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Harvey Reid is an acoustic musician and songwriter. He moved to Portsmouth 25 years ago; he now lives just across the river in Maine. Since his escape to New England, he's pursued his musical interests on his own terms, outside the world of the big pop-music record labels. He talks about the rewards of his highly independent musical career, and how the internet is changing the music business. His latest CD is called "Guitar Voyages."

Seven years ago, Phil Simmons was a successful young professor with a new family. He was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease and given only a couple years to live. He's out lived his doctor's prognosis and has since written a book titled Learning to Fall that chronicles his struggles both physical and spiritual.

Tomie dePaola is a children?s author and illustrator. He?s written more than 200 books so far, and is the creator of characters like Strega Nona. More recently, he?s been writing a semi-autobiographical series of ?chapter books,? appropriate for older readers. He?s also working on a series about an anthropomorphic family of dogs. He talks with John about how he got into children?s literature, his own reading interests, and his run-ins with those who have tried to ban his books. He also shares poignant and funny stories about his own family and childhood.

Samuel Kaymen founded Stonyfield Yogurt in 1983. The company is now run by Gary Hirshberg, but Kaymen has stayed involved as a board member. He started out as an engineer in the aerospace industry. But sometime around 1963, he began to feel something was missing from his life; with a young family, he became interested in organic farming and the environment. He and his wife found a house and farm in New Hampshire, and Stonyfield Yogurt was borne out of an attempt to teach others about organic farming. He talks about the difficulties he and his company faced in the early days, and compares the history of his company to that of Ben and Jerry?s ice cream.

Fred Wiseman is Professor At Johnson State College in Vermont, and Director of the Abenaki Tribal Museum and Cultural Center. He’s written a book titled, “The Voice of the Dawn,” published by University Press of New England. Prior to the European settlement of North America, the Abenaki lived in New Hampshire, Vermont, and western Maine. During the colonial period, they fared less well than other native peoples. Unlike the Iroquois, they weren’t allies of the English colonists, they haven’t received as much anthropological and historical attention as other tribes. Wiseman talks about the challenges the Abenaki have faced in preserving their culture in the years since colonization, and how surviving Abenaki have lost some of their tribal identity. He even speculates that the Abenaki, who became seafarers when they settled along the ocean, may have traveled as far as Europe, centuries before the voyages of the Vikings and Christopher Columbus.