KUCI: Get the Funk Out!

Inspired by Meg's own experience living on the spectrum and largely “passing” as neurotypical, GOOD DIFFERENT is an extraordinary novel-in-verse about a neurodivergent girl who comes to understand and celebrate her difference.
“This is like the next "Wonder." Written by a young woman with autism, "Good Different" is a prose poem about what it means to own your neurodiversity. It examines how these undercurrents affect life, school, friendships and family, and how to turn pain into prose. Kuyatt is gifted and her parents' lifelong insistence that her neurodivergent features were her superpowers has propelled her to keep writing and sharing, advocating and illuminating, and building a community of thinkers. This story will make any neurodivergent person feel less alone but will also be a balm for all families who contend with this on a daily basis. Short and sweet, eye-opening and original, "Good Different" should be required reading, especially at schools.”
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NATURAL BEAUTY, the debut novel by Ling Ling Huang, is a gorgeously written, razor-sharp book, which follows an unnamed narrator into an elite, beauty-obsessed world where perfection comes at a staggering cost. Lush, sensual, and bitingly funny, NATURAL BEAUTY examines questions of consumerism, self-worth, race, and identity while eviscerating the beauty and wellness industry. Huang mines her personal experience as a professional musician, child of immigrants, and former wellness store employee for a book that brilliantly weaves together satirical, horror, and thriller elements. NATURAL BEAUTY has been optioned for a TV series to be produced by Crazy Rich Asians star Constance Wu and Yellowjackets executive producer Drew Comins.
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Goldie Taylor is a veteran journalist, cable news political analyst and human rights activist. Currently a contributing editor at The Daily Beast, where she writes about national politics and social justice issues, Taylor has been a working journalist for over thirty-five years. She got her start as a staff writer at the Atlanta Journal Constitution and as a desk assistant with CBS News Atlanta.
The former television news and communications executive has been featured on nearly every major network—including NBC News, MSNBC, ABC News, BBC, BET News, SkyNews, CNN and HLN—and she has been a guest on programs such as HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, The Dr. Phil Show, The Steve Harvey Show, Tom Joyner Morning Show, and Good Morning America. Taylor is a frequent guest on a full host of local and national radio shows, including NPR’s All Things Considered, 1A and Barbershop, and has been regularly published in print and digital publications. In recent years, she has written for Rolling Stone, Salon, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Creative Loafing, St. Louis Post Dispatch, The Grio, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Huffington Post, CNN.com, MSNBC.com, Ebony, and Essence among others.
In November 2015, Taylor penned the cover story for Ebony Magazine about the legacy of comedic icon Bill Cosby and made a cameo appearance on BET’s Being Mary Jane. She was a contributing producer for “CNN Presents: The Atlanta Child Murders” and has been an executive consultant to the presidents of both NBC News and CNN Worldwide.
A sought-after public speaker, Taylor has addressed audiences at—among others—the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, Harvard University, Morehouse College, Emory School of Law, Princeton University, Duke School of Law, National Association of Black Journalists, University of Missouri School of Journalism and The King Center.
A somewhat less than devoted runner, late blooming golf, and self-professed connoisseur of mediocre whiskey, Taylor has three grown children and three grandchildren. She lives in Boston where she is senior vice president and chief communications and marketing officer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
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Jon Gould is a distinguished scholar in justice policy, social change and government reform who has held key positions in the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Science Foundation. He assumed the deanship on Jan. 1, 2022.
Gould leads the nation’s first school of social ecology, established in 1970 in response to high demand for more socially relevant research. For more than 50 years, the school has been an internationally recognized pioneer in developing interdisciplinary approaches to social problems. Its highly ranked faculty in criminology, law and society; urban planning and public policy; and psychological science engage in research and education to foster informed social action and make the world a better place.
Gould’s expertise covers justice policy, social change and government reform. He was the principal investigator for the Preventing Wrongful Convictions Project, a multiyear research initiative funded by the National Institute of Justice. He is the author of five books and more than 100 articles and reports on such diverse subjects as erroneous convictions, indigent defense, prosecutorial innovation, police behavior, hate speech, sexual harassment and international human rights.
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From Showing Off
to Showing UP
An Impostor’s Journey from Perfect to Present
Nancy Regan
An intimate memoir and guide to overcoming imposter syndrome, stage fright, perfectionism, and embracing our most authentic selves, from the former host of Live at 5.
“My life was perfect. I was confident and outgoing. I was a deliriously happy wife and mother. I loved my job. That all sounds great, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, every one of those statements is false. I was false.”
This might seem like shocking honesty, but to Nancy Regan, it’s simply the result of dropping a mask she clung to for decades. In her first book, the former television broadcaster gives us a behind-the-scenes account of her experience hosting a newsmagazine with a daily audience of over a quarter million—and interviewing some of the biggest celebrities in the world—all while studiously concealing fear, insecurity, and self-doubt. With remarkable candour, Regan describes how she created the illusion of having it all together because she didn’t want anyone to know how close she was to falling apart.
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$1.1M grant from Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative formalizes partnership between UC Irvine and Anaheim Union High School District
Project aims to help instill a sense of purpose in students as they prepare for their futures
Years of emphasizing high-stakes tests may have dampened the joy of learning and, some argue, insufficiently prepared students to thrive in a modern workforce that values innovation and creativity. Some schools have implemented practices like capstone projects, ePortfolios and work-based learning programs designed to give students a sense of purpose in their learning and equip them to succeed in their future careers or college pursuits.
Do these promising programs have the intended effect? And what can schools learn from others who’ve tried them?
Researchers from the School of Education at University of California, Irvine will try to answer these questions through a collaborative research project with Anaheim Union High School District. The partnership will be funded by a $1.1 million grant over three years from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
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Sourcebooks Landmark is excited to publish THE SISTERS WE WERE by Wendy Willis Baldwin (January 2023, Trade Paperback Original, $16.99). Inspired by the real-life experience of the author and her sister, the novel follows two estranged sisters on their complicated yet ultimately triumphant journey toward futures of their own designs. A cinematic tale of sisterhood and hope, THE SISTERS WE WERE is an uplifting and powerful story about two women taking their lives into their own hands.
When Pearl was just a kid, her mother was imprisoned for manslaughter. Her “perfect” sister, Ruby, grew up and left Pearl behind, fleeing to a new city and recreating herself. Now, still living in the childhood home in which her mother committed the crime, Pearl is struggling with her weight—a frustrating daily obstacle that becomes a life-threatening diagnosis—and she commits to bariatric surgery. Surprisingly, Ruby agrees to return and help Pearl during the recovery period. While Pearl thought losing the weight would be the key to her new life, she begins to realize she will never be able to step into her future if she and her sister can’t reconnect and work together to put past trauma behind them.
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Marilyn Moss Rockefeller is back to take us on a deeper dive into her new book, Mountain Girl: From Barefoot to Boardroom. In this enthralling memoir, Rockefeller details her colorful journey from her humble beginnings on an Appalachian farm to the helm of a multimillion-dollar company. Although she faced immense challenges and instability during her youth, Rockefeller’s tenacity, determination, and innate charm led her to a life filled with extraordinary experiences and remarkable people.
These include:
· Hosting Andy Warhol and The Velvet Underground at her home during one of his art shows
· Participating in a private cooking lesson at Julia Child’s home
· Traveling with Carroll Shelby and the Ford Racing Team
· Helping celebrated designer Bill Moss build “paper” dome houses in North Haven
· Transforming Moss Inc, a struggling small business, into a multi-million-dollar company
· Crashing a Rockefeller’s plane (which in turn, sparked a romance that led to marriage!)
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About Chloe Ford
Chloe is a 4th year double-major in Psychological Science & Criminology, Law and Society. She is a part of Wise Pac's education cluster and the Co-Director of Design.
About Ashley Garcia
Ashley Garcia, is a second year Psychological Science major in the school of Social Ecology. She is currently looking into exploring her interest in Urban Planning and how psychology can be applied to the field.

Hosted by Fritz Coleman and Louise Palanker, Media Path takes you along on a scenic tour through books, movies, TV, podcasts and music related to a given topic of captivation. We are exploring entertainment, politics, history, true crime, world events and all of their intriguing intersections. Go beyond binging with Media Path.
“And now, here’s Fritz Coleman with the weather.”
For nearly four decades, Los Angelenos came to know and love Fritz Coleman through his gig as the weather reporter on KNBC, where his affable demeanor (honed in his early years of stand-up comedy) made him a staple of local news. But when he retired from his weather gig two years ago, Coleman knew he wasn’t done working. “That 11 o’clock news kept me from a lot of things,” he recalls. “Now I could do all those things that massage my soul, be curious more, and discover more.”
That’s the impetus behind MEDIA PATH PODCAST, co-hosted by Fritz and Louise Palanker, veteran radio producer and documentarian. With 100 episodes released so far, MEDIA PATH is a look back at what has defined our media for the past half-century. With guests as eclectic as Congressional leader Adam Schiff, television legend Henry Winkler, Grammy winning songwriter Diane Warren, and “Double Dare” host Marc Summers, each week is a journey down a new path of remembering, learning, and reevaluating our shared memories and histories.
Every show includes discussion of current cultural events and recommendations from the hosts, as well as extended, deep-dive discussions with figures who have had meaningful and memorable impact on the media world we experience. While many of the subjects will be familiar to Baby Boomers and Gen X’ers, the spirit of inquisitiveness, curiosity, and sharing that Fritz and Louise bring to each episode will ring familiar to newer generations who may be hearing about these subjects, people, and stories for the first time.
For Louise Palanker, who has been producing radio entertainment for decades and successful podcasts since 2005, that sense of serious and thoughtful discovery and discussion is what drives the podcast: “We can rediscover the things that matter to us and celebrate what we love.” For Coleman, the show is a new way for him to share his passion and curiosity about the world in the same charitable spirit that earned him Congressional recognition as “Humanitarian of the Year” for his work with the American Red Cross. “It’s a great release valve of the pent-up energy from forty years of weather reporting,” he says.
And now – back to you Fritz and Louise, for more journeys on the MEDIA PATH.
Louise Palanker
https://www.mediapathpodcast.com/
https://www.facebook.com/MediaPathPodcast
https://twitter.com/mediapathpod
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