Society & Culture

Writer Anne Lamott on being a good mother AND a phone addict.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf," by Kathryn Davis.

Professor and military sociologist Charles Moskos. He formulated President Clinton's new policy on homosexuals in the military which has been dubbed "don't ask don't tell" (enlistees would not be asked about sexual orientation nor would they declare it, once in the service). Moskos has done field research during every major army deployment over the last 30 years, most recently in Somalia to interview African-American soldiers. Moskos is also a proponent of a national service program for college students, which has caught the eye of President Clinton.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Manhattan Murder Mystery," the new Woody Allen movie.

Documentary filmmaker Jim Chambers, who put together the new film "112th and Central: Through the Eyes of the Children", a documentary about the effects of the Los Angeles riots on the young people who lived through them. The film is put together from interviews of friends and family filmed by the children themselves, including 12 year old Cleophas Jackson whom Marty also interviews. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Andre Dubus III He's the son of writer Andre Dubus, and he's recently come out with his first novel, a coming of age story called "Bluesman." Dubus continues to work construction and write on the side. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Ellroy sets his novels in 1950's LA, where he grew up. His series of novels, "LA Quartet," was a bestseller. His latest novel is called "Hollywood Nocturnes." When Ellroy was ten, his mother was murdered near their LA home. He wrote an article about returning to LA to go through the police files on his mother for this month's issue of GQ, where he is a contributing editor. He'll talk today about how his mother's murder led to his crime writing.

Cuban-born saxophonist and composer, Paquito D'Rivera. D'RIivera defected to the United States in 1980 during a concert tour. Like his mentor, Dizzy Gillespie, D'RIVERA is a tireless performer and purveyor of Latin jazz. His "Reunion" album (Messidor), recorded with trumpeter Arturo Sandoval was called a "high speed tour of the Pan-American musical map." For his newest record D'RIVERA gathered 23 of the top Cuban musicians from around the world: "Paquito D'Rivera Presents 40 Years of Cuban Jam Session"

Poet and syndicated columnist Jim Northrup. Northrup's first book is "Walking the Rez Road" (Voyageur Press), stories and poems which concern the lives of native people living on a northern Minnesota reservation. Northrup looks at 19th century treaties with 20th century eyes. His work also has to do with the aftermath of the Vietnam war. Northrup was a Marine who served in the war. (The "rez" in the title means "reservation").

Today's first half is about children who are orphaned after losing their parents to AIDS. Studies estimate that by the year 2000, up to 125,000 U.S. children will be left parentless because of the fatal illness. AIDS workers are now beginning to realize their next step is to help these secondary victims by providing homes, food and counseling. We interview two people on the subject; a single mother with AIDS, and the head of a project designed to address the needs of orphaned kids:

Novelist Joyce Carol Oates. The prolific writer has penned 23 novels, in addition to plays, poems, short stories and criticism. Her new novel is called "Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang,"(Dutton) about a group of high school girls who form a violent gang in upstate New York during the Fifties. Their mission is violence against men. Oates is a professor of humanities at Princeton University. Her previous book is the critically acclaimed "Black Water," nominated for the 1992 National Book Critics Circle Award.

Travel author and novelist Paul Theroux. In a new issue of the Conde Nast Traveler magazine --July 1993-- Theroux recounts the abundant ailments and diseases he's contracted during his thirty years of world travel. Luckily, "Kuru" isn't one of them: a Papua New Guinea affliction of the nervous system where one goes mad, then dies trembling. The only way to catch it is after eating human brains.

U.S. Congressman Barney Frank, Democratic Representative from Massachusetts, and one of two openly-gay members of Congress. He's been lobbying for lifting the ban on gays and lesbians in the military. Terry will talk with him about President Clinton's announcement last week about gays and lesbians in the military. (In a recent Washington Post op-ed piece, Frank defends Clinton, blaming, instead, those allied against lifting the ban.)

Writer Anne Lamott teaches her son about death. She's the author of the book, "Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year." (Pantheon Books).

First-time film-maker Tiana (the Americanization of the name Thi Thanh Nga) has made a personal documentary tracing her 1988 journey back to Vietnam, where she was born: "From Hollywood to Hanoi." Her father was the head of press relations for the South Vietnamese government, and she enjoyed a privileged childhood. But her father moved the family to the United States just before the fall of Saigon. Tiana was raised in California from the age of three and became an actress in low-budget exploitation films.

Founder of the anti-abortion group, "Operation Rescue," Randall Terry. Last week his group tried to stop abortions by blocking access to clinics in seven cities across the United States, including Philadelphia. TERRY also has a new book, "Why does a nice guy like me keep getting thrown in jail?" (Huntington House Pub., Lafayette, LA; Resistance Press, Windsor, N.Y.)

Poet, writer, and teacher Nancy Mairs. She's a Catholic feminist, who started out Protestant, and who late in life became a feminist. She calls herself, "the connoisseur of catastrophe." She's known for writing honestly about her struggles with multiple sclerosis, depression, and the life-threatening illness of her husband, also about being a woman, a mother, and a wife. Her newest book of personal essays is "Ordinary Time," (Beacon). One reviewer calls it "a small miracle of honesty mediated by dignity and humor."

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews the new film, "Orlando," based on the novel by Virginia Wolff.

Professor Deborah Lipstadt examines a chilling new trend in historical revisionism: disavowing the deaths of six million Jews in Nazi concentration camps. Her new book, "Denying the Holocaust" (Free Press) traces the rise of this opposition: its practitioners' change in influence as isolated pamphleteers and cranks forty years ago to their point today, where a new poll found one fifth of the American public think it seems "possible" that the Holocaust never happened.

Writer Anne Lamott continues her chronicle of life with her young son, Sam. Lamott is the author of Operating Instructions: A Journal Of My Son's First Year. (Pantheon).