Terry Gross

Norma McCorvey. She was the plaintiff in Roe vs. Wade. In the lawsuit she was called Jane Roe to shield her privacy. In her new book "I Am Roe" (Harper Collins), she tells her story. She was poor, alone and pregnant. Her case became a landmark Supreme Court decision--it gave women the right to choose abortion. But McCorvey ended up giving birth to the child because the Supreme Court decision came too late.

Pennsylvania Governor Robert P. Casey. June 14th will be the first anniversary of his "return from the dead." Last year when he was close to death from a fatal liver disease that was destroying his heart, Casey received a heart and liver transplant. The donor was a young African American man who was savagely beaten by drug dealers. Casey talks about his second chance at life. And he discusses his views--pre and post-surgery--on political issues of life and death such as abortion and the death penalty.

Terry talks with New Yorker writer John Seabrook about the downside of electronic mail. Then she gets a response from Stewart Brand, the inventor of The Well, a computer conference system. . . Last January Seabrook wrote an article in the New Yorker magazine about Microsoft chairman, Bill Gates. Seabrook was flooded with electronic mail as a result, and to his surprise he was "flamed" for the first time. In Internet jargon, to be "flamed" is to receive an obscene or derogatory E-mail message. Seabrook said he'd never received anything like it before.

Writer and former film maker Gretel Ehrlich is the author of "The Solace of Open Spaces," a collection of essays about life on Wyoming's high plains. It was while walking on the Wyoming plains, that Ehlrich was struck by lightning. The force of it threw her forty feet, severely damaged part of her nervous system, and sent her into a "solitary limbo." Ehrlich returned to her parents home for medical treatment and began trying to understand what happened to her.

Columnist, commentator and "mad economist" Julianne Malveaux. Her new book "Sex, Lies and Stereotypes: Perspectives of a Mad Economist" (Pines One Publishing) is a compilation of her newspaper columns. She's also a commentator on PBS and CNN. Malveaux says everything is economic from gender relations to job applications to toxic waste. The issues, she says, are issues of "who has and who doesn't, who will and who won't." Malveaux likes to incite, inspire and make people think.

Independent film director, producer and writer Rose Troche. She and co-producer and co-writer Guinevere Turner have made the new lesbian comedy, "Go Fish." The movie is being hailed as the newest "crossover hit." The two say they wanted to make a film about the community they lived in: "young, urban, multicultural, out, and burning up the phone lines gossiping about who went home with who last night." (The film played at the New York Lesbian and Gay Film festival in May, and opens at the San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, June 9.

Retired Astronaut and former test pilot Alan Shepard. He was America's first man in space in 1961; the voyage covered 302 miles and lasted 15 minutes. Ten years later with Apollo 14, he made it to the moon, playing golf on the moon's surface. (In 1969, the Apollo 11 landed on the moon, and Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the moon). Early in his space career, Shepard was diagnosed with an inner ear syndrome which could have ended his career. Shepard grounded himself in 1963 and became Chief of the Astronaut Office.

Playwright, NPR commentator, housecleaner and former elf to Santa, Davis Sedaris. He launched his radio commentator career with his "SantaLand Diaries," broadcast during NPR's "Morning Edition in 1992. His humor has been described as a "caustic mix of J. D.

The biggest event in soccer, the World Cup, takes place in the United States this month (June 17 - July 17), in nine different cities. Journalist Pete Davies will talk with Terry about the game so few Americans know about. He's written a new book about the game and the upcoming event, "Twenty-Two Foreigners in Funny Shorts: The Intelligent Fan's Guide to Soccer and World Cup '94." (Random House).

Beck is a 23 year-old hip/hop folk rocker, who goes by first name only and whose single, "Loser" has become the anthem for the underachievers of Generation X. His music has been described as "triumphantly anti-professional, idiot-savant music in which a heartfelt solo can be provided by kazoo as easily as guitar." Beck was part of the Los Angeles underground, with songs like "MTV Makes Me Want to Smoke Crack." Beck's first album, "Mellow Gold," (released on DGC) was recorded at home on four and eight-track recording equipment.