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 His passport has been revoked twice.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."
Philadelphia Vincent Persichetti a noted composer, especially for concert band. A new work of Persechetti, "Flower Songs," will be premiered at the Academy of Music by the Philadelphia Singers. The work includes poems by e. e. cummings. Persichetti joins the show to talk about how he knew he would be a musician by the age of three and the composer's "inner ear."
Actor, director, and choreographer Maurice Hines comes from the famous tap-dancing family. He is the founder of the company Ballet Tap U. S. A. Hines appears in the film "Cotton Club." Hines joins the show to discuss working as a child with his father and brother, Gregory, touring Europe, learning ballet at the age of 30, the difference between "up-in-the-air," and "close-to-the-floor" tap dance, break-dancing, and the great dancers of film.
Emile De Antonio is regarded as one of the most important political filmmakers of the American Left. His films include "Point of Order," about the McCarthy hearings; "Rush to Judgement," about the Warren Report; "In the Year of the Pig," about the history of Vietnam, and "Underground," where he interviewed members of the Weather Underground. One of De Antonio's biggest influences is John Cage.
Composer and pianist Anthony Davis has composed jazz and "new music" work with his ten-piece ensemble Episteme, directed plays, composed orchestral suites, and taught at Yale, where he also received his B. A. in music. His latest album with his band is called "Hemispheres." Davis has written an opera, "X," based on the life of Malcolm X. The libretto was written by his cousin and Village Voice writer Thulani Davis-Jarman, and the story was written by his brother CHRISTOPHER DAVIS.
Poet and novelist Marge Piercy's work often discusses feminism and leftist organizing. Her newest novel "Fly Away Home," is about a famous chef who discovers that her marriage has fallen apart and that her husband has a secret life.
Pete Dexter is a columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News and also has a monthly column for Esquire Magazine, "Sports Scene." Dexter's first novel, "God's Pocket," is set in Philadelphia. The novel tells the story of a reporter investigating a murder committed by a construction worker. Dexter joins the show to discuss his novel, work as a journalist, and respond to listener calls.
Philip Foner is the foremost historian on the labor movement in the U. S. He is the author of over eighty works, including a four volume history of the American labor movement, "Organized Labor and the Black Worker," and "Women and the American Labor Movement." Foner's specialities include labor history, African American history, and the history of women and Socialism. Foner has recently edited a collection of speeches and writings of Irish-American labor organizer Mother Jones.
