Parenting & Families

American folk singer Rosalie Sorrels may not be wildly famous but since the 1960s she's developed a near cult like following. Her admirers describe Sorrels as someone who has lived the life she now sings about. In fact, she was immortalized in a song by Nanci Griffith describing Sorrels as "Salt of the earth.....with a voice like wine." .Her newest CD is "Borderline Heart" by Green Linnet Records Inc. The book "Way Out in Idaho" is a collection of her poems, songs and recipes.

Journalist George Lardner, Jr. is an investigative reporter for The Washington Post. In 1993 he had to investigate the murder of his own daughter, who was stalked and killed by an ex-boyfriend. Lardner won a Pulitzer Prize for his story which showed how the system had failed to protect his daughter, Kristin. His new book is The Stalking of Kristin: A Father Investigates the Murder of his Daughter. (Atlantic Monthly Press). (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Robert Carter is a clinical social worker with Project RAP (Reduce Abuse Program) part of the Family Service of Philadelphia. He counsels men who are abusive with their partners and family. Carter is also a group facilitator working with adolescent fathers, and he meets with pre-teen and teen groups in a prevention to violence program. (Family Service of Philadelphia, 215-875-3300).

Composer and jazz musician Ornette Coleman and his son, producer Denardo Coleman. They've just collaborated on a new album, "Ornette Coleman & Prime Time: Tone Dialing." It's on a new label that Coleman has founded: Harmolodic (a division of Verve Records). In 1959 Coleman he started the era of "free jazz." Since then Coleman has been one of jazz's most innovative and controversial composers. In 1994 Coleman was a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship Award

Novelist Kaye Gibbons. She's the author of several acclaimed novels: Ellen Foster and Charms for the Easy Life. One reviewer says "Gibbon's brilliance lies in examining with unsentimental tenderness a family poised on the brink of disaster." Gibbons has a new novel, Sights Unseen (Putnam) about a girl's life with her manic-depressive mother. Gibbons herself has the illness, and she'll talk with Terry about that.

Dancer and choreographer Bill T. Jones. He founded the acclaimed Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company with his partner and lover, Arnie Zane. Their partnership lasted 17 years until Zane's death in 1988 from AIDS-related complications. Jones has been a recipient of the MacArthur "Genius" Award. His recent work, "Still/Here" is what he terms a "poem" about death. It's based on a series of "survival workshops" he conducted with people across the country who are dealing with illness and death.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews the new romantic comedy "The Brothers McMullen."

From the trio Yo La Tengo, singer/guitarist Ira Kaplan, and drummer Georgia Hubley. They are married. The band is a cult favorite and hails from Hoboken, New Jersey. They have seven albums to their credit including the latest, "Electr-o-pura" (on the Matador label). One reviewer says the band blends "fragile, delicate beauty with raw, bash-it-out crudeness better than anyone."

Lonny Shavelson writes about five people who were considering assisted suicide. His book A Chosen Death: The Dying Confront Assisted Suicide explores the agonizing dilemma that family and friends must face in deciding whether to assist. Shavelson argues in favor of legalized Physician-assisted suicide. Shavelson is a writer, photojournalist and emergency-room physician living in Berkeley, California. A Chosen Death is published by Simon and Shuster 1995.

An excerpt from a 1985 interview with baseball legend Mickey Mantle. He died yesterday of liver cancer.

Clinical Psychologist Judith S. Wallerstein. She is widely considered the world's foremost authority on the effects of divorce. Wallerstein is the co-author of Second Chances: Men, Women, and Children a Decade after Divorce. Her new book The Good Marriage: How and Why Love Lasts (Houghton Mifflin), which she co-wrote with Sandra Blakeslee, takes a look at marriages that work. Wallerstein is the founder and executive director of the Center for the Family in Transition. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Writer Pat Conroy. He has written several novels including The Great Santini and The Prince of Tides. Both books were made into movies. "The Great Santini" about a powerful and abusive father starred Robert Duvall. "The Prince of Tides" starred Barbara Streisand and Nick Nolte. CONROY'S new novel is called Beach Music.

Karr has two volumes of poetry The Devil's Tour, and Abacus. She won Pushcart Prizes for both poetry and essays, and her work appears in such magazines as Granta, Ploughshares, and Vogue. She has a new memoir called The Liars' Club, about growing up with her eccentric and secretive mother.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Independence Day by Richard Ford, the sequel to his acclaimed novel, The Sports Writer, about a troubled divorcé.

Filmmaker Deborah Hoffmann kept a video diary of her mother's battle with Alzheimer's diseases. That footage became the basis for her documentary "Complaint of a Dutiful Daughter." It airs on the POV show on PBS.

Movie Critic, Stephen Schiff reviews "Bridges of Madison County," starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews The Distinguished Guest by Sue Miller. It's about the resentments of an adult child toward his parents.

Allende has published her first work of non-fiction, Paula. It's about her 28 year old daughter, who fell into an irreversible coma. Paula began as a letter to her dying daughter and turned into an autobiographical work about Allende's childhood in Chile, her exile in Venezuela and her move to San Francisco.

Kenyon died Saturday of leukemia. She and her husband, poet Donald Hall, had both been struggling with cancer for years. Many of their works were inspired by their battles with the disease. Their last book of poems, entitled Constance, is about Hall's surgery and recovery. We replay our 1993 interview with the couple.

Writer Scott Peck and his father Colonel Fred Peck. The younger Peck has written his first book, All American Boy, a memoir of his life growing up in an abusive home with his step-father and the rebuilding of his relationship with his father after a fourteen year estrangement. Peck was thrust on the national scene in May 1993 when his Marine Colonel father spoke against gays in the military to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Col. Peck went on to say his oldest son, Scott, was gay, and though he loved him, he should not be able to serve in the military.