KUCI: Get the Funk Out

New York Times bestselling author and physician, Sayantani DasGupta, brilliantly re-imagines the beloved classic, Pride and Prejudice, to reflect the ...

Originally trained in pediatrics and public health, Sayantani DasGupta teaches in the Graduate Program in Narrative Medicine, the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society and the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race, all at Columbia University. She writes and speaks on issues of race, gender, health and social justice.
New York Times bestselling author and physician, Sayantani DasGupta, brilliantly re-imagines the beloved classic, Pride and Prejudice, to reflect the complex, diverse world of American high school culture. The book is already receiving rave reviews, and you need not be an Austen-head, to love it and the conversations around the many issues Sayantani weaves in and addresses.
“Studded with references to U.S. and South Asian pop culture as well as Jane Austen–related Easter eggs, DasGupta’s astute, buoyant comedy of manners employs witty, rat-a-tat dialogue alongside social commentary about subjects including classism, colorism, and sexism.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
MORE: getthefunkoutshow.kuci.org

Judy Wu, professor of Asian American studies, director of the Humanities Center, and historian talks about her book Fierce and Fearless Patsy Takemoto...

Marking the 50th Anniversary of Title IX, Judy Wu, professor of Asian American studies, director of the Humanities Center, and historian who recently co-authored a comprehensive biography of Title IX pioneer, Patsy Mink, titled Fierce and Fearless: Patsy Takemoto Mink, First Woman of Color in Congress.
Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, professor of Asian American studies and director of UCI's Humanities Center, is a co-author on the first-ever biography on the powerhouse lawmaker and major author of Title IX, Patsy Takemoto Mink. Wu collaborated with Mink’s daughter, political scientist Gwendolyn “Wendy” Mink on the book, Fierce and Fearless: Patsy Takemoto Mink, First Woman of Color in Congress.
“Lots of people associate Title IX with equality in collegiate sports, but it’s also about admissions, scholarships, housing and employment. It established the basic legal principle of gender equity and completely revolutionized education in America,” says Wu.
MORE: getthefunkoutshow.kuci.org

Vicky Johnson, professor of film & media studies and African American studies and author of Sports TV joins host Janeane LIVE on KUCI 88.9fm

Victoria E. Johnson, professor of film & media studies, is the author of Sports TV, which looks at the genre from a distinctly humanistic perspective, exploring American history, culture, class, race and identity through the lens of broadcast sports. One chapter in Sports TV specifically focuses on Title IX and its legacies, including the explosion of female participation and visibility in sports at all levels, as well as in the boom in marketing of the “female athlete icon” that has occurred from the 1990s onward, thanks to the growth of the first and second post-Title IX generation of female participants in sports.
According to Johnson, "Perhaps the most visible legacy of Title IX has been the explosion of female participation in sports at all levels since its institution. Title IX has encouraged subsequent generations of female-identified athletes and professionals to participate in and to re-imagine sports as athletes, coaches, and sports media professionals. Crucial here, also, have been the ways that marketing, advertising, and the explosion of social media have capitalized on and promoted the 'post-Title IX' female athlete as icon and target demographic."
MORE: getthefunkoutshow.kuci.org

Four-time cancer survivor Glenn Rockowitz pens follow-up to bestseller, “Rodeo in Joliet” called Cotton Teeth

Four-time cancer survivor, comedian and former SNL writer, Glenn Rockowitz, is back with his highly anticipated second memoir, “Cotton Teeth” (Harper & Case, December 14, 2021).
Diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1998, Rockowitz recalls being told he had only three months to live. He was 28 years old at the time, and starting a family. His wife was eight months pregnant. Rockowitz’ psychoanalyst father, after praying that they could switch places, received his own surprising terminal diagnosis only a week later. In the weeks that followed, the two would battle cancer side-by-side.
With writing that is visceral, raw and poetic, Rockowitz dives headfirst into old memories, and tragedy gives way to a darkly funny and intensely loving experience.
Named one of Kirkus’ Best Books of 2021, this is Rockowitz's unflinchingly candid account of the heartbreak, joy, and wisdom shared between father and son as they face their final months of life alone, and together. “Cotton Teeth” is the long-awaited follow-up to Rockowitz's bestselling memoir, “Rodeo in Joliet,” published in 2009.
MORE: getthefunkoutshow.kuci.org

Wade Rouse, internationally bestselling author of 13 books, is back with his first memoir in a decade. MAGIC SEASON: A Son’s Story

Wade Rouse, internationally bestselling author of 13 books, is back with his first memoir in a decade. MAGIC SEASON: A Son’s Story (Hanover Square Press; May 3, 2022; hardcover)
In the 1970’s Ozarks, sports, hunting, and fishing defined a boy’s world. But they didn’t define author Wade Rouse’s world, which was instead filled with reading, writing, and cooking. This was a problem for Rouse’s father Ted, a by-the-book engineer who was incapable of the emotional support his gay son so desperately needed. The only thing the two had in common was a love for the St. Louis Cardinals.
When Ted’s health is in decline, Rouse returns home to Southwest Missouri to watch one last season of baseball with his father. Emotions run high on the field as the Cardinals race for the pennant; and on the couch, where Rouse races to make peace before his dad passes on. As Rouse recounts the past and confronts the present, readers may find themselves rooting for reconciliation on one page, then hoping for a final and permanent split on the next.
While sports fans will enjoy the baseball tie-in, this book is also for anyone with a parent, child, relative, or old friend who they continue to love despite the person being very hard to love. Since a perfect parent/child relationship is about as likely as a perfectly pitched game (.01%), Rouse’s story, and the highly-charged themes within it, will strike a chord with nearly every reader.

Ruth Weisberg, a versatile and vivacious voiceover narrator and coach, on-camera moderator, and keynote speaker chats with host Janeane

ABOUT RUTH WEISBERG
Ruth Weisberg is a versatile and vivacious voiceover narrator and coach, on-camera moderator, and keynote speaker.
Her distinctive and dynamic presence can be seen and heard on radio/TV spots, news commentary programs, interactive sites, e-learning and animated productions.
Ruth is also an instructor at The Voice Box, teaching group classes in voiceover narration, as well as mentoring and coaching voiceover students with individual private instruction.
Despite appearances she never spills ink.
She is also a big part of the Nokomis Beach Drum Circle in Sarasota County, Florida.
WATCH Ruth in the Accidental Art Model
LISTEN to her VO Reels
ruthweisberg.com

Author Amy Daughters talks about her book - Dear Dana: That Time I Went Crazy and Wrote All 580 of My Facebook Friends a Handwritten Letter

When Amy Daughters reconnected with her old pal Dana on Facebook, she had no idea how it would change her life. Though the two women hadn’t had any contact in 30 years, it didn’t take them long to catch up—and when Amy learned that Dana’s son Parker was doing a second stint at St. Jude battling cancer, she was suddenly inspired to begin writing the pair weekly letters.
When Parker died, Amy—not knowing what else to do—continued to write Dana. Eventually, Dana wrote back, and the two became pen pals, sharing things through the mail that they had never shared before. The richness of the experience left Amy wondering something: If my life could be so changed by someone I considered “just a Facebook friend”, what would happen if I wrote all my Facebook friends a letter?
A whopping 580 handwritten letters later Amy’s life, and most of all her heart, would never ever be the same again. As it turned out, there were actual individuals living very real lives behind each social media profile, and she was beautifully connected to each of those extraordinary, flawed people for a specific reason. They loved her, and she loved them. And nothing—not politics, beliefs, or lifestyle—could separate them.
MORE: getthefunkoutshow.kuci.org

Host Janeane Bernstein speaks with Robin Benoit, author of THE EIGHTY-YEAR-OLD SORORITY GIRLS

THE EIGHTY-YEAR-OLD SORORITY GIRLS
As a group of eighty-something girlfriends deal with the mental decline of their sorority sister, they reconnect with their college sorority, advise their grandchildren, find new lives for themselves and continue to stay the closest of friends. Vivian, nicknamed “Button,” is an Alzheimer’s patient who adores her sorority group, Helen rediscovers love at age eighty-one, Ida’s crazy side comes out during football season and Laney is the “big sister” in charge of baking for the group. These three women consistently show up for Vivian as her mental health deteriorates — because that is what sisters do.
MORE: getthefunkoutshow.kuci.org

Critically-acclaimed author, Annie Hartnett, on her brilliant new book, UNLIKELY ANIMALS

While visiting friends in New Hampshire, Hartnett became fascinated with nineteenth-century robber baron Austin Corbin’s historical estate, and a real life Doctor Doolittle that worked there! This surreal property, Corbin''s Park, became a secret, exclusive hunting park that still exists today. The true story is fascinating and it's no surprise it inspired Unlikely Animals—already receiving rave reviews!
“Hartnett masterfully balances a story of deep loss with the perfect amount of hilarity and tenderness.”—Booklist (starred review)
“Hartnett’s whimsical storytelling casts a spell.”—Publishers Weekly
“This is a big novel doing big things. It bears some similarity to Hartnett’s much- loved first novel, Rabbit Cake. . . . But Unlikely Animals is a broader, brassier, and even more fiercely tender story. In this, her second novel, Hartnett lands an astonishing leap as a storyteller.”—The Rumpus
“Wistfully charming . . . This unapologetically genre-bending tribute to life and death, and the beautiful weirdness found in both, has potential to spark exceptional book club discussions.”—Shelf Awareness
Author Annie Hartnett released her first novel, Rabbit Cake, in 2017 to critical acclaim. Numerous media outlets included it on their “Best of ” lists, and it was named a finalist for the New England Book Award, long-listed for The Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize, and shortlisted for The Crook's Corner Book Prize for Best Debut set in the South. Reviewers called it “[a] treasure” (People Magazine) and “truly terrific and original” (Booklist). Now, I’m excited to share that Hartnett has knocked it out of the park once more with her second novel, UNLIKELY ANIMALS (Ballantine Hardcover; On Sale 4/12/2022). When I first started reading this tender, funny, quirky story, I realized quickly that I had never encountered anything like it before.

Beloved Rabbi Steve Leder Discusses his latest book, For You When I Am Gone

We often focus on the material things we leave behind when we die, when what we really should consider is the legacy we leave behind. We write a will to divvy up who gets what, but rather than just stuff, we should be leaving something that speaks to who we wanted to be, who we were, and what we want for our loved ones in their lives. In FOR YOU WHEN I AM GONE: Twelve Essential Questions To Tell a Life Story, beloved Rabbi Steve Leder, bestselling author of The Beauty of What Remains, offers a new guide to help readers put into words what they hope their loved ones know after they have gone - creating what he calls an ethical will. Rabbi Leder has helped thousands of people to write their own ethical wills, and in this intimate book helps us write our own. Rabbi Leder appears frequently on national TV and you can watch a few of his appearances here: FOX LA (grief during the pandemic), CBS Sunday Morning (the war in Ukraine), TODAY with Hoda and Jenna (on grief). Rabbi Steve Leder is available for interviews on Wednesday, June 8th. Sincerely, Ari
Ethical wills are ancient traditions, often including stories, reflections about your past, joy, regrets, and ultimately becomes both a way to remember a loved one who is gone and a primer on how to live a better, happier life. In FOR YOU WHEN I AM GONE, Rabbi Leder examines twelve questions to help readers put into words what they hope their loved ones know after they have gone, including: What was your most painful regret and how can your loved ones avoid repeating it? When was a time you led with your heart instead of your head? And what did you learn from your biggest failure?
FOR YOU WHEN I AM GONE includes examples of ethical wills from a broad range of voices—old and young, with and without children, famous and unknown. It inspires readers to examine their own lives and turn them into something beautiful and meaningful for generations to come.
MORE: htp://getthefunkoutshow.kuci.org