Terry Gross

Judge Alex Kozinski is on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Since the 1970's he has had to make decisions on cases involving the death penalty. But, although an advocate of this controversial form of punishment, he finds it difficult to enforce. In a recent New Yorker article ("Tinkering with Death", 10 Feb 1997), he recalls his experience the first time he wrote an opinion for such a case. Kozinski also writes for the Wall Street Journal's Op-ed page and other publications.

Stories of people changing their name, an excerpt from This American Life by Ira Glass, produced at WBEZ. Glass tells the story of his grandmother: when she was in her 30's, she was very ill and everyone thought she was going to die. So they changed her name. It was an old Jewish custom, to confuse the Angel of Death. And Margy Rochlin on the place you go to in Los Angeles if you want to change your name. It turns out to be surprisingly easy to change

In her books and plays Bornstein, a transgender activist, argues the need for the acceptance of nontraditional gender roles, meaning those not defined as either male of female. In her book "Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us," she writes about her sex-change experience and her view of society's conceptions of gender. She has also written the novel (with co-author Caitlin Sullivan) "Nearly Roadkill."