Health & Medicine

Comic George Carlin.

Director Norman René and playwright Craig Lucas They collaborated on the film, "Longtime Companion."

Herr's 1977 book, Dispatches, was based on his time covering the Vietnam War. He also contributed to the films Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket. Herr died last week. Originally broadcast in 1990.

Guest film critic Owen Gleiberman reviews "Longtime Companion." It's about how AIDS affected the gay community in New York in the 1980's. The film, written by playwright Craig Lucas, was originally produced for the PBS series American Playhouse.

Physician Andrew Weil. Weil is a leading proponent of "alternative" ways of healing...he advocates proper diet, exercise, mental techniques, and herbal remedies as ways to wellness. Weil's new book is called, "Natural Health, Natural Medicine: A Comprehensive Manual for Wellness and Self-Care." It's published by Houghton Mifflin.

Author Hubert Selby, Junior. His first novel, "Last Exit to Brooklyn," was published in 1957. It's just been made into a movie, and Selby was an advisor and plays a small part in the film, which opened this week. Selby teaches at the University of Southern California, and is working on a new novel.

Novelist Tom Robbins. His latest book "Skinny Legs and All," (Bantam Books) involves a young Virginia artist, Ellen Cherry, who moves to New York to pursue an art career and ends up a waitress at Isaac & Ishmael's, a restaurant owned by an Arab and a Jew which sits across the street from the United Nations. Other characters of note: Salome, the teenage belly dancer, and some magical objects: a conch, a stick, a sock, a can o'beans, and a spoon.

Author Paul Monette. His memoir, "Borrowed Time," (Avon books) told his story of living with death and aids. His latest book is a novel, "Afterlife," (Crown books) about how three different men deal with the grief of losing a lover from aids. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Poet Mark Halliday joins us again to read a poem.

Dancer and choreographer Bill T. Jones. For years, Jones collaborated and performed with his partner/lover Arnie Zane. After Zane's death from AIDS in 1988, Jones has continued to dance with the company he and Zane formed. The company is based on a philosophy that disdains the formal training of ballet and draws on athleticism, discovery, and the beauty of the movements of "everyday people."

Journalist John Hockenberry. For the past two years he's been National Public Radio's foreign correspondent in the Middle East, where he covered events from his wheelchair. He's also served as host for "All Things Considered," "SoundPrint," and other shows. In 1987 he won a Peabody and in 1988, a Unity in Media award. In March, he'll be hosting "Heat," a new nightly interview, performance, and call-in show over NPR.

Author Daniel Callahan. He is an expert on medical ethics whose latest book is "What Kind of Life: The Limits of Medical Progress." The book questions the assumption that everyone should receive the most life sustaining medical care available. According to Callahan, we need to change our thinking about health and illness and focus on the quality of life rather than the extension of life. (Interview by Sedge Thomson)

Writer Ken Kesey. Kesey was a leading figure of the 60's counterculture. As the leader of the Merry Pranksters, Kesey did as much as anyone to popularize the use of LSD and other hallucinogens. Kesey also wrote two of the most popular books of the era, "Sometimes a Great Notion" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." In 1986, Kesey wrote "Demon Box," a look back at his life since the 60s. Kesey has a new book, called "Caverns." It's a novel he co-wrote with the 13 members of his University of Oregon fiction class.

Adventurer and author Tristan Jones. Tristan Jones is almost certainly the most intrepid sailor alive. At last count he's journeyed more than 450-thousand miles in small boats. That includes 20 crossings of the Atlantic, and 3 and a half circumnavigations. Many of those miles were racked up during the course of exceedingly dangerous, some would say foolhardy, adventures. Jones tried to sail as close as possible to the North Pole, and as a result spent a year frozen in the Arctic ice pack.

Poet Mark Halliday reads one of his works.

Musicologist H.C. Robbins Landon. His new book, "Mozart: The Golden Years," traces the most troubling and creative period of the composers life, the years 1781-91. During this period, Mozart completed three controversial operas, married and wooed his wife Constanze Weber, became entangled in financial difficulties, and lived through the death of his father. In this book, the second of two volumes on the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Landon, further explores the link between Mozart's "manic depressive disorder" and his creativity.

Film maker Gus Van Sant. After years as an independent film maker in Portland, Oregon, and one full-length movie ("Mala Noche"), Van Sant has just finished "Drugstore Cowboy," starring Matt Dillon about a junkie trying to maintain his habit.

Former first lady Nancy Reagan. When the Reagans entered the White House, Nancy was a relatively anonymous first lady, best known for her strident "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign. But toward the end of President Reagan's second term, it became more apparent that Nancy Reagan's role in running the government was much larger than imagined, and it turns out many of her and her husband's decisions were influenced by a California astrologer. Nancy Reagan has a new memoir, called "My Turn."

Film critic Peter Rainer reviews the film "Drugstore Cowboy," starring Matt Dillon and Kelly Lynch.

Actor and director Alan Arkin. Arkin began his career with Chicago's Second City improv group.