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Tony Snow is the White House Press Secretary for the George W. Bush administration. He succeeded Scott McClellan, becoming the third individual to serve in that position under President Bush. It is the second Presidential administration to which Snow has been employed, having worked for President George H. W. Bush as chief speechwriter and Deputy Assistant of Media Affairs. Between his two White House stints, Snow was a broadcaster and newspaper columnist. After years of regular guest-hosting for The Rush Limbaugh Show and providing news commentary for National Public Radio, he launched his own talk radio program, The Tony Snow Show, which went on to become nationally syndicated. He was also a regular personality on Fox News Channel since 1996, hosting Fox News Sunday, Weekend Live, and often substituting as host of The O'Reilly Factor.
Is There Life After Death? Dr. Gary Schwartz an eminent scientist, director of the Human Energy Systems Laboratory and author of the new book, The Afterlife Experiments: Breakthrough Scientific Evidence of Life After Death presents a fascinating lecture entitled "Is There Life After Death?" Dr. Schwartz's presentation puts the audience on the scene of a breakthrough scientific achievement: contact dead friends and relatives of "sitters" who were masked from view and never spoke, depriving the mediums of any cues. The message that came through stunned sitters and researchers alike. Dr. Schwartz was forced by the overwhelmingly positive data to abandon his skepticism, reaching some startling conclusions.
Windtalkers Zonnie Gorman, Navajo Code Talker historian, who acted as a consultant for the John Woo movie, Windtalkers, presents a lecture telling the true story of the Navajo Code Talkers role in World War II and their contributions to winning the war. The code, created from the Dina language, the Navajo native tongue, was never broken nor was it revealed until 1968, when the military declassified the secret. Last year President Bush awarded Congressional medals to the surviving Code Talkers for their pivotal roles in America's victory in the Pacific. Zonnie Gorman's lecture is also available with one of the original twenty nine Navajo Marine Code Talkers. With slides and filmclips.
Ice T Ice-T (born Tracy Morrow) has proven to be one of hip-hop's most articulate and intelligent stars, as well as one of its most frustrating. At his best, the rapper has written some of the best portraits of ghetto life and gangsters, as well as some of the best social commentary that hip-hop has produced. He has become an influential spokesman for America’s youth, regardless of color. He also joined the cast of TV's "Law & Order SVU" (consistently a number-one Friday night show) as a series regular playing the part of Detective Finn. Additionally, Ice T has been the keynote speaker at a number of Internet conventions including the 1999 College Music Journal Conference in New York, and in 2000, the New York Music & Internet Expo, Rotterdam Film Festival, and Canadian Music Week.
Lost Boys of Sudan Lost Boys of Sudan is a feature-length documentary that follows two Sudanese refugees on an extraordinary journey from Africa to America. Orphaned as young boys in one of Africa's cruelest civil wars, Peter Dut and Santino Chuor survived lion attacks and militia gunfire to reach a refugee camp in Kenya along with thousands of other children. From there, remarkably, they were chosen to come to America. Safe at last from physical danger and hunger, a world away from home, they find themselves confronted with the abundance and alienation of contemporary American suburbia. Lost Boys of Sudan won an Independent Spirit Award and screened theatrically in 70 cities across the U.S. to strong audience and critical praise. The film was broadcast nationally on the PBS series POV in the fall of 2004 and earned two Emmy nominations. The story of the Lost Boys of Sudan has touched people from all walks of life. From movie stars and politicians to the average housewife, people from around the world have fallen in love with these courageous young men. Joan Hecht was no exception. When hearing of their story for the first time, Joan Hecht’s eyes filled with tears and she felt a deep stirring in her soul. She knew that helping them was not an option. It was a call to her heart from God and Joan Hecht responded. She hoped to be instrumental in making their new lives in America better than the ones they had left behind. Like many others, Joan Hecht felt compelled to be a mother to these young men who couldn't even remember the faces of their own mothers. “Mama Joan” hoped only to help change their lives, never realizing how knowing each of them would so drastically change her own.
Paper Clips Paper Clips is an inspiring 2004 documentary about a consciousness-raising project that blossomed into something beautiful at a rural Tennessee school. When the principal of Whitwell Middle School sought a program that would teach diversity to a predominantly white, Protestant student body, the notion of focusing on the Holocaust--specifically Hitler's extermination of six million Jews--seemed like an obvious way to go. But understanding what "six million" looks like became a challenge. Thus was born the idea of collecting that number of paper clips at Whitwell as a visual reference. But then it turned out paper clips actually have, in historical terms, symbolic value where the Holocaust is concerned. In this moving film, one sees Whitwell students dig into research on Germany's genocidal campaign, solicit clips from a variety of leaders and celebrities, and make a name for themselves on the national news. In time, the world comes to Whitwell's doorstep, via unsolicited donations of clips from people around the world, and in a tearful meeting of students and Holocaust survivors. The dimensions of the project, the lessons about prejudice and intolerance, are stunning to watch grow beyond anyone's wildest expectations. This is a great film for families and classrooms to watch together. --Tom Keogh
Judge Alex Former police officer, attorney and Florida Circuit Court Judge Alex E. Ferrer hosts "Judge Alex," the new court room strip from Twentieth Television that will make its launch in first-run national syndication on September 12, 2005. The first new court show in four years, the half-hour strip features Judge Alex, the only television judge with extensive police, legal and judicial experience, presiding over a wide array of cases, resolving complicated issues with his straight forward approach and cogent rulings. Most recently, Judge Alex served as the Associate Administrative Judge of the Criminal Division of Florida’s Eleventh Judicial Circuit, which services Miami-Dade County, the largest trial court in the state and fourth largest in the United States. Born in Havana, Cuba, Judge Alex and his family escaped from Fidel Castro’s Communist regime to America when he was one year old. Growing up in Miami with a passionate interest in law enforcement, at 19 he joined the Coral Gables Police Department, making him one of the youngest officers in the state. While on the police force, he served as a patrolman, detective and in an undercover capacity. He was also trained to be on the department’s SWAT force. Intent on building a career in the legal profession, Judge Alex performed his duties as a police officer while attending both college and law school.
DOES GOD EXIST?...... A Debate Between Dr. Michael Shermer & Dr. Doug Geivett This debate pushes the boundaries of our faith and how we believe. While three of the world's most widespread religions, Islam, Judaism, and Catholicism, sit atop the headlines, there are no clear answers to who's right and who's wrong. Dr. Michael Shermer, founder of the Skeptics Society squares off against Dr. Doug Geivett, professor of theology at Biola University. They challenge the audience to look directly into the eye of their beliefs and affirm their faith in God or to cast religion aside as an outdated way to explain the unexplainable.
Dr. Miriam Adahan Dr.Miriam Adahan, author, lecturer and renowned psychotherapist, is famous throughout the Jewish world for her sensitive advice and her highly effective EMETT ("Emotional Maturity Established Through Torah") system for coping with life's crises. She has a B.A. in psychology, with honors, from the University of Michigan. She also holds a Masters in counseling psychology from Wayne State University and did three years of post-Masters work in Humanistic Psychology Institute in San Francisco.
Rebecca Adamson Rebecca Adamson, a Cherokee, is the founder and president of First Nations Development Institute. She has worked directly with grassroots tribal communities and as a national advocate of local tribal issues for over 25 years. Working alongside the best political and philosophical thinkers in Indian country, Adamson advocates reform and thinks that the key to native people controlling their own lives is economics. A recipient of the 1996 Ms. magazine "Woman of the Year" Award, her organization has advised indigenous people around the world. Activist Rebecca Adamson has helped and advised indigenous people around the world, winning the admiration and trust of almost everyone she has encountered. Seventeen years ago, as a single mother with only an unemployment check and a dream, Adamson set out to establish a place where Native Americans could find outside capital and technical support to build successful small businesses and self-sufficient reservation economies independent of federal control. Adamson, a Cherokee, is the founder and president of First Nations Development Institute. She has worked directly with grassroots tribal communities and as a national advocate of local tribal issues for over 25 years. The organization has raised and distributed millions of dollars, fostered the birth of dozens of micro-enterprises coast-to-coast and set up a $1 million revolving loan fund. Adamson is a recipient of the 2001 John W. Gardner Leadership Award, which honors outstanding Americans who exemplify the leadership of individuals working in the voluntary sector who build, mobilize or unify people, institutions or causes. She was awarded the Council on Foundations 1996 Robert W. Scrivner Award for creative and innovative grantmaking and the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development's 1996 Jay Silverheel Award. In addition, Ms. magazine named her one of their seven "Women of the Year" (1997) and in 1998, she was named as one of the top ten Social Entrepreneurs of the Year by Who Cares magazine. She writes a monthly column for the newspaper Indian Country Today, devoted to alternative economic development and other issues. Adamson says her success is rooted in the summers she spent with her Cherokee grandparents in North Carolina, where she learned "the Indian value of listening." She began by listening to good business ideas that couldn't find money when she worked at her first job as a planner for the Spokane and Nez Perce tribes. She listened and saw that the Native Americans with whom she lived had the lowest incomes and highest unemployment, the lowest life-expectancy and the highest rates of disease, alcoholism and poverty. She also saw a Third World country buried in the richest country in the world and the experience led her to a movement for Indians to regain control of their destiny by controlling their own schools.
Dr. Maya Angelou Dr. Maya Angelou chosen by President Bill Clinton, Dr. Maya Angelou delivered her dedicatory poem "On The Pulse of Morning" at the inaugural ceremony in January 1993. Considered one of our national treasures, and the author of many best-selling books, including I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, her performance/lecture stresses the value of ethnic, economic and religious diversity in all undertakings. A passionate and powerful speaker, Dr. Angelou challenges her audiences to invest their spirits and hearts in the elevation of the human condition. Dr. Maya Angelou is hailed as one of the great voices of contemporary literature and as a remarkable Renaissance woman. A poet, educator, historian, best-selling author, actress, playwright, civil-rights activist, producer and director, Dr. Angelou continues to travel the world making appearances on college campuses, spreading her legendary wisdom. A mesmerizing vision of grace, swaying and stirring when she moves, Dr. Angelou captivates her audiences lyrically with vigor, fire and perception. She has the unique ability to shatter the opaque prisms of race and class between reader and subject throughout her books of poetry and her autobiographies. Dr. Angelou has authored numerous best-selling books, including I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Even The Stars Look Lonesome. In 1981, Dr. Angelou was appointed to a lifetime position as the first Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University. In January 1993, she became only the second poet in U.S. history to have the honor of writing and reciting original work at the Presidential Inauguration. Dr. Maya Angelou and Hallmark Cards, Inc. have collaborated to make a gift selection that offers inspiration, hope and joy. Now available in select Hallmark stores, the collection features vases, pilows, wind chimes, frames and other charming trinkets. With compassion and candor, Dr. Angelou's works speak to the heart, encouraging us to love life, to perservere through its challenges and to share our gifts with others.
Rabbi Shlomo Aviner Rabbi Shlomo Aviner is the best-selling author of over 50 works, ranging from philosophy to Jewish Law. He is considered to be a prominent voice on current events and topics of wide Jewish interest, and is featured in many leading newspapers and magazines across the world. A disciple of Rabbi Zvi Yehuda HaCohen Kook, he is also the Rosh Yeshiva of Ateret Kohanim and the Rabbi of Beit El. Considered one of the leading ideologues of the national camp in Israel, Rabbi Shlomo Aviner was born in 1943 in German Occupied Lyon, France. There he was active in Bnei Akiva, the religious Zionist youth movement, eventually assuming the role of national director. Rabbi Aviner holds a M.A. in Mathematics and is an Electrical Engineer by profession. Following his aliya to Israel, he studied at Yeshivat Merkaz Harav where he was one of the "Talmedi Muvhak" of Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook, son of Israel's first Chief Rabbi, Avraham Yitzchak Kook. Rabbi Aviner served previously as spiritual leader of Kibbutz Lavi in the Galil and Moshav Keshet on the Golan Heights. He is also a Reserve Lieutenant in the Israel Defense Forces. Rabbi Aviner has hundreds of published works to his credit, including the famed "Sichot Harav Tzvi Yehuda" and "Tal Hermon" on the weekly Torah portion. He has written on a broad range of topics and his lectures in person and on tape reach a wide and diverse audience. He has columns that appear weekly in the Israeli daily Ma'ariv, and in the Machon Meir weekly newsletter "BeAhava U'Bemuna". Rabbi Aviner also has a regular radio show with Arutz Sheva. Rabbi Aviner's advice is sought by people from all walks of life ranging from troubled youth and young couples to Prime Ministers and heads of the Security Establishment
Clyde Bellecourt Clyde is a founder and Director of the American Indian Movement. He was a major figure in the occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973 and played a founding role in an ongoing Indian School System, Legal Rights Center and the International Indian Treaty Council. He is also directing the Peacemaker Center for Indian youth and the AIM Patrol which provides security for the Minneapolis Indian community. He is an organizer of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and the Media. He is founder and currently Chairman of the Board of American Indian OIC, an innovative job program that has moved over 14,000 people from welfare to full-time employment. Clyde sees a bright future: "This generation of little children is the 7th Generation.
Peter Bergen Peter Bergen is a Schwartz senior fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington D.C; an Adjunct Professor at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University; CNN's terrorism analyst and author of Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Bin Laden. (Free Press, 2001). Holy War, Inc. was a New York Times bestseller and has been translated into eighteen languages. A documentary based on Holy War, Inc., which aired on National Geographic television, was nominated for an Emmy in the research category. His most recent book is The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader (Free Press, 2006). The book is being translated into French, Spanish, Arabic and Polish, and CNN is shooting a two hour documentary based on the book that will air around the fifth anniversary of 9/11. Former White House counterterrorism coordinator, Richard Clarke, reviewing the book in the Washington Post wrote What made Bin Laden into historys most successful terrorist? Peter L. Bergen has written what will long be a goto resource for those seeking answers to such questions. The result is a detailed, wellresearched narrative that persuasively answers dozens of questions that are still painfully relevant fine volume. Foreign Affairs reviewer named it one of the best books of the past year about the Middle East. Bergen has written about al Qaeda and terrorism for a variety of publications including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, Foreign Affairs, The Washington Post The Atlantic Rolling Stone TIME, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, The Times and The Daily Telegraph. He is on the editorial board of Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, the leading scholarly journal in the field. In 1997, as a producer for CNN, Bergen produced bin Ladens first television interview. He was the recipient of the Leonard Silk Journalism Fellowship 2000 for Holy War Inc, and in 1994 he won the Overseas Press Club Edward R. Murrow award for best foreign affairs documentary for the CNN program Kingdom of Cocaine. From mid 1998 to late 1999 Bergen worked as a correspondent-producer for CNN. He was program editor for "CNN Impact," a co-production of CNN and TIME, from 1997 to 1998. Previously he worked for CNN as a producer on a wide variety of international and U.S. national stories. From 1985 to 1990 he worked for ABC News in New York.
Rabbi Nathan Cardozo Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes Cardozo, Dean of the David Cardozo Academy for Jewish studies and Human Dignity, lectures regularly at over fifty institutions for Jewish and secular learning around the world. He is often hosted by programs with affiliation ranging from the Orthodox Union and union of Sephardic Communities to oxford and Harvard universities. Educated in Amsterdam, Rabbi Lopes Cardozo comes from the Portuguese-Spanish Jewish community of Holland. After receiving his rabbinical ordination from Gateshead Talmudic College, he studied at the Institute for Higher Rabbinical Studies of Chief Rabbi Unterman and at Mir Yeshiva. He holds a doctorate in Philosophy. Regarded by many as a type of ambassador of conscience, he has, over the past twenty-five years, attracted a large number of students with his unconventional style. His fresh approach to many topics of social concern and his unswerving honesty continue to engage Jews and non-Jews alike. He is known for his most original insights in Judaism, through which he is able to communicate to a wide audience the relevance of Judaism for our complicated times. Tens of thousands of people throughout Israel, Europe, the USA, Canada and South Africa; religious Jews, non-religious Jews and non-Jews as well, have become followers and disciples of Rabbi Lopes Cardozo’s unique style.
Andrea Carmen Andrea is currently Executive Director of the International Indian Treaty Council. Much of her work involves expanding the support network for Indians throughout the hemisphere. She speaks fluent Spanish and has extensive experience working with Indigenous Peoples in North and Central America. She recently worked with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Rigoberta Menchu, at the First World Summit of Indigenous Peoples held in Guatemala during the coup d'etat. She also was an advisor to the World Council of Churches on their relationship with traditional Indian peoples. She lives in Chickaloon, Alaska and is past coordinator of the Native Alaskan Elders Sovereignty Network as well as current co-coordinator of the Chickaloon Village Environmental Protection Program. She consults with several Indian communities and organizations on economic and community development. She graduated from the U of California in Women's Studies and was selected "Speaker of the Year" by People Are Speaking in San Francisco.
Kathleen Cleaver Kathleen Cleaver, a major voice in the Black liberation movements of the 1960s and 70s, continues today, to speak out against racism, sexism and economic inequality. In 1966, Cleaver fist became active in the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). From 1967 to 1971, she was the Communications Secretary of the Black Panther Party and the first woman member of its Central Committee. After sharing years of exile with her former husband Eldridge Cleaver, she returned to the United States in late 1975. Since graduating from Yale Law School in 1987, Cleaver has combined legal work, teaching and activism. She has taught at numerous universities including Emory, Yale and Sara Lawrence. She served on the Georgia Supreme Court Commission on Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts and became a Board Member of the Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights. She has been active in the campaigns to free death row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal and former Panther Geronimo Pratt (released in 1997). Her writings and essays have appeared in numerous magazines, books and newspapers and her memoir, Memories of Love and War, is forthcoming from Random House.
Robert Cruz Tony is U.N. Liaison Officer and coordinates Treaty Council participation at the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. He works with the U.N. Working Group on Indigenous Populations to complete the Universal Declaration on the Rights & Principles of Indigenous Peoples - a document that will establish a standard for countries to co-exist with Indigenous Peoples. In 12 years at the Treaty Council he has Coordinated Community Outreach and Research & Documentation and been Director of Operations. He has met Gorbachev, Arafat, Nelson Mandela} and other world leaders to discuss Indigenous Sovereignty, environmental degradation, religious freedom, torture and political persecution. A current focus is a U.N. study on nation/state violations of Treaties. At the 1993 U.N. World Conference on Human Rights, he helped successfully lobby countries to call for an International Decade of Indigenous Peoples. He helps build unity between Indigenous people of all colors by emphasizing their shared history and common vision for the future
Clifton Davis Popular actor, gospel singer and entertainer who is best known for his role as Reverend Rueben Gregory on the hit NBC television series, Amen. Actor, producer, singer and songwriter are just a few of the titles tied to his marques name. As a big-screen actor, Chicago’s native son, Clifton Davis has been featured in such familiar flicks as Any Given Sunday, Kingdom Come and Spike Lee’s Crooklyn. On the small-screen, who can forget his most memorable character on the highly successful sitcom Amen, playing the role of the handsome, God-fearing minister, Reuben Gregory Probably, his most surprising achievement is as composer for the multi-platinum selling single and Grammy-nominated song he penned for the Jackson Five back in the day – Never Can Say Good-Bye. But that was then. Clifton Davis would remind you that he is an ordained minister with undergraduate and graduate degrees in theology. And even more importantly, Clifton has been an evangelist for the last thirty years of his life, preaching, teaching and singing about the goodness of the Lord, all over the world. Balancing saintly and secular duties as a witness for the Lord is no easy task. Rebuke from both Hollywood and the holy world is even at the door. But Clifton Davis seems to be an exception to the norms, receiving favor wherever he goes.
Misha Defonseca As told in her awe-inspiring book, Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years, Misha Defonseca walked for over four years as a child during World War II across 3,000 miles of Nazi-occupied land in search of her parents. Her survival was made possible only by her ingenuity and a pack of wolves that helped to feed, shelter and comfort her. Misha Defonseca tells one of the most astonishing stories ever to come out of the Holocaust. A child refugee in search of her parents during World War II, she walked for over four years across 3,000 miles of Nazi-occupied land. In 1941, when Defonseca was seven years old, her parents were arrested and she was hidden in a "safe" home they had secretly arranged for her. Her foster grandfather recognized the terrible danger she was in and taught her some important survival skills. Defonseca overheard her stepmother, however, planning to turn her over to the Germans and decided to run away. She hid in forests and woodland areas, stealing from farm kitchens, pilfering crops in the field and eating wild plants and insects in order to stay alive. Frequently close to death from hunger and cold, her survival was only made possible by the companionship of a pack of wolves that helped to feed and shelter her along her journey. Caring for the cubs while the wolves hunted, she ate the raw meat of their kill, and felt true happiness for the first time in her troubled life. "I never remember being hungry in the company of wolves," she says. Before the war ended, she was captured by partisans, trapped in the infamous Warsaw Ghetto, forced to kill a Nazi soldier in self-defense and swept up by her first love. A classic tale of good and evil, Defonseca describes her extraordinary journey of miles and the passage of her heart from innocence through the abyss of despair to peace and redemption. Told with passion untempered by time, Defonseca's uplifting story is something people of all faiths will want to have the opportunity to hear.
Walter E. Fauntroy A prominent minister, an associate of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and a civil rights activist in the 1960's, Walter Fauntroy served as a United States Congressman representing Washington, DC for twenty years and became a pivotal voice in shaping and implementing many significant changes in national public policy.
Rabbi Mordechai Elon Rabbi Mordechai Elon is a highly regarded Rabbi and a teacher of enormous popular appeal. Not only is he renowned for his learning, he is a distinguished leader, admired and respected by people in all walks of life. With his ready smile and attentive demeanor, he is never too busy to listen to others, to explain, to advise and to teach. Rabbi Elon is a gifted teacher, with the ability to touch the innermost core of the many who throng to hear him. Old and young, religious and secular, right wing and left-wing, Ashkenazim and Sephardim, all come to learn Torah from his lips, and the Rabbi welcomes them all. Those who attend his sermons, classes and lectures reflect the entire spectrum of "amcha beit Yisrael". All social distinctions fall away in the large crowd of participants. Rabbi Elon is a man of many facets. He heads Yeshivat HaKotel in Jerusalem's Old City, widely recognized as one of the country's leading hesder yeshivas. In addition, Rabbi Elon travels throughout the country, and often abroad as well, to offer his encouragement, direction and guidance to all who turn to him for advice and help. Rabbi Elon is one of the most charismatic Jewish leaders in the world today. He reaches more than 250,000 Israelis weekly with his classes on the weekly Torah portion heard live, listened on the radio and seen on television. Rabbi Elon’s philosophy, with its central theme of Jewish unity and Jewish destiny, speaks to Israelis from across the Jewish spectrum. He has founded a new movement called Mibereshit with the goal to enhance Jewish knowledge and Jewish values for all Jews.
Scott Fried Scott Fried is a national public speaker, health educator and author. He has devoted the past sixteen years of his life lecturing in nearly every state in this country, as well as Israel, England, Canada, Holland and Honduras, reaching more than a million people. He has spoken at over 500 institutions, including colleges and universities, high schools and middle schools, summer camps, synagogues and churches. In addition, he has lectured widely at youth retreats, juvenile detention centers and prisons, alternative schools, learning disabled populations, gay/straight alliances, PTO meetings and teacher training workshops. Topics include sexual responsibility, abstinence, dating, transmission of HIV, homosexuality, eating disorders, body image, self-mutilation, suicide, alcohol and drug misuse, dealing with divorce and broken-heartedness, among others. Scott uses himself as Exhibit A. He begins each lecture with his story of how he got infected with HIV in 1987 at the age of 24, during his first and only unsafe sexual encounter. His unstoppable approach to educating others can be encapsulated into one thought: one must understand the value of one's own life, and hold it sacred, in order to refrain from dangerous behaviors that could lead to HIV infection and other crises. He is the author of two books. If I Grow Up: Talking with Teens about AIDS, Love and Staying Alive is a moving chronicle of his experiences and lectures. The book is part journal, part guide and part love-letter, researched and compiled from hundreds of lectures to 1000s of students across the country. My Invisible Kingdom: Letters From the Secret Lives of Teens, presents a cross-section of the thousands of letters from students who have written to Scott in an attempt to share their pain and doubt on such diverse topics as rape, eating disorders, suicide, self-mutilation, coming out, addiction and broken hearts. The book is also intended for parents and other adults who are concerned about the physical and psychological well-being of today's youth. In addition to his lectures, Scott has conducted peer HIV-education programs for the tri-state area, encouraging teenagers to teach their own peer group and co-founded an HIV-positive speakers' bureau, through a nonprofit AIDS service organization and in connection with the NYC Board of Education, providing free HIV prevention workshops to students in the five boroughs. He was seen on the television daytime drama Guiding Light portraying Bart, a young man living with AIDS. Scott has been published in numerous periodicals and newspapers and is featured in the books The Five Gifts of Illness: A Reconsideration, Living Proof: Courage in the Face of AIDS, The Faces of AIDS: Lives at the Epicenter and The World is a Narrow Bridge: Stories that Celebrate Hope and Healing. He has been interviewed on ABC Eyewitness News and The Sally Jessy Raphael Show, received the Honorary Star of the Rainbow Award for his work with teens and is a biannual guest speaker at the Office of President Clinton in New York City.
Tim Giago A leading Native American journalist, Tim Giago is a syndicated columnist and publisher of the Lakota Times, the largest independently owned American Indian weekly newspaper in the United States. Tim Giago serves on the editorial consultant committee on diversity issues for USA Today and is the author of two books, The Aboriginal Sin and Notes From Indian Country.
Malcolm Gladwell Malcolm Gladwell has an incomparable gift for generating value by interpreting groundbreaking research in psychology, sociology and neurology and applying it to business. In 2005, Time Magazine named Malcolm one of the 100 Most Influential People. He is the author of two New York Times #1 bestsellers With his first book Malcolm embedded the concept of The Tipping Point in our everyday vocabulary and gave organizations new tools for understanding how and why change happens, and how to create positive epidemics of ideas and behavior. In Blink he analyzes intuition—the judgments we make unconsciously and instinctively—and he explores how we can master this important aspect of successful decision-making. He is currently a staff writer for the New Yorker magazine. His editor describes his work as a new genre of story, an idea-driven narrative that’s focused on the everyday and combines research with material that's more personal, social and historical. He was previously a reporter for the Washington Post. Malcolm is an extraordinary speaker: always on target, aware of the context and the concerns of the audience, informative and practical, poised, eloquent and delightfully warm and funny. Magically, he entertains and shakes up your perspective at the same time. The Books Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking In the Blink of an eye, the unconscious mind decides lots of (often very important) things for us without our even knowing what we know or how we know it. In his groundbreaking book Blink, Malcolm describes how we make these decisions—both the good ones and the bad—why some people are so much better at it than others, and how we can improve our skill at interpreting these details correctly to become better decision makers—in our homes, in our offices, and in everyday life. Blink examines the smallest components of our experience, the content and origin of those instantaneous impressions and conclusions that bubble up whenever we meet a new person, or confront a complex situation, or have to make a decision under conditions of stress. If we paid more attention to these fleeting moments, it would change how we do a lot of things. If you combined all these little changes together, you’d end up with a different and happier world. Malcolm’s books are intellectual adventure stories. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make A Big Difference The Tipping Point is a book about change, in particular, a book that presents a new way of understanding why change happens as quickly and as unexpectedly as it so often does. It's that ideas and behavior and messages and products sometimes behave just like outbreaks of infectious disease. They are social epidemics. The Tipping Point is an examination of the social epidemics that surround us. In The Tipping Point, Malcolm describes how trends work and he helps companies apply this knowledge to their own business strategies. Using the principles of epidemiology—the study of epidemics—to understand the movement of ideas, he explains how trends start and spread and he offers tools for igniting, steering and/or sustaining the trends—“positive epidemics”—that matter to his audiences. Credentials Staff writer for The New Yorker Former science and medicine writer for The Washington Post Winner, National Magazine Award “Gladwell and his ideas have reached a tipping point of their own.” ~ Fast Company
Jonathan Greenstein A dapper gentleman of 41, Jonathan Greenstein is proprietor of J. Greenstein & Co. of Brooklyn, which he describes as the only auction house completely devoted to Jewish ritual objects in America. Recently, Greenstein brought his Jewish version of the popular Antiques Roadshow television program to Toronto. He was the main attraction at the event, which wasnt filmed for TV and which included several other appraisers. Sitting earlier this month at the front of an audience of about 100 at Torontos Beth Tzedec Synagogue, Greenstein rapidly and entertainingly pronounces judgement on the parade of mostly ritual and some cultural objects brought his way. Most are kiddush cups, candlesticks, menorahs, matzah covers and other items commonly found in Jewish homes in centuries past as well as today.
Isaac Herzog Knesset Member Herzog was born in Israel to one of the prominent Zionistic families. His grandfather was the nation’s second chief rabbi and his uncle, Abba Eban, one of its best-known diplomats and historians. His father, Chaim Herzog - whose seminal 1983 work, the Arab-Israeli wars, has just been re-released - served in the 1948 war and was head of military intelligence before becoming a UN ambassador and president of Israel. MK Isaac Herzog has got a Law Degree and has worked as an attorney for several years. He entered politics as Government Secretary under Ehud Barak's mandate. He is currently member of the Finance Committee, member of the Internal Affairs and Environment committee as well as an active member of the Anti-Drug Abuse committee.
Rabbi Yakov Horowitz Rabbi Yakov Horowitz attended Yeshiva and Mesivta Torah Vodaas, where he developed a close relationship with Hagoan Horav Avrohom Yaakov Pam z’tl. He served as 8th grade rebbi for 15 years, in Boro Park, Brooklyn and later in Monsey, New York. In September 1997, Rabbi Horowitz founded Yeshiva Darchei Noam of Monsey, a yeshiva noted for its positive and child-centered learning environment. Darchei Noam provides its talmidim with an excellent, academically challenging Limudei Kodesh and General Studies programs that are structured and skills-based. The motto of the Yeshiva is “Inspiring our children today for the challenges of tomorrow.” In recognition of Yeshiva Darchei Noam’s commitment to educational excellence, the Boston-based PEJE (Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education) Foundation awarded a 3-year Challenge Grant to Darchei Noam the for the 2002-05 school years. Rabbi Horowitz was awarded the 2002 Rockland Educator of the Year Award, and received national recognition as a recipient of the coveted Grinspoon-Steinhart Award for Excellence in Jewish Education. In May, 1996, Rabbi Horowitz wrote a searing article in Agudath Israel’s monthly periodical The Jewish Observer, titled “An Ounce of Prevention,” which galvanized the Orthodox community to address the issue of at-risk teens. Rabbi Horowitz was invited to address the 1996 National Conventions of Agudath Israel and Torah Umesorah on the at-risk teen issue. Rabbi Moshe Sherer z’tl, the legendary and dynamic president of Agudath Israel of America enlisted the assistance of Rabbi Horowitz, who founded Project Y.E.S., (Youth Enrichment Services) which utilizes its hotline to assist at-risk teens and their parents with referrals, school and job placements, and a ‘big brother and sister’ teen mentoring program. Project YES has helped countless teens regain their footing continue on the path to leading productive and accomplished lives. Over the past 7 years, Rabbi Horowitz conducted more than 200 parenting classes in 50 communities and 40 schools throughout North America, Europe and Eretz Yisroel (Israel). He is the author of several best-selling parenting tape sets, “Realizing your Parenting Potential”, “Of Home and Heart”, and “What Matters Most”. His most recent set of tapes, “What Matters Most II” is scheduled to be released in the fall of 2004. Rabbi Horowitz remains attuned to the needs of Jewish communities, and the quest of families who wish to improve their parenting skills and family ties. In October, 2001, more than 230 people attended his "Life After Teshuvah” Conference in Passaic, New Jersey -- intended to provide newly religious (ba'alei teshuvah) families with lifecycle support – assistance in raising their families, dealing with their adolescent children, maintaining ties with non-religious relatives, among other topics. Presenters included, Rabbis Shmuel Kaminetsky, Avrohom Braun, Shlomo Goldberg, Yaacov Haber, Yisroel Rokowsky, and Yakov Horowitz. In the spring of 2004, Rabbi Horowitz created a premarital course – Bayis Ne’eman – to help young men and women prepare for the responsibilities of married life. The 10-hour course includes opening remarks from Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky s’hlita, and classes in goal-setting, time management, interpersonal relationships, Torah perspective on marriage, and financial planning.
Keith Jackson Keith Jackson has also combined his college degree in communications and his professional playing experience to become a broadcast analyst with TNT television for one year, the Oklahoma Sooner football radio network in 1998, Fox Sports Network in 1999 and the Arkansas Razorback Sports Network in 2000. He has become one of the most dynamic and inspirational speakers in the country. His speaking engagements include churches, civic groups, corporations and schools. Keith speaks from one gamut of the spectrum to the next. And when it comes to pleasing the crowd, Keith has a natural knack for doing just that. With his wealth of knowledge and sense of humor, all audiences regardless of age, sex, race or political agenda are completely focused on what he has to say. One conference attendee said, "Your speech was the highlight of the conference for me. I found your stories and your passion for helping those in need to be very inspiring. Most of all, your practical approach to education and self-suffiency was so down-to-earth and refreshing. You inspired me a great deal and put a renewed spark in my efforts to make a difference." Keith speaks from an array of topics such as: Community Building, Teamwork, Education, Sports, Religion, as well as, other motivational topics. If there is someone or an entire group needing uplifting or that extra push to become all they can be, Keith is certainly the one to get them to the next level in their life or business.
A.J. Jacobs Jacobs is the editor at large at Esquire magazine. He has written for The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, New York magazine and Dental Economics magazine, one of the top five magazines about the financial side of toothcare. In 2004, Simon & Schuster plublished the Know-It-All. It subsequently spent eight weeks on the New York Times paperback bestseller list. It was praised by Time magazine, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, USA Today, Janet Maslin in the New York Times and AJ’s uncle Henry on Amazon.com. Jacobs has appeared on Oprah, The Today Show, Good Morning America and the second-to-last episode of the John McEnroe Show on MSNBC, which also featured Dionne Warwick wearing a fannypack. He is a periodic commentator on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday, where he discusses important facts, such as the fact that oppossums have 13 nipples. On October 9, his new book The Year of Living Biblically will be released. It has already garnered positive reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews. The book optioned by Paramount Pictures and Plan B productions. The script has been written by a talented redhead named Jay Reiss (one of the writers of the Broadway show The Putnam County Spelling Bee). The director is a British fellow named Julian Farino is attached to direct it. Jacobs grew up in New York City. His father is a lawyer who holds the world record for the most footnotes in a law review article (4,824). His wife works for a highbrow scavenger hunt called Watson Adventures. He lives in New York. He wonders if he fooled anyone with this third-person thing, or if everyone knows that he wrote this bio himself.
Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis was born in Hungary and is descended from a great rabbinic dynasty that can trace its lineage back to thedays of King David. Prior to the Holocaust there were 85 rabbis bearing the name“Jungreis” in Hungary. Following W.W.II, only ten remained. Having experienced the Holocaust first hand as an inmate of Bergen Belsen, the Rebbetzin.
Rev. Bernice King Rev. Bernice King Ordained Minister and Daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. As a nationally renowned orator, Bernice A. King has inherited the gift of oratory and ecumenical power that her father was famous for, and has inspired thousands of people from all walks of life. In 1980, at age 17, she spoke in her mother's stead to the United Nations on Apartheid, and discovered her oratorical gift. The youngest child of Mrs. Coretta Scott King and the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Bernice is remembered by most as the five year-old in the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph taken of her as she lay in her mother's lap during her father's funeral.
Jon Krakauer JON KRAKAUER is the author of Eiger Dreams, Into the Wild , and Into Thin Air , and is editor of the Modern Library Exploration series. Born in 1954, Jon Krakauer grew up in Corvallis, Oregon, where his father introduced him to mountaineering as an 8-year-old. After graduating from Hampshire College in 1976, Krakauer divided his time between Colorado, Alaska, and the Pacific Northwest, earning his living primarily as a carpenter and commercial salmon fisherman, spending most of his free moments in the mountains. In 1977 he traveled alone to the remote Stikine Icecap in Southeast Alaska, went three weeks without encountering another person, and climbed a new route on a graceful, intimidating peak called the Devils Thumb. In 1992 he climbed the West Face of Cerro Torre in the Patagonian Andes (a mile-high spike of granite sheathed in a carapace of frozen rime, Cerro Torre was once considered the most difficult mountain on earth.) In May 1996 Krakauer reached the top of Mt. Everest, but during the descent a storm engulfed the peak, taking the lives of four of the five teammates who climbed to the summit with him. An analysis of the calamity that he wrote for Outside magazine received a National Magazine Award. The unsparingly honest book he subsequently wrote about Everest, INTO THIN AIR, became a #1 New York Times bestseller and has been translated into 24 languages. It was also honored as the "Book of the Year" by TIME magazine, one of the "Best Books of the Year" by the New York Times Book Review, a finalist for a 1997 National Book Critics Circle Award, and one of three finalists for the 1998 Pulitzer Prize in General Non-Fiction. For the past two decades Krakauer's writing has been published in the likes of Outside, GEO, Architectural Digest, Rolling Stone, TIME, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and National Geographic. An article he wrote for Smithsonian about vulcanology received the 1997 Walter Sullivan Award for Excellence in Science Journalism from the American Geophysical Union. His 1996 book, INTO THE WILD-about an idealistic young man named Chris McCandless who perished in the Alaskan bush-spent more than two years on the New York Times bestseller list. This followed the publication of two books by Krakauer in 1990: EIGER DREAMS, a collection of his mountaineering essays, and ICELAND: LAND OF THE SAGAS, a book of his photographs. In 1998 Krakauer established the Everest '96 Memorial Fund at the Boulder Community Foundation, endowing it with royalties from INTO THIN AIR. Created as a tribute to his companions lost on Everest, the fund provides humanitarian aid to the indigenous peoples of the Himalaya and supports organizations working to preserve the natural environment throughout the world. Krakauer also serves on the boards of the American Himalayan Foundation and the Alex Lowe Charitable Foundation. In 1999 Krakauer received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters-a prestigious award intended "to honor writers of exceptional accomplishment." According to the Academy's citation, "Krakauer combines the tenacity and courage of the finest tradition of investigative journalism with the stylish subtlety and profound insight of the born writer. His account of an ascent of Mount Everest has led to a general reevaluation of climbing and of the commercialization of what was once a romantic, solitary sport; while his account of the life and death of Christopher McCandless, who died of starvation after challenging the Alaskan wilderness, delves even more deeply and disturbingly into the fascination of nature and the devastating effects of its lure on a young and curious mind." Krakauer's latest book, which he has spent the last four years researching and writing, is UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN: A STORY OF VIOLENT FAITH, published by Doubleday in July 2003. As a child in Oregon, many of the author's playmates, teachers, and athletic coaches were Latter-day Saints. Although he envied the unfluctuating certainty of the faith professed so enthusiastically by these Mormon friends and acquaintances, he was often baffled by it, and has sought to comprehend the formidable power of such belief ever since. The upshot of this lifelong quest is UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN, in which Krakauer examines the nature of religious passion through the lens of Mormon Fundamentalism.
Dr. David Kranzler Dr. David Kranzler, a noted Holocaust historian and retired professor at the City University of New York is the author of nine books and numerous articles on rescue and rescue attempts during the Holocaust. His most recent, book is entitled, The Man Who Stopped the Trains to Auschwwitz: George Mantello, El Salvador and Switzerland's Finest Hour (Syracuse U. Press), was awarded the prestigious Israeli EGIT Prize for the best manuscript on the Holocaust. The foreword is by Senator Joseph I. Lieberman. His next work is entitled, Holocaust Hero: the Untold Story of Solomon Schonfeld, the British Rabbi Who Saved Thousands of Jews During the Holocaust.
Frank LaMere Gambling, freedom of religion, health care-these are some of the contemporary issues discussed on reservations throughout the United States. While these issues are debated on the Native American reservations, they are rarely discussed in the classroom. As part of our Transcending Prejudice series, the Athenaeum welcomes Frank LaMere to Claremont to speak on the many issues facing indigenous people in the modern world. Frank LaMere has long been one of the most politically active and recognizable figures on the national Indian scene. He is a member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska and has been the executive director of the Nebraska Indian Intertribal Development Corporation for the past 14 years. His organization provides logistic, financial, and strategic support for economic and social service initiatives for a variety of tribes in the Midwest. LaMere served as the head of the Native American delegation to the Democratic National Convention and served on the platform committee. LaMere also serves on the reorganization committee for the Federal Indian Health Service. He is a strong community leader as well as an important national figure for indigenous people throughout North America. LaMere's speech promises to open your eyes to the many issues facing Native Americans today.
Ananda Lewis Award-Winning Host of “The Ananda Lewis Show” A combination of deep compassion, true intelligence, striking beauty and a big mouth has helped award winning television host Ananda Lewis reach new heights. Her talents have garnered a wealth of achievements, yet she has only just begun! Ananda, Sanskrit for "bliss", has been touching lives on and off screen since the age of 13. The San Diego, California native was a Head Start volunteer while a student at the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts. For nine years (4th through 12th grades) Ananda studied theater, vocal music, photography, and dance at the prestigious school that she credits with giving her the ability to maintain a free spirit and cultivate her confidence. "The teachers I had at SDSCPA and the supportive, nurturing environment of the campus in general are probably the #1 reason I am seeing success now," she says. After graduating from high school, Ananda left San Diego to attend Howard University in Washington, D.C. For three seasons Ananda served as Host of BET’s Teen Summit, one of the station’s top rated shows which reached 42 million household’s LIVE each week. Her gift for affecting the lives of young people beamed out at us through the screen and her natural and obviously genuine relationship with co-host DaJour, had a lot of us thinking they were siblings. "Everybody would ask if Dajour, was my brother. I guess in a way he was - through talking about our lives, families and how to improve ourselves and our show." The teamwork obviously served them well. Teen Summit’s "It Takes a Village" show earned them a 1997 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Youth Series in large part because of Ananda’s interview with Hillary Rodham-Clinton. Teen Summit was also nominated for 1996 Cable Ace Award for its special on "homeless teens". During the summer of 1997, Ananda faced another life-changing decision when an opportunity at another television network arose. MTV had come knocking and Ananda was not sure about opening the door. "Up until that time I had been doing a show that meant great deal to not only me, but our viewers and the continued progress and healing of everyone it touched. I knew that I would not readily have access to doing a show like this again for a very long time and I had a real problem with that. For years it had been clear to me that I came to this planet to impact people’s lives, change things and help people heal by increasing their personal power and rejecting the lies we’ve all been taught since birth about ourselves and our potential. Yet I understood that in order to do that effectively, I would need the attention of the masses, not just my own people. I saw MTV not only as access to the masses, but also as an opportunity to be more of the woman I am and cultivate my ability to have fun, my social skills and whatever else the Creator had in store for me with this new opportunity."
Rush Limbaugh A conservative, he discusses politics and current events on his show, The Rush Limbaugh Show using a style that bounces "between earnest lecturer and political vaudvillian". His show was first nationally syndicated in August 1988, and as of 2005 (according to Arbitron ratings surveys) its audience was estimated at 13.5 million listeners per week, making it the largest radio talk show audience in the United States. Such high ratings have been a consistent hallmark of his show. The Rush Limbaugh Show has been largely credited for the large shift in AM broadcasting to a news-talk format after an audience decline in the 1970s. Limbaugh was the 1992, 1995, 2000, and 2005 recipient of the Marconi Radio Award for Syndicated Radio Personality of the Year, given by the National Association of Broadcasters, joining the syndicated Bob & Tom Show as the only other four-time winner of a Marconi award. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1993. In 2002, industry publication Talkers magazine ranked him as the greatest radio talk show host of all time. Although Limbaugh's audience is not monolithic, he does attract the highest percentage (56%) of hard news consumers relative to all other television and radio programs in the United States.
Chief Ronnie Lupe Charismatic chief and tribal chairman of the Apache Tribe.
Russell Means Russell Means has been described as the most famous Indian since Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. Russell Means has staged several events designed to bring attention to the plight of the American Indians. He conducted a prayer vigil on Mount Rushmore and filed a $9,000,000 lawsuit against the Cleveland Indians baseball team alleg­ing that the team’s nickname defamed American Indians. Means’ most famous act of defiance occurred at Wounded Knee, South Dakota on February 27, 1973 where the takeover revisited the sight of the American Indian massacre at the hands of U.S. soldiers in 1890.
Rabbi Israel Meir Lau Rabbi Israel Meir Lau was born in 1937 in Pyotrekov, Poland. A survivor of Buchenwald concentration camp, he lost both of his parents in the Holocaust. In 1946 he immigrated to Israel, where he lived with his uncle and studied at a state religious school in Kiryat Shmuel. He then studied at three yeshivas: Kol Torah in Jerusalem, Knesset Hizkiya in Zichron Ya’akov and Ponovitz in Bnei Brak. In 1971 he was ordained as a Rabbi and headed Or Torah congregation in Tel Aviv, in 1979 he was ordained Chief Rabbi of Netanya. In 1988 he was ordained Chief Rabbi and president of the Rabbinical Court of Tel Aviv-Yafo and in 1993 he was elected Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel. Rabbi lau’s publications include Yahadut-Halacha Le’maase (1975) on the practice of Judaism and Yachel Israel (1993), tow volumes on medicine, ethics and Jewish customs.
Billy Mills In 1964, on a arm summer night in Tokyo, Japan American Billy Mills shone brighter than any star in the Oriental sky. Unheralded, unappreciated, virtually unknown to the world, Billy Mills scored one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history, winning the 10,000 meter run with a stunning come-from-behind finish that left the world's best runners in his wake, and the rest of the world in disbelief. In the 100 years of the Games, Mills is the only American ever to win this event. Mills, a Lakota (Sioux) Indian born on the reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, learned early that life doesn't always come easy. It was exactly this harsh realization that brought him to the pinnacle of the athletic world. Mills fought prejudice, jealousy, and scorn to become one of America's best distance runners of his day. Through high school, the University of Kansas, and the Marine Corps, he was often the target of envy and contempt. His ancestry was ridiculed, his integrity questioned, and his talents ignored. But while his detractors made every attempt to strip Billy Mills of his dignity, they could never extinguish the fiery determination in his soul.
Ted Peters Ted Peters the field of theology in the 20th and 21st centuries for both doctoral level students and for students preparing to serve in the ordained clergy. He is a Lutheran theologian an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America teaching in an ecumenical institution with students from an array of differing denominations; and he engages in inter-religious dialogue as well. He is author of GOD The World’s Future Systematic Theology for a Postmodern Era (Fortress 1992; 2nd ed. 2000); God as Trinity Westminster/John Knox Press, 199 and Sin: Radical Evil in Soul and Society (Eerdmans, 1994). He served as editor in chief of Dialog, A Journal of Theology from 1992 to 2007. SCIENCE AND RELIGION. Ted Peters serves as co editor with Robert John Russell of the journal, Theology and Science, published by the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences at the Graduate Theological Union. He worked as area editor for “Science and Religion for the 4th edition of Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Volumes IV-VIII, and for the 2nd edition of The Encyclopedia of Religion (Macmillan 2005). He is author of Anticipating Omega (Vendenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2006) and Science, Theology, and Ethics (Ashgate 2003). With Martinez Hewlett he co-authored Evolution from Creation to New Creation (Abingdon 2003) and Can You Believe in God and Evolution? (Abingdon 2006). Peters edited Science and Theology: The New Consonance (Westview, 1998). He co-edited with Gaymon Bennett and Kang Phee Seng Bridging Science and Religion (SCM and Fortress, 2003) which has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, German, simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, and Indonesian Bahassa. He co-edited with Nathan Hallanger, God’s Action in Nature’s World: Essays in Honor of Robert John Russell (Ashgate 2006). GENETICS AND SOCIETY. Ted Peters served as Principal Investigator for a research project funded by the National Institutes of Health on Theological and Ethical Questions Raised by the Human Genome Initiative hosted at the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, 1990-1994. Based on his research he has written Playing God? Genetic Determinism and Human Freedom (Routledge, 2nd ed., 2002). He edited the findings of the CTNS-NIH project for publication in a multi-author book titled, Genetics: Issues of Social Justice (Pilgrim 1998); and authored The Stem Cell Debate (Fortress 2007). Along with Karen Lebacqz and Gaymon Bennett, he is co-author of Immortal Lines? Theologians Say “Yes” to Stem Cells, forthcoming with Roman & Littlefield. He currently serves on the Scientific and Medical Accountability Standards Working Group for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CRIM) and the Genetics Task Force of the ELCA. BIOETHICS. As a member of the research team on the Religion, Culture, and Family project sponsored by the University of Chicago, he wrote For the Love of Children: Genetic Technology and the Future of the Family (Westminster/John Knox Press, 1996). He served as a member of the Ethics Advisory Board for the Geron Corporation, 1998-2002.
Joel C. Rosenberg Joel C. Rosenberg is the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Jihad, The Last Days and The Ezekiel Option, with more than one million copies in print. As a communications strategist, he has worked with some of the world’s most influential leaders in business, politics and media, including Steve Forbes, Rush Limbaugh, and former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As a novelist, he has been interviewed on more than 300 radio and TV programs, including ABC’s “Nightline,” CNN Headline News, Fox News Channel, The History Channel, MSNBC, the “Rush Limbaugh Show,” and the “Sean Hannity Show.” He has been profiled by the New York Times, Washington Times, and The Jerusalem Post, and was the subject of two cover stories in WORLD magazine. He has addressed audiences all over the world, including Russia, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, and Belgium. He has spoken at the White House, The Heritage Foundation, AOL, and the International Spy Museum, as well as at dozens of conferences, universities, churches, synagogues, political events, bookseller conventions, and charitable fund-raisers. The first page of his first novel – The Last Jihad – puts you inside the cockpit of a hijacked jet, coming in on a kamikaze attack into an American city, which leads to a war with Saddam Hussein over weapons of mass destruction. Yet it was written before 9/11, and long before the actual war with Iraq. When published, The Last Jihad spent eleven weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, reaching as high as #7. It raced up the USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists, hit #4 on the Wall Street Journal list and hit #1 on Amazon.com. His second thriller – The Last Days – opens with the death of Yasser Arafat and a U.S. diplomatic convoy ambushed in Gaza. Two weeks before The Last Days was published in hardcover, a U.S. diplomatic convoy was ambushed in Gaza. Thirteen months later, Yasser Arafat died. The Last Days spent four weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, hit #5 on the Denver Post list, and #8 on the Dallas Morning News list. Both books have been optioned by a Hollywood producer. The Ezekiel Option centers on Russian dictator in Russia who forms a military alliance with the leaders of Iran who are feverishly pursuing nuclear weapons and threatening to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. On the very day it was published in June 2005, Iran elected a new leader who vowed to accelerate the country's nuclear program and later vowed to "wipe Israel off the map." Six months after it was published, Moscow signed a $1 billion arms deal with Tehran. The Ezekiel Option spent four weeks on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list and four months on the Christian Bookseller Association bestseller list. An evangelical Christian from an Orthodox Jewish background, Joel’s grandparents escaped Russian persecution of the Jews in the early part of the 20th century. He graduated from Syracuse University in 1989, and studied at Tel Aviv University. He is married, has four sons, and lives near Washington, D.C., where he and his wife are members of McLean Bible Church. WORLD magazine says The Last Days is “dramatic...good entertainment ...a New York Times bestseller with the gospel tucked inside.” The New York Times calls Rosenberg “a Washington success story.” Rush Limbaugh says The Last Jihad is “amazing…I could not put this book down…You have to read this.” Sean Hannity calls The Last Days “riveting to the point you can’t put it down - a heart-pounding, edge of your seat roller coaster ride.” The Jerusalem Post calls The Last Days “a fast-paced thriller, packed with the authentic details and behind-the-scenes tidbits that only a Washington insider such as Rosenberg could know…. screams ‘possible’ from every page.” U.S. News & World Report says Rosenberg’s novels are so close to reality he seems like a “modern Nostradamus.” CNN Headline News says “J.K. Rowling may be the writer of the moment for the young and the young at heart. But for many adults Joel Rosenberg is the ‘it author’ right now. Inside and outside the beltway in Washington, people are snatching up copies of his almost life-like terrorist suspense novels.”
Roger Rosenblatt Roger Rosenblatt is a journalist, author, playwright and teacher. His essays for The NewsHour have won a Peabody and an Emmy award. His essays for Time magazine have won two George Polk Awards, awards from the American Bar Association, the Overseas Press Club, and others.Roger's journalism career began in 1975 as literary editor of The New Republic. He has also been a columnist and editor-at-large for Life magazine, the editor of U.S. News & World Report, a columnist and editorial board member of The Washington Post and editor-at-large of Time, Inc. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, The New Republic, Esquire and elsewhere.A Fulbright scholar with five honorary doctorates, Roger has a Ph.D. from Harvard, where he taught writing and modern literature from 1968-73 and was, at age 29, the youngest House Master in Harvard's history. He is the author of ten books, including a collection of his writings, "The Man in the Water," "Coming Apart: A Memoir of the Harvard Wars of 1969," and the national bestseller, "Rules for Aging." His Children of War (1983) won the Robert F. Kennedy Book Prize and has been published in seven languages. Roger is married, has three children and lives in New York City.
Sonia Sanchez Leading Black poet and playwright, Sonia Sanchez's topics include Revolutionary Black Poetry; Black Art and Culture in America; The Black Women in the Liberation Struggle; and Poetry Readings. She is featured in the book and exhibit "Dream a World, Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America."
Dr. Abdul Sattar Edhi Dr Abdul Sattar Edhi, or Maulana Edhi, as he is often known, is one of the most active philanthropists of the world. He is head of the Edhi Foundation. His wife Begum Bilquis Edhi, heads the Bilquis Edhi Foundation. They both received 1986 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service. He is also the recipient of the Lenin Peace Prize. Maulana Edhi, as he is often referred to, is of the Memon community. Edhi was born in 1928 in Bantva in the Gujarat state of present day India. His father was a textile trader and earned a modest income for his family. He was a natural born leader and would encourage his friends to hold tiny circuses and perform gymnastics for the locals. When his mother would send him to school she would give him two paisa, one to spend for himself and the other to spend for another. At the age of eleven he started to take care of his mother who suffered paralysis from severe diabetes. From an early age Edhi learned to help others before himself - this would be crucial to success in his life later on.
Gabriel Schoenfeld Author of the highly acclaimed new book, The Return of Anti-Semitism, an illuminating and intensely unsettling book which traces the resurgence of anti-Semitism in the world as well as elucidating the disturbing reality that this sentiment is making its way into the United States and finding fertile ground in places once considered taboo for hatred and prejudice such as college campuses. In his lecture Schoenfeld provides analysis of the new currents of anti-Semitism and based on his extensive and penetrating historical research, discusses the likely trajectory of this virulent hatred.
Bobby Seale With the success of Mario Van Peebles' film Panther, a new generation of film-goers discovered the lives and legacies of the Black Panthers. But until you've heard and seen legendary co-founder Bobby Seale, you still haven't experienced the real story. Co-founder and former chairman of the Black Panther Party, Seale is the last surviving architect of one of the most important movements in American and African-American history. Together with Huey P. Newton, Seale formed the Black Panther Party for Self Defense in 1966. They advocated the right to self-defense and moved to organize a realistic "Power to the People" revolution, putting their lives on the line against institutionalized racism, discrimination and police brutality. They began with only 400 members, but Seale's national membership drive swelled the ranks to over 5,000, in over 40 chapters and branches across America. Taking to the stage with his famous charisma and eloquence, he sheds light on the true birth of the Panthers (which grew from student activism, not the streets), transporting the audience back to the turbulence of the late '60s and early '70s, when the image of young black men with guns was unheard of. "Today, you don't need the guns," charges Bobby. "If you want to observe the police, do it with a camcorder!" Dubbing himself a "revolutionary humanist," Seale also brings the movement full circle, showing how times have changed, and giving a rousing call for a new '90s breed of social and political activism.
Al Sharpton Reverend Al Sharpton refashioned Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s strategy on non-violent protest into a tactic of urban civil disobedience. He has led countless marches in support of racial justice and peace and is an outspoken advocate for the victims of racial attacks, police brutality and anti-gay violence.
Kemba Smith Remarkable story of triumph and determination. Smith who was sentenced in 1994 to more than two decades in federal prison on a first-time drug conviction is a single mother, advocate, public speaker, law student and author. When a judge sentenced Smith to prison for alleged involvement in a crack cocaine ring, she was a young college student at Hampton University in Virginia. She fell in with the wrong crowd and became involved with a major figure in a $4 million drug ring. Enduring years of physical and emotional abuse, Smith ended the relationship. But she was sentenced to prison for being closely involved with the man. After serving 6 1/2 years, Smith regained her freedom after President Clinton granted her clemency in December of 2000. Her predicament forced the nation to focus on drug enforcement policies and mandatory sentencing for drug offenses. Smith has since graduated from Virginia Union University and attends law school at Howard University. She started the Kemba Smith Foundation that works to inspire and uplift young people as well as educate them about injustices within the criminal justice system. Smith has spoken at more than 30 colleges and universities. Having already received numerous honors and awards for her activism, she continues to speak on topics that she feels are important to the nation.
The God Squad The Reverend Monsignor Thomas J. Hartman and Rabbi Marc A. Gellman, Ph.D., write the syndicated column GOD SQUAD for Tribune Media Services. They also host a daily, half-hour television talk show of the same name that reaches almost 12 million homes in the New York metropolitan area. Father Tom and Rabbi Gellman have authored four books together. Where Does God Live? Questions and Answers for Parents and Children won the 1991 Christopher Award. How Do You Spell God? Answers to the Big Questions from Around the World (with a forward by the Dalai Lama) was made into an HBO animated special and also won the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award. Their third book, Lost and Found, was published in 1999, and Religion for Dummies. Father Tom and Rabbi Gellman were recognized as Newsday's Long Islanders of the Century in the category of Leaders and Activists. Father Tom is president and CEO of the Diocese of Rockville Centre's cable television station, Telecare. In 1970 he received a master of divinity degree from Our Lady of Angels Seminary. He was ordained in 1971 and earned a doctor of ministry from Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley in 1979. In the early 1970s, Father Tom was a parish priest in Seaford, New York. Father Tom has been recognized for his professional and pastoral work with four Emmy Awards, a FOLIO award and numerous "Man of the Year" citations and honorary degrees. Rabbi Marc Gellman is the senior rabbi of Temple Beth Torah in Melville, New York, where he has served since 1981. Rabbi Gellman was the first rabbi appointed to the distribution committee of the UJA Federation and he was chairman of the UJA rabbinical advisory committee. He is founding chairman of the Long Island Rabbinical Advisory Council, and is the recipient of the Tzedaka Award from the UJA Federation, as well as the Rabbinical Leadership Award from the Council of Jewish Federations. Rabbi Gellman is the president of the New York Board of Rabbis and is the recipient of its Moshowitz award for rabbinical excellence. Rabbi Gellman received a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin with a major in Hebrew and Semitic studies in 1969 and completed his studies at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1971. He was ordained in 1972 and was awarded the senior homiletics prize. Rabbi Gellman received a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Northwestern University in 1981. Topics: Inspirational, Attitude, Ethics/Integrity, Life Balance, Religion
Chief Justice Tom Tso A leading Native American jurist, Chief Justice Tom Tso served for many years as Chief Justice of the Navaho Court. The Indian court system is independent of the U.S. court system and Chief Justice Tso is an active lobbyist to protect the individual and tribal rights of Native Americans.
Maisa and Marina...... Unlikely Partners in Peace Unlikely Partners in Peace Maisa and Marina are two young women, a Jewish Israeli and a Palestinian Israeli, who met through a Slifka Coexistence Fellowship at Brandeis University. They have not only become close friends but they have also done wide-ranging work in promoting coexistence in their communities through facilitating Arab-Jewish dialogue, working with women peace activists, and speaking to a wide range of audiences. Throughout their presentation Maisa and Marina share their experiences of growing up in Israel while stressing the similarities and differences of the political and social realities faced by Israelis and Palestinians in the region. Maisa and Marina emphasize both the importance of coexistence work and the significance of their personal process of facing fears and breaking stereotypes about the other side. The goal of the presentation is not to promote a political agenda but rather to share and express personal perspectives and to encourage the audience to engage in mutual listening and understanding.
Xu Wenli One of China's most recognized pro-democracy advocates, Mr. Xu spent 16 years in prison for his activities as a dissident. He was a leader in the Democracy Wall movement from 1979 to 1981, edited the samizdat-style journal April Fifth Forum, and played a major role in establishing the Beijing-Tianjin branch of the China Democracy Party. Mr. Xu's health suffered while in prison. In reaction to his declining condition, international human rights groups, the U.S. ambassador to China, and Western officials called for his release. The Chinese government finally relented and released him on medical grounds in December 2002. He and his wife left China immediately for the United States to be reunited with their daughter, Xu Jin, who lives in Rhode Island.
Floyd Red Crow Westerman Popular Native American actor who portrayed the venerable Chief Ten Bears in the award winning hit movie "Dances With Wolves." An activist and folk singer, Floyd Red Crown Westerman has made many film and television appearances and recorded two folk albums. As a leader in the North American Indian movement, he is actively involved in working for the recognition of treaty, land, and religious rights.
Rabbi Pesach Wolicki Rabbi Wolicki is the Rosh Yeshiva at Yesodei Torah, in Beit Shemesh. Until July 2003, Rabbi Wolicki was Development Director and Judaic studies teacher at Hillel Academy in Fairfield, Connecticut. He was also Director of Fairfield Jewish Experience, an adult education program serving Fairfield County. He particularly enjoys teaching approaches to Midrash, and imparting strong Torah research skills to his students. His columns appeared regularly in the Connecticut Post and he has hundreds of subscribers to his weekly parsha column, Pesach on the Parsha. He received his rabbinic ordination from the Chief Rabbinate of Jerusalem.
Dr. Neguin Yavari An expert on the Islamic world and the Islamic religion, Dr. Yavari, an Iranian, is now a professor of religion in the United States.