Ted Mann was the most uninhibited and unpredictable of all the people who ever worked at the Lampoon. And he was a good writer of tough, smart prose. He had serious issues on his mind, but first he and Tod Carroll created "O. C. and Stiggs," and he was one of the writers of Disco Beaver from Outer Space. Ted has since written and produced for Miami Vice, NYPD Blue, Judging Amy, John from Cincinnati, and Deadwood.

Rick Meyerowitz believes he is the most prolific contributor of illustrated articles to the National Lampoon magazine. He painted the poster for Animal House and was the creator of the magazine's trademark visual, "The Mona Gorilla." Shortly after 9/11, Rick and Maira Kalman cre­ated the most talked-about New Yorker cover of this century, "NewYorkistan." Rick is also the author of Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Writers and Artists Who Made the National Lampoon Insanely Great.

Ellis Weiner is droll and cerebral. He says he lived in a state of constant fear that he wouldn't understand what the other Lampoon editors were talk­ing about. Ellis writes for television and has written or cowritten numerous books, among which are Drop Dead, My Lovely; The Joy of Worry (with Roz Chast); Yid­dish with Dick and Jane; and Oy! Do This Not That!: 100 Simple Swaps That Could Save Your Life, Your Money, or Your Mother from a Heart Attack, God Forbid. Ellis is a regular and very funny blogger on the Huffington Post.

Isabel Wilkerson, formerly James M. Cox Professor of Journalism at Emory University, is Professor of Journalism and Director of Narrative Nonfiction at Boston University. In 1994, while Chicago bureau chief of The New York Times, she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in journalism. Wilkerson has also won a George S. Polk Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Journalist of the Year award from the National Association of Black Journalists.

Father Gregory Boyle was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1982. He received his Master of Divinity from the Weston School of Theology; and a Sacred Theology Masters degree from the Jesuit School of Theology. In 1988, Father Boyle began what would become Homeboy Industries, now located in downtown Los Angeles. Fr. Greg received the California Peace Prize, the "Humanitarian of the Year" Award from Bon Appétit; the Caring Institute's 2007 Most Caring People Award; and received the 2008 Civic Medal of Honor from the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. Since 1986, Father Gregory has been the pastor of Dolores Mission in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. The church sits between two large public housing projects, Pico Gardens and Aliso Village, known for decades as the gang capital of the world. Since Father Greg-also known affectionately as G-dog, started Homeboy Industries nearly twenty years ago, it has served members of more than half of the gangs in Los Angeles. In Homeboy Industries' various businesses-baking, silkscreening, landscaping-gang affiliations are left outside as young people work together, side by side, learning the mutual respect that comes from building something together.

Celeste Fremon is an award winning freelance journalist, the author of G-Dog and the Homeboys and the upcoming, An American Family. She is the creator and editor of WitnessLA.com, teaches journalism at the USC Annenberg School and is a Visiting Lecturer at UC Irvine where she teaches literary journalism as it relates to social justice. Fremon is also a Senior Fellow for Social Justice/New Media at the Institute for Justice and Journalism.

Jesse Katz has been writing about Los Angeles for the better part of three decades, first as a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times, then as a senior writer at Los Angeles magazine. In his fifteen years at the L.A. Times, Jesse shared in two Pulitzer Prizes and was a Pulitzer finalist for beat reporting. In nine years at Los Angeles, he received the PEN Center USA's literary journalism award and the James Beard Foundation's M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award. He was also a National Magazine Award nominee. His articles have been reprinted in The Best American Magazine Writing and The Best American Crime Writing. He has contributed to The New York Times Magazine, Details, Rolling Stone, Texas Monthly, and Food & Wine. He teaches in the literary journalism program at UC Irvine, and he has volunteered in the juvenile justice system through a program called InsideOUT Writers.

Elif Batuman was born in New York City, grew up in New Jersey, and went to college at Harvard. She completed a PhD in comparative literature at Stanford University in 2007. She currently lives in San Francisco, and teaches at Stanford in the Interdisciplinary Humanities program. Her writing has appeared in the New Yorker, Harper's, the London Review of Books, the Guardian, the Nation, and n+1. She is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award, and has a cat called Friday.

Twyla Tharp, one of America's greatest choreographers, began her career in 1965, and in the ensuing years has created more than 130 dances for her company as well as for the Joffrey Ballet, the New York City Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, London's Royal Ballet, and American Ballet Theatre. Working to the music of everyone from Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart to Jelly Roll Morton, Frank Sinatra, and Bruce Springsteen, she is a pioneer in melding modern dance and ballet with popular music. In film, she collaborated with Milos Forman on "Hair," "Ragtime," and "Amadeus." For television, she directed "Baryshnikov by Tharp," which won two Emmy awards. For the Broadway stage, she directed the theatrical version of "Singin' in the Rain," and in 2003 won a Tony Award for "Movin' Out," which she conceived, directed, and choreographed to the songs of Billy Joel. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. In 1993, she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and in 1997 was made an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives and works in New York City.

Susan Griffin's latest book, Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy: On Being an American Citizen, is about the inner life of democracy. Among her eighteen published books The Book of the Courtesans: A Catalogue of Their Virtues, explores a hidden side of women's history; Woman and Nature inspired eco-feminism, and A Chorus of Stones: The Private Life of War, was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Award. Named by Utne Reader as one of a hundred important visionaries for the new millennium, she has been the recipient of an NEA grant, a Macarthur Grant for Peace and International Cooperation, an Emmy award and this year, a Guggenheim Foundation award. She has completed a play to be set to music called "Canto" and is at work now on The Book of Housewifery.

Educator and philosopher Cornel West is the Class of 1943 University Professor at Princeton University. Known as one of America's most gifted, provocative, and important public intellectuals, he is the author of the contemporary classic Race Matters, which changed the course of America's dialogue on race and justice, and the New York Times bestseller Democracy Matters. He is the recipient of the American Book Award and holds more than 20 honorary degrees. His most recent book is a memoir, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud.

A three-time Pulitzer Prize nominee, Carl Hiaasen has written over 1300 pieces for The Miami Herald exposing land corruption scams, drug smuggling rings, dangerous doctors, and corrupt politicians. Hiaasen is perhaps best known as the author of twelve novels, including the best-selling Sick Puppy and Skinny Dip and two novels for young readers, Flush and Hoot, which was awarded a Newberry Honor.

Eleanor Coppola, after graduating in Applied Design from UCLA, met her future husband, Francis Ford Coppola, while filming 'Dementia 13' in 1962 for which she was an assistant art director. They married in Las Vegas in 1963; their three children, Sofia, Roman and Gian-Carlo have followed them into the film industry. While her husband was working on 'Apocalypse Now,' Eleanor kept extensive notes, which were published in 1979 as Notes on the Making of Apocalypse Now, as well as filming behind the scenes which ended up as 'Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse,' for which she was awarded an Emmy for "Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming -Directing". Among other things, Eleanor Coppola manages the family winery in California, and designs for a dance company in San Francisco.