Teenagers & Adolescence

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the newest movie version of "Lolita."

Film maker Michael Uys. His latest project is Riding The Rails which he co-wrote, co-produced, and co-directed. The documentary film recounts the experiences of the more than 250 thousand teenagers who left their homes during The Great Depression and hopped on trains in search for a better life.

In this part of the show...Terry Gross talks with two people who as teenagers who left home and road trains during The Great Depression. Jim Mitchell and Peggy DeHart are both featured in Michael Uys' film Riding The Rails. Mitchell was 16 years old in 1933 when he first board a train. DeHart was 15 in 1938.

Film critic John Powers reviews "Manny and Lo," a low-budget film about runway orphan sisters.

Director of the National Center on Hunger, Poverty and Nutrition at Tufts University, Dr. Larry Brown. He directed a recent study titled "Statement on Key Welfare Reform Issues: The Empirical Evidence." It revealed the assumptions behind the Republican "Contract With America" regarding welfare reform to be wrong. He agrees reform is necessary but must be focused on the right target.

Commentator Maureen Corrigan reviews Lorrie Moore's new novel, "Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?"

TV critic David Bianculli reviews ABC's excellent new teen drama by the producers of "thirtysomething." This series premieres tonight.

Writer for the Village Voice and The Nation Pagan Kennedy. Kennedy ("Pagan" is not her real first name) has staked out a niche for herself as a "1970's survivor and devotee." Kennedy has written an investigation of that decade, seen through its artifacts and social upheaval, "Platforms: A Microwaved Cultural Chronicle of the 1970's" (St. Martins). In the 70's she says, "we inherited this idea of recycling culture.

Terry talks with a young man who has been through the program at the Camden County Youth Center, a juvenile detention center in Camden, New Jersey: Derrek Penny.

Terry talks with two young men who've been through the program at the Camden County Youth Center, a juvenile detention center in Camden, New Jersey: Eddie Budah and Derrek Penny. Budah will read some of his poetry that has appeared in the Center's newsletter, "What's Happening."

Irish author Roddy Doyle, winner of the 1993 Booker Prize for his novel "Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha" (Viking). Doyle taught school in Dublin for fourteen years; during that time he wrote and self-published his first novel, "The Commitments" about a band of musicians who bring soul music to Dublin. (It was made into a popular film here).

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.

Author and satirist Robert Kaplow. Kaplow is the leader of the satirical group, "The Punsters," which has appeared on "Morning Edition," "All Things Considered," and more recently here on Fresh Air. Kaplow himself portrays Moe Moscowitz, the hyper-kinetic self-promoter and pitchman. Kaplow also writes novels for young adults. His latest novel is titled Alessandra in Love.

John O'Keefe returns to Fresh Air to perform a selection from his one-man show, Shimmer. This time, he talks about the brutality of living in a youth detention center.

Playwright John O'Keefe has a new one-man show called Shimmer, about his adolescence. He joins Fresh Air to perform a short excerpt.

Ken Tucker reviews the home video release of I Wanna Hold Your Hand, about a group of teenage Beatles fans in New Jersey. The film, directed by Robert Zemeckis, was a commercial fop, but Tucker, who says it's insightful without indulging in cliches, hopes it will find a new audience on tape.

Film critic Stephen Schiff says that Louis Malle's Murmur of the Heart was overshadowed by the string of exceptional movies also released in 1971. The film is shocking in its sexuality and subtlety.

Under the guidance of editor Bob Woodward, Washington Post reporter Leon Dash lived in a housing project in Washington, D.C. to learn more about the rise of teenage parenthood among poor African American teenagers. He says that both adolescent boys and girls see parenthood as an achievement. Dash expanded his reporting into a book called When Children Want Children.

Songwriters Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller formed the 1950s band The Coasters as a vehicle for some of their goofier work. Rock historian Ed Ward says they were some of the first to recognize the importance of rock music to teenagers.

Critic Ken Tucker reviews Alysssa Milano's exercise video Teen Steam, which is geared toward teenage girls; adults caught watching it can't help feeling faintly unclean, he says. He also recommends new releases of Withnail and I and Rambo III.