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On this day 30 years ago, over 2000 protestors occupied the future site of the Seabrook nuclear power plant, and more than 1400 were arrested. They called themselves The Clamshell Alliance, and their efforts to stop the construction of nuclear reactors on the Seacoast helped shape the national "No Nukes" movement. We'll talk with two "Clams" about their protest and what the anti-nuclear movement learned about getting an activist message out into the mainstream.

Our guests are:

• Arnie Alpert, New Hampshire Program Coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee and Clamshell Alliance veteran
• Cathy W. Wolff, Clamshell Alliance veteran and owner of Foreside Communications in Kittery, Maine
• Mark Hertsgaard, independent author and journalist

In the 1977 film, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", space aliens and human beings figure out that they can communicate through a simple musical phrase. The movie was one of the first to portray aliens not as enemy invaders to be wary of, but as friendly beings sharing a universe with us. Tonight on the Front Porch, we'll look at real-life examples of people using music to bridge cultural rifts. We'll talk with Harlow Robinson, a member of the Yale Russian Chorus alumni group. When he was an undergraduate, he organized the YRC's trip to Russia during the height of the Cold War.

The YRC alumni group will perform at Dartmouth this Sunday. Click here for more information.

We'll also speak with Ed Gerskey, chief of music programs for the Voice of America radio service about the way the VOA has tried over the years to share the popular culture of the U.S. with countries around the world.

Some people use religion to try to understand nature, and other people turn to chemistry. On tonight's show we're going to talk with Arthur Greenberg, the author of "From Alchemy to Chemistry in Picture and Story." Greenberg is a professor of chemistry at the University of New Hampshire and has put together a chronicle of some of the beauty, mystery, and humor that defines 500 years of chemistry. We'll talk with him about the evolution of chemistry and how the 18th century's Chemical Revolution became the foundation of many scientists' understanding of the field today.

It's often the job of editorial cartoonists to shock their readers. Whether their preaching to the choir or trying to change minds, the images on the editorial page can sometimes make you wince. So, it may be hard to imagine the cartoons that were so offensive they didn't make the cut. Luckily, though, we don't have to imagine it: editor David Wallis has collected them in a book called "Killed: Casualties from the War on Free Expression". We'll talk with David about his book and about our culture's stomach for dissent in the post-9/11 world.

Alison McGhee's new book, Falling Boy, blurs the imaginary line between mortal men and superheroes. It tells the story of little girl who believes her wheelchair-bound friend is hiding his secret identity as a vigilante crime fighter. We'll talk with the author and a child psychiatrist about the role heroes – real and imagined – can play in young people's development. We'll find out what defines a hero and what sets superheroes apart.

Our guests are:

• Alison McGhee, author of Falling Boy. Her other works include Rainlight and Was It Beautiful?
• Michael Brody, child psychiatrist and professor at the University of Maryland. He's also chair of the Television and Media Committee of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.