook to laundry machine operator--and calculate the value of the job how much time a mother spends on it and how much you would have to pay if you hired someone to do all that work. The average stay -at-home mom works a 40-hour work week, plus an additional 56 hours of overtime, while the working mom works 40 hours a week for her employer, 40 hours a week at home and puts in another 17 hours in overtime.

Researchers say the downturn in the economy also means more work for mom. Their survey has found that jobs that used to be outsourced are increasingly being added to mom's to-do list to save money.
 
Salary.com has a calculator on their website at mom.salary.com which allows you or mom to figure out how much her yearly salary would be. So when you see Mom on Mother's Day, give her a little bigger hug. She deserves it.

by Lester Holt, NBC News anchor

Greetings from Los Angeles. I'll be anchoring the program from the NBC News bureau here tonight. I came out to southern California for my oldest son's college graduation – a beautiful affair held yesterday on a rolling lawn perched above the Pacific Ocean. For four years I've wondered how anyone could study or get any work done in such a gorgeous location. I'm happy to say he somehow managed, and I'm an awfully proud dad as I now watch him move on to the next chapter of his life. To parents of younger children I offer only this advice: enjoy every minute of them. This growing up thing happens a lot faster than you can ever imagine.

As far as tonight's broadcast is concerned, it's hard to imagine it was just one week ago we were reporting the headline that a public health emergency had been declared in response to the flu outbreak. Experts have learned a lot about the disease in that short time, and are now expressing some guarded optimism. That said, NBC's Rehema Ellis will report this evening that there are still some troubling and unanswered questions about the next chapters in this outbreak.

We've also got a look back at the life of former congressman and VP candidate Jack Kemp. Plus, billionaire businessman Warren Buffet sat down with our colleague, CNBC's Becky Quick, to talk about the economy and how the administration is trying to fix it. We'll have some of that conversation for you tonight.

Thanks for checking in, and I hope you'll tune in later for NBC Nightly News.

By Robert Bazell, NBC News chief science correspondent

 

An official at the Centers for Disease Control emailed me today that "the whole name thing is comical."  He was referring to the government's first referring to the new influenza virus as swine flu and then calling it "A H1N1"—in response, I have on good authority, to enormous pressure from the pork industry.

By Brian Williams, Anchor and managing editor

David Souter is not of this world. At least not the world many of us living in this nation's population centers experience on a daily basis in 2009. His intellect is the stuff of folklore, and so is his personal life. He's been described as an almost Victorian figure, straining to maintain the lifestyle he prefers while the world changes around him. That he drives an automobile remains something of a wonder -- his concession to changes in modern transportation -- given that other aspects of his life and mindset seem borrowed from another century, and not the last one.

Souter was to President George H.W. Bush what Justice William Brennan was to President Eisenhower. Bush wanted a predictable conservative jurist without a paper trail. He got half of that, just as Ike did when trying to select a solid judge who agreed with his philosophy.

Immediately after his appointment to the court, those who ventured to Weare, New Hampshire in search of clues that would shed light on the nominee found a rather dark cabin filled with books. Stacks of them.

Peering through the windows as reporters do, they could not see a television inside the house. There wasn't one. There wasn't anything David Souter needed to know that he couldn't read about, or so the theory went.

Washington journalists, in requisite khakis and blazers, braved the blazing summer heat of New Hampshire to gather information on the taciturn, enigmatic, intellectual New Englander. Former high school classmates talked guardedly about their bookish, smart friend with the throwback charm. I was among those who read all of his available opinions to date back then, and I decided my favorite was the case, as I remember it, of the hippie couple who sued New Hampshire because they didn't feel they should be forced to ride around in their van fitted with license plates bearing the New Hampshire State slogan, "Live Free Or Die." They lost.

It didn't take long to realize President Bush had lost a big bet.

He'd been famously assured by then-Republican Senator John Sununu of New Hampshire that Souter would be a "home run" for the right, a lock-cinch, dependable Yankee conservative on the court. Souter morphed before their eyes into a Yankee liberal -- or what passed for one, as the court was in the middle of a decided right turn during the Souter years. Bush's other pick, Clarence Thomas, did not disappoint.

Years later, Souter was reported to be profoundly disappointed at the Court's decision in Bush v. Gore, which effectively awarded the election to the son of the man who appointed him to the court. He was part of the four Justices in the minority.

During the Court term, Justice Souter works 12 hour days and lives in a small apartment not far from the Court. He has never liked the city.

For that matter, he's never been much for computers, cellphones or other trappings of modern life. He writes his opinions longhand, in fountain pen, as John Marshall did in the early days of the Republic.

Meantime, back in the electronic world of 2009 America, an internet headline on a major website, posted within hours of the first report that he was retiring, breathlessly and incorrectly reported that Souter's departure will lead to a "shakeup" on the court. Because Souter must be considered a dependable member of the court's left-of-center minority, President Obama's choice to replace him will not amount to any sort of net gain for the left -- nor would replacements for what are generally considered to be the next two justices to depart, Stevens and Ginsburg. But the quiet man from New Hampshire has accomplished one thing with his planned departure: he's proven once again that attempts to predict the behavior of the court and its justices can be a dicey business.

Perhaps it all goes back to "Live Free Or Die." When David Souter aims his car north to his beloved New Hampshire at the end of the court term, he will be, entering his eighth decade, a free man once again.

We hope you can join us for the broadcast tonight. Have a great weekend.