KUCI: Get the Funk Out

Author and teacher, Melanie Brooks, joins host Janeane Bernstein live on KUCI 88.9fm 1/22/18 at 9:00am pst!

ABOUT MELANIE BROOKS
I am a writer, teacher, and mother living in Nashua, New Hampshire, with my husband, two children, and yellow Lab. I grew up in the Canadian Maritimes, and the deep ties to water and rugged spaces that live in me are rooted in that background.
I graduated with a degree in English from Gordon College and then earned a Bachelor of Education from Dalhousie University. I later earned a Master of Science for Teachers of English from the University of New Hampshire. I began my career teaching high school social studies and then went on to teach middle school English. After my children were born, I began teaching college writing. I currently teach professional writing at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, and Merrimack College in Andover, Massachusetts, and creative writing at Nashua Community College in Nashua, New Hampshire. I completed my MFA in creative nonfiction through the Stonecoast Creative Writing Program at the University of Southern Maine.
I love words. And I love to play with words on the page. My head is a busy place. An endless film reel plays in there, its frames alive with images and moments, actual and imagined, that I’ve tucked into the folds of my memory. I watch them over and over again, shaping and reshaping, ordering and reordering, trying to make sense of them, searching for the story they want to tell and the language with which to tell it.
Unpacking experiences of life and loss is at the core of my writing. When I was thirteen, my father was infected with HIV after receiving tainted blood during open-heart surgery. He died of an AIDS-related illness ten years later. The complicated nature of his disease and the grief of his death have had a lasting impact on me. My writing is the vehicle through which I'm learning to understand that impact. The stories filling the pages are helping me to better understand myself.
https://www.melaniebrooks.com/
I first read about Melanie Brooks in Poets & Writers Magazine. Her book, Writing Hard Stories, grabbed my attention and I just had to invite her on my show!
Writing Hard Stories: Celebrated Memoirists Who Shaped Art from Trauma
"An inspiring guide to ennobling personal stories that travel to the dark sides of life."
- Kirkus Reviews
​
“Writers of all genres will glean golden nuggets of advice about writing and living from this book, while all readers, because they, too, have unique personal stories, will be comforted and inspired by the everyday and creative struggles of some of their favorite authors.”
- Booklist
​
"[I]t unearths gems of insight, especially about the natures of truth, memory, subjectivity, and fact, and about what memoirs can mean to readers. And it leaves no doubt about the strength required to confront old ghosts."
- Publishers Weekly
​
PUBLISHED WITH BEACON PRESS (February 2017)
Order Your Copy Here
In Melanie's own words
Two years ago, I began writing a painful family story that has now become a memoir, A Complicated Grief. Writing into the memories of this part of my life left me with some difficult questions: What does it take to write an honest memoir? And what happens to us when we embark on that journey? Would I survive the process? I decided to approach the writers whose memoirs moved me and ask these questions. Their replies – honest and soul-searing – comprise Writing Hard Stories. This book profiles my conversations with some of our country’s most prolific writers including: Alysia Abbott, Richard Blanco, Kate Bornstein, Edwidge Danticat, Mark Doty, Andre Dubus III, Jessica Handler, Richard Hoffman, Marianne Leone, Michael Patrick McDonald, Kyoko Mori, Suzanne Strempek Shea, Sue William Silverman, Kim Stafford, Abigail Thomas, Jerald Walker, Joan Wickersham, and Monica Wood. These writers invited me into their homes, into their lives, to share the intimacies of finding the courage to put words to their stories. Their candid descriptions of their own treks through the darkest of memories and the details of the breakthrough moments that opened up their stories gave me the mooring I needed to keep writing my own.

1/22/18 9:30am pst - Carolyn Grant, Executive Director of NAMM’s Museum of Making Music joins host Janeane Bernstein About Carolyn Grant Executive Di...

About Carolyn Grant
Executive Director, NAMM Museum of Making Music
A native of Washington, D.C., Ms. Carolyn Grant has always been deeply involved in dance and music, having played piano since childhood and cello as an adult. Ms. Grant joined the NAMM Museum of Making Music as Executive Director in 2000 and has since overseen the curation of numerous one-of-a-kind special exhibitions. Her work has included the development of highly-regarded museum programming for youth and adults, the presentation of innovative concert series and the forming of meaningful partnerships. Under her leadership, the museum completed a major 2011 gallery renovation that incorporated state-of-the-art interactive experiences. Over the past decade, Ms. Grant has carved out a unique niche and focus for the Museum, the only museum of the music products industry, and the only museum worldwide that focuses on the ecosystem of music making—the making, selling and using of musical instruments and products.
In her earlier years, Ms. Grant moved to Central America where she witnessed her mother build a career as a renowned archaeologist and eminent professor. Her father was a highly-decorated U.S. Marine (now deceased). Grant was a key player in envisioning and ensuring the future of her family’s historic Spanish colonial home and participated in establishing the philanthropic donation of the home to a Guatemalan university, whereby the home will be preserved as a museum and educational center for many years to come.
Now playing in an adult orchestra, cello choir, and jazz band, Ms. Grant is committed to encouraging others to learn the instrument of their dreams—at any age. She is a devout believer in the power of active music-making to maintain or improve mental, physical and emotional well-being, as well as satisfy the innate human desire to communicate and create. Ms. Grant resides in Encinitas.
ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF MAKING MUSIC
ADDRESS
5790 Armada Drive, Carlsbad, CA / Open Tuesday-Sunday,
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
ABOUT
NAMM's Museum of Making Music (MoMM) presents the storied history of music instruments and products - from invention, to creation, to market - as its canvas to enrich people of all ages and backgrounds. They do this by offering educational immersion opportunities, exhibitions, hands-on experiences, and live performances that inform and inspire, while demonstrating how musical instruments impact popular culture and connect lives.
A division of the NAMM Foundation, the museum opened in March 2000 as the museum of the music products industry. It is the only museum in the world that focuses on the ecosystem of music making from 1900 to present day.
COMING UP: Floating Strings:The Remarkable Story of the Harp Guitar in America - October 14, 2017 – April 29, 2018 -Over 40 harp guitars will be on display for a special gallery presenting a “forgotten instrument” that has existed and survived for centuries.
These guitars with extra “floating strings” have been introduced over and over again in seemingly endless ways, instigated by musical ideas, the inventiveness of players and builders, and often, simply pure imagination. Interactive instruments will be available as well as sound samples. A concert series will accompany the exhibition. The exhibition opens in correlation with the Harp Guitar Gathering®, taking place this year in Carlsbad, CA.
HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS: For nearly 20 years, the museum has presented some of the rarest and most historically-significant musical exhibitions including The Summer of Innovation; Low: The Power & Beauty of Bass; The Ukulele and You: America’s Enduring Love of the Jumping Flea; and more.
MEDIA TOURS: On-site opportunities are available to report on and tour this visual and interactive museum.
Contact NAMM@lippingroup.com.
LEARN MORE: For more information, call (760) 438-5996 and visit www.museumofmakingmusic.org,

Wayne Avrashow knows politics and campaigns inside and out, and it shows in his first novel “Roll the Dice.

When performer exits stage for politics in “Roll the Dice,”dark secrets are exposed and scandal is around every corner
ENCINO, California – When Tyler Sloan, famed singer-songwriter and member of the Rock n’Roll Hall of Fame, retires from the Las Vegas stage to campaign for election as Nevada’s next U.S. senator in “Roll the Dice” (Fiery Seas, Nov. 28), intrigue and scandals bubble up from every corner.
Issues with his father, a former California governor who nearly became president, permeate their relationship and the campaign. Sloan’s attorney has one eye on protecting Sloan and the other on his own interests. Another musician blackmails him with a decades-old video sex tape of Sloan and two women, one of whom is his Republican opponent. Sloan’s edgy relationship with his attractive young media advisor borders on the edge of propriety, and his campaign manager is embroiled in legal troubles with the FBI. Throughout this turbulent ride, Sloan tries to protect his 13-year-old daughter from all of this, but finds it difficult to shield her from her mother, who is becoming increasingly dependent on prescription medications.
Wayne Avrashow knows politics and campaigns inside and out, and it shows in his first novel. In pre-publication review, Kirkus awarded “Roll the Dice” as one of the year’s best unpublished
manuscripts, and termed it “politics at its corrupt, dysfunctional best.” It is filled with dark secrets, family tension, blackmail and bribes.
Sloan is a unique character who runs as a political independent, refuses campaign contributions and disdains support from lobbyists. “Roll the Dice” takes the reader on a tense, thrilling ride
through the campaign for a seat that will ultimately control the equally divided Senate.
Wayne Avrashow is an attorney, former campaign manager in Los Angles politics, government commissioner, and author of numerous op-ed articles on political and legal issues. “Roll the Dice” has received positive blurbs from a New York Times-bestselling author, a prominent movie producer and elected political figures, including the former mayor of Los Angeles.
Avrashow is also the author of “Success at Mediation-10 Strategic Tools for Attorneys.” Find him online at www.wayneavrashow.com, on Facebook, and
on Twitter, @WayneAvrashow.
“A roaring political novel... offers an informative take on modern political madness.”
Kirkus Reviews
About the Book
What happens when one of America’s biggest rock stars leaves the Las Vegas stage to run for the United State Senate?
The ultimate celebrity candidate, Tyler Sloan is no stranger to politics – his estranged father was a California governor who narrowly lost a Presidential campaign. He runs as a political
independent, refuses campaign contributions, and dismisses special interests and lobbyists.
Sloan is caught in a political campaign fraught with; sexual scandal, corruption and conflicting loyalties. Will he be able to navigate through political turbulence and his own past to win the
race?
“Roll the Dice”
Wayne Avrashow | Nov. 28, 2017 | Fiery Seas
Paperback | 978-1-946143-32-7 | $18.99
E-book | 978-1-946143-33-4 | $7.99
Contemporary political thriller

On 1/15/18, KUCI’s Janeane Bernstein speaks with Naama Bloom, who will talk about her health website HelloFlo.com and her bold and savvy book,

In this bold, savvy, and feminist new take on a body book, Bloom hopes to remove the stigma attached to puberty. When her women’s health site – HelloFlo.com – launched in 2015, they did just that, with two groundbreaking videos that went viral: “First Moon Party” (41+ million YouTube views) and “Camp Gyno” (12+ million YouTube views). Her new book is equally frank. HELLOFLO: THE GUIDE, PERIOD makes health and wellness as easy as possible for young girls to understand, helping them navigate everything from body changes to emotional well-being.
Naama Bloom will discuss her new book,
as well as these relevant topics:
ADVOCACY FOR WOMEN’S HEALTH
Studies show that doctors have a tendency not to take a woman’s pain seriously, undertreat them when they do mention symptoms, and take a longer period of time to actually give them medication. Couple that with a young woman’s age, and it’s no wonder that so many young women and girls not only don’t get the help they need, but grow up thinking that they don’t deserve it in the first place.
http://msmagazine.com/blog/ 2017/10/09/must-help-girls- young-women-advocate-health/
BIRTH CONTROL MANDATE
The Trump administration’s recent rollback of the Obamacare birth control mandate hit women hard, and not just for those using the pill for family planning. It’s also prescribed for a variety of medical conditions, including endometriosis, irregular periods, chronic acne, and hormonal imbalances that affect countless women and teens.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/06/ health/women-react-trump- birth-control-mandate-bn/ index.html
HUMAN RIGHTS
In developing countries, many girls grow up in communities where menstruation is shrouded in shame and stigma, misinformation is rampant, and clean menstrual supplies are scarce. Girls and women miss classes, drop out of school, and fail to reach their full potential because of menstruation. Over the past few years, a “menstruation movement” has swept the U.S., aiming to destigmatize periods and bring safer products to women and girls everywhere.
http://www.newsweek.com/2017/ 07/21/men-fighting- menstruation-shaming- developing-world-634902.html
GENDER TABOOS
A Nepali “menstruation hut” ritual claimed the life of a teenage girl in July after she was bitten by a snake while banished to a cowshed during a menstruation ritual. The 19-year-old victim was taking part in chhaupadi, a common practice in the west of Nepal in which women, considered unclean during menstruation, are sequestered for the extent of their periods. Chhaupadi dates back centuries and has its roots in Hindu taboos over menstruation. Outlawed by Nepal’s Supreme Court in 2005, the practice continues amid claims the country is turning a blind eye to the deaths of women and girls.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/10/ asia/nepal-menstruation-hut- deaths-outrage/index.html
http://helloflo.com/

1/15/18, KUCI’s Janeane Bernstein speaks with life coach Tama Kieves, author of THRIVING THROUGH UNCERTAINTY:Moving Beyond Fear of the Unknown and Mak...

Popular life coach Tama Kieves, author of THRIVING THROUGH UNCERTAINTY:Moving Beyond Fear of the Unknown and Making Change Work for You (a TarcherPerigee paperback; on sale January 9th).
Kieves knows first-hand the fear and paralysis that accompanies drastic life changes. After years of working tirelessly to become a Harvard-educated partner at a top law firm, she realized that the career she invested so much in left her unfulfilled. Upon this realization, Tama did the unthinkable: she listened to her most authentic desires and made the changes necessary to lead the life she always wanted. Now, in THRIVING THROUGH UNCERTAINTY, she offers real-world advice to help others do the same, and let go of the debilitating fear that prevents them from moving forward.
Tama Kieves--inspirational coach, career transition expert and author of Inspired & Unstoppable--guides you through life's uncertain times, helping you discover the blessings within difficulties.
Tama Kieves knows a thing or two about dramatic changes. After graduating from Harvard Law School with honors, Tama left an unfulfilling life at a prestigious corporate law firm to pursue her passion and make a name for herself as a writer and inspirational speaker. Now, she dedicates her time to helping people face their fears, tackle uncertainty, and shift their mindset to achieve the extraordinary in their own lives. This book isn't just about getting through life changes, it'll teach you to use that change and uncertainty as a launching pad for joy.
Thriving Through Uncertainty proves that the moment your plans fall apart is precisely when your true destiny begins. With Tama's guidance, you can take hold of the blessings and opportunities hidden within uncertain transitional periods and begin to move forward. Weaving together practical exercises and techniques along with anecdotes from Tama's own experiences, you'll master key lessons like:
-How to control your mindset and mood to stay focused and happy
-Having faith in yourself and your journey
-Allowing yourself to feel pain and discomfort
-Continuing to thrive through future obstacles, and much more.
Packed with heartfelt and dynamic guidance, this supportive, inspiring book will make you feel as if you've attended several sessions with Tama herself.
Tama will discuss:
· How to discern between Fear and Practicality
· What you can do if you feel like you aren’t doing enough to propel your business forward
· How to determine if an idea is worth pursuing
· A simple technique designed to embolden you to leave your comfort zone
· How to show up on fire, even when it seems like things aren’t showing up for you

Demetri Martin joins host Janeane Bernstein to chat about the importance of music in career/stage performances, how he became a comedienne, why he too...

Demetri Martin rose to relative obscurity when he started doing stand-up comedy in New York City at the end of the 20th Century. Later he became a writer at Late Night with Conan O’Brien and then a regular performer on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In 2003, Demetri won the Perrier Award at the International Fringe Festival for his first one-man show, If I. He released a comedy album called These Are Jokes and then created and starred in his own television series called Important Things with Demetri Martin.
His first stand-up comedy special, Demetri Martin. Person is considered by many to be his longest and only hour-long stand-up comedy special. Martin has appeared in movies as an actor, most recently in Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion and most lengthily in Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock. His first book, This Is a Book by Demetri Martin is a New York Times Bestseller. Demetri has brown hair, and he is allergic to peanuts.
You can find him at www.demetrimartin.com, at www.facebook.com/demetrimartin, on Twitter @demetrimartin, and in various places in the actual physical world.

Author Jeffery Viles calls in to KUCI 88.9fm to speak with Janeane about his debut novel, ” The Sasquatch Murder”

They're out there, you know--those bipedal hominids commonly called Sasquatch.
This imaginative, tightly woven tale explains just how those creatures came to be traipsing around in the big trees surrounding Mount St. Helens. While local oddballs and elbow-benders talk Bigfoot and relate their peculiar yarns at Hee-Haw's Tavern, Jake Holly and Jessica O'Reilly are falling in love despite an age difference that Jessica's powerful father cannot abide. When Sasquatch enters the picture, a tripwire is broken and every preconceived notion is instantly turned upside down. Utilizing intricate details and language that's often dressed up in literary lipstick, Jeffery Viles weaves a fast-moving story of events that consume the town of Aurora, and reverberate into the White House and around the world.

KUCI host Janeane Bernstein speaks with Valter Longo, PhD about his book,

The Longevity Diet: Discover the New Science Behind Stem Cell Activation and Regeneration to Slow Aging, Fight Disease, and Optimize Weight
We all know the saying “You are what you eat.” For most people, that translates to “avoid junk food.” But this popular expression reflects a deeper truth. Can what you eat determine how long, and how well, you live? The clinically proven answer is yes, and THE LONGEVITY DIET by Valter Longo, PhD is the program to help you live a longer, healthier life. The culmination of 25 years of research on aging, nutrition, and disease across the globe, this unique fasting-mimicking diet (FMD) lays out a simple solution to living long through nutrition. FMD does away with the misery and starvation most of us experience while fasting and helps you reap all the beneficial health effects of a restrictive diet while avoiding the negative stressors, like low energy and sleeplessness.

Author Chloe Benjamin joins Janeane 1/8/18 on KUCI 88.9fm

Jim Baumann joins Janeane on KUCI 88.9fm 1/8/18