PROGRAM GUESTS

JUDY BLUME
At high school Judy Blume made her first appearance as a writer and became a features editor of her high school paper. She went to New York University, intending to become a second grade teacher, but following her third year of college, married John Blume, an attorney. (They are now divorced.) On graduation Judy Blume was expecting her first child and her daughter Randy was born in 1961, followed by her son Larry. She was busy taking care of her family until her son, Larry, went off to nursery school. She then realized that she needed something else in her life: creative work. It was about this time that she began to write. Judy had always loved to read novels but she remembered that during adolescence, she could not find the kinds of books she wanted to read. Books about real people with real feelings. This is why she later set out to write the kinds of children's books that she had wanted to read. Judy decided to return to New York University and took a course, one day a week in creative writing for children. She found that this provided much needed encouragement. It was during this time that things happened fast: She sold several short stories to magazines. Her first children's novel was published in serial form and her first picture book was accepted for publication.
From then on she could not stop. She had so much to share that one book followed another.
It is not surprising then, that Judy Blume continues to be regarded as America's number one children's fiction writer, topping the bestsellers lists. Even now, Judy still receives over 2,000 letters each month from her worldwide admirers.

J. BRUCE LLEWELLYN
J. Bruce Llewellyn was born in Harlem. His parents immigrated to America from Jamaica and they were highly motivated people. When he left the Army, he opened a retail store in Harlem, which he operated while he attended school. He earned a bachelor's degree from the City University of New York, and he received his juris doctor from New York Law School in 1960. He also managed to find the time to earn an MBA degree at Columbia University as well as a degree in public administration from New York University. As a young African-American in the 1960s, Mr. Llewellyn turned to government and politics, feeling those avenues would offer him a better chance for career advancement. He worked in the District Attorney's office and at the same time, was a partner in his own small law firm. In 1965, he became regional director of the Small Business Administration. Then he moved on the city's Housing and Redevelopment Board. But it was at the SBA that Mr. Llewellyn noticed there were opportunities opening up for blacks in the business world. He was determined to take advantage of this. Then, in 1969, his chance came. Mr. Llewellyn bought the Fedco Foods Corporation, a chain of ten food stores in the South Bronx. Other buyers had shied away from the potentially lucrative business because it was located in an economically devastated section of the city. By mortgaging his house and selling all that he owned, Mr. Llewellyn was able to buy Fedco through a leveraged buyout. By 1983, Fedco had become the nation's largest minority owned retail business.

N. SCOTT MOMADAY, Ph.D.
As a boy, N. Scott Momaday often visited his grandparents in Oklahoma. His grandfather, Mammedaty whose name means "sky walker" was a "peyote man" who, according to Momaday, "saw things that other men do not see." Aho, his grandmother, had attended the last Kiowa sun dance in the late 1880s. She often described that final ritual to her grandson. " [She] had a reverence for the sun, a holy regard that now is all but gone out of mankind. There was a wariness in her, and an ancient awe. She was a Christian in her later years, but she came a long way about, and she never forgot her birthright." Despite those constant reminders of his Indian heritage, Momaday, like many American children, dreamed of becoming a cowboy.
After attending schools on Navajo, Apache, and Pueblo reservations in the Southwest, Momaday enrolled at the University of New Mexico. An excellent student, he took prizes in public speaking and creative writing and obtained his degree in political science. Momaday taught school on the Jicarilla Apache reservation for a year before entering Stanford University as a graduate student in literature.
Momaday, who views the interest in Indian folklore as a linguistic antidote to the deterioration of the American language, is committed to preserving in print the oral traditions of countless tribes. "Language is original and powerful in itself," he explained. "By using words, man can describe the world. We have failed in our time to articulate the beauty of the world, for we have failed to perceive that the world is beautiful." To correct that cultural myopia, he suggested a revival of the "landword ethic" of the native American who "perceives the world around him" and "celebrates his possession of it."

TOM SELLECK
Tom Selleck is one of the most popular television and motion picture actors in the world. He attended USC on a basketball scholarship and later began his career at 20th Century-Fox studios where he spent ten years learning his craft in small roles. Then, after seven previous pilots had not sold, he switched to Universal Studios, and played a charming private investigator, Thomas Magnum in "Magnum, P.I." The show took off the moment it aired in 1980, catapulting him into international stardom. He later became the first performer to successfully appear in films while still in a TV series, starring in five films, including the blockbuster "Three Men and a Baby." He has earned an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award and the selection as America's Favorite Male Television Performer.

PROGRAM GUESTS (Cont'd)

SID SHEINBERG
Born in Corpus Christi, Texas, Sid Sheinberg attended elementary and high school as well as junior college there. During this time he developed a fascination for radio, so it is not surprising that he found his way into that broadcast medium as an announcer on three South Texas stations. In 1952, he entered Columbia College. Completing a four-year course in three years, he returned to the University of Texas in 1955 and enrolled in law school there. Although Sheinberg was second in his class at Texas Law School, in 1956 he decided to return to Columbia Law School and finish his legal education. During his last two years Sheinberg found himself listed as one of the top five graduates of his class and the winner of both the Harlan Fiske Stone and the James Kent Scholarship Awards for excellence in law. In the summer of 1958, he arrived in California where he accepted a position at the UCLA Law School. While awaiting the results of the California Bar Examination, Sheinberg joined the legal department of Revue Productions. Sheinberg serves on the National Board of the National Conference of Christians and Jews and is a member of the Board of Trustees of Pitzer College. In 1981, Sheinberg received Columbia College's John Jay Award for Distinguished Professional Achievement. In 1982, he received the American Jewish Committee's Human Relations Award. He was the 1983 recipient of the National Conference of Christians and Jews Humanitarian Award, and received the Motion Picture Pioneers 1984 Pioneer of the Year Award. He also received the AIDS Project Los Angeles Commitment to Life Award in 1991.

HERSCHEL WALKER
Herschel Walker was born in Augusta, Georgia and grew up outside of Wrightsville, Georgia. For the first eleven years of his life, Herschel Walker showed little interest in sports; he preferred reading books and writing poetry. At age 12, however, he began a crash exercise program. Over the next year, he did 100,000 push-ups, 100,000 sit-ups and sprinted almost half a million miles. In high school, Walker played football and basketball and competed in track and field. He scored a record-breaking 85 touchdowns as a running back and led his teams to state championships in both football and track, while maintaining an A average. Herschel Walker participated in the 1980 Academy of Achievement program as the valedictorian of his class and the most sought-after high school football player in the nation. At the University of Georgia, Walker set an NCAA freshman rushing record and helped capture the national collegiate football title. Her earned consensus All-American honors three consecutive years, set 10 NCAA records, 15 Southeast Conference records, 30 Georgia all-time records, and capped a sensational college career by earning the 1982 Heisman Trophy in his junior year. In 1983, Walker gave up his final year of collegiate eligibility and turned professional, joining the New Jersey Generals of the short-lived United States Football League. Walker dominated the league, earning Most Valuable Player honors and setting the single-season pro football rushing record (2411 yards). After his first pro season, he finished his Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice at the University of Georgia. Walker joined the Dallas Cowboys in 1986, where he led the entire NFL in rushing and earned All-Pro honors. Walker moved to the Minnesota Vikings as starting running back in 1989. In 1992, he joined the Philadelphia Eagles football team, but returned to the Dallas Cowboys in 1996. Herschel Walker has worked with numerous charitable and educational organizations. In 1981, he became the first Academy of Achievement honor student to return to the annual program as a recipient of the Golden Plate Award.