Society & Culture

Shortly before her death, the film director's mother Catherine Scorsese published a cookbook of recipes called "Italianamerican: The Scorsese Family Cookbook." Catherine acted in, and cooked in (on and off-screen) for several of her son's movies. Martin Scorsese will talk about casting his mother in his films and about the new book.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg reflects on our use of the term "postmodern" to describe everything from art to architecture. But Nunberg wonders when exactly modernism began and ended.

Rock is 26 years-old and grew up in Brooklyn. He got his start in show business performing stand-up comedy routines in Manhattan. He spent three years on "Saturday Night Live" and appeared in a few films, including the recent "Beverly Hills Ninja." He has a new comedy and talk-show series, "The Chris Rock Show," premiering February 7 on HBO.

Massiah is founder and Executive Director of the Scribe Video Center in Philadelphia. He has won numerous awards for the films he has produced for public television. Messiah's latest project is a documentary featuring the late civil rights activist and NAACP co-founder W.E.B. DuBois, called "W.E.B. DuBois: A Biography in Four Voices." It premiers on PBS this month.

A broadcast of the debate between playwright August Wilson and critic Robert Brustein over multiculturalism and the theater. The discussion is moderated by actress, playwright, and performance artist Anna Deavere Smith. Wilson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of the play "Fences," says the modern theater system jeopardizes the values of black actors because it is dominated by white society. Brustein, the American Repertory Theater's artistic director and the theater critic of "The New Republic," claims Wilson's ideas encourage black separatism.

As the Ebonics controversy continues into its second month, linguist Geoff Nunberg comments on standard English.

William Labov teaches at the University of Pennsylvania discusses Ebonics. He's been studying Black English for 30 years and traced the rules governing Black and White English. He also examined the differences between the two and explored the roots of the changes taking place in the languages.

Commentator Gerald Early considers the past and future of Fisk University.

Filmmaker Ken Burns is the director of "The Civil War" and "Baseball," the hit documentaries on PBS. The former was the network's highest rated series. Burns' newest project is the three-hour documentary, "Thomas Jefferson" about our third president, narrated by Ossie Davis.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Independent People" the novel by Icelandic author Halldor Laxness which was first published in 1946 and has been out of print until now.

Journalist, novelist, and playwright Susan Berman. Her childhood is rooted in the infamous, fast-paced, Vegas lifestyle of a mafia family. Her latest book, "Lady Las Vegas" tells the story of her experience as the daughter of Davie Berman, mafia partner to Bugsy Siegel. She is also the author of four other books, including her acclaimed memoir "Easy Street."

Higginbotham served in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He's an expert on race and the legal process and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His new book is "Shades of Freedom: Racial Politics and Presumptions of the American Legal Process"

As a child in the sixties and seventies, Tate was a member of the Nation of Islam, and witnessed the struggles of blacks in a predominantly white America. In her autobiography, "Little X," she tracks the personal history of her family and draws on their everyday experiences as members of the Nation to bring new understanding to its traditions.

She was the mother of director Martin Scorsese, who cast her in several of his movies. Catherine died this past Monday at the age of 84.

Newspaper columnist and the etiquette expert, Judith Martin, otherwise known as Miss Manners. Her new book is "Miss Manners' Basic Training: Communication" (Crown News) about the social issues of phone answering machines, e-mail, and cyberspace.

Fortune Magazine's senior editor Joe Nocera and Ron Chernow. They can both be seen in the new Frontline documentary "Betting on the Market." The documentary is based in part on Nocera's 1994 book, "A Piece of the Action: How the Middle Class Joined the Money Class." It traces America's obsession with Wall Street, and looks at the consequences. Nocera serves as correspondent in the film. Chernow is the author of "The House of Morgan," which received a National Book Award in 1990.

A segment from the NPR show "This American Life". It's about a family broken apart by the son's homosexuality. The program, titled "Sissies" originally aired on T.A.L. 12/13/96. "This American Life" is produced at WBEZ in Chicago.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg looks at the current debate surrounding black vernacular in school, which the Oakland school board has dubbed "Ebonics."

Brooks' latest film is a comedy called "Mother," starring Debbie Reynolds. He joins Fresh Air to talk about humor, writing movies, acting, and his relationship with his own mother.

Joyce Dixson co-founded "Sons and Daughters of the Incarcerated" a group which helps children whose parents are in prison. Dixson served seventeen years in prison after being convicted of shooting her husband. She left two children behind when she went to prison in 1976. She later became the first woman to earn an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan while incarcerated. Dixson's sentence was reduced, and she was released from prison in 1993. She went directly to the University of Michigan and earned a master's degree in social work.