Terry Gross

The L.A. based musician and performance artist fronted the punk-rock group, Black Flag. He's also the current leader of the Henry Rollins Band. His spoken word performances go back and forth between comedy and serious commentary. He has a new album of these performances, "Boxed Life," and a video, "Talking from the Box."

Chancellor of the New York City school system, Joseph Fernandez. He's been a controversial figure: he's made condoms available in the public schools, and approved a multicultural curriculum, called "Children of the Rainbow," that teaches respect for gays and lesbians. Fernandez is Puerto Rican and grew up in Spanish Harlem. He was a gang member and a heroin addict. Late,r he joined the Air Force, where he kicked the habit, and attended college on the G.I. bill.

Stiller is the son of the comedy team of Jerry Stiller & Anne Meara. He's acted in the Lincoln Center's revival of "House of Blue Leaves," and appeared in the films, "Fresh Horses," "Stella," and "Empire of the Son." He's got a new comedy show "The Ben Stiller Show," which grew out of his work as a writer-performer with "Saturday Night Live."

Terry talks to activists on both sides of the abortion debate:

1) Pro-choice activist Kathryn "Kitty" Kolbert. She is an attorney who argued against Pennsylvania's restrictive abortion law in the Supreme Court last year. This summer, she founded the Center for Reproductive Law And Policy to focus on reproductive rights world wide.

Two interviews in this segment:

1) Jean Hunt gives a grassroots perspective on abortion rights and accessiblity. Hunt is a registered nurse who has been an activist in the women's health movement since the late 60's .From 1988-1992 she was director of the Elizabeth Blackwell Health Center for Women in Philadelphia. She says that even if the federal government ensures the right to an abortion, local politics, health care economics and physician shortages make it difficult for women to get abortions.

Lesbian, feminist comic Kate Clinton. Last night she hosted a gay ball in Washington D.C., celebrating the inauguration. She tackles social taboos and politics without putdowns, name-calling, or abusive behavior. Her subjects include menstruation, men-bashing, and people in wheelchairs. She's been doing comedy since the early 1980s. Before that she was a high school English teacher.

Producer Roger Kendis, AKA the Invisible Man, of Noisy Neighbors Productions. He's here in Philadelphia, and he's put together a rap recording with clips from Clinton's speeches, called "It's About Hope."

In the late 1970s, Costello burst out of Britian's pop-music scene as an angry young-man with a fresh sound. On his new release, "The Juliet Letters," he works with the Brodsky Quartet. His new songs are based on a correspondence addressed to Juliet Capulet of "Romeo and Juliet."

Two individuals involved with the Victim/Offender Mediation Program (with The Community Dispute Resolution Center in New York City): Program Director Thomas Christian, and Gary Geiger, who was shot and wounded during a robbery eleven years ago. Through the program, Geiger confronted the man who shot him, Wayne Blanchard, who is now in prison. Their meeting is featured in the HBO special, "Confronting Evil: America Undercover."

Novelist, journalist and columnist Pete Hamill. He's written seven novels, including "Flesh and Blood," and "Loving Women." Most recently he was editor-in-chief at the New York Post. He's latest book is a memoir of the years he spent drinking, "A Drinking Life: A Memoir," (Little, Brown & Co.) Hamill quit drinking twenty years ago. One reviewer in Publishers Weekly writes about Hamill's new memoir, "This is not a jeremiad condemning drink, however, but a thoughtful, funny, street-smart reflection on its consequences."