Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Coming up 5/14/25 at 9:00am - Executive Editor and Vice President at W. W. Norton & Company, Jill Bialosky, talks about her new book - The End Is the Beginning: A Personal History of My Mother



Jill Bialosky, the poet behind the “tender, absorbing, and deeply moving memoir” (Entertainment Weekly) History of a Suicide, returns with a lyrical portrait of her mother’s life, told in reverse order from burial to birth. 

Jill is the author of five acclaimed collections of poetry, most recently Asylum. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The Atlantic, among others. She is the author of many novels including, The Deceptions, and several works of nonfiction including The End Is the Beginning, History of a Suicide, and Poetry Will Save Your Life. In 2015, Jill was honored by the Poetry Society of America for her distinguished contribution to the field of poetry. She lives in New York City. 


HER LATEST BOOK
When Iris Yvonne Bialosky died in an assisted care facility on March 29, 2020, it unleashed a torrent of emotions in her daughter, Jill Bialosky. Grief, of course, but also guilt, confusion, and doubt, all of which were compounded by the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic which made it impossible for Jill to be with her mother as she was dying and to attend her mother’s funeral.

Now, with a poet’s eye for detail and a novelist’s flair for storytelling, Jill presents a profoundly moving elegy unlike any other. Starting with her mother’s end and the physical/cognitive decline that led her to a care home, The End Is the Beginning explores Iris’s battle with depression, the tragedy of a daughter’s suicide, a failed second marriage, the death of her beloved first husband only five years into their young marriage, her joyful teenage years, and the trauma of losing her own mother at just eight years old. Compounding her challenges of raising four daughters without a livelihood or partner, Iris’s life coincided with an age of unstoppable social change and reinvention, when the roles of wife and mother she was raised to inhabit ceased to be the guarantors of stability and happiness.

As we see Iris become younger and younger, we learn how we are all the sum of our experiences. Iris becomes a multi-dimensional, fascinating woman. We come to understand her difficulties and shortcomings, her neediness and her generosity, her pride and her despair. The End Is the Beginning is not just a family memoir, it is a brave and compassionate celebration of a woman’s life and death and a window into a daughter’s inextricable bond to her mother.


The End Is the Beginning: A Personal History of My Mother. By Jill Bialosky
 May 2025. 272p. - Booklist review

"Novelist Bialosky (The Deceptions, 2022) honors her mother, Iris, by telling her story in reverse, as indicated by the title of this exquisitely written portrait. We meet Iris in the grip of dementia in her final days, when COVID-19 strands Bialosky on Long Island, unable to be with her mother in Cleveland. Looking back, she tracks the relentless stages of Alzheimer’s, including her mother’s move from the family home she’d lived in for five decades to assisted living. 

Earlier, Iris' three older daughters, very close in age, left to launch their own lives, while her youngest daughter, the child of a short-lived second marriage, dies by suicide. Then back to the shocking death of Bialosky’s father when he was only 30, leaving Iris, 25, with three children in diapers. The further back the story goes, the deeper “the legacy of mental pain.” Bialosky captures gorgeously resonant, illuminating details and expresses deeply poignant and keen feelings and insights. The unspooling of time creates a spellbinding and suspenseful narrative, and Iris shines in all her beauty and love, sorrow and courage."  — Donna Seaman


AUTHOR BIO
Jill Bialosky is an Executive Editor and Vice President at W. W. Norton & Company. She edits fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Some titles she has edited in fiction include History of Love by Nicole Krauss, The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang (one of Obama’s favorite books of 2022); The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade, winner of the Center for Fiction First Novel Award, Bonnie Jo Campbell’s The Waters, a Jenna Bush bookclub pick. 

She has edited Booker Prize winning The Seven Moons of Mali Almedia by Shehan Karunatilaka, and Booker Finalists, The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste, Madeliene Thien’s, Do not Say We Have Nothing, and Neel Mukerhjee’s The Lives of Others. 

 Other titles include In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin
(finalist for the Pulitzer and National Book awards), Family Life by Akhil Sharma winner of the IMPAC Prize and one of the top ten NYTBR Books of the Year, as well as Claire Messud’s, NYT bestseller, The Burning Girl and her most recently acclaimed This Strange Eventful History. Other fiction authors she has published are Ann Hood, Roxana Robinson, Molly Antopol, Manil Suri, Rose Tremain, Mark Slouka, John Dufresne and Bernard McClaverty. She has edited all of Mary Roach’s bestselling books including Stiff and most recently, Fuzz. 

In nonfiction, she is interested in popular science writers such as Florence Williams bestselling , The Nature Fix; cultural critics such as Olivia Laing (The Garden Against Time) and Adam Kirsch, memoir writers such as Joy Harjo’s Crazy Brave and Poet Warrior, Suzanne Koven’s, Letters to a Female Physician and memoirs by Nick Flynn author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City and Ann Hood’s Fly Girl.

She is interested in books on psychology and psychological history and has published Richard Grinker’s Nobody’s Normal and George Makari’s Soul Machine, and Of Fear and Strangers: A History of Xenophobia, winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, along with works on feminism and women’s studies by authors such as Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar recepients of the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award of the National Book Critics Circle.

Some of the poets she has worked with include three term poet Laurete, Joy Harjo, Rita Dove, Martin Espada, (winner of the National Book Award), Adrienne Rich (recipient of the National Medal of Honor from the National Book Award), Audre Lorde, Ai, (winner of the National Book Award,) BH Fairchild, (winner of the National Book Critics Circle award), Stanley Plumly, (winner of the National Book Critics Circle award), Philip Schultz (Pulitzer Prize winner), Eavan Boland, Joy Harjo, Alice Oswald, Mark Doty, Li-Young Lee, Kim Addonizio, Kimiko Hahn, Alice Fulton, Marie Howe, David Baker, Dorianne Laux, Gerald Stern, Robert Bly, Matthew Dickman, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Roger Reeves (winner of the Griffin Prize and finalist for the National Book Award), John Lee Clark (finalist for the National Book Award), among others.

PRAISE
Praise for The End is the Beginning
“In this new book, Bialosky’s authorship has never been more powerfully poignant. . . . The End Is the Beginning offers an energizing, well-paced meditation on loss and living.” —Los Angeles Review of Books

“Bialosky delivers a nuanced portrait of her mother, Iris, who died in 2020. . . . [she] approaches the heavy subject matter with a light touch and casually profound prose. Readers will be moved.” —Publisher's Weekly (starred review)

“Exquisitely written. . . [Bialosky] expresses deeply poignant feelings and insights. . . spellbinding.” —Booklist

“[A] daughter’s poignant effort to see the whole of [her mother’s] life… For most of us, it takes a lifetime to see our parents as full and complex people; for Bialosky, it takes just over 200 pages.” —Oprah Daily

“[A]n affecting family history of loss and grief.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Jill Bialosky is a wonderfully talented novelist, poet, and longtime Executive Editor and Vice President of W. W. Norton & Company. Her exquisite prose is evident on every page of The End is the Beginning. . . we can rejoice alongside her in this hard-won accomplishment.” —New York Journal of Books

“This richly sympathetic memoir deserves—and will surely find—a noted position in the history of mother-daughter books through the tender-hearted work of Jill Bialosky.” —Vivian Gornick, critically acclaimed author of Fierce Attachments

“Reading The End Is the Beginning is like opening a set of nesting dolls. With each lyrical, finely wrought chapter, Jill Bialosky takes us back in time, revealing era after era of her mother’s life, from her final days to her girlhood. The End Is the Beginning is as smart and inventive as it is deeply moving. What we find at the center of the story, and the life, is love.” —Maggie Smith, New York Times bestselling author of You Could Make This Place Beautiful

“Be a lamp or a lifeboat or a ladder, Rumi says. This compassionate, lyrical and clear-eyed memoir is all three. A gift to anyone with a family.” —Amy Bloom, New York Times bestselling author of In Love

“Like Annie Ernaux, Bialosky is scrupulous and unsentimental in her account; this rigor is, itself, a testament of great love. The End is The Beginning is an unforgettable and profoundly moving book.” —Claire Messud, critically acclaimed author of This Strange Eventful History

“How do you endure the unendurable? When Jill Bialosky's mother finally succumbed to Alzheimer's at the height of the pandemic, she couldn't even be there to bear witness. This book is an atonement: a brave and eloquent assessment of a life battered by loss and ennobled by resilience.” —Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, most recently of Horse



Mental Health Action Day is coming up Thursday May 15th! Inspiring and empowering people to support emotional well-being and to shift our mental health culture from awareness to action





ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH ACTION DAY

In 2021, we launched the first Mental Health Action Day calling for coordinated action among businesses, organizations, advocacy groups, schools, and individuals to shift the culture of mental health from awareness to action. 

Now, in its fifth year, the Mental Health Action Network has grown to 2,700+ partners and millions of participants across more than 100 countries. 

On Thursday, May 15, 2025, our collective call to action is to Check-In with A.S.K., the “stop, drop and roll” for providing emotional support to the people in our lives. When you check-in, here is how you A.S.K.: 

• Acknowledge what they are going through 
• Support by asking what they need 
• Keep-in-touch to show you care 

Most young people turn to a friend when struggling with their mental health. However, nearly 70% of young people say they don’t know what to say or do to help. That’s why Active Minds and MTV created A.S.K. – so everyone can feel confident helping a friend, colleague, or loved one. Now is the time to invest in mental health actions


Why Check-in with A.S.K.?

Connection is at the core of our mental health. In the midst of a loneliness and isolation epidemic, having the tools to support the people around you is more critical than ever. Anyone can use A.S.K. to help friends, colleagues, classmates, teammates, or family members who are going through a difficult time. Every partner has their own ability to drive change and support Mental Health Action Day in the way that works best for them. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. This is an open-source effort for all those who want to use their power and positioning to drive our culture from awareness to action.


Ideas to Empower Mental Health Actions
1. Introduce the new ‘Stop, Drop & Roll’ for mental health, A.S.K. - Acknowledge, Support, Keep in-Touch, and encourage everyone to A.S.K. a friend how they are doing.

2. Host an event, livestream, or fundraiser so individuals can connect, take legislative action, do yoga, play music, learn how to garden, etc.

3. Host a lunch with your students, friends or employees and provide the A.S.K. training or encourage them to check-in on someone during that time. 

4. Prompt your community to block time on their calendars on May 15th to check-in on someone they think could use support. 5. Provide free therapy sessions for individuals/ employees or circulate existing mental health programs at your workplace

Wednesday, May 7, 2025

This May, take action, raise your voice, and help change the conversation around mental health!





This May, take action, raise your voice, and help change the conversation around mental health! Since 1949, Mental Health Awareness Month has been a driving force in addressing the challenges faced by millions of Americans living with mental health conditions. Now, more than ever, NAMI needs you to be part of this movement. Whether by sharing your story, spreading awareness, or advocating for change, every action helps break the stigma and build a more supportive world for all.




Theme: “In Every Story, There’s Strength”

Mental health journeys are unique, but the strength found within them is universal. “In Every Story, There’s Strength,” highlights the resilience and diverse experiences that shape mental health journeys within our community. NAMI’s campaign celebrates the power of storytelling to fuel connection, understanding, and hope for those navigating their own mental health path.  Each story shared is a testament to the possibility of recovery and the strength that lies within us all.


Turn Your Struggles into Strength—Let’s Build Hope Together

Every challenge you’ve faced has shaped you into who you are today. By embracing and sharing your experiences, you empower others to do the same. Together, we create a movement of courage, healing, and connection. Share your mental health story with us by sending in a video, a message, a quote, or using #MyMentalHealth on social media.
How To Share Your Story
visit: Mental Health Awareness Month | NAMI



Sample questions to start sharing your story:What do you wish people knew about mental health?
  • What misconceptions about mental health do you encounter in your work?
  • What have you learned on your mental health journey?
  • How does your mental health impact how you show up within your community?
  • What do you share with your friends or family in moments when they need support?
  • How do you help reduce stigma surrounding mental health?
  • In one word, describe your mental health journey?
  • What inspires you to support mental health — in your life, work, or community?
  • What motivates you to be an ally in the mental health movement?



Monday, May 5, 2025

May is National Bike Month - WhimCycle bike festival May 14th!

 


Coming up 5/7 at 9:30am - Chinese Vietnamese American award-winning filmmaker, storyteller, and author Elizabeth Ai talks about her debut feature documentary NEW WAVE


A California native, Elizabeth Ai is a Chinese Vietnamese American award-winning filmmaker, storyteller, and author. Her debut feature documentary, NEW WAVE, premiered in competition at the 2024 Tribeca Festival, earning a Special Jury Mention for Best New Documentary Director and critical acclaim from The New York Times, Vogue, IndieWire, Los Angeles Times, and San Francisco Chronicle. The New York Times selected it as a festival Critics’ Pick, calling it “a soft scream of a film” about ’80s Vietnamese diaspora culture, while Vogue praised its revelatory storytelling.





She is the author of New Wave: Rebellion and Reinvention in the Vietnamese Diaspora and an Emmy winner and nominee for her branded content with ESPN, VICE, and National Geographic. She created the original pilot for VICE/Munchies’ Bong Appétit, which was later picked up for a series on Viceland. Her producing credits include Dirty Hands, Saigon Electric, Ba, and A Woman’s Work: The NFL’s Cheerleader Problem.

An alum of Sundance, Tribeca, Berlinale, and Firelight Media, Ai’s work has been supported by the Center for Asian American Media, Cinereach, Ford Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Friday, May 2, 2025

Coming up April 30th 9:30am - Director, Center for Student Wellness & Health Promotion Doug Everhart, UC Irvine shares details about the Comprehensive Wellbeing Initiative Town Hall May 7, 2025


LISTEN
to this week's show
featuring Doug Everhart



This week marks the inaugural U.S. Health Promoting Campuses Week in honor of the 10th anniversary of the Okanagan Charter, which was developed by health promotion professionals to guide colleges and universities to be leaders for developing and modeling health-promoting principles. (UC Irvine adopted the Okanagan Charter in 2021.) As part of this effort, the campus is hosting the Comprehensive Wellbeing Town Hall on May 7 in Middle Earth housing, where students, staff and faculty are invited to learn more about what we are doing to support being a health-promoting university.
Event Overview

In 2001, UCI became one of the first eight campuses in the United States to adopt the Okanagan Charter and become a globally-recognized Health Promoting University. Since that time, we have worked to put into place the infrastructure to support this project, called the Comprehensive Wellbeing Initiative (CWI). This CWI Town Hall is an opportunity to share what has been going on with the initiative over the last few years, as well as an opportunity to get personally involved.

The Town Hall will feature:

– Updates on the four pillars of the CWI: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion; The Natural & Built Environment; Sustainability; and Culture of Wellbeing

– Guest speakers from Cornell University and the University of Saskatchewan (Canada), will share their experiences and research with health-promoting universities

– Opportunities to network and engage on priorities for the future.

We are pleased to announce that lunch will be served following the presentations, providing an excellent opportunity for networking and further discussion. In order to support a sustainable/green event, remember to bring your reusable silverware, and refillable water bottle as there is a water filling station in the foyer.

This is a fantastic opportunity to engage with the UCI community and contribute to the ongoing development of our campus wellbeing initiatives. We look forward to seeing you there!

Please RSVP by Friday, May 2.





Coming up April 29th at 9:00am - Ivan Williams – Award-Winning Producer, Entrepreneur & Changemaker



LISTEN
to this week's show
featuring Ivan Williams

Ivan Williams is the powerhouse behind films like LARPer fan favorite Knights of Badassdom, romcom Big Stone Gap, the dramedy Ramona at Midlife, the film festival sensation Secret Mall Apartment, the acclaimed National Geographic–linked documentary The Wonder and the Worry and the recent German Academy award nominated film Köln 75. After a successful corporate career at ARCO and BP, Ivan transitioned into entertainment, producing socially resonant projects across film, Broadway (First Date), digital series, and the top-ranked podcast Hidden History Happy Hour. His work explores everything from AI and disinformation (How to Build a Truth Engine, executive produced by George Clooney, Grant Heslov, and their Smokehouse Pictures) to climate change, urban resistance, and gender equity (This Changes Everything, American Academy-recognized documentary on gender misrepresentation in Hollywood).


His films have premiered at many key festivals, including the Toronto International Film Festival, South by Southwest, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Bentonville, Woodstock, Hot Docs, Cleveland International, Leeds (UK), Big Blue Festival in Newport, Oregon, Woods Hole (MA), and Newport Beach, California. He even screened his climate change-related films in front of world leaders at events like the Aspen Institute’s Climate Summit and in Dubai at COP28.

A veteran Naval Reserve intelligence officer, Ivan holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from Oregon State University and an MBA from UC Irvine. He lectures as an adjunct professor, participates in major university initiatives, and speaks at campuses across the U.S. He is also the founding CEO of Outer Limits Productions, Wildbrush Media, and Nexus4AI—ventures redefining storytelling at the intersection of entertainment, technology, and impact.

In addition, Ivan co-founded Eco ArtLab and Eco DesignLab, two nonprofit organizations that develop ecologically themed performances, films, and digital tools for creatives.

Don’t miss this inspiring conversation about how one producer is using Hollywood—and beyond—to drive real-world change.

Ivan's recent film KÖLN 75 just earned four German Film Academy Award nominations!  That’s Germany’s version of the Oscars!!!


https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/2025-german-film-award-nominations-announced-1236164986/


Following our phenomenal world premiere at Berlinale, a small group of our cast and crew embarked on a cinema tour across 10 cities (Köln → Bonn → Düsseldorf → Frankfurt → Wien → München → Zürich → Leipzig → Hamburg → Berlin). Along the way, we were met with sold-out theaters, fantastic discussions, and standing ovations—a truly unforgettable experience.

Since then, our theatrical run has only grown! KÖLN 75 opened in 138 cinemas across Germany, and this week, we are expanding to 144 cinemas. Even more exciting, we currently have the highest “admissions per screen” average of all films! The hope is to stay in theaters for a long time, and I couldn’t be happier

Are sales are moving fast! You may have seen the announcement in Deadline: https://deadline.com/2025/02/berlin-film-koln-75-mala-emde-john-magaro-sells-europe-asia-1236304997/. We have closed deals for 14 territories so far and are in negotiations for the UK and US. Other major territories, including Asia, Australia, and Latin America, are still to come!

On the festival front, KÖLN 75 will be screening at Sofia, Barcelona, Istanbul (opening night film), Copenhagen (opening night film), and Taipei. Our Italian distributor is also targeting the Rome Film Festival, with more festival announcements to come!

As for release dates, we already know:
• France – June
• Italy & BeNeLux – Fall




Additional projects:
Ivan will about some of the following latest films that have just been released, about to be released or are on a special screening campaign:

  • Ramona at Midlife (released i2/2025 on TVOD platforms)
  • How to Build a Truth Engine (George Clooney executive produced this with us and we are doing special screening events in Europe and soon in the U.S.)
  • Black Diamond (released 1/2025 on TVOD platforms)
  • Köln 75 (World premiered at Berlinale last month and is already in over 200 theaters in Germany, and the Benelux countries. In the next few months it will be in theaters in over 14 other territories across the globe.)
  • Secret Mall Apartment (begins touring the U.S. with a launch In the Providence Place Mall (site of the secret apartment), in Providence, RI on 3/21/25, and them get to L.A. on 4/3/2025 at the cool Eagle Rock Vidiots store and then in DTLA at the Alamo Draft House theater on 4/4/2025).
RAMONA AT MIDLIFE


Trailer
RAMONA AT MIDLIFE - Official HD Trailer - Comedy (Rosemarie DeWitt, Yvonne Woods, Josh Radnor)
youtu.be


The film is currently streaming on Amazon, Apple TV and Google Play and will be screening in person for one night at The Wayfarer Cinema in Highland Park, IL, on May 8.


SECRET MALL APARTMENT

Secret Mall Apartment | Official Trailer HD
youtu.be

We have been or will be on over a 100 theater screens around the U.S. since March 21st.


BLACK DIAMOND
After moving into a secluded cabin, a young woman and her boyfriend meet a local cowboy handyman, turning their idyllic life into a deadly triangle of lust, obsession, and murder.

Black Diamond Trailer #1 (2025)
youtu.be



Along with KÖLN 75, Ivan helped release four feature films in the last four months.


But more are on the horizon…..,


I have another film I produced called, THE WONDER AND THE WORRY, coming out later this year. The documentary explores the careers of Chris Johns, former Editor-in-Chief of National Geographic, and his daughter, Louise, a freelance photographer, through the lens of family, photography, and the power of visual storytelling . It examines the soul of journalism and its role in preserving a planet facing environmental challenges. The film also delves into the history of National Geographic and the transformation of the media landscape





| Films at OSU | Oregon State University
films.oregonstate.edu

Ivan Williams
Producer and CEO
Outer Limits Productions, Wildbrush Media and Nexus4AI
FoothLLrancher@gmail.com
949-632-2172



Coming up 5/14/25 at 9:00am - Executive Editor and Vice President at W. W. Norton & Company, Jill Bialosky, talks about her new book - The End Is the Beginning: A Personal History of My Mother

Jill Bialosky, the poet behind the “tender, absorbing, and deeply moving memoir” (Entertainment Weekly) History of a Suicide, returns with a...