America’s Test Kitchen hosts Bridget Lancaster and Julia Collin Davison will make their LA debut appearance (along with their latest cookbook) at PBS SoCal’s upcoming Weds., Sept. 24 event “Go Inside America’s Test Kitchen with Julia and Bridget.”

After 25 years on set, Julia and Bridget will share time-tested techniques, favorite recipes and tools, as well as kitchen essentials—LIVE on stage with select audience members getting to participate in technique demonstrations and win exciting prizes.

Taking place at the Skirball Cultural Center’s Herscher Hall (2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., LA, CA 90049), the exclusive event will allow local fans the opportunity to get up close and personal with two of the culinary world’s best. Attendees can choose between two ticketing options as listed below which only require a donation to PBS to attend. More information on the event and ticketing options can be found at www.pbssocal.org/atk.

AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN Comes to Los Angeles on September 24

Join Hosts Julia Collin Davison and Bridget Lancaster for a LIVE,

Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Test Kitchen in Action!

Pictured L to R: Beloved AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN

Hosts and Chefs Julia Collin Davison and Bridget Lancaster.

(Image courtesy of America’s Test Kitchen)


pbssocal.org/atk



Select programming will also be available to stream on PBS.org
and the free PBS App.

Members of PBS SoCal get extended access with PBS Passport.


Los Angeles, Calif. – August 14, 2025 – PBS SoCal, Southern California’s flagship PBS organization, announced today an exciting event partnership with America's favorite cooking show – America’s Test Kitchen. Taking place Weds., Sept. 24 at the Skirball Cultural Center’s Herscher Hall (2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., LA, CA 90049) the exclusive event will allow local fans the opportunity to join beloved chefs and America’s Test Kitchen hosts Bridget Lancaster and Julia Collin Davison for a 90-minute deep dive into the heart of the show. After 25 years on set, Julia and Bridget will make their PBS SoCal LA debut appearance at the event entitled “Go Inside America’s Test Kitchen with Julia and Bridget,” sharing their best stories, time-tested techniques, favorite tools, and kitchen essentials—LIVE on stage. Guests can choose between two ticketing options as listed below which only require a donation to attend. More information on the event can be found at www.pbssocal.org/atk.


The AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN event “Go Inside America’s Test Kitchen with Julia and Bridget” gives long-time fans and newbies a behind-the-scenes look at how recipes are developed, products and ingredients tested and the science that makes cooking both delicious and foolproof. Chefs Bridget and Julia will share what they’ve learned after 25 years on set including techniques and tips, favorite recipes and what they can’t live without in their own kitchens. From recipe development to product and ingredient testing, to the science behind cooking, for the event that features ideas and inspiration with two of the culinary world’s best. Select audience members will get to participate on stage for technique demonstrations and trivia featuring exciting prizes.



Ticketing Options:

$90 – General Admission -- Program begins at 7:00 PM

General Admission seating in the theatre

Your choice of cookbook (one per order):

The Complete America’s Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook 2021–2026

Baking for Two

Access to the cash bar in the lobby

Access to PBS SoCal’s most popular member benefit: PBS Passport



$150 – Exclusive Experience (Limited to 50 guests!) -- Exclusive ‘Meet & Greet’ begins at 6:00 PM

VIP seating closer to the stage

Meet & Greet Reception with Julia & Bridget (6:00–7:00 PM)

Complimentary beer & wine + light hors d'oeuvres

Personalized signed copy of Baking for Two

Access to PBS SoCal’s most popular member benefit: PBS Passport



For 25 years, AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN has been a trusted staple in home kitchens across the country, combining scientific precision with a love of great food. Since its debut in 2001, the show has brought viewers behind the scenes of the test kitchen, where recipes are tested, perfected, and made accessible to cooks of all skill levels. Airing on public broadcasting stations nationwide, AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN has built a legacy rooted in curiosity, culinary expertise and an unwavering commitment to teaching. Over the years, it has evolved from a TV program into a beloved brand that includes cookbooks, magazines, podcasts, and digital content — all designed to help people cook with confidence. As the show celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2025, it continues to honor the values that made it a public broadcasting favorite: education, reliability, and a deep respect for the home cook.



Viewers can tune in to the latest season of AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN on PBS SoCal's broadcast channel, PBS SoCal Plus Thursdays at 11 a.m. PT and again on Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. PT. The new season of AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN will premiere on Thurs., Sept. 25 at 11 a.m. PT.



About Julia and Bridget
Julia Collin Davison is an executive editorial director for America’s Test Kitchen. She is also co-host of America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Country and is an original cast member of both shows, which are two of the highest-rated instructional cooking shows on television. Julia also is host of Julia at Home, which premiered on Pluto TV in November 2021. Julia began working as a test cook for Cook’s Illustrated in 1999 and led recipe development for America’s Test Kitchen cookbooks for more than a decade. Julia has been a guest on Good Morning America, Live with Kelly & Ryan, The Today Show, Hallmark Channel’s Home & Family, and The Tamron Hall Show. She graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1996. She received an Augie Award from the Culinary Institute of America and was inducted into the prestigious Disciples d’Escoffier culinary society in 2018.


Bridget Lancaster is an executive editorial director for America’s Test Kitchen.
She’s known to millions of fans as a co-host of America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Country, which both air on public television. Bridget began working as a test cook for Cook’s Illustrated in 1998; she was also part of the launch team for Cook’s Country magazine and led the magazine’s recipe development. Bridget is the lead instructor for America’s Test Kitchen Online Cooking School and has created hundreds of instructional videos. In her earlier career she cooked in restaurant kitchens in the South and the Northeast, concentrating on pastry. She was inducted into the prestigious Disciples d’Escoffier culinary society in 2018.

The regional event “Go Inside America’s Test Kitchen with Julia and Bridget” is supported in part by the Skirball Cultural Center.



“Go Inside America’s Test Kitchen with Julia and Bridget” is a ticketed event. Tickets are non-refundable. PBS SoCal is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and a portion of donations may be tax-deductible.



For more information, follow us on social at @pbssocal



About PBS SoCal

PBS SoCal uses the power of public media for good, strengthening the civic fabric of Southern California and providing our community with an essential connection to a wider world. As a local, donor/member-supported non-profit organization, PBS SoCal is available to stream on the PBS app and the PBS Kids App and reaches nearly 19M viewers across 7 Broadcast channels — including 2 primary channels, PBS SoCal and PBS SoCal Plus and 5 digital subchannels. With a commitment to make content available anytime and anywhere for free, PBS SoCal offers programming that reflects the diversity of Southern California and showcases the full schedule of beloved and trusted PBS content spanning Education, News, Environment and Arts & Culture. PBS SoCal also sparks the sharing of ideas at in-person cultural events and community conversations as well as prepares children for kindergarten and beyond by bringing bilingual, hands-on learning experiences to the community for free.



About America’s Test Kitchen

The mission of America’s Test Kitchen (ATK) is to empower and inspire confidence, community, and creativity in the kitchen. Founded in 1992, the company is the leading multimedia cooking resource serving millions of fans with TV shows (America’s Test Kitchen, Cook’s Country, and America’s Test

Kitchen: The Next Generation), magazines (Cook’s Illustrated and Cook’s Country), award-winning cookbooks, a podcast (Proof), FAST channels, short-form video series, and the ATK Essential Membership subscription for digital content. Located in a state-of-the-art, 15,000-square-foot test kitchen in Boston’s Seaport District, ATK has earned the trust of home cooks and culinary experts alike thanks to its one-of-a-kind processes and best-in-class techniques. Fifty full-time (admittedly very meticulous) test cooks, editors, and product testers spend their days tweaking every variable to find the very best recipes, equipment, ingredients, and techniques. Learn more at AmericasTestKitchen.com/.

Joining Janeane 9/17 at 9:30am - Dr Ayoub Bouguettaya, a social scientist at Cedars-Sinai, working out of the Program of Internet, Health and Society.

Dr Ayoub Bouguettaya is a project scientist at Cedars-Sinai, working out of the Program of Internet, Health and Society.
He is a social/health psychologist, and a former assistant professor from the University of Birmingham UK.

He has also worked in two Australian government departments, including the Department of health and the census. His research focuses on the intersection of tech and psychology. His research in top journals like Nature Human Behavior and Science Advances has recently gained him the Early Career Scholar award from the top body for psychologists, the American Psychological Association.



*Note: all views are the sole responsibility of Ayoub Bouguettaya and do not reflect Cedars-Sinai's views, official or unofficial.

LISTEN to today's show 

Dr Ayoub Bouguettaya's Lectures on Tap - Sunday Sept 14th at 6pm!

Lectures on Tap - "Brain Rot & Connection: Surviving the Social Internet"

The following is from the Lectures on Tap website:

Do you ever feel "brain rot" from endless scrolling? The internet promised a connected world but often leaves us feeling more alone. In this interactive lecture, social psychologist Dr. Ayoub Bouguettaya will explore how the digital world became both a curse and a cure for our social lives.

Join us as we reveal the hidden costs of being constantly plugged in, unpacking research on the internet's effects on friendship, romance, and community. We’ll discuss why our digital lives can harm mental health, despite the abundance of online connections.

But there is a path forward. Dr. Bouguettaya will provide evidence-based strategies to reclaim your social life in the digital age and build genuine real-world connections.

Don’t miss this chance to learn from Dr. Ayoub Bouguettaya, a leading researcher on social health and the internet’s impact on our lives!

Joining Janeane Wednesday 9/17 at 9:00am - Dr. Marcelle Hayashida, associate vice chancellor for wellness, health and counseling services at UC Irvine and Dr. Frances S. Diaz, Psy.D. UC Irvine Counseling Center

Dr. Marcelle Hayashida and Dr. Frances S. Diaz, Psy.D will talk about a recent announcement - The University of California, Irvine has received the 2025 Excellence in Mental Health and Well-Being Award from Insight Into Academia, the largest and oldest diversity and inclusion publication in higher education. The national award commends institutions for programs and initiatives that significantly advance the core values of inclusion and belonging.

LISTEN to today's show

Campus is among 71 nationwide to be honored by Insight Into Academia magazine

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NOTE TO EDITORS: PHOTO AVAILABLE AT
https://news.uci.edu/2025/08/05/uc-irvine-receives-2025-excellence-in-mental-health-and-well-being-award/

Contact: Sheri Ledbetter
949-230-8962
ledbetts@uci.edu

UC Irvine receives 2025 Excellence in Mental Health and Well-Being Award

Campus is among 71 nationwide to be honored by Insight Into Academia magazine

Irvine, Calif., Aug. 5, 2025 — The University of California, Irvine has received the 2025 Excellence in Mental Health and Well-Being Award from Insight Into Academia, the largest and oldest diversity and inclusion publication in higher education. The national award commends institutions for programs and initiatives that significantly advance the core values of inclusion and belonging.

UC Irvine will be featured, along with 70 other honorees, in the September 2025 issue of the magazine.

“Receiving this recognition is very affirming,” said Marcelle Hayashida, associate vice chancellor for wellness, health and counseling services at UC Irvine. “This presents us with a moment to celebrate the hard work of all our campus partners, communicate our commitment to others, and renew our mission to promote well-being throughout the entire campus.”

Insight Into Academia honored UC Irvine for its extensive support structures for faculty, staff and students, as well as for its Comprehensive Wellbeing Initiative. The campus was also selected for its peer programs for students, basic needs fulfillment and counseling services, in addition to training faculty and staff to discern and respond to mental health challenges.

“We know that institutions are not always recognized for their dedication to their mental health and well-being services and support for their students and employees,” said Lenore Pearlstein, owner and publisher of Insight Into Academia. “We are proud to honor these colleges and universities as role models for other institutions of higher education.”

UC Irvine was one of the few campuses in the U.S. to adopt the Okanagan Charter and become an official Health Promoting University in 2021. Shortly afterward, the school launched the Comprehensive Wellbeing Initiative. It focuses on four areas: diversity, equity and inclusion; the natural and built environment; sustainability; and the culture of well-being – crucial to implementing wellness as an institutional value.

“With a culture of well-being as one of its key pillars, the Comprehensive Wellbeing Initiative emphasizes the link between a healthy campus and a flourishing student body and workforce,” Hayashida said.

For more information about the 2025 Excellence in Mental Health and Well-Being Award, visit https://insightintoacademia.com.

About Insight Into Academia: Insight Into Academia magazine is the largest and oldest diversity and inclusion publication in higher education today. It’s the leader in recognizing inclusive excellence in higher education through its many prestigious awards and in advancing best practices in inclusive excellence and belonging through its website and print magazine.

About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UC Irvine is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities and is ranked among the nation’s top 10 public universities by U.S. News & World Report. The campus has produced five Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UC Irvine has more than 36,000 students and offers 224 degree programs. It’s located in one of the world’s safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County’s second-largest employer, contributing $7 billion annually to the local economy and $8 billion statewide. For more on UC Irvine, visit www.uci.edu.

Media access: Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus studio with a Comrex IP audio codec to interview UC Irvine faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UC Irvine news, visit news.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at https://news.uci.edu/media-resources.

September 10, 2025 UC Irvine poll: Californians support stricter tech regulations for children Statewide survey reveals backing for school smartphone restrictions, social media bans

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NOTE TO EDITORS: PHOTO AVAILABLE
https://news.uci.edu/2025/09/10/uc-irvine-poll-californians-support-stricter-tech-regulations-for-children/

Contact: Mimi Ko Cruz
714-932-8589
mkcruz@uci.edu

UC Irvine poll: Californians support stricter tech regulations for children

Statewide survey reveals backing for school smartphone restrictions, social media bans 2,143 California adults were surveyed
82 percent support the Phone-Free Schools Act, which requires public schools to restrict student smartphone use during school hours.
73 percent support a social media ban for children under 16


Irvine, Calif., Sept. 10, 2025 — A new poll of 2,143 California adults conducted by University of California, Irvine researchers reveals overwhelming bipartisan support for stricter regulations on children's use of digital technology, including school smartphone restrictions and social media age limits.

“There are very few issues with this level of bipartisan support in today’s polarized policy environment, but the message from parents and other adults in our poll was clear and crossed party lines. Adults are worried about the impacts of smartphones and social media on children’s learning and mental health,” said the survey’s authors, Kelli Dickerson, research scientist and lead investigator of the study; Gillian Hayes, the Kleist Professor of informatics; and Candice Odgers, Chancellor’s Professor of psychology.

The study found that 82 percent of Californians support the Phone-Free Schools Act, which requires public schools to adopt policies to restrict student smartphone use during school hours by July 2026. Support crossed party lines, with 84 percent of Republicans, 81 percent of Democrats, and 80 percent of Independents backing the measure.

Other findings include: 73 percent of Californians surveyed support banning social media for children under 16, with supporters citing youth safety, well-being and the need to encourage more offline activities.
While support for a social media ban was high, many Californians may not fully realize which platforms a ban may affect. For example, nearly half of Californians did not consider YouTube a form of social media, despite it being the most widely used platform among youth.
61 percent favor allowing generative AI in schools with clear guardrails. However, fewer than half of Californians expressed moderate to complete trust in local, state or federal government, or in technology companies, to make decisions about children and artificial intelligence.

“This research reveals a clear mandate from California families for stronger digital safeguards for children,” Dickerson said. “However, the findings also highlight critical challenges ahead – from confusion about what platforms would actually be regulated to a troubling lack of trust in any institution to effectively oversee these technologies. Policymakers need to address these gaps if they want regulations that are both effective and enforceable.”

The poll revealed some variation in support based on demographics. Parents of minors showed slightly less support for school smartphone restrictions (74 percent) compared to non-parents (87 percent), and support increased with education and income levels. However, backing for social media age restrictions remained consistent across all demographic groups.

The majority (88 percent) of those who supported school smartphone restrictions cited reducing classroom distractions as the main reason driving their support. For social media age restrictions, over 70 percent of supporters cited concerns about excessive technology use and encouraged offline activities, improving mental health and reducing exposure to harmful content.

Those who opposed school smartphone restrictions primarily cited the need to maintain parent-child communication, with 81 percent of opponents wanting to ensure children can reach parents during emergencies. Most opponents (71 percent) of social media age restrictions believed that parents should decide whether their child uses social media.

The research comes as California continues to lead national conversations about technology regulation. The Phone-Free Schools Act is set to take effect in 2026, and legislative discussions continue about social media age verification and AI oversight in educational settings.

While the study found broad support across the political spectrum for regulation, Hayes said it also uncovered a significant trust deficit in who should be charged with regulatory oversight.

“Young people spend much of their time in digital spaces not designed for them, and there’s growing recognition of the need for stronger safeguards,” Hayes said. “However, effective regulation will require not only clearer communication and transparency but also trusted institutions to lead these efforts in partnership with caregivers, educators and young people.”

The study was produced by CERES (Connecting the EdTech Research EcoSystem) and UC Irvine’s School of Social Ecology.

About CERES: The CERES network is advancing dynamic, collaborative, and innovative research with real-world impact. CERES leverages strategic partnerships and cutting-edge methodologies to drive meaningful solutions that improve outcomes for children. CERES uses technology-driven solutions to ensure all children, regardless of socioeconomic background, have the resources and support they need to thrive. Learn more at ceres.uci.edu.



About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UC Irvine is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities and is ranked among the nation’s top 10 public universities by U.S. News & World Report. The campus has produced five Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UC Irvine has more than 36,000 students and offers 224 degree programs. It’s located in one of the world’s safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County’s second-largest employer, contributing $7 billion annually to the local economy and $8 billion statewide. For more on UC Irvine, visit www.uci.edu.



Media access: Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus studio with a Comrex IP audio codec to interview UC Irvine faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UC Irvine news, visit news.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at https://news.uci.edu/media-resources.

Coming up 9/10 at 9:00am on KUCI - Michelle Brouwer Director of Programming, Irvine Barclay Theatre talks about her role in the upcoming 35th season. Irvine Barclay Theatre Celebrates 35th Season with Grammy Winners, Notable Dance Companies, Speakers & Renowned Artists

LISTEN to today's show featuring Michelle Brouwer

Michelle Brouwer Director of Programming, Irvine Barclay Theatre joins host Janeane Bernstein to talk about the exciting new season of performances at the Barclay

About Michelle Brouwer 
As the Director of Programming at Irvine Barclay Theatre, Michelle Brouwer has elevated and expanded the breadth of programming at the boutique performing arts venue, which is known for providing intimate experiences with top tier artists. Since joining Irvine Barclay Theatre nearly eight years ago, Michelle has successfully managed numerous projects in various roles, all of which have led to increased revenue through sponsorships, ticket sales, rentals and more. 

In her current position, Michelle i
dentifies suitable shows for the IBT Presents season, develops and manages supporting budgets, carries projects through contract negotiation to settlement, and interfaces with artistic and production advances to the final presentation. She also oversees a team that runs the Barclay’s facility rentals program, which annually contracts 60 external rental clients and 20 university departments. 

Overseeing the master calendar of the 750-seat theater venue and its auxiliary spaces, the scope of her work includes the production of special events, conventionally staged performances, and unique celebrations. In addition to overseeing the programming at Irvine Barclay Theatre, Michelle has served as a Volunteer Chair for National Philanthropy Day Orange County since 2023. She is also an avid reader, yoga enthusiast and dedicated mom to two sons.

Irvine Barclay Theatre Celebrates 35th Season with Grammy Winners, Notable Dance Companies, Speakers & Renowned Artists

Irvine, CA, August 26, 2025 – Irvine Barclay Theatre, one of Orange County’s top performing arts venues, will kick off its 35th season of bringing top-tier artists to Southern California with a Barclay Block Party, a community celebration of the arts on Sunday, Sept. 28 from 1pm to 2:30pm. 

The free event, held in the plaza in front of Irvine Barclay Theatre, will offer fun for the whole family, including face painting, a caricature artist, a marionette puppet show, music and dance performances, and culminating in a free performance by Phat Cat Swinger at 3pm in the Irvine Barclay Theatre. Known for its intimate setting that provides unique experiences and personal interactions with Grammy winning and other acclaimed performers, Irvine Barclay Theatre presents renowned artists in a wide range of genres, from jazz, classical, folk, pop, and global music, to comedy, dance, theater, captivating speakers, and more. 

Tickets for the 2025-26 season are on sale now, with more shows to be announced.

.

Casting Director Valerie McCaffrey and Lorenzo Lamas, actor/film producer and WCTF spokesperson, share details about World Children’s Transplant Fund (WCTF) and their up-coming Hearts of Gold Dinner honoring, Mr. Mark Wittcoff, Chairman KW Commercial Beverly Hills Los Angeles, CA

The World Children’s Transplant Fund Hosts the Hearts of Gold Dinner

Honoring, Mr. Mark Wittcoff, Chairman KW Commercial
Beverly Hills

Los Angeles, CA

LISTEN to today's show with Valerie McCaffrey and Lorenzo Lamas

What: The World Children’s Transplant Fund (WCTF), and its Founder and Board Chairman, Mark Kroeker, are pleased to host the Hearts of Gold Dinner, celebrating Hearts of Gold Award Recipient Mr. Mark Wittcoff in recognition of his exemplary life of philanthropy and concern for children of our world.



When/Where: September 18, 2025

5:00 PM PST: Cocktail reception and red carpet

6:00 PM PST: dinner and program


Within the elegant showroom housing Galpin Ford’s collection of legendary cars and vehicles. Galpin Auto Sports 15600 Roscoe Blvd Van Nuys, CA 91406


Who: The dinner will be hosted by, mistress of Ceremonies, Ms. Araksya Karapetyan, well known KTTV Los Angeles News Anchor. Presenting the award will be Mark Kroeker, former LAPD Deputy Chief and Founder/Chairman of the WCTF. In attendance will be members of the WCTF Board including Former Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine. Join Fiona Dourif, star of NBC’s The Pitt, film star Eric Roberts, along with WCTF spokesman Lorenzo Lamas,

Quotes:

Mark Kroeker, Former LAPD Deputy Chief and Founder of the WCTF stated:

“For more than 35 years the World Children's Transplant Fund has been eagerly assisting to improve the opportunities for children to have lifesaving organ transplants by training surgeons and teams, providing technology where needed and supporting organ donor awareness around the world including right here in the USA."


Interviews and for more information: To request an interview with the WCTF Chairman, or other related parties, please contact Marilee Dahl at 949-842-2286, or Mark Kroker at mark.kroeker@wctf.org or 202-394-0259.


Who:

The World Children’s Transplant Fund (WCTF): Since it was launched 35 years ago, the WCTF has been helping children and transplant surgeons around the world, in such countries as Argentina, Mexico, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Costa Rica, Uzbekistan, Armenia. Poland and right here in the USA. Hundreds of children are alive today because of the relentless efforts of the WCTF. For more information, or to make a contribution visit World Children's Transplant Fund

World Children's Transplant Fund


About Mark Wittcoff
Mr. Mark Wittcoff: Mark’s journey began in 1989 when he volunteered as Vice President
and Treasurer of The World Children’s Transplant Fund at just 25. Today, he is the General Partner at KW Commercial Landmark, a real estate firm affiliated with Keller Williams Beverly Hills. His passion for improving communities extends beyond his professional work, as

Mark is the founder and trustee of the Wittcoff Foundation, supporting education, healthcare, climate initiatives, and partnerships aligned with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.

Joining Janeane September 3rd at 9:30am - Paula Saunders talks about her newest book, Starting From Here Live on KUCI 88.9fm

LISTEN to today's show
featuring Paula Saunders

A Midwestern girl balances her dreams of becoming a dancer with the complications of growing up on her own, far from her working-class family, in this unforgettable, deeply affecting portrait of a young woman striving for greatness from the author of The Distance Home.

She could look in the mirror and see it all happening, everything she’d dreamed of, the potential everyone had seen in her blossoming right in front of her eyes, as if her spirit and flesh were merging, being born as one into light.

More than anything, René wants to be a dancer. Eve, her mother, supports René despite the overwhelming financial burden and increasing tension her training places on the family. But one thing is clear: René’s dreams are never going to come true in Rapid City, South Dakota, circa 1973.

Setting in motion a journey that will transform her from the inside out, René is sent to train alongside stick-thin, sculpted girls in Phoenix, then on to Denver and beyond, encountering along the way a dazzling sequence of eccentric and sometimes dangerous characters: creepy dads, mean girls, predatory radio announcers, kindly ex-opera singers, sham teachers, and avaricious cult leaders. Through it all, René pushes herself, doing everything she can to excel at her art while at the same time finding her way through the trials of adolescence.

But leaving home is not the same as escaping it. And try as she might, René can’t quite shake the aching she has for someone to love and accept her just the way she is, dancer or not, successful or not, perfect or imperfect.

Lyrical and incisive, Starting from Here is a story of facing the many challenges and terrors of girlhood, of reaching for something that exceeds your grasp, of the enduring contradictions of familial love, of right steps and wrong turns, and of somehow finding your way from wherever you are to wherever you need to go.


Advance praise for Starting From Here

“The sharp physicality of Paula Saunders’s writing hooked me; it was utterly engrossing to feel chills, hunger, and lust through the body of this young dancer – and as a mother it was bracing to remember that getting lost is how we find ourselves.”— MIRANDA JULY, New York Times bestselling author of 'All Fours'



“[Paula] Saunders skillfully illuminates how time heals certain wounds while deepening others, and her depiction of aging is viscerally affecting. . . . The Distance Home becomes a mediation on the violence of American ambition—and a powerful call for self-examination.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Saunders’ debut is an exquisite, searing portrait of family and of people coping with whatever life throws at them while trying to keep close to one another. . . . The Distance Home will leave readers eager for more from this extraordinarily talented author.”—Booklist (starred review)

“Tender, searing, and unforgettable, The Distance Home is a profoundly American story spanning decades—a tale of haves and have-nots, of how our ideas of winning and losing, success and failure, lead us inevitably into various problems with empathy and caring for one another. It’s a portrait of beauty and brutality in which the author’s compassionate narration allows us to sympathize, in turn, with everyone involved.”

— The Center For Fiction, Longlisted for the 2018 First Novel Prize


“Penetrating and insightful . . . This debut wonderfully depicts the entire lifespan of a singular family.”

—Publishers Weekly

About Paula Saunders
Paula Saunders grew up in Rapid City, South Dakota. She is a graduate of the Syracuse University creative writing program, and was awarded a postgraduate Albert Schweitzer Fellowship at the State University of New York at Albany, under Schweitzer chair Toni Morrison. Her first book, The Distance Home, was longlisted for the Center for Fiction 2018 First Novel Prize and named as one of The Best Books of 2018 by REAL SIMPLE. She lives in California with her husband. They have two grown daughters.

Coming up 9/3 - 9:00am - Sam Hayes talks about his directorial debut POOLS about the chaotic life of Kennedy, a rebellious college student who has one day to get her life together or face expulsion

LISTEN to today's show 
featuring Sam Hayes.

SYNOPSIS

POOLS dives into the chaotic life of Kennedy, a rebellious college student who has one day to get her life together or face expulsion. Rather than conform, she recruits a misfit crew for a spontaneous night of pool hopping through the lavish backyards of her college town. What starts as an adrenaline-fueled escape turns into something deeper as Kennedy confronts grief, identity, and the lingering impact of her father's death. It's messy, it's emotional, and it's the ride of her life.

Watch the TRAILER



Directed by:
Sam Hayes


Starring:
Odessa A'zion (Hellraiser, Grand Army)
Mason Gooding (Scream VI, Scream)
Ariel Winter (Modern Family)
Tyler Alvarez (American Vandal, Orange is the New Black)
Francesca Noel (R#J, Goosebumps)
Michael Vlamis (Crossword, Rosewell New Mexico)
Suzanne Cryer (Silicon Valley)



Running Time:

99 Minutes

Executive Producer, Nathan Elliott, talks about his film Black Mark, the riveting story of former NBA star Matt Barnes who was the target of a hate crime while a senior in high school. The film was featured at Tribeca Film Festival and won the HolllyShorts Festival for Best Sports Documentary.

Today's show featuring Executive Producer, Nate Elliott

Black Mark explores the riveting story of former NBA star Matt Barnes who was the target of a hate crime while a senior in high school. The film - which features appearances by Snoop Dogg, former UCLA teammate and Earl Watson, among others - explores how a man of mixed-race, who was never white enough for his Italian heritage, or Black enough for his African American side, struggled to understand his identity. It looks at how Barnes' interpersonal conflict epitomized by his Black Mark both hindered and helped shape the man, the basketball player, and ultimately the powerful media voice he is today.

ABOUT NATHAN ELLIOTT
Nathan Elliott is Canadian entrepreneur, technologist, advertising executive, filmmaker and philanthropist. He is currently the Founder and CEO of FrontRunner Technologies, one of the most disruptive forces in immersive media, retail, and commercial real estate today - the company has brought literal window shopping to life. He also recently co-founded Love-Hate Productions to write and executive produce “Black Mark,” a documentary film and podcast project examining the Black experience in sport. 

The film was featured at Tribeca Film Festival and won the HolllyShorts Festival for Best Sports Documentary. His recent short film, “With Love, Charlie,” - currently on Samsung TB+ was selected by the HollyShorts Film Festival for inclusion opening night, and went on to win several international film awards. He has several other films set for production in 2025, focused on brand entertainment and sports. Nathan writes and speaks regularly on exponential technology, new age content creation, disruptive innovation, brand entertainment, and the future of public space. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Forbes, Bloomberg, Crain's Business, The Globe and Mail, and Women's Wear Daily. 

He is a frequent podcast guest and host, known for his energy and depth of conversation. He was chosen by the CBC as a Top 40 Under 40. Prior to his work as a futurist, Nathan wrote extensively on the topics of social justice, economic development, and energy policy for the Indigenous peoples of North America through his consultancy Insightwest. 

Notably, he was also a Clerk at the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan after graduation. Nathan’s work as founder of Huddle Up Foundation charity outfitted thousands of deserving children with winter coats and sports equipment in his home province of Saskatchewan over several years. 

Continuing his passion for philanthropy, Nathan co-founded Re:Store in 2021, a non-profit helping Black owned businesses recover post-pandemic, providing no cost content creation, ad strategy, and online promotion. Nathan currently splits time between Toronto and Venice, CA, where he enjoys writing, golfing and weightlifting.

Former Laker and Clipper Matt Barnes talks on his doc "Black Mark" at the HollyShorts Film Festival - YouTube

Showing at the 20th Annual HollyShorts Film Festival

KUCI host Janeane Bernstein shares insights on the loneliness epidemic and the power of art

Host Janeane Bernstein talks about the magnitude of the loneliness epidemic, what is fueling this crisis, thoughts about the power of art and mental health, as well as a reading from her favorite summer read: Brian Eno and Bette A's book, what art does - an unfinished theory.

Listen to today's show

Featured book:

Visit the Amazon page

What Art Does: An Unfinished Theory Hardcover – March 25, 2025

by Brian Eno and Bette Adriaanse

Why do we need art?

What Art Does is an invitation to explore this vital question. It is a chance to understand how art is made by all of us. How it creates communities, opens our worlds, and can transform us.

Curious and playful, richly illustrated, full of ideas and life, it is an inspiring call to imagine a different future.

Los Angeles favorite and Honorary Mayor of Toluca Lake, Fritz Coleman, shares details about his latest comedy show - UNASSISTED RESIDENCY

FRITZ COLEMAN'S UNASSISTED RESIDENCY

LISTEN to today's conversation with Fritz Coleman

_____________________________________________________________


WHEN:
August 24
September 28
October 26
November 30


WHERE:
Monroe Forum


Los Angeles favorite and Honorary Mayor of Toluca Lake FRITZ COLEMAN takes up a Sunday afternoon residency in the Monroe Forum Theatre here at El Portal! Fritz'z live comedy show for "boomers," covers topics from Zoom school to retirement to becoming vegan to pharmaceuticals to celebrating growing up and growing old!
Fritz' shows incorporate some of his favorite stories and observations about modern life. Go with him as he weaves his eloquent yet hilarious tales over 4 Sundays. The show changes every time so come see it multiple times to check out the new material!



ALL PERFORMANCES:


Sunday, August 24, 2025 @ 3 pm

Sunday, September 28, 2025 @ 3 pm

Sunday, October 25, 2025 @ 3 pm

Sunday, November 30, 2025 @ 3 pm

The El Portal Theatre

Coming up 8/13 at 9am - Samsun Knight talks about his latest book - LIKENESS, a novel about fidelity, love and family

LISTEN to today's conversation with Samsun Knight

“A beautifully rendered short novel full of twisting, complexly twined threads, a fascinating tangle of family connections that explores the parts of ourselves we inherit from our kin—and the parts of ourselves we invent.”

—Dan Chaon, author and National Book Award Finalist, Sleepwalk



Based on the author’s own upbringing, an intimate, riveting novel that challenges conventional understandings of love, fidelity, and betrayal


In LIKENESS (University of Iowa Press, Paperback Original, July, 29 2025), Samsun Knight’s second novel, the author skillfully weaves a story of a long-term open marriage—and its compromises, justifications, joys, and hurts—from two perspectives. For the first half of the novel, we see this polyamorous relationship through the eyes of the wife, Anne. In the second half, we continue to follow its progression through the journals of the “other woman,” Sandy. Gradually, we come to understand both women’s changes of heart and shifts in mindset—toward each other, their arrangement, and Sebastian, the man they love—after they each become pregnant within days of one another by the same man. Drawing insights from his own unconventional family, Knight deftly captures the drama of domesticity, the half-truths we tell ourselves about happily ever after, and the price of what we leave out.


Knight opens LIKENESS with Anne meeting Sebastian in the 1980s. Sebastian, newly separated from his first wife after learning that one of his children wasn’t biologically his, doesn’t believe in “closed love” anymore, something he makes clear to Anne when they begin their relationship. He promises to always be honest with Anne about his seeing other women. Anne replies that it doesn’t bother her, because at that point in their relationship, it doesn’t.


But a few months later, Anne and Sebastian are sharing a coffee when she notices a woman sitting one table over, reading the same novel; and Sebastian, following her gaze, recognizes the woman and introduces them. Anne realizes belatedly that he must be sleeping with her. But despite feeling a surge of reflexive jealousy, Anne continues her relationship with him, reminding herself that bumping into other lovers is just fine print on a contract she’s already signed.


Four and a half years later, Anne is now married to Sebastian and two months pregnant when he tells her: his lover, Sandy, is also pregnant with his child. In a flash, Anne remembers the afternoon in the coffee shop when she saw the woman at the next table, with brown hair that glowed gold in the sunlight. The possibility of children outside of their relationship had never been explicitly negotiated between them; she’d never imagined it would have to be. The next morning, Anne leaves to stay with her mother while she tries to decide whether to burn her marriage down to ashes, and whether to carry the baby to term.


In part two of LIKENESS, Sandy’s journal entries offer a wholly different perspective on this open marriage. Spanning two months at the beginning of 1991, we get an up-close and personal look at Sandy’s everyday life as the overwhelmed single mother of an infant, and also a self-assured woman with a markedly different experience of love beyond monogamy. In between grocery shopping lists and seances with the dead, Sandy tries to assert herself in her relationship as the “outside partner” and demands more help from Sebastian, but finds herself indirectly negotiating with Anne instead, and essentially abandoned. Leaning on her friends, her father, and her wavering faith in the world, she works to find a way to remake her life on her own terms.


Told by two women who share many of the same longings and misapprehensions, and make many of the same mistakes, LIKENESS is a story about love in real life, with all its messiness, surprises, and trade-offs.




About the Author



SAMSUN KNIGHT is a writer and graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where he was a Truman Capote Fellow. Likeness is his second novel.

In his other life, he is an assistant professor at University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and a faculty affiliate at the University of Toronto School of Cities, where he studies quantitative marketing, optimal targeting, and machine learning.


LIKENESS

By Samsun Knight

University of Iowa Press

Paperback Original published on July 29, 2025, $18.00, 128 pages

ISBN: 978-1685970208



Extraordinary Advance Praise for

LIKENESS

By Samsun Knight


“Reading Likeness, I couldn’t help marveling at how well Samsun Knight knows Anne, Sebastian, and Sandy, and how deftly he delineates their many changes of heart. He has an exquisite gift for capturing those moments when a character reaches the edge of their known feelings and steps into terra incognita. The result is a wonderfully suspenseful and deeply pleasurable novel.”

—Margot Livesey, author, The Flight of Gemma Hardy


“Samsun Knight’s Likeness is a beautifully rendered short novel full of twisting, complexly twined threads, a fascinating tangle of family connections that explores the parts of ourselves we inherit from our kin—and the parts of ourselves we invent. Knight is a remarkable writer.”

—Dan Chaon, author and National Book Award Finalist, Sleepwalk


“Likeness is propulsive, hilarious, moving, and profound. It’s also a page-turner about a love triangle and the challenges of finding a stable, if unconventional, relationship. Even more than that, it’s about how hard it is to articulate what we really want from love, parenthood, or even life in general.”

—Maria Kuznetsova, author, Something Unbelievable


“Knight rearranges and refracts what we thought we knew of the domestic drama and gives it new shape. Likeness shimmers like a house of mirrors with its continuously distorting understandings of what love is supposed to be. Tender, infuriating, redeeming, and graceful. I devoured it.”

—Eskor David Johnson, author, Pay As You Go


“David Foster Wallace once said his tastes in reading turned toward the realistic because most experimental stuff was hellaciously unfun to read. The genius of Likeness is to pair experiment with realism, asking really fun questions of old forms, delivering both the story of love and a slant and sly look at how we tell those stories. The power-to-weight ratio here is perfect. Everything’s up for negotiation: monogamy, fidelity, marriage, babies. How do we come to know each other, how do we gather and bind, how do we deepen and endure and go on, what arrangements are we making for love? It’s said that happy love has no history, but Likeness, in its brief and brilliant moment, is a joy to read, and that’s plenty.”

—Charles D’Ambrosio, author, The Dead Fish Museum

UC Irvine receives 2025 Excellence in Mental Health and Well-Being Award Campus is among 71 nationwide to be honored by Insight Into Academia magazine

NEWS


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

UC Irvine was recognized for its extensive support structures for faculty, staff and students, as well as for its Comprehensive Wellbeing Initiative. Elena Zhukova / UCOP

NOTE TO EDITORS: PHOTO AVAILABLE AT
https://news.uci.edu/2025/08/05/uc-irvine-receives-2025-excellence-in-mental-health-and-well-being-award/

Contact: Sheri Ledbetter
949-230-8962
ledbetts@uci.edu

UC Irvine receives
2025 Excellence in Mental Health and Well-Being Award

Campus is among 71 nationwide to be honored by Insight Into Academia magazine

Irvine, Calif., Aug. 5, 2025 — The University of California, Irvine has received the 2025 Excellence in Mental Health and Well-Being Award from Insight Into Academia, the largest and oldest diversity and inclusion publication in higher education. The national award commends institutions for programs and initiatives that significantly advance the core values of inclusion and belonging.

UC Irvine will be featured, along with 70 other honorees, in the September 2025 issue of the magazine.

“Receiving this recognition is very affirming,” said Marcelle Hayashida, associate vice chancellor for wellness, health and counseling services at UC Irvine. “This presents us with a moment to celebrate the hard work of all our campus partners, communicate our commitment to others, and renew our mission to promote well-being throughout the entire campus.”

Insight Into Academia honored UC Irvine for its extensive support structures for faculty, staff and students, as well as for its Comprehensive Wellbeing Initiative. The campus was also selected for its peer programs for students, basic needs fulfillment and counseling services, in addition to training faculty and staff to discern and respond to mental health challenges.

“We know that institutions are not always recognized for their dedication to their mental health and well-being services and support for their students and employees,” said Lenore Pearlstein, owner and publisher of Insight Into Academia. “We are proud to honor these colleges and universities as role models for other institutions of higher education.”

UC Irvine was one of the few campuses in the U.S. to adopt the Okanagan Charter and become an official Health Promoting University in 2021. Shortly afterward, the school launched the Comprehensive Wellbeing Initiative. It focuses on four areas: diversity, equity and inclusion; the natural and built environment; sustainability; and the culture of well-being – crucial to implementing wellness as an institutional value.

“With a culture of well-being as one of its key pillars, the Comprehensive Wellbeing Initiative emphasizes the link between a healthy campus and a flourishing student body and workforce,” Hayashida said.

For more information about the 2025 Excellence in Mental Health and Well-Being Award, visit https://insightintoacademia.com.

About Insight Into Academia: Insight Into Academia magazine is the largest and oldest diversity and inclusion publication in higher education today. It’s the leader in recognizing inclusive excellence in higher education through its many prestigious awards and in advancing best practices in inclusive excellence and belonging through its website and print magazine.

About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UC Irvine is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities and is ranked among the nation’s top 10 public universities by U.S. News & World Report. The campus has produced five Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UC Irvine has more than 36,000 students and offers 224 degree programs. It’s located in one of the world’s safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County’s second-largest employer, contributing $7 billion annually to the local economy and $8 billion statewide. For more on UC Irvine, visit www.uci.edu.

Media access: Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus studio with a Comrex IP audio codec to interview UC Irvine faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UC Irvine news, visit news.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at https://news.uci.edu/media-resources.

Coming up Wednesday July 9th at 9:30am - LIFE AFTER - A film by Reid Davenport. Reid Davenport (I DIDN’T SEE YOU THERE) vigorously probes the legacy of Elizabeth Bouvia — a disabled California woman who, at the age of 26, sought “the right to die.”

LIFE AFTER

A film by Reid Davenport

LISTEN to today's show featuring

Director Reid Davenport & Producer Colleen Cassingham.

WATCH THE TRAILER

WATCH THE TRAILER

WITH AUDIO DESCRIPTIONS

SYNOPSIS:

Disabled filmmaker Reid Davenport (I DIDN’T SEE YOU THERE) trenchantly probes the legacy of Elizabeth Bouvia — a disabled California woman who, at the age of 26, sought “the right to die.” Her 1983 case provoked a national debate about the value of disabled lives, and Davenport sees echoes in chilling contemporary cases of disabled people dying prematurely — at their own hands and from a broken health care system. Through moving interviews and rich archival material, LIFE AFTER looks critically at where progressive values of bodily autonomy collide with the devaluing and fear of disabled lives.

DIRECTED BY:

Reid Davenport

PRODUCED BY:

Colleen Cassingham

RELEASING AT FILM FORUM (NYC) ON JULY 18TH
Sales & Distribution Contact: Colleen Cassingham | colleen@multitudefilms.com
Publicity Contact: Jacki St. Thomas | lifeafter@mprm.com


Logline

In 1983, a disabled Californian woman named Elizabeth Bouvia sought the “right to die,” igniting a national debate about autonomy, dignity, and the value of disabled lives. After years of courtroom trials, Bouvia disappeared from public view. Disabled director Reid Davenport investigates what happened to Bouvia and her story’s disturbing relevance today.

Synopsis

In 1983, a disabled Californian woman named Elizabeth Bouvia sought the “right to die,” igniting a
national debate about autonomy, dignity, and the value of disabled lives. After years of courtroom trials, Bouvia disappeared from public view. Disabled director Reid Davenport narrates this investigation of what happened to Bouvia and her story’s relevance today.

LIFE AFTER coalesces the missing voices of the disability community in the contemporary debate about assisted dying. Davenport looks at the ways that disabled people have and continue to die prematurely—whether murdered by a hospital in the case of Michael Hickson in Texas, or with the support of parents and community in the case of Wisconsin teen Jerika Bolen. Davenport’s exploration
brings him to Canada, where safeguards have been lifted to allow disabled people unprecedented access to Medical Aid in Dying (MAID), even if their deaths are not reasonably foreseeable. In Ontario,Davenport interviews disabled computer programmer Michal Kaliszan, who contemplated MAID when his only alternative was entering an institution.

In a society where ableism and poor healthcare can limit options, the autonomy of a disabled individual is often compromised. LIFE AFTER demonstrates how assisted dying may not represent choice when oftentimes it is seen as the only option.


Director’s Statement

I’m a filmmaker in New York City, living in a progressive milieu where conversations about the "right to die" hinge on treasured values of choice and bodily autonomy. But as a disabled person, I can sense people’s undisguised fear of disability just below the surface. What’s a hot button dinner party topic for some is utterly sinister for me, as I see people in my life exhibit a higher tolerance for the deaths of
disabled people than for non-disabled people. The decision to make LIFE AFTER was a deliberate one, precisely because of the number of issues it raises, which transcend the issue of assisted suicide.

After I discovered the case of Elizabeth Bouvia almost a decade ago, she became one of my reference points for the contemporary debate around assisted dying. I thought about her when I came across stories in the US about disabled people being either allowed to die or murdered without consequence. I thought about her as I watched in horror in 2020, as Canada began to allow disabled people—many
impoverished, out of options—to take their own lives.

 As Elizabeth continued to cross my mind, I wondered if there was more to her story. LIFE AFTER is an attempt to recontextualize a national news story that was forgotten just as quickly as it broke. Bouvia's life, as I suspected, has much more resonance today than her public saga initially revealed. Her life needs to be remembered in its entirety, with the recovered pieces excavated in this
film. 

Her story offers a provocation: why is it acceptable to give disabled people the means to die, before supporting them in the chance to live? As we mobilize for four years of hyper-political vigilance around reproductive rights, state violence,
economic inequalities, human rights and Palestinian displacement, people must also engage with the ableist systems that are isolating, impoverishing, and, yes, killing disabled people. I hope LIFE AFTER reveals the cognitive dissonance in advocating for “death with dignity,” so long as systemic oppression
denies many disabled people life with dignity.


Reid Davenport
Director, LIFE AFTER
Background


Assisted dying is often considered a matter of individual choice, but when examined from a disability standpoint, the issue becomes rightfully more complex. Forty years after Elizabeth Bouvia sought the right to die, inequities that disenfranchise disabled people remain embedded in every aspect of society.

Disabled people by and large remain unemployable in an ableist job market, while government support holds them significantly below the poverty line. The U.S. and Canada have a long history of eugenics that continue to impact legal and medical industries - amplified by the financial incentive to encourage death. And disabled people disproportionately experience clinical depression, which can skew decision-making.

In the U.S., assisted dying is currently legal for people with a terminal diagnosis in 10 states and Washington D.C. In 1997, Oregon became the first state to pass assisted dying legislation. Tellingly, the top five reasons doctors give for their patients’ assisted suicide requests over all reported years are not pain or fear of future pain, but psycho-social issues that are well understood by the disability
community: “losing autonomy” (90%), “less able to engage in activities” (90%), “loss of dignity” (72%), “burden on others” (48%) and “losing control of bodily functions” (44%) (2022 Report, page 14).

Canada has the most liberal assisted dying laws in the world. In 2022, Canada expanded access to its Medical Assistance in Dying regime to include people whose deaths are not immediately foreseeable but who have a "grievous and irremediable medical condition” - namely, disabled people. In 2027, it is
set to expand to people with mental illness and “mature minors” with disabilities. The intensity and breadth of Canada's MAID program has led to condemnation of its program by UN human rights experts and disability rights groups in Canada.
LIFE AFTER is not an argument against assisted suicide, nor does it propose a neat solution to these complex problems. But it does help untangle this contradiction from a disability rights perspective. 

We hope the film raises questions about the meaning of dignity, what constitutes discrimination and equity of rights, and ultimately, what a caring society looks like.

Joining Janeane on 7/9/25 at 9:00am - Filmmaker Jack Teetor, great nephew of the late Ralph Teetor, who is featured in the award-winning documentary “Blind Logic.” Based on the book, “One Man’s Vision – The Life of Automotive Pioneer Ralph R. Teetor,”

Award-Winning Documentary “BLIND LOGIC”

TO LAUNCH ON DIGITAL & CABLE PLATFORMS JULY 8, 2025

LISTEN to today's show featuring filmmaker Jack Teetor.

F O R   I M M E D I A T E    R E L E A S E

Los Angeles, CA – June 5, 2025 – SDG Releasing and Blind Logic Productions announce the official release of the acclaimed documentary “Blind Logic: The Ralph R. Teetor Story” on July 8, 2025. The film will be available across major digital platforms, including Amazon, iTunes/AppleTV, Google Play, Microsoft, and Hoopla – as well as On-Demand cable providers, such as Charter, Cox, Xfinity, Spectrum, and others.

Emmy award winners Mike Rowe & Jeff Daniels bring this remarkable story to life. “Blind Logic” tells the inspiring, untold story of Ralph Teetor, the blind inventor of Cruise Control and one of America’s great automotive visionaries. The film has received early acclaim for its powerful message of perseverance, innovation, and legacy. As Cary Solomon stated, co-founder of SDG Releasing stated,” This documentary is a remarkable Americana story from the heartland that will resonate with audiences across the country.”

The all-star voice cast also includes Emmy Award nominated Barry Corbin (Killers of the Flower Moon, Yellowstone), Rick Zieff (Mississippi Burning, Terminator 3), Ben Good, Andy Rothstein, John Matthew, and others. As Mike Rowe commented, “I narrated this film because Ralph Teetor epitomizes the work ethic, which we value at our Mikeworks Foundation.” Rick Zieff also stated to filmmaker Jack Teetor, “As I discovered more about Ralph Teetor, I was astounded by his remarkable courage to persevere through his life of blindness with such grace.”

Ralph Teetor’s legacy goes far beyond his automotive inventions. He was a pioneering engineer, balanced turbine rotors in WWI, a champion for workers’ rights, and a philanthropist. Teetor lived his life as a sighted person and has been inducted into both the Automotive Hall of Fame and the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

This documentary features appearances by prominent industry figures such as Lyn St. James, legendary race car driver, Franz von Holzhausen, the visionary Chief Designer at Tesla, Inc., Sarah Cook, President of the Automotive Hall of Fame, and the distinguished Leslie Mark Kendall, Chief Historian at the Petersen Automotive Museum. Family insight comes from Ralph Teetor’s nephew Tom Teetor and four grandchildren, Ralph Meyer, Lucy Meyer Kropp, Jennifer Bloniarz and Ruthie Jones.

Jack Teetor, Ralph’s great nephew, wrote, directed, and produced “Blind Logic.” Based on the book, “One Man’s Vision – The Life of Automotive Pioneer Ralph R. Teetor,” the film boasts an award-winning production team of Editor Derek Tow, Composer Jim Andron, Photo Editor Daniel Teetor, and Sound Editing & Design by Darren King, Nikola Simikic, and Amanda Roy.

Look for Mike Rowe’s “The Way I Heard It” podcast with guest Jack Teetor later in July on YouTube or AppleTV.

See the award-winning trailer at: https://www.blindlogicproductions.com/video/

https://www.blindlogicproductions.com/watch-now/

MEDIA CONTACT: Deborah Gilels

LA Media Consultants

Email: gilelsdeborah@gmail.com

Cell: 818-648-9513



BLIND LOGIC PRODUCTIONS, LLC Los Angeles, CA www.blindlogicproductions.com