Places & Travel

On November 11, 1994, Eddie Polec was clubbed to death in a Philadelphia suburb by a group of rival high school kids. He was clubbed with a baseball bat on the steps of the St Cecilia's Church where he had been an altar boy. Investigators say he was beaten until limp and then held aloft "to give the bat-wielding youths a better shot." He had been waiting for his young brother, to walk home together when the group of kids arrived, looking for a fight. Eddie hadn't been part of the rivalry. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

On November 11, 1994, Eddie Polec was clubbed to death in a Philadelphia suburb by a group of rival high school kids. He was clubbed with a baseball bat on the steps of the St Cecilia's Church where he had been an altar boy. Investigators say he was beaten until limp and then held aloft "to give the bat-wielding youths a better shot." He had been waiting for his young brother, to walk home together when the group of kids arrived, looking for a fight. Eddie hadn't been part of the rivalry. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Disappearance: A Map," by Sheila Nickerson, a meditation on loss. (Doubleday).

Anthropologist Elizabeth McAlister is an expert on Haitian Vodou and she's studied Haitian Vodou in Brooklyn and in Haiti. She's compiled a new album of sacred and ceremonial music recorded in Haiti and in New York, "Rhythms of Rapture" and contributed to a new book "Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou." (Smithsonian Folkways).

Balkans correspondent for the Financial Times, Laura Silber. She's the co-author of the new book, The Death of Yugoslavia (TV Books/Penguin, with Allan Little). In the book they look at the decisions that led to war. They write that Yugoslavia did not die a "natural death" that it was "deliberately and systematically killed off by men who had nothing to gain and everything to lose from a peaceful transition from state socialism and one-party rule to free-market democracy." There is also a accompanying TV documentary series to the book.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Broken Arrow."

Former British diplomat Lord David Owen has written a new memoir about his efforts to broker a peace plan in the Former Yugoslavia. It is called Balkan Odyssey published by Harcourt Brace. Owen along with Cyrus Vance drafted the Vance-Owen peace plan that was considered but never adopted by the warring sides.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Anita Brookner's novel "Incidents in the Rue Laugier."

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "From Dusk Till Dawn" the new film starring George Clooney, Harvey Keitel, and Quentin Tarantino.

Commentator Dagoberto Gilb tells us about his trip to NYC.

Sidney Jones, is regional director of Human Rights Watch in Asia. Recently Human Rights Watch published a report on abandoned children in China, and their treatment in China's state-funded orphanages, "Death by Default: A Policy of Fatal Neglect in China's State Orphanages." The report finds the death rate in the orphanages "staggering," and in some cases constitutes a sinister "systematic program of child elimination." (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane) f

Kay Ann Johnson does research on adoption and abandonment in China, for the Committee for Scholarly Communications with China 1995-1996. She says that the Human Rights Watch report misrepresents the scope of the problem in Chinese state-run orphanages and that she has seen no systematic official policy of letting children die. Johnson is a Professor of Asian Studies and Political Science at Hampshire College. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

British filmmaker Kate Blewett. Using a concealed camera, Blewett and crew visited eleven state-funded orphanages in China and filmed in nine of them. They documented such things as toddlers whose hands and legs were tied to potty chairs all day, and the rooms where children are left to die. They also say that many of the children were girls, victims of China's One Child Policy, and the Chinese tradition that favors sons over daughters. "The Dying Rooms: China's Darkest Secret" debuts on CINEMAX (Jan 24 at 8 PM). (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Janice Neilson, Executive Director of World Association for Children and parents (WACAP), a non-profit organization for parents who are interested in adopting children at risk worldwide. She has worked with Chinese children's institutions since 1991. Neilson says her observations are "at variance" with the conclusions of the Human Rights Watch report. Neilson urges that China not be judged by our standards but by the "standards of the developing world." She says that Chinese authorities are trying to improve the situation. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Novelist/screenwriter Hanif Kureishi. Kureishi has been termed by the British press a "literary terrorist" for his works which encompass racist and sexual themes. He wrote the screenplays for "My Beautiful Laundrette," and "Sammy and Rosie Get Laid." Both were directed by Stephen Frears. His new novel is "The Black Album," (Scribner). Kureishi was born and brought up in south London; his father is Pakistani, his mother English.

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Salman Rushdie's new book, "The Moor's Last Sigh." (Pantheon).

Music commentator Milo Miles tells us about Mud Boy and the Neutrons. Their new CD is "They Walk Among Us" (Koch)

Film director Ang Lee. He grew up in Taiwan, but studied theater and film production in the United States. His second feature film, "The Wedding Banquet," was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, as was his next film, "Eat Drink Man Woman." Lee's films often portray family relationships with poignancy, respect, and a light comic touch. His latest film is "Sense and Sensibility," the film based on the novel by Jane Austen.

Correspondent for The New York Times, Chris Hedges. He's been reporting from Bosnia and Croatia. He talks about the expected signing of the Bosnian Peace Agreement, and the arrival of NATO troops. First, Terry speaks with former President Carter about the negotiations.

Director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University, Manning Marable. His new book is Beyond Black & White, (Verso). In the book he argues that race is "essentially a social construction, not a permanent fact of biology or genetics." He calls for a politics that goes beyond "racial-identity" where the goal is "a black face in a high place."