The Holidays are just around the corner and do you know what else is? The release of Peacock’s Baking It! From the creators of NBC’s Making It, Maya Rudolph and Andy Samberg are set to host this six-episode holiday special, dropping all episodes on December 2nd. Beverly Hills' very own Norma Zager will be judging the baker’s on their skills and tasting the most delectable holiday treats.

BAKING IT -- "Christmas Feast" Episode 106

Pictured: (l-r) Norma, Sherri, Anne, Harriet -- (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/Peacock)

Streaming on Peacock December 2

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TM and © 2021 Peacock TV LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Coming up! 

KUCI's Janeane Bernstein speaks with Judge Norma Zager from Beverly Hills

The Holidays are just around the corner and do you know what else is? The release of Peacock’s Baking It! From the creators of NBC’s Making It, Maya Rudolph and Andy Samberg are set to host this six-episode holiday special, dropping all episodes on December 2nd. Beverly Hills' very own Norma Zager will be judging the baker’s on their skills and tasting the most delectable holiday treats.

BAKING IT is a holiday competition series in which eight teams of two talented home bakers join Maya and Andy’s winter cabin for a celebration of culinary holiday traditions. Contestant duos will include spouses, siblings, best friends and more, who will work together to create outstanding savory and sweet creations for themed challenges with the hopes of winning a cash prize. Maya and Andy will lead the festivities, also providing comedic and musical commentary on the action. The bakers’ holiday treats will be judged by tough critics – four opinionated real-life grandmothers, who happen to be fantastic bakers themselves!

The series is produced by Universal Television Alternative Studio, a division of Universal Studio Group, in association with Paper Kite Productions and 3 Arts Entertainment. Amy Poehler, Nicolle Yaron, Pip Wells, Kate Arend, Dave Becky, Andy Samberg and Maya Rudolph serve as executive producers.


Watch the trailer HERE


Meet the Grandmothers from Peacock's BAKING IT - YouTube

Ep 3 Clip 1: Grannies Gone Wild: https://f.io/XH2BQKDv

Ash Beckham is a speaker, equality advocate and author of Step Up: How to Live with Courage and Become an Everyday Leader.

ASH BECKHAM - Known for her viral Tedx Talk Coming Out of Your Closet, the “accidental advocate” for equality does not shy away from hard conversations. Her book Step Up: How to Live with Courage and Become an Everyday Leader (Sounds True, March 2020) is an empowering call-to-action to help mobilize all to embrace a different vision of leadership to create change in our workplaces, schools, places of worship, communities, and homes cultivated from both Beckham's personal and professional experiences.

WEBSITE: https://www.ashbeckham.com/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/ashbeckham/
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/theashbeckham/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ashbeckham


SAMPLE QUESTIONS:

• You refer to yourself as an accidental advocate - how did this happen?
• Tell us about your new book: Step Up: How to Live with Courage and Become and Everyday Leader.
• What are some tips for starting genuine conversations and handling snap judgements?
• What is one piece of leadership advice everyone could use?

Ash Beckham is an inclusion activist whose TEDx Talk “Coming Out of Your Closet” became a viral sensation. Her intrepid, relatable, and intrinsically comical style has made her an in-demand speaker, including events at Microsoft, Lockheed Martin, Bank of America, and the keynote for the first LGBTQ Conference at Harvard University. For more information visit ashbeckham.com.

Dana Griffin - CEO of Eldera shares the power of her intergenerational mentoring program launched pre-COVID and thriving in the pandemic

Dana Griffin, NY, US - CEO Eldera

LISTEN

Dana is a former data and advertising executive turned Age Tech entrepreneur and AI for Good advocate. Raised by her grandparents in Transylvania and then guided by elders throughout her life, Dana authored multiple trademarks and patents focused on aging, wisdom and the impact of longevity.

She serves as the NY Director of AI Commons and an official UN delegate to Global Pulse and has been advising, consulting, and speaking internationally about principled uses of AI for innovation, policy, and social impact. Named by AdAge one “40 under 40 changing the advertising industry", she has a C-suite background in global expansion, strategy and data, partnering with Fortune 500s, high growth startups and non-profit organizations.

Dana is building Eldera from New York with Java, her bengal cat and our Chief Mischief Officer. A Vedic meditator and outspoken fan of interesting people and good food, she spends her time cooking, training in Krav Maga and exploring human consciousness.

Coming up 12/13/21 at 9:00am pst - Cathy Rath, professor, social justice advocate/organizer, and writing coach shares her debut novel, Ripple Effect, with host Janeane Bernstein LIVE on KUCI 88.9fm

LISTEN 

From Marin Magazine Oct 2021 article:

A new book by Cathy Rath uses the turbulent 1960 and 70s as a lens to tackle difficult social justice issues — and tell a great story.

Cathy Rath wears many hats: she’s a professor, a social justice advocate and organizer, a writing coach and tutor, and now, a novelist. If there’s one thing that unites her passions, however, it’s an unwavering commitment to social good. Rath is from New York originally but was drawn to the West Coast’s activist environment in the mid-1970s. She attended the University of California Santa Barbara and then San Francisco State University, where she is now a professor in women’s health and community organizing. As a public health activist, her efforts to reduce violence against women earned her the 2000 Millennium Leadership Award by the Marin Independent Journal.

From San Francisco Book Review

It is 1968 and Jeannie Glazer, a college student, becomes involved with a radical group intent not just on peaceful protest but also on bringing about changes by whatever means necessary. When Jeannie is arrested during a protest in Chicago, she hopes her boyfriend and fellow protester will get her out of jail. Yet, when she’s bailed out, she is given an envelope with $200 in it and a bus ticket home to New York. The police officer tells her that it came from her father. But she knows that can’t be because he’s been dead for years. And just when she’s too deep inside the radical movement to leave, she meets a young man who helps her escape. Could he be an FBI informant, or is someone watching out for her? Rattled by these questions, she decides she must find out what happened to her father. Her discoveries could expose secrets that affect her whole family.


ABOUT CATHY RATH
Writing has been both a career and personal passion. I completed my education at UC Santa Barbara and San Francisco State University where I am a professor. My research in health and social justice was published by the American Public Health Association. As a director of a county-wide violence prevention project, my achievements were published by the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, which contributed to my receiving the Marin County Millennium Leadership Award on behalf of women and girls. I am also a writing coach who guides debut writers in completing their books. During the turbulent 1970s, I was involved in a variety of protest movements, and "Ripple Effect" draws upon those profound experiences. This is my first novel.



ABOUT THE BOOK
Jeannie Glazer was three years old in 1952 when her father dies in a car accident on a trip to Atlanta. Sixteen years later, as a college freshman, she is arrested during the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. She is released hours later when a sergeant announces that her bail was paid by "her pop" and tosses her an envelope of cash. Stunned and suspicious, Jeannie tells no one, convinced someone is watching her. Determined to find answers, her search closes in on a darker secret about her father's tragic death two decades earlier.

We have been in a mental health pandemic for a very long time. Students have been affected tremendously, and often times you might feel you are all alone. You don't have to stay silent if you are struggling with depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. Here are some UCI Resources and other mental health services available now outside of UCI.

203 Student Services 1 Irvine, CA 92697‑2200949.824.6457
UC Irvine Counseling Center

PLEASE NOTE: The UCI Counseling Center will be closed during the university winter shut down from December 23rd, 2021 through January 2nd, 2022. The Counseling Center will open on Monday January 3rd at 8am. Please see crisis services available 24/7 listed below.

Online Mental Health Screenings

Free, anonymous screenings for depression, anxiety problems, eating disorders, and alcohol problems. This screening tool can help you decide if meeting with a therapist might be helpful
ULifeline

An anonymous online resource for college mental health where you can find excellent self-assessment tools and fact sheets on mental health
Each Mind Matters

Each Mind Matters is California’s Mental Health Movement. We are a community of individuals and organizations dedicated to a shared vision of mental wellness and equality.


Regular business hours (Monday through Friday 8am-5pm) schedule routine appointments and for all other inquiries:

Please Call (949) 824-6457 to speak to a front office staff member about scheduling an appointment, to learn more about our current services, or if you trying to reach one of our mental health professionals.

If you are currently experiencing any COVID related symptoms or are not feeling well please call the Counseling Center to reschedule your appointment or set up a telebehavioral health appoinment.

For Life Threatening Emergencies or for Crisis Care needs 24/7:
Call (949) 824-6457 and select Option # 2. You will be transferred to a crisis support line
Text “Home” to 741741 to reach the Crisis Text Line
Call National Suicide Prevention Line at 1-800-273-8255
Call UCI Campus Police at (949) 824-5223
Call 911
Go to your nearest Emergency Room

OUTSIDE OF UCI

The Pandemic Crisis Services Coalition (PCSC) formed in March 2020 in response to the rising mental health challenges posed by the global Coronavirus pandemic.

Get help now — COVID Mental Health Support

Coming up Monday 12/6 at 9:00am pst - Megan Fairchild, Author of THE BALLERINA MINDSET

Learn how to thrive in intense, competitive environments with these secrets from one of America's premiere ballerinas--and get a sneak peek at what her life is really like.

From Megan Fairchild, the New York City Ballet principal dancer, Broadway actress, and host of the advice podcast Ask Megan, comes an inspiring how-to guide for dancers, athletes, artists, and anyone struggling to stay sane in a high-pressure environment: THE BALLERINA MINDSET: How to Protect Your Mental Health While Striving For Excellence (Penguin Books; December 7, 2021).

LISTEN to the show!

MEGAN FAIRCHILD

New York City Ballet Principal Dancer and Author of

THE BALLERINA MINDSET:

How to Protect Your Mental Health

While Striving for Excellence

Ballet may look glamorous and effortless to audience members, but it requires grueling discipline. It’s a competitive and physically and mentally demanding career that combines elite athleticism, artistry, and performance. Not only do dancers rehearse for six to eight hours a day before performing at night, but they have to make it all look easy!

As a principal ballerina with NYCB—not to mention a mother of three and a recent MBA graduate from NYU’s Stern School of Business—Fairchild is all too familiar with these challenges. In THE BALLERINA MINDSET, she shares all the wisdom she’s learned from her nearly two-decade career, drawing upon her own experiences to reveal how she learned to overcome everything from stage fright and negative feedback, to a packed calendar and weight management. Her warm and wise guidance is both achievable and healthy, especially perfect for young dancers, performing artists, or athletes.


In THE BALLERINA MINDSET, Megan provides easy-to-follow, encouraging advice:

· On facing anxiety: Remember, even your anxiety’s worst-case scenario—failure—isn’t always permanent. Life is more forgiving than that, and more times than not, we have second chances.

· On embracing uniqueness: If we remember to embrace our uniqueness, we can use it to our benefit. The confidence that comes from owning ourselves, strengths and weaknesses alike, is an attractive thing. People will be drawn to that.

· On physical health: We can be working toward our best selves in a healthy balanced way. It’s about giving ourselves permission to be human. As you take the scary steps toward your goals, stay gentle and real with yourself.

· On handling feedback: If you put all of your work and energy into fulfilling your greatest potential, you will find more satisfaction in the end, and achieve more success than if you allowed yourself to get bogged down with the noise.



THE BALLERINA MINDSET brings readers into Fairchild’s world as she reveals new details about her training regimen, early years studying ballet, and her marriage and subsequent divorce from a fellow dancer. In opening up about the realities of her high stress career, Fairchild addresses not just the potential physical obstacles individuals might face, but the mental and emotional strains as well. The result is an incredibly motivating and actionable guide from one of the most relatable and thoughtful performers working today, someone who readers can look up to and turn to for advice throughout their careers.



Suggested Interview Questions:

· What compelled you to write THE BALLERINA MINDSET?

· How does THE BALLERINA MINDSET differ from other titles geared towards creatives, especially young bunheads?

· NYCB’s fall season—its first since the pandemic began—started in September. What were you most looking forward to now that ballet is back?

· You are very much living you own advice: You are publishing a book during the holiday season—at the same time you are performing in NYCB’s ever-popular run of The Nutcracker, raising three small children, and completing your MBA at NYU’s Stern School of Business. Is there a single piece of advice, or mantra, that you tell yourself on your busiest days to keep yourself centered?

· The pandemic was—and remains—incredibly difficult for performers who rely on live shows. How did you handle the increased stress? Did you explore any new creative outlets?

· In addition to your work as a principal dancer with NYCB, you also played the lead role, Miss Turnstiles, in the Broadway musical On the Town in 2014. Will theatergoers see you on the Great White Way again in the future?



www.meganfairchild.com

Instagram: @mfairchild17



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Megan Fairchild is a principal dancer with New York City Ballet. After moving from Utah to New York City at the age of sixteen to study ballet full-time, she was offered an apprenticeship with NYCB, and was promoted to principal--the highest rank--just three years later. In 2014, she took a temporary leave from NYCB to play the lead role, Miss Turnstiles, in the Broadway musical On the Town. She is also the host of the advice podcast Ask Megan, a brand ambassador for Cole Haan, and an MBA student at NYU's Stern School of Business.

Monday 12/6/21 at 9:15M PST - POPPY HARLOW Emmy-nominated CNN news anchor shares her Christmas classic with lots of heart: THE BIGGEST LITTLE BOY: A CHRISTMAS STORY

POPPY HARLOW

Emmy-nominated CNN news anchor chats with
KUCI's Janeane Bernstein about her Christmas classic with lots of heart:

THE BIGGEST LITTLE BOY: A CHRISTMAS STORY

WATCH the conversation with Poppy Harlow below:

LISTEN to the show

THE BIGGEST LITTLE BOY: A CHRISTMAS STORY is a sweet Christmas story about a little boy in search of the enormous Christmas tree of his dreams, who discovers that the holidays are about so much more than material things. Kirkus calls the debut picture book by CNN news anchor Poppy Harlow, “an engaging story that small children will relate to. Delightful and resonant.”

Luca loves BIG things. BIG trucks. BIG buildings. BIG bowls of pasta. But what he wants most is the biggest Christmas tree of all. With Christmas approaching, Luca goes in search of a special tree. But he soon finds out that what matters most is having a BIG heart.


In interviews, Poppy Harlow talks about:

· The personal inspiration for writing the book: While walking through a local Christmas tree market with her son Luca, then not even one year old, he reached out his hand and grabbed the branch of a tiny little Christmas tree. He held on as we passed by almost dragging the tree along with us. In that moment the idea came to write a book for her son and for families everywhere about slowing down and looking out for others.

· Influenced by Midwest upbringing: Poppy grew up in Minnesota, where the community knew and cared for neighbors as they would their own family. The spirit of the holidays is a good reminder to bring that kindness and generosity to others.

· Parenting two kids: Raising Luca (3) and Sienna (5) with her husband in Brooklyn, NY has given Poppy an even greater appreciation material things are not the most valuable in life, it’s having a big heart and the spirit of generosity and love that brings the most joy.

· From CNN to back-to-school: this fall, Poppy announced a hiatus from her hosting duties at CNN for a two-semester Master of Studies in Law degree program at Yale. This move was inspired by her father James Harlow, an intellectual property litigator who would bring his daughter to his law office, as well as from interviewing Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who recalled pursuing a law degree while caring for her young daughter and cancer-stricken husband.

Poppy Harlow has crafted a timeless Christmas story brimming with good cheer, and Ramona Kaulitzki’s vibrant artwork brings the festive holiday season to life. Harlow says of the book, “In a world evermore focused on what things we have instead of what fills our heart, my hope is that The Biggest Little Boy can remind us all (parents and children alike) what really makes us happiest.” THE BIGGEST LITTLE BOY reassures all young readers that they are special, just the way they are.

About Poppy Harlow 

Poppy Harlow is a twice-Emmy-nominated journalist who co-anchors the morning edition of CNN Newsroom and hosts the successful podcast Bossfiles with Poppy Harlow. Originally from Minnesota, she now lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband Sinisa and their children Sienna and Luca. Please visit her online @poppyharlowcnn.

About Illustrator Ramona Kaulitzki: 

Ramona Kaulitzki's biggest passions have always been drawing and storytelling. She lives outside of Berlin where she works as a freelance illustrator. Please visit her online @ramonakaulitzki.