From W.H.Y.Y. in Philadelphia, I'm Terry Gross with Fresh Air Weekend.

Today, Nina Tottenberg, NPR's longtime legal affairs correspondent, her new book,

Dinner's with Ruth, is about her long friendship with Ruth Bader Ginsburg and about Tottenberg's

own life.

And, we talk with Sherrily Ralph.

She just won her first Emmy for her role as a no-nonsense kindergarten teacher in the

ABC sitcom Abid Elementary.

Sydney Pwadiye gave Ralph her first green role in his 1977 film A Piece of the Action.

At the age of 24, Ralph starred in the original Broadway production of Dreamgirls.

But there were many difficult years when she was told there was nothing for her because

she was black.

And Kevin Whitehead reviews a new album by three notable veteran musicians, combining free

jazz and electric funk.

Before Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a famous Supreme Court justice, and before Nina Tottenberg

was an award-winning NPR legal correspondent covering the Supreme Court, they became friends.

They met in the early 70s when Tottenberg interviewed Ginsburg for a story about a Supreme

Court decision pertaining to women's rights.

Ginsburg was still teaching at Rutgers University, and the ACLU had asked her to write the brief.

The two women bonded over law, but Tottenberg says as friends, they tried to avoid subjects

that crossed over into their professional relationship.

They helped each other through crises in their lives, like the illnesses and deaths of

Ginsburg's husband and Tottenberg's first husband.

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