Lady Borton is an American Quaker who has done extensive aid work in Vietnam and with Vietnamese refugees. In 1980, she served as Health Administrator of Pulau Budong, the largest Vietnamese refugee camp in Malaysia. Borton describes the conditions as terrible, including, overcrowding, lack of food, and a rat infestation. Borton has a written a memoir of her time working in the camp, "Sensing the Enemy: An American Among the Boat People of Vietnam."
Folk artist Howard Finster was born in 1916, but did not start painting until 1976 when he had a vision that told him to devote his life to making sacred art. Finster has been working as a preacher since the age of 16. Finster has spent 20 years working on "Paradise Garden," a two-and-a-half acre mixture of sculpture, painting, vines, vegetables, and discarded objects. "Howard Finster, Man of Visions: The Garden and Other Creations: A One Person Show" is opening at the Philadelphia Art Alliance.
General Alexander Haig came to national prominence during the Nixon administration, where he served in several roles including as Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs and Chief of Staff. He continued working for the Ford administration, leading to his appointment as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO. Haig served 18 months as the Secretary of State for President Ronald Reagan. He often clashed with the president and his staff, and resigned in 1982. His new memoir: Caveat: realism, Reaganism, and Foreign Policy," details his time in the administration.
Robert Parker is a writer of detective and crime novels. His latest work "Valediction" is the eleventh book in the author's "Spenser" series of novels. Parker joins the show to discuss his work and detective and crime fiction and films.
Legendary writer James Baldwin is the author of modern classics such as "Notes of a Native Son," "Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone," and "Go Tell It On the Mountain." Here, Baldwin delivers a lecture and has a "rap" session with students at an event at Lehigh University.
Vietnam veteran George Ewalt and his wife Sheila Ewalt of Roxborough discuss the court case related to Agent Orange. Their daughter was born with health problems, and George suffers from nerve damage.
S. Maynard Turk is the Vice-President and Counsel of Hercules Incorporated, a manufacturer of Agent Orange and one the companies involved in the recent lawsuit.
Vietnam War veteran Michael Milne joins the show to discuss the health problems he believes were caused by his exposure to Agent Orange while working for the U. S. military. He also discusses his court case and the organizations he believed knew the dangers of Agent Orange.
Madeline Cartwright worked as a teacher in Philadelphia public schools from 1959 to 1978, before moving into administration. Currently she is the principal at Blaine Elementary School, in the Strawberry Mansion section of Philadelphia, and she has spent the last five years transforming Blaine from a typical low-income school into a community that sparkles. Cartwright's staff has nominated her for the John N. Patterson Award for Excellence in Public Education. Cartwright joins the show to discuss the problems that are facing Philadelphia schools and her approach to solving them.
Bishop Desmond Tutu is an Anglican parish priest in Soweto, South Africa. Tutu is the General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches, and is one of the most prominent figures in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Tutu is seen as a moderate, and does not endorse violence. He travels extensively to mobilize support for the cause. His passport has been revoked twice.
Fred Friendly joined CBS television in 1950, and eventually became president of CBS news. Friendly worked extensively with famed journalist Edward R. Murrow. He resigned from CBS in protest after executives went against his decision to telecast the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on Vietnam, and instead aired reruns. After leaving CBS, Friendly became one of the architects of public television. Friendly is currently a professor at the Columbia School of Journalism, and his written several books about history and the Constitution.
Tuba player, composer, and arranger Howard Johnson has worked with jazz and rock legends. Johnson organized the band for the television show "Saturday Night Live," which he played for from 1975 to 1980. Johnson was won the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences "Most Valuable Tuba Player," for the last three years. Johnson also plays baritone saxophone and trumpet. He joins the show to discuss why he was drawn to the tuba, growing up in the South, and his career in jazz and rock.
Stewart Hoover is a research scholar at the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania who specializes in the impact of communications technology on culture. In recent years, many have deemed religious television programming controversial. Many mainline church leaders fear the effect such programming will have on local churches. Hoover, along with George Gerbner, Larry Gross, Michael Morgan, and Nancy Signorielli, has just conducted a study on religious television programming.
Chuck Barris is the creator and producer of over a dozen television game shows, including "The Gong Show," "The Newlywed Game," and "The Dating Game." He gained his reputation as the "manic" host of "The Gong Show." Barris has written a semi-autobiographical novel "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," in which a game show host named Chuck Barris also secretly works as a C. I. A. agent. Barris claims to have had an opportunity to work for the organization, but that he turned it down.
Bella Abzug's political career began as a student at Hunter College. After graduating, she attended Columbia Law School, and began to practice law. She is a founding member of Women Strike for Peace and served as the national political director for ten years. Abzug was elected to Congress in 1970, where she was the co-founder of the National Women's Political Caucus. Abzug is currently the president of Women USA, a group working to get-out-the-vote among women.
Terry talks with three expatriate Chilean musicians who are practitioners of the New Song movement, a fusion folk style with a political slant born in the wake of Chile's recent political upheaval.
Hankus Netsky is the founder and leader of the Klezmer Conservatory Band. Klezmer mixes traditional Yiddish and Israeli music with American influences. Netsky joins the show to discuss the history of the genre and to share 78-records of klezmer music from the 1920s.
Former Major League Baseball Umpire Ron Luciano was known for his flamboyant style. His book "The Umpire Strikes Back," was a hot, and Luciano has written a follow-up "Strike Two." He shares humorous stories about his career in MLB and discusses some of the colorful characters working in the sport today.
Journalist and writer Tom Wicker grew up in the South. He joined the staff of the New York Times in 1960 and has worked for the paper since then. Wicker was one of the journalists covering President Kennedy's visit to Dallas in 1963, and his op-ed column "In the Nation," is nationally syndicated. Wicker has written non-fiction and fiction books. His latest novel, "Unto this Hour," is based in part on stories from his grandmother about her life in the Confederacy. The novel is set in the Civil Battle, the Second Bull Run.
Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter grew up in Plains, Georgia. She met her husband, Jimmy, when she was 17 and he was 20 years old. She was glad that his naval career allowed them to travel, and when they returned to Georgia after his father's death, Carter was upset. It was there, however, that she grew into a business partner in her husband's peanut farm. Carter spoke last week with Betty Ford on the topic of modern First Ladies. Carter's life before and during the presidency is discussed in her new memoir "First Lady from Plains."
