Terry Gross

Journalist Andrew H. Malcolm's new book, "Someday," is his first-person account of his decision to take his terminally ill mother off life support, a decision made ironic by the fact that Malcom often covers issues of medical ethics and the right to die for the New York Times.

Dorn's in charge of a new series of records on Virgin called Night Records, featuring great live performances. The first four releases feature performances by Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Cannonball Adderley, Les McCann, and Eddie Harris.

Journalist Alex Kotlowitz won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for a series of articles he wrote for the Wall Street Journal chronicling the lives of two children in a housing project in Chicago. He's expanded those articles into the new book, "There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up In the Other America."

Cooper wrote the screenplay for the new movie, "New Jack City," and coined the term, "new jack swing," that inspired the movie's title. Cooper's reporting appears in The Village Voice and Spin.

Tim Weiner reports on national security issues and the justice department for the Philadelphia Inquirer. In 1988, he won his second Pulitzer Prize for a series of articles on secret Pentagon spending. He discusses the A-X weapon - a stealth bomber which has just been put into production. It's predecessor, the A12, was cancelled because of cost overruns and unnaccountability.

Grier is a regular cast member of the popular sketch comedy show, which has been hailed as a black alternative to Saturday Night Live.

Ringgold combines painting and quilt making to create brightly colored and patterned story pictures. She lives in Harlem and teaches half the year at the University of California at San Diego. She's just completed a picture book for children, "Tar Beach," inspired by her story quilt of the same name.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Two: The Secret Ooze." He says that, while several elements are borrowed from other movies, it's surprisingly watchable.

Park's short, claymation film, "Creature Comforts," won this year's Oscar for Best Animation. It's a five-minute parody of a documentary in which various zoo animals tell the camera how they feel about their living conditions.

Veteran journalist Tom Wicker has written a new examination of Richard Nixon, titled "One of Us." Wicker claims that, contrary to conventional wisdom, the former president was weak on foreign policy but strong -- and effective -- on the domestic front.