Terry Gross

Writer and flight attendant Elliott Neal Hester. He writes the bimonthly column "Out of the Blue" for the online magazine, Salon. He's also working on an upcoming book about flying the "not so friendly skies."

U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Pete Peterson. He's a former Florida congressman and a former P.O.W. during the Vietnam war. He spent almost seven years as a prisoner of war. Now everyday, living in Vietnam, he passes by the Hanoi Hilton, the building that held him. Peterson is the subject of a new PBS documentary, "Assignment Hanoi." (It airs on many PBS stations September 7th).

Assistant Curator in the Department of Architecture and Design at the New York's Museum of Modern Art, Christopher Mount. He's the curator of "Different Roads: Automobiles for the Next Century" thru September 21st. The exhibition presents nine contemporary automobiles which represent the next generation of cars.

Also one of the car's designers, Chuck Pelly. He is the President and CEO of Designworks/USA, international design consultants specializing in transportation and product design.

British standup comic Eddie Izzard (pronounced like "Lizzard"). The cross-dressing comic is a household name in England. He's currently starring in "Lenny" a stage play about the controversial standup comic, Lenny Bruce. Izzard plays Bruce. "Lenny" is playing at the Queens Theatre in London. Last year Izzard performed his one-man show "Dress to Kill" at New York's Westbeth Theater, in the West Village.

Writer Robert Sullivan. Now in paperback, his book "The Meadowlands: Wilderness Adventures At the Edge of a City" (Anchor books) is about his intrepid trek into the swamp land five miles outside of New York City, where decades of garbage, chemicals, and corpses have been dumped. Ian Frazier calls it "funny, interesting, surprising and bizarre." Sullivan also writes for The New Yorker, Conde Naste Travler, The New Republic and Rolling Stone. (REBROADCAST from 3/25/98)

Actors Ralph and Joseph Fiennes They're best known for their respective roles in "The English Patient" and "Shakespeare in Love." Their mother, Jennifer Lash, was an accomplished novelist in England. Her last novel, "Blood Ties" was written as she was dying of breast cancer. Her sons talk about their mother. Their sister Sophie, also joins the conversation.

From the new film "Illuminata," actor/director John Turturro and composer William Bolcom. The film is based on a stage play by Brandon Cole (who also wrote the screenplay with Turturro). Previously the two collaborated on the film "Mac." Bolcom won the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 1988 for his "Twelve New Etudes for Piano."

Syndicated columnist Cal Thomas and pastor Ed Dobson. Both previously worked with the Moral Majority: Thomas was Jerry Falwell's spokesman, and Dobson was Falwell's personal assistant. The two are now critical of the emergence of conservative Christian groups into politics, and they've collaborated on the new book: "Blinded by Might: Can the Religious Right Save America?" (Zondervan Publishing).

Singer-songwriter and guitarist Richard Thompson. He first became known for his work with "Fairport Convention." He's since gone solo and is known for his dark songs which blend elements of British folk ballads and the blues. He's released a number of solo albums, "Mirror Blue," and "Rumor and Sign". Rykodisc also compiled a retrospective of his work "Watching the Dark: The History of Richard Thompson," . Thompson's newest solo CD is "Mock Tudor" (Capitol)