Society & Culture

Poet, journalist, and critic Luis Rodriguez's new book, "Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A." is about his participation in gang life in the 1960s in East L.A., which began at age 12. By the time he was 18, 25 of his friends had been killed. After a stint in the county jail, Rodriguez turned his back on that lifestyle. He became involved in the Chicano movement, and was encouraged to write. "Always Running," is in part an attempt to save his 16-year-old son Ramiro from gang life. Ramiro joins the conversation later in the segment.

Nishikawa's one-man show "I'm on a Mission from Buddha," is about some of the culturally-based absurdities he's endured as a Japanese-American. Nishikawa said he wrote it to answer, "all the nerdy, cliche-ridden, Asian-American images." His characters include a Japanese-American World War Two hero and a Sushi-phobic redneck. "I'm on a Mission from Buddha," can also be seen on PBS.

Civil Rights attorney Chai Feldblum, visiting professor, Georgetown University Law Center. She was also former legislative counsel to the AIDS and Lesbian and Gay Rights projects of the ACLU. She's talks about recent legislation and court decisions that support or curtail gay rights.

Co-founder of the working women's advocacy group, "9 to 5," Karen Nussbaum. She helped found the group 20 years ago. Guest host Marty Moss-Coane will talk with her about the the changing role of women in the workplace in the last twenty years, and concerns like childcare.

Rollin's 1976 best-selling book about surviving breast-cancer, "First, You Cry," is being reissued. She lost one breast to cancer in 1975; in 1984, she had the other breast removed. Rollin also wrote the book, "Last Wish," about helping her mother -- who was dying from ovarian cancer -- to die.

We remember the boundary-breaking African American athlete with an excerpt from a 1989 interview. Ashe died over the weekend from complications related to the AIDS virus.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "The Vanishing," starring Jeff Bridges and Keifer Sutherland, and "Sommersby," starring Richard Gere and Jodie Foster.

TV critic David Bianculli previews the season finale of "I'll Fly Away," on NBC. It deals with civil rights in the 1950s American South and, because of low ratings, will likely face a premature death.

Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Alvin Poussaint. He was a consultant to "The Cosby Show." He co-authored the book, "Raising Black Children," about the parenting of African American kids in a way that affirms their identity and addresses reality of racism.

On the occasion of end of the Superman comic, language commentator Geoffrey Nunberg considers the origin of the word "Superman," and how "super" began to be used in other ways.

Johnston's memoir, "Shooting the Boh," is not only an account of her adventure going down the river dealing with leeches, waterfalls, foot rot, and moldy clothes -- it's about her onset of menopause during the trip. One reviewer writes, "A powerful adventure of the head as well as the body: not to be missed."

Former Black Panther Elaine Brown. Her new book, A Taste of Power, tells the story of her rise to the head of the Black Panther Party in the mid-70s and her later break with the Party.

Terry talks to activists on both sides of the abortion debate:

1) Pro-choice activist Kathryn "Kitty" Kolbert. She is an attorney who argued against Pennsylvania's restrictive abortion law in the Supreme Court last year. This summer, she founded the Center for Reproductive Law And Policy to focus on reproductive rights world wide.

Two interviews in this segment:

1) Jean Hunt gives a grassroots perspective on abortion rights and accessiblity. Hunt is a registered nurse who has been an activist in the women's health movement since the late 60's .From 1988-1992 she was director of the Elizabeth Blackwell Health Center for Women in Philadelphia. She says that even if the federal government ensures the right to an abortion, local politics, health care economics and physician shortages make it difficult for women to get abortions.

Lesbian, feminist comic Kate Clinton. Last night she hosted a gay ball in Washington D.C., celebrating the inauguration. She tackles social taboos and politics without putdowns, name-calling, or abusive behavior. Her subjects include menstruation, men-bashing, and people in wheelchairs. She's been doing comedy since the early 1980s. Before that she was a high school English teacher.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews new CDs by two women artists who go beyond their country-singer label: "Everytime You Say Goodbye," by Allison Krauss, and "Culture Swing," by Tish Hinojosa.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Body of Evidence," the new sex-fueled courtroom drama starring Madonna and William DeFoe.

Novelist, journalist and columnist Pete Hamill. He's written seven novels, including "Flesh and Blood," and "Loving Women." Most recently he was editor-in-chief at the New York Post. He's latest book is a memoir of the years he spent drinking, "A Drinking Life: A Memoir," (Little, Brown & Co.) Hamill quit drinking twenty years ago. One reviewer in Publishers Weekly writes about Hamill's new memoir, "This is not a jeremiad condemning drink, however, but a thoughtful, funny, street-smart reflection on its consequences."

Chinese film director Chen Kaige. His latest film is "Farewell My Concubine," a love story about two male actors and a prostitute which takes place over the course of half a century, taking them through the Cultural Revolution (1966-76). Kiage first won international recognition with his debut film, "Yellow Earth." In his latest film, Kaige includes a scene in which the characters betray each other during the Cultural Revolution. Terry will talk with him about his own experiences during the Cultural Revolution when he betrayed his own father, Chen Huaikai.

Freshman Congressman Bobby Rush (D-Illinois), who in the late 60's and early 70's was a leader of the Black Panther Party. At one time he served as Minister of Defense for the Panthers. From 1983 till his election to Congress last year, he served as an Alderman in Chicago.