TODAY 5/7/19 - JORDAN REID, founding editor of the Ramshackle Glam blog calls in to our KUCI studios! Feeling anxious? Who isn't! Your fears are fodder for this astute, hysterical activity book: THE BIG ACTIVITY BOOK FOR ANXIOUS PEOPLE

JORDAN REID - founding editor of the Ramshackle Glam blog chats with host Janeane Bernstein, host of "Get the Funk Out!" - KUCI 88.9fm.

LISTEN to today's conversation with Jordan Reid!

Feeling anxious? Who isn't! Your fears are fodder for this astute, hysterical activity book: THE BIG ACTIVITY BOOK FOR ANXIOUS PEOPLE

We’re at a cultural moment where “anxiety” extends beyond the boundaries of a diagnosable disorder; it’s practically become a way of life. Part journal, part coloring book, part weird coping mechanisms, and part compendium of soothing facts, THE BIG ACTIVITY BOOK FOR ANXIOUS PEOPLE is an outlet for anyone who wants to take a break from reality, laugh through fears, and recognize with every page that they are not alone.



As a founding editor of the popular lifestyle blog Ramshackle Glam, Jordan Reid’s audience is well-acquainted with her honest, witty writing style. Erin Williams is also beloved for her fresh, quirky drawings that compliment Reid’s familiar voice. THE BIG ACTIVITY BOOK FOR ANXIOUS PEOPLE exemplifies the culmination of both their talents.


Jordan Reid will discuss:

· How to navigate your social media feeds without having an anxiety attack

· Anti-anxiety office strategies (Get through the workday without apologizing, meditations you should try, etc.)

· Zen mantras for the anxiously inclined

· Reasons why having anxiety is a good thing

· Why getting older is actually kind of okay

· In addition, she shares obscure diseases you probably don’t have, AND soothing facts about hand sanitizer.



So, on a bad day, color in the soothing grandma. On a really bad day, find step-by-step instructions on how to build an underground bunker. Reid and Williams want everyone to remember that they’re in good company: Anxious people are some of the funniest and most interesting and creative humans on the planet. (They know, because they are two of them.)

About the Book

Feeling anxious? Who isn't! Your most irrational (and sometimes rational) fears are hilarious fodder for this sharp and relatable activity book.

These days, anxiety is simply part of the human experience. Part journal, part coloring book, part weird coping mechanisms, and part compendium of soothing facts, The Big Activity Book for Anxious Peoplewill be an outlet for anyone who wants to take a break from reality, laugh through her fears, and realize with every page that she is not alone--and to help her figure out what to do when it's 3AM and she's wide awake worrying about whether she cc'ed the right "Bob" on that email. (Probably.)

Activities include:
* Fun Facts about Aging!
* Public Speaking: A Diagram
* Your Hotel Room Carpet: A Petri Dish of Horrors
* Obscure Diseases You Probably Don't Have
* Zen Mantras For The Anxiously Inclined
* Soothing Facts about Hand Sanitizer

On a bad day, try coloring in the soothing grandma. On a really bad day, find step-by-step instructions on how to build an underground bunker. Reid and Williams want everyone to remember that they're in good company: anxious people are some of the funniest and most interesting and creative humans on the planet. (They know, because they are two of them.)

About the Authors:

Jordan Reid is the founding editor of the lifestyle blog Ramshackle Glam and the author of two parenting and style memoirs. Her hobbies include creating unnecessary complications, insomnia, and maintaining an impressive collection of fake plants. She lives in California with her two children, elderly shih tzu, and twin orange cats.

Erin Williams is a writer, illustrator, and cancer researcher. She lives with her husband, daughter, and two terrible cats in New York City. She loves true crime podcasts, increasingly complex skin care routines, and going to bed at 9 PM.

5/6/19 @9:45am pst - Grace Talusan, the author of Paper Bodies: a memoir spoke with host Janeane Bernstein on KUCI 88.9fm

The Body Papers will be published by Restless Books on April 2, 2019. Pre-order everywhere books are sold or at Restless Books. 

LISTEN to today's conversation with featured guest Grace Talusan.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Born in the Philippines, young Grace Talusan moves with her family to a New England suburb in the 1970s. At school, she confronts racism as one of the few kids with a brown face. At home, the confusion is worse: her grandfather’s nightly visits to her room leave her hurt and terrified, and she learns to build a protective wall of silence that maps onto the larger silence practiced by her Catholic Filipino family. Talusan learns as a teenager that her family’s legal status in the country has always hung by a thread—for a time, they were “illegal.” Family, she’s told, must be put first.


The abuse and trauma Talusan suffers as a child affects all her relationships, her mental health, and her relationship with her own body. Later, she learns that her family history is threaded with violence and abuse. And she discovers another devastating family thread: cancer. In her thirties, Talusan must decide whether to undergo preventive surgeries to remove her breasts and ovaries. Despite all this, she finds love, and success as a teacher. On a fellowship, Talusan and her husband return to the Philippines, where she revisits her family’s ancestral home and tries to reclaim a lost piece of herself.

Not every family legacy is destructive. From her parents, Talusan has learned to tell stories in order to continue. The generosity of spirit and literary acuity of this debut memoir are a testament to her determination and resilience. In excavating such abuse and trauma, and supplementing her story with government documents, medical records, and family photos, Talusan gives voice to unspeakable experience, and shines a light of hope into the darkness. 

gracetalusan.com

5/6/19 @9:15am pst - Dr. Aysha Akhtar joined host Janeane Bernstein to talk about her book, Our Symphony With Animals: On Health, Empathy, and Our Shared Destinies

LISTEN to today's conversation
with featured guest Aysha Akhtar

Our Symphony With Animals:

On Health, Empathy, and Our Shared Destinies

By Aysha Akhtar, M.D., M.P.H

Publication Date: May 7, 2019

Press Release :: Aysha’s Website :: Aysha’s Twitter :: Aysha’s Facebook

A leader in the fields of animal ethics and neurology, Dr. Aysha Akhtar examines the rich human-animal connection and how interspecies empathy enriches our well-being. Deftly combining medicine, social history and personal experience, Our Symphony with Animals is the first book by a physician to show how deeply the well-being of humans and animals are entwined. Interwoven throughout is Dr. Akhtar’s own story of being a young girl who was bullied in school and sexually abused by her uncle. Feeling abandoned by humanity, it was only when she met Sylvester, a dog who had also been abused, that she found strength for both of them. Against the backdrop of her inspiring story, Dr. Akhtar asks, what do we gain when we recognize our kinship with animals? She travels around the country to tell the stories of a varied cast of characters―including a former mobster, an industrial chicken farmer, a Marine veteran―and comes face to face with a serial killer. Through storytelling that is entertaining, profound, and touching, Dr. Akhtar reveals what happens when we both break and forge bonds with animals. She demonstrates how humans are neurologically designed to empathize with animals, and how violence against them goes against our nature. In equal measure, the love and friendship we give to other species biologically reverberates back to us. Humanity’s compassion for animals is the next step in our species’ moral evolution and a vital component of our own health. Our Symphony with Animals is the definitive account for why our relationships with animals matter. 8 pages of color photographs

www.amazon.com

About Dr. Aysha Akhtar (EYE-SHA ACK-TAR):

Akhtar is double board-certified in both neurology and preventive medicine and has a master’s degree in public health. She is the Deputy Director of the Army’s Traumatic Brain Injury Program. Previously, she worked for the Office of Counterterrorism and Emerging Threats of the Food and Drug Administration. She is a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Public Health Service, in which she deploys to assist with national public health emergencies. She is also a fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics and is a consultant editor for The Journal of Animal Ethics. She is the author of Animals and Public Health and lives in Maryland.

5/6/19 @9am - Janeane spoke with Alyson Richman about her latest novel, THE SECRET OF CLOUDS (Berkley Hardcover; On Sale February 19, 2019) is an emotionally charged story of a dedicated teacher who works with a student with a rare illness, and how each is shaped and changed by the other.

LISTEN to today's show with special guest Alyson Richman!

Teacher Appreciation Day, which takes place annually on the first Tuesday in May, is quickly approaching on May 7, 2019! Internationally bestselling author Alyson Richman's latest novel, THE SECRET OF CLOUDS (Berkley Hardcover; On Sale February 19, 2019) is an emotionally charged story of a dedicated teacher who works with a student with a rare illness, and how each is shaped and changed by the other.



In an interview, Richman will talk about the following topics:


The book was inspired by one of Richman’s dear friends, a teacher in Richman’s native Long Island, NY, who shared how she once tutored a child who was too sick to attend school, and realized a decade later what a lasting impression this student had on her life.


Richman’s friend also shared a special lesson she uses in all of her classes. Each year, this teacher has students write letters to their future selves, and she then seals these letters in addressed envelopes and keeps them in a drawer for years. When these students are set to graduate high school, Richman’s friend mails the letters back. Richman was so moved by this story that she decided to incorporate it into her book.


Richman did extensive research to inform the novel, particularly into the teaching methods and lesson plans that she describes. She selected such methods because they are based on first-hand accounts of use in Long Island school districts.


Various teachers inspired Richman to become a writer – and their lasting impact is with her still today.



ABOUT THE BOOK

In THE SECRET OF CLOUDS, Katya, a rising ballerina, and Sasha, a graduate student, are young and in love when an unexpected tragedy befalls their native Kiev, Ukraine. Years later, after the couple has safely immigrated to America, the consequences of this incident cause their son, Yuri, to be born with a rare health condition that isolates him from other children. Maggie, a passionate and dedicated teacher, agrees to tutor Yuri at his home, even though she is haunted by her own painful childhood memories. As the two forge a deep and soulful connection, Yuri’s boundless curiosity and unique wisdom inspire Maggie to make difficult changes in her own life. And she'll never realize just how strong Yuri has made her—until she needs that strength the most.

5/2/19 - JASON BAUMANN, New York Public Library Coordinator of Humanities and LGBTQ Collections, spoke with host Janeane Bernstein

JASON BAUMANN

LISTEN to today's featured conversation
with Jason Baumann.

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the historic Stonewall uprising, a new anthology celebrating the past, present, and future of LGBTQ activism

Among the topics covered in THE STONEWALL READER:

· The presence of LGBTQ activism before Stonewall: Although many people think of the Stonewall uprising as the start of LGBTQ liberation movements, they were preceded by almost a decade of activism from organizations like the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, who organized conferences, published nationally distributed magazines, and demonstrated at the White House and the Pentagon.

· The emergence of transgender political organizing: Some might consider transgender activism to be a recent phenomenon, but there was an emerging transgender rights movement in the 1960s through pioneering magazines like Tranvestia and organizations like the Erickson Educational Foundation and the Labyrinth Foundation Counseling Service.

· The people of color on the front lines: Trailblazing figures like African American activists Ernestine Eckstein, Joel Hall, and Marsha P. Johnson, Latinx activists Sylvia Rivera and Jeanne Córdova, and Japanese American activist Kiyoshi Kuromiya were at the center of the LGBTQ movements of the time.

· Early queer revolts: Stonewall was preceded by earlier queer revolts like the Cooper Do-nuts Riot in Los Angeles in 1959, the Dewey’s restaurant sit-in in Philadelphia in 1965, the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot in San Francisco in 1966, and the protests against the raid of the Black Cat Tavern in Los Angeles in 1967, among others.



THE STONEWALL READER reminds us of the importance of everyday resistance, and the wildfire that can spread from one small spark.

ABOUT THE EDITOR:

Jason Baumann is the Susan and Douglas Dillon Assistant Director for Collection Development at the New York Public Library. Baumann coordinates the Library’s LGBTQ Initiative, for which he has curated two exhibitions—1969: The Year of Gay Liberation and Why We Fight: Remembering AIDS Activism. Baumann has curated Love & Resistance: Stonewall 50, a major exhibit at NYPL for 2019.



https://www.nypl.org/staff-profiles/jason-baumann

MEDIA ADVISORY -- Art exhibit commemorating Stonewall tells of mid-20th century LGBTQ experience. Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, one of the most important events leading to the modern fight for LGBTQ rights in the United States, UCI presents the art exhibit “Burning Time: A Graphic Book Collaboration.”

MEDIA ADVISORY

Art exhibit commemorating Stonewall tells of mid-20th century LGBTQ experience

EVENT: Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, one of the most important events leading to the modern fight for LGBTQ rights in the United States, UCI presents the art exhibit “Burning Time: A Graphic Book Collaboration.” Jointly produced by Jonathan Alexander, Chancellor’s Professor of English, and Professor Antoinette LaFarge of the Department of Art, it pairs eight poems and associated panoramic paintings to bring to life the story of a young gay man arriving in New Orleans in the late 1950s to start a new life.

WHEN/WHERE: Tuesday, May 7, through Thursday, May 23, in the Viewpoint Gallery at UCI’s Student Center (bldg. 113, grid D5 on campus map: https://www.parking.uci.edu/maps/documents/UCI-CampusCore_2018.pdf


INFORMATION: The exhibit is free and open to the public. Parking is available in the Student Center Parking Structure (grid C/D5 on campus map) or the Mesa Parking Structure (grid D3 on campus map) for $10 per day or $2 per hour. Media planning to attend should contact Pat Harriman at 949-824-9055 or pharrima@uci.edu.

HIGHLIGHT: 4 p.m. Friday, May 10: An opening reception will feature light appetizers and remarks by Alexander and LaFarge.

BACKGROUND: The project began with a trove of photos that Alexander was given at a family retreat – forgotten images offering a poignant glimpse into the life of a long-dead gay uncle. He began to imagine what this man must have gone through, arriving in New Orleans from rural Louisiana as a youth in the mid-20th century. Alexander soon realized that his conjured story needed equally evocative artworks to form an emotional correlative of the uncle’s experiences, and he invited LaFarge into the project. In the exhibit – sponsored by UCI Illuminations, the School of Humanities and the Claire Trevor School of the Arts – text and art interweave to re-create a particular time and place while also summoning the timelessness of self-exploration and desire.

4/29/19 @9:45am pst - Jack Murgatroyd called in to KUCI 88.9fm to talk about his film with Tim Burnham called Part of Water about veteran life guard Ben Carlson, who lost his life, while attempting an intense rescue. Part of Water will be screened at the closing night of the Newport Beach Film Festival. Listen LIVE on KUCI 88.9fm - stream www.kuci.org

LISTEN to today's conversation with featured
guest Jack Murgatroyd!

ABOUT THE FILM

Part of Water is a feature length documentary which will tell the tragic story of Ben Carlson, an American hero who lost his life in the line of duty. Ben was an experienced Newport Beach Lifeguard who unfortunately drowned while making an intense rescue during a massive swell in July 2014. With the news of his passing, shockwaves were sent through the community and truly across the world (gaining worldwide news coverage). Our film tells the story of Ben's life and the stories of lifeguards across the country who put their lives on the line to keep our beaches safe.

When most people think of ocean lifeguards, they think of Baywatch; but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Part of Water tells the tragic story of fallen lifeguard, Ben Carlson, who lost his life in the line of duty while on a rescue during a massive swell in 2014. Through Ben’s story, Part of Water sheds light on the countless dangers that ocean lifeguards face and earning the respect they’ve always deserved.


Part of Water Festival Tickets - https://www.newportharboralumni.org/movie (we can talk more about this during the interview but we're doing 4 showings of the film on May 18th at Newport Harbor High School)


WATCH THE TRAILER

Ben Carlson Memorial and Scholarship Foundation - https://www.bencarlsonfoundation.org/


Bio
Jack is an award winning filmmaker based in LA. After graduating the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 2011, he started Hunt House Pictures which focuses on commercial and documentary work. His love of filmmaking initially stems from the surf world and through his work he seeks to explore stories of community and larger than life characters.



Excited for our interview tomorrow! It sounds like Tim will be able to make it. He will supply you with his bio and all that stuff. Let us know if there's anything else you need in the meantime!


Instagram - @partofwater