The Morning Glory Project

There are certain groups to which nobody wants to belong. High among that list of undesirable memberships is to be one whose loved one has been stolen from you by gun violence. Sandy Phillips and her husband Lonnie are members of this loathsome club. Their daughter, Jessica Ghawi, was murdered in the massacre at the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises in the Summer of 2012 in Aurora, Colorado. Their grief and rage could not be measured and the loss of their beloved daughter was unimaginable. They made two life-changing decisions in the midst of their grief: they'd cling to one another, keeping their marriage intact as so many survivors had not, and they'd turn their heartbreak into action to prevent the tragedy of gun violence for other families. They founded an organization to offer compassion, support, and resources to help the far too many new survivors immediately after their loved ones are taken, and through their grief process. Survivors Empowered is exactly what its name implies, an empowerment group, to not only support survivors, but to relentlessly confront legislators and businesses who have the power to prevent future gun violence. Find out about Survivors Empowered at SurvivorsEmpowered.org

Whether doing international reporting under the aegis of the United Nations on the effects of a drought in sub-Saharan Africa in 1984, or interviewing influencers as diverse as Oprah Winfrey and Maxine Waters, Audrey Edwards has had a 40-year career as a journalist with work that has won awards, been used in university courses, and referenced on national television talk shows. A former senior-level editor for the national publications Essence, Black Enterprise, Family Circle and More magazine. Audrey has also authored seven books, most notably the groundbreaking Children of the Dream: The Psychology of Black Success (Doubleday, 1992), co-authored with Dr. Craig Polite. Her latest work, AMERICAN RUNAWAY: Black and Free in Paris in the Trump Years (August Press, 2020), is a wise and wisecracking memoir on her decision to run from America following the election of Donald J. Trump as President of the United States. Paris has historically offered refuge to Black Americans running from American racism, be they soldiers following World War I, or the writers, musicians, artists and other creative thinkers who have been coming to the City of Light for 100 years. She chose to run as an older, retired Baby Boomer who had benefited from the enormous social and political gains of her generation's revolutionary activism. She was not inclined to remain in America watching those gains come under assault by the new Donald Trump political regime.

Before turning to a life of crime (or at least writing fictional crime), Boston Globe-bestselling author and multiple Massachusetts Center for the Book honoree Clea Simon was a journalist. The author of three nonfiction books and 31 mysteries, most recently the amateur sleuth adventure Bad Boy Beat, her books alternate between cozies (usually featuring cats) and darker psychological thrillers and amateur sleuth suspense. Clea's personal story is rich with drama too. A recent cancer survivor, her unstoppable optimism has served as an essential element of her healing process. But what's most remarkable about this optimism is that is was born in a childhood of extraordinary challenge, including schizophrenia that plagued her two siblings and cost one his life as she describes in Mad House: Growing Up in the Shadow of Mentally Ill Siblings. The survival of this Clea's dedication, creativity, resilience, and humor makes this author's lived story, as remarkable as the ones she writes in her fiction.

Caroline Leavitt's mother told her that all the Leavitt women were cursed with tragic lives. And, at first it seemed true. Caroline's young fiancé died in her arms from a heart attack two weeks before their wedding. She was in a coma and in the hospital for months with a mysterious critical illness no one thought she could survive. And her writing career shattered, making it seem that she would never be published again. But Caroline refused to let despair break her. Instead, she persisted with hope and resilience, knowing that sometimes the biggest tragedies can make future happiness even brighter. She ignored setbacks to become a New York Times bestselling novelist, ignored statistics to marry and have a child in her forties, and she became a part of a wonderful community by helping writers during Lockdown by cofounding A Mighty Blaze. Caroline is a New York Times bestselling author of 13 novels, her most recent being Days of Wonder.

Alex Kuisis was a happily married early-childhood-educator-turned-health coach, living a beautifully fulfilling life in Denver, Colorado, when the doorbell rang on September 1, 2016. It was the police, there to arrest her for seven felony crimes that she did not commit. Truth Matters, Love Wins is both an astounding account of fighting false accusations in a slanted criminal justice system, and an uplifting testament to choosing integrity and introspection when responding to staggering levels of betrayal. Alex's dedication to surviving her darkest hour through faith, love, and personal growth will captivate and inspire you. ​ A must-read for anyone curious about how to handle the pain and anger that accompanies life's most devastating curveballs, Truth Matters, Love Wins showcases the power of keeping love close when you know you have the truth on your side.

Cara Brown is an award-winning watercolor artist and teacher, though she came about this having this be her life quite unexpectedly. When she was 24, her first husband proposed marriage to her – in front of a group of friends. She didn't say yes or no, she said “I want kids.” She had always yearned for the whole experience available to people in female bodies – becoming a mother, including being pregnant and giving birth. When life circumstances deemed that not possible, she went into a dark time, wondering how her life could be fulfilling, how it could have meaning, given this crushing disappointment. She prayed for the energy to pursue adoption – or to be given something else. Within a few years, it became obvious what that something else would be. She was asked by a friend to show her art for the first time in 2007. In 2011 she led her first groups of watercolor student-artists. In the years since, these two aspects of her life have evolved, grown, and flourished. She almost stumbled upon a rich and fulfilling life of art making and providing instruction and the supportive environments in which people best expand and learn. Living a Life in Full Color is Cara's mission, for herself and all of us. You can find out more about Carta and see her art at: LifeInFullColor.com and find her podcast about art and life, Watercolor Conversations wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

When Leah Lax was asked to write a libretto for an opera intended to celebrate local immigrants, she began by spending a year listening to the stories of upheaval, migration, and arrival, told to her in confidence by people from around the globe. She felt she had discovered the song of America, found its great beating heart. But Leah also discovered troubling truths about America, through the eyes of immigrants, and in so doing was inspired to uncover the lost history of her own Jewish family. Through this interwoven experience of their story and hers, Leah found not only a larger context for the story of immigrants, but a new way of looking at how her own identity, rather than as a member of a small “minority”, but as a part of a very large majority who are here in this country because either they or their parents immigrated from another country. Nearly two decades after Leah had those conversations, long after the opera she wrote had left the stage, she captured those stories into this “libretto” of a story, her extraordinary new book, Not From Here: The Song of America. Leah was a guest on The Morning Glory Project after her deeply stirring memoir, Uncovered: How I Left Hasidic Life and Finally Came Home, which was the first gay memoir ever to come out of the Jewish ultra-Orthodox world. Leah's dual career as an author and as a librettist has brought her many well-deserved accolades. When she's not writing, you can find her playing cello or kayaking around the world with her wife.

Growing up as a girl in the 1950's girls were not expected to have any career goals. They were going to be housewives. Susanna Solomon's mother complained bitterly about her lot in life. Her father told her she was too stupid to go to college, then he fell in love with someone else—someone other than Susanna's mother. When her mother took her own life when Susanna was fourteen, the upheaval in the family was seismic. At 20 she met a guy who was loving and warm and wonderful. At first he was great fun, but he liked to drink. Each year went by things became more difficult, as he would yell and stagger, and diminish Susanna and their two children. After 11 years, Susanna made the decision to get a divorce, but she knew she didn't have enough skills to support herself and her kids on her own and that “women's jobs” of that era wouldn't provide enough. She decided that she would need what was then called a “man's” career, with a “man's income”. Everyone she knew, but for her brother, made fun of her for what seemed like an absurd choice. After six-and-a-half years, she graduated Summa Cum Laude, got a job and ended her marriage, becoming a single parent. In her delightful short story collections, Point Reyes Sheriff's Calls, and More Point Reyes Sheriff's Calls, Susanna takes the tidbits of sheriff's call incidents published in her local small-town paper and imagines what the late Paul Harvey might have called “the rest of the story”. In her more recent publication, Paris Beckons, she continues to do what she's always done… breaking from the expected, weaving her lived experiences and fictional storytelling throughout a collection of short stories that put a different light on loss, memory, and independence.

Kathryn Abdul-Baki was born in Washington, DC, to an Arab father and an American mother. In addition to her bi-cultural immediate family, she had a globetrotting childhood, growing up with dramatic changes in community and culture as her father's work brought them to Iran, Kuwait, Beirut, and Jerusalem. The geographical and cultural changes were huge, but dwarfed in comparison to the tragic losses her family would sustain. When she was 7, Kathryn's brother was born and would be struggle with a heart defect that required extensive treatment. During this time, her mother was diagnosed with cancer. Her brother died at the age of 18-month. Her mother at age 32, and Kathryn's whole world changed. Kathryn, despite a happy marriage and beloved children of her own, would find herself in the throes of depression as she came to her own thirtieth birthday. With what were then inexplicable feelings of abandonment, she'd make an attempt to take her own life. Behind the scrim of her own life, there would always be the image of the mother she lost before she ever got to really know her. It was by reconnecting to the joyful aspects of her early life that Kathryn was able to heal, and specifically through dancing that she'd reconnect to this joy. Her memoir, Dancing Into the Light gives readers a unique glimpse into her story, into Arab culture, and into the psyche of a young Arab woman.

Donna Stoneham and her mother found a special closeness in the end of Mary Ruth's life. Theirs had been a relationship fraught with challenge throughout most of their shared lifetime but in her mother's final years, the two found healing and deep connection. When Mary Ruth passed, Donna was launched into a new kind of transformational grief journey in which the conversation with her mother did not end with her passing at age 88. Catch Me When I Fall is a moving collection of poems and letters through which Donna keeps her heart open to the mystery and power of transcendent, eternal love that lives on beyond the human lifetime. Donna's lifelong experience as a poet accustomed to seeking meaning, her professional experience as an executive coach, and her history as a hospice chaplain inform her rich and deep exploration of connection with her mom as a part of not only grieving death, but embracing life. A balm for a grieving heart, Catch Me When I Fall is an inspiration for anyone who has lost someone they love. Part love song, part grief map, this collection offers another way to look at loss and a thousand ways to embrace life. Donna is also the author of The Thrivers Edge: Seven Keys to Transform the Way You Live, Love, and Lead.

Jennifer Marshall experienced four psychiatric hospitalizations within five years—two before any diagnosis was reached, and two more because she was trying to protect her son during her own postpartum psychosis and later after going off medication to protect her unborn daughter. All of those hospitalizations were because she was unmedicated at the time. Then, seven years later, after seven and a half years of stability, she suffered a manic episode after the death of her friend and partner who had helped her launch her non-profit, Anne Marie Ames. Living in recovery with bi-polar disorder is a daily struggle, but Jennifer is determined to live successfully despite mental illness. With good health practices, good medical care, and the support of friends and loved ones Jennifer continues her campaign to de-stigmatize mental illness and to celebrate the brave people who put their names and faces to it. Jennifer founded “This is My Brave”, an organization to celebrate the stories of those who struggle with or have relationships with those who struggle with all forms of mental illness.

As a follow up to her memoir Poetic License which came out in 2020, Gretchen Cherington dug deeper into family myth and lore, resulting in her new memoir The Butcher, the Embezzler, and the Fall Guy—A Family Memoir of Scandal and Greed in the Meat Industry. In the early 1900s, Gretchen's paternal grandfather was recruited by George A. Hormel to help him build what is now the multi-billion dollar food conglomerate Hormel Foods. As a child, Gretchen listened to riveting stories about these two men from her father. Third in the trio was the company's comptroller, Ransome J. Thomson, who, over a decade, embezzled $1.2 Million from the Hormel company and nearly brought it to its knees. Rumors suggested Gretchen's grandfather was “in cahoots” with the embezzler. But was he? Gretchen sent out to investigate this question. Research led Gretchen to business documents, letters, and historical records that helped her find a few of the missing pieces of the picture that is her family's history puzzle. Kirkus calls this new book “A dazzling account that deftly combines crime, drama, history, and introspective remembrance…a mesmerizing story filled with drama, suspense, and told with remarkable emotional insights.”

Nicki Traikos has been an artist at heart her entire life, though in her early career she thought she had to choose a more “practical and profitable” way to earn a living. But her creative self found its way into every job until eventually she decided she wanted to be a full-time artist, but not a starving artist. Today Nicki is the living embodiment of her company's name: Life I Design. She has built a successful art career as a teacher, as a creative who sells her own work, and now as a published author with an upcoming book to help others develop their artistic skills. While the medium Nicki has used through her career may have changed greatly over the years, the goal has always been the same: to have the courage to try, and to find joy in the moments exploring. Known best for her “Watercolors Made Simple” online classes and new book of the same name, Nicki has a casual and approachable philosophy about making art and inspires other artists to adopt it, too. It's not about achieving perfection, but about having the joy of experiencing artistic expression, developing techniques so that they can create art that pleases them, and for each creative person to find their own style.

Christy Warren is a retired fire captain/paramedic from the Berkeley, California Fire Department, with 25 years of service as a first responder. In 2014, she was diagnosed with PTSD and struggled through shame, exhaustion and feelings of suicide to finally ask for help so she could fight for her recovery. In her memoir, Flashpoint: A Firefighter's Journey Through PTSD Christy reveals with both candor and vulnerability the nearly unimaginable challenges that first responders face, the pressure they feel to be invulnerable to the mental health impact of their work, and the value of support, treatment, and healing for the brave people who serve.

Small in stature, large in presence, and always in charge, Joanne Greene anchored the news and hosted talk shows on San Francisco radio while totally devoted to her family—until a traumatic accident suddenly removed her ability to control anything. Her debut book, By Accident: A Memoir of Letting Go is a story of resilience and perseverance, of will and pluck, and of positivity and gratitude for lessons learned—even as the personal hits just keep on coming. Joanne also hosts two podcasts—“In This Story…”, XX minute musings on XXX and “All the F Words”, which she and her Gen X co-host explore everything from fun and friendship to Fiber, Fraud, and Feng Shui.

Margo Fowkes is the mother of two children – Jimmy, forever age 21, and his younger sister Molly, who is now 26. After Jimmy's death in 2014, Margo created Salt Water, a blog and online community that provides a safe harbor for those who are grieving the death of someone dear to them. Margo is the president of OnTarget Consulting, a firm specializing in helping organizations and their leaders act strategically, improve their performance, and achieve their business goals. Last September, on what should have been Jimmy's 30th birthday, Margo published Leading Through Loss: How to Navigate Grief at Work. The book provides practical tools and ideas from leaders who've dealt with loss and offers insights into the perspective and experiences of grieving employees: what they want and need, what helps and what hurts, what support they were deeply grateful for, and what they wish their leaders had done differently.

Carlyn Montes de Oca grew up surrounded by secrets. She never knew that her dad was a Marin during World War II or that her grandmother hired kidnappers to bring her mother back home after her parents eloped. But her parents took an even bigger secret to their graves…Carlyn's identity. At age 57, a DNA test taken for fun revealed that Carlyn's parents were not her biological parents and everyone in her family, including more than 60 first cousins, knew but hadn't told her.  The search for her lineage, her identity, and her truth would result in Carlyn's memoir, Junkyard Girl: A Memoir of Ancestry, Secrets, and Second Chances. Carlyn is also the author of Dog as my Doctor, Cat as My Nurse and serves as a sought-after expert on human health and well-being.

For 21 days in 1976, Carol Menaker served with eleven others on a sequestered jury in the trial of Frederick Burton, a young Black Revolutionary charged with the grisly murders of two white prison wardens. She was 24 years old. Forty-seven years later, she is publishing a memoir in which she unravels the trauma of that experience and comes to the unsettling conclusion that her youth, naïveté, and white privilege may have led her to convict a man whose shoes she never could have walked in. Mr. Burton, now 77 years old, remains incarcerated in a Pennsylvania prison. Today, Carol has become an advocate for criminal justice reform and looks forward to the way her story will influence others with the political and legislative willpower to consider “second chance” laws for the thousands like Mr. Burton serving excessive sentences with no hope through the courts of earning their freedom. Carol chronicles her experience in her new memoir, The Worst Thing We've Ever Done: One Juror's Reckoning with Racial Injustice.

For lots of us, there's the life we plan and then there is reality. At age 22, looking forward to a life full of opportunity for success and happiness, Jennifer Cramer-Miller got tossed into a world she'd never imagined. Diagnosed with an incurable autoimmune disease that caused kidney failure, she would face dialysis, and ultimately not only one kidney transplant, but four…and counting. This led her to become a “joy scouter.” The title of her memoir Incurable Optimist: Living with Illness and Chronic Hope (August 2023) is a hint to not only how Jennifer has coped for more than 30 years with illness, but how she lives her whole life. But she's no Polly Anna, ignoring the hard stuff. Her optimism is born of living with reality, with the operative word being living. Anyone dealing with disappointment, hopelessness, or fear will be inspired by Jennifer's infectious optimism. Listen in to her inspiring story.

How will empathetic people survive the troubles of this time? How do we rescue our overburdened spirits from overlapping disasters such as rising fascism and climate collapse? And from where can we summon the power to heal ourselves, our communities, and the planet? These are the animating questions behind singer, songwriter, and storyteller Shannon Curtis's newest album Good to Me—Curtis's 10th studio album and in her book of the same name. Confronted in late 2021 with near-paralyzing anxiety brought about by the increasingly fraught state of the world, Curtis aimed her angst at her journal. Using tools she acquired in 12-step recovery, she set out on a quest for self-healing, with the intention of nurturing her personal sense of peace and agency in a world on fire. The result is a song journey and an accompanying book that took Curtis through a practice of identifying failed coping mechanisms, coming to terms with radical acceptance, learning to trust her inner truth and reconnecting to her serenity and power even as the world continued to burn. The extended Good to Me album project aims to illuminate a path for others to undertake this same journey for themselves—complete with a companion book and scripted podcast.

Arin Fugate is a survivor. From between the ages of 11-21, she was raised as a “resident” of a spiritual cult and deemed for a time the “ceremonial virgin” whose mother surrendered her child's custody to the spiritual leader. Deprived of food, education, and freedom of thought, Arin was isolated from a world she'd been taught to fear and indoctrinated in the twisted spirituality of the leader. Arin emerged from the cult experience at 21 unprepared to identify abuse or protect herself from it. Perhaps her most challenging and enduring deficit is being unable to resist an authoritative voice, requiring her to exercise great care in selecting the people she can truly trust. Having overcome addiction, anxiety, depression, and other limitations from years of abuse she is now dedicated to facilitating the rise of the Female Visionary. She serves on the board of Ride My Road, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping survivors of sex trafficking, founded by past Morning Glory Project guest, Lauren Trantham. Arin is a mother of two daughters, wife, and a business owner. She knows how hard it can be for women to carve a path to their dreams. By sharing her passion for natural wellness, and entrepreneurship with inspired business owners, she helps women to find their strengths and to pursue their dreams.

Isidra Mencos was born and raised in Barcelona when her home country was under the oppressive rule of Franco and strict religious teachings. Isidra spent her twenties experimenting with the new freedoms afforded by the end of Franco's dictatorship, causing her to have a double life of “good girl” and “rebel.” She immersed herself in books and dancing, and working at various jobs. In 1992 she moved to the US to earn a Ph.D. in Spanish and Latin American contemporary literature at UC Berkeley, where she taught for twelve years. After a ten-year stint in the corporate world managing teams in several countries, in 2016 she focused on creative writing. She tells of her journey in her memoir, Promenade of Desire, A Barcelona Memoir, published in 2022.

It can be a helpless feeling to watch a loved one slipping away, becoming increasingly lost to mental illness, drug use, and even homelessness. In this very personal episode, the host of The Morning Glory Project welcomes a loved one, once thought lost. Using only a nickname to protect her privacy, Meesh, now stable, self-sufficient, and four years sober, shares her story of how the toxic cocktail of un-medicated mental illness and methamphetamine use dragged her from her life to the fringes of society—to homelessness, repeated incarceration. She'll share not only the experience of being lost, but how even in her broken mental state, her psyche served to protect her and help her find her way to health.

With over 6 million books sold (and counting), Kathia's novels have been #1 bestsellers around the world. They've received starred reviews, have consistently earned Editor's Picks for Best Romance, and have been featured by O, The Oprah Magazine. Kathia has written over 40 books and counting, some translated into several languages, all about hope and dreams and the bonds of friendship and family. In addition to writing, Kathia is an acclaimed artist and kung fu master. She wields both the paintbrush and the sword with great flare. Underlying her prolific writing, her art, and her unabashed sense of adventure, what may stand out most about Kathia is her unrelenting belief in love. When she found and married her own “miracle man”, one who could support her career and share in her adventures, she thought she had it all. Later, however, betrayal not only ended the marriage, but posed a threat to her career and cost her the ownership of 19 of her published works! Has her view of love changed? Is she still a romantic? And how has she healed? That's what we cover in this episode of The Morning Glory Project.

In troubled times, what good is art of any kind, much less poetry? To many, poetry seems so much the purview of the elite, the dalliances of the fanciful. It can seem esoteric and out of reach for most. Kirsten Casey, both as a poet herself and in her work with teen writers, has found that poetry is far more than fancy, that it can be not only accessible, but essential, and that engaging young people with poetry is a gateway to other meaningful connections. She shares this conversation with us on The Morning Glory Project. In 2022, Kirsten is the poet laureate of Nevada County, California, a California Poet in the Schools, creative writing teacher, and the author of Ex Vivo: Out of the Living Body and Instantaneous Obsolescence in which she explores historical and literary characters struggling with social media.

Following the unexpected death of their daughter Lili Rachel Smith in October 2009, Laura Talmus along with her husband, Averell “Ace” Smith founded Beyond Differences. Passionate about bringing awareness to the issue of adolescent social isolation, Laura is the full-time Executive Director of Beyond Differences, a student-led social justice organization dedicated to ending social isolation among middle school students. Beyond Differences' Social Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum is now being used in over 9000 schools across all 50 states. They are best known for the national holiday, No One Eats Alone Day. The work of Beyond Differences strives to have an effect on every layer of society when it comes to suffering from social isolation. Working with families, schools, local and state programs, and even on the national level, this non-profit organization works to advance social-emotional learning and children's mental health. Laura has received numerous awards and recognitions including being selected as an AARP Purpose Prize Fellow, a Jefferson Prize Award winner, receiving the MLK, Jr. Humanitarian Award from the Marin County Human Rights Commission, the Courageous Leaders Award from the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco, and the North Bay Business Journal's Award's Nonprofit Leadership Award. She is also a member of the Washington, D.C.-based organization, the Coalition to End Social Isolation and Loneliness (CESIL).

For many, Karen Grassle is synonymous with Caroline Ingalls, the beloved character she portrayed in the long-running series, Little House on the Prairie. But she does not profess to always be as straightforward and agreeable as the character for which she's best known. In this conversation, Karen offers us a glimpse behind the curtain of an actor's life. In her candid memoir, Bright Lights, Prairie Dust, she reveals the elements of her life as a woman who came of age in the turbulent ‘60s, as a stage and screen actor, and as one who faced her own struggles with depression and alcoholism. She reveals the tenacity, work ethic, and dedication to her craft that kept her moving forward as her life and career. This memoir is a soulful, candid story filled with humor, heart, and wisdom, celebrating and honoring womanhood, in all its complexity.

Thinking she was doing everything not to duplicate her own dangerous and abusive childhood, Lizbeth Meredith found that she'd somehow fallen into the trap of a treacherous family pattern that made her daughters vulnerable. Finally divorced from an abusive ex-husband, Lizbeth's world was turned upside down when he abused his visitation rights and left the country with the two girls, landing in his native country of Greece. Pursuing, finding, and rescuing her daughters became Lizbeth's everything. Her harrowing story is captured in her memoir, Pieces of Me: Rescuing My Kidnapped Daughters and premiered in March 2022 as a true story film on Lifetime as “Stolen by Their Father,” starring Sarah Drew. Lizbeth is an author, speaker, and online teacher who holds a master's degree in psychology. After a career working with domestic abuse and child abuse victims, Lizbeth then worked for 20 years as a juvenile probation supervisor. Today, she's happy to write, speak, and teach online from her home in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

At thirty-one, Kirsten Mickelwait was ready to pursue a serious career as a writer and eventually, she hoped, marriage and family. When she met Steve Beckwith, a handsome and successful attorney, she began to see the future materialize more quickly than she'd dared to expect. Twenty-two years later, Steve has become someone quite different from the man Kirsten first met. Unemployed and addicted to opioids, he uses money and their two children to emotionally blackmail her. The couple separates but, just after their divorce is finalized, Steve is diagnosed with colon cancer and dies within the year, leaving Kirsten with $1.5 million in debts from properties that are no longer hers. As she fights toward recovery, Kirsten begins to receive communications from Steve in the afterlife—leading her on an unexpected path to forgiveness. The Ghost Marriage is her story of discovery: that life isn't limited to the tangible reality we experience on this earth, and that our worst adversaries can become our greatest teachers. This is a book about life after divorce and life after death. It's a story of how forgiveness is the best revenge.

Gina Frangello is an author, editor, book reviewer, and journalist published in many prestigious journals and publications. She is the author of Every Kind of Wanting, A Life in Men, Slut Lullabies, and My Sister's Continent. Despite these many accomplishments, Gina has come to wider reputation for her newest book, a memoir, Blow Your House Down: A Story of Family, Feminism, and Treason. Her book was called “Searing, honest, heartbreaking, heart-mending, and a hell of a ride,” by Rebecca Makkai, author of The Great Believers. Part memoir, part social commentary, this poignant book of raw candor does what its title implies…it blows the house down, departing from the customary expectations of women's memoir, and daring to tell the truth about being an imperfect woman who has the sheer audacity to rise into a happy life after making mistakes in her life.

Toby Dorr dared the unthinkable. She broke a convicted murderer out of Lansing Correctional Facility. Since completing her time in Federal Prison, she has achieved two Master's degrees and rebuilt a broken life. Since her first visit to The Morning Glory Project in 2019, Toby has been making good on her promises to herself and her community. She's written and published what she calls her Unleashed series—a series of three workbooks to help women to gain strength and power and to avoid the mistakes that she has made. Through her memoir, Living with Conviction: Unexpected Sisterhood, Healing, and Redemption in the Wake of Life-Altering Choices, Toby takes readers through all of the heart-pounding, tear-jerking, heartbreaking, eye-opening experiences that touch the most primal human need, the need to be significant. A fascinating prison tale, through the lens of love, inspires change.

Jess Ayers is a seasoned musician turned successful freelance writer. On the day that she and her husband brought their three-day-old son Jax home, and loved ones came to welcome the new arrival, nobody could have imagined what would happen. A random bullet, shot by a neighbor more than 200 yards away traveled past dozens of trees, entered their house and killed Jess's husband, and father to their newborn before her eyes. Through the shock, grief, and profound loss, Jess needed to take care of her newborn and build a life different than she'd planned for herself and her son. Jess had to find her own music, her own voice without Justin, and turned to writing as part of her own healing and to help others deal with their loss. Through her blog, The Singing Widow, and as a contributor on POPSUGAR, and Love What Matters, Jess continues to share her story of love, loss, and healing.

Lorinda Boyer strove continuously to be virtuous in the eyes of God and to live the life she believed He intended for her. She married her high school boyfriend at eighteen and had two kids by twenty-eight. Although she created a perfect Christian home for her family, she never felt wholly content in her role as wife and mother. Then her life intersected with Robin's-the woman who would ultimately awaken her sexuality and show her true love for the first time. Struggling to come to terms with her sexual identity within the confines of her strict fundamentalist Christian upbringing, Lorinda is pushed into living a double life: one part perfect housewife and mother, the other part sexual addict. She soon finds herself in the fight for her life. More than a coming-out story, this is a coming-into story. It is the story of coming into an authentic life and self.

After a five year struggle with infertility, many heartbreaking disappointments, and with the help of IVF, Jessica Pritchett was finally pregnant. She and her husband awaited the arrival of their much-loved daughter, Izabella. But after multiple medical complications far outside of their control, and after all medical intervention failed, losing Izabella was inevitable and they were faced with the most horrible of choices: to carry the child further would result in Jessica's death and her daughter's too. The pregnancy was not far enough along for the infant to be viable outside the womb. Together with her husband and her doctors, Jessica made the agonizing choice to induce labor, knowing that her daughter would likely not survive it. This was grief upon grief for this couple that so wanted to be parents. Now, in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to disregard 50 years of legal precedent, and to overturn federal laws to protect a woman's right to body autonomy and medical privacy, Jessica has discovered a new kind of grief. She's been called vile, disgusting, selfish, and a murderer by those who claim to hold a “pro-life” stance. This is a story of hard choices and a family that has faced them, lived with them, and remained a loving family.

Dr. Lucinda Jackson is the author of the memoir Just a Girl: Growing Up Female and Ambitious about her struggles to succeed as a scientist in male-dominated oil and gas and chemical organizations. Her story continues in her new book coming out April 2022: Project Escape: Lessons for an Unscripted Life about the complex transition from hard-hitting career to retirement. Jackson is the Founder of LJ Ventures, where she speaks and consults on energy and the environment and empowering women in the workplace and the Next Act.

Lauren Trantham is the founder and executive director of Ride My Road. In 2016, Lauren started Ride My Road as a personal photography project to photograph American Survivors of abuse and sex trafficking. Since that time, and in addition to photographing over 80 survivors, she has ridden tens of thousands of miles on her motorcycle raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for survivor-led organizations.

Meredith May was our guest, sharing her intimate and inspiring memoir, The Honey Bus. We welcome her back to share the story she portrays in Loving Edie: How a Dog Afraid of Everything Taught Me to be Brave. This new memoir is a story of a dog, to be sure, but it's also much more than that. This is the story of what our relationships with vulnerable creatures can teach us about ourselves. Meredith's books have been published in 17 countries and her first children's book, My Hive, will be published in spring 2024. Previously, she was an award-winning journalist at the San Francisco Chronicle, where her reporting won the PEN USA Literary Award for Journalism, the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism, and was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize. She lives in Carmel Valley where she spends her time writing, beekeeping, and volunteering as a scuba diver for the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Kevin Berthia is a suicide survivor and prevention advocate. Kevin was born with a genetic major depression disorder. In 2005, at the age of 22, Kevin attempted to take his own life by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge. Eight years after his attempt, Kevin was reunited with the officer who talked him back to safety. Since then, Kevin's story of HOPE has touched a diverse group of audiences all around the world. Kevin has had the opportunity to share his story with several magazine outlets along with local and national news stations. Kevin's story was also featured on the Steve Harvey Show. The photo of him standing on the bridge was front page of the San Francisco Chronicle and placed on the 75 most iconic photos of the 21st Century. Kevin believes that having survived an attempted suicide plays a major role in the prevention of additional suicides. No one knows more about the darkness that surrounds suicide than those who have walked in its shadow.

Kevin Briggs, a retired California Highway Patrol sergeant, spent a decade patrolling the Golden Gate Bridge. A trained negotiator, Briggs handled 4-6 crisis calls a month on the bridge. These challenging but rewarding efforts earned him the nickname “Guardian of the Golden Gate Bridge.” On one fateful day in 2005, Kevin met with one of the most challenging, yet rewarding encounters of his service career with a young man of twenty-two who had come to that destination to end his life. Kevin Berthia was that young man and the 90-minute, over-the-rail exchange between these two men not only saved his life but was the start of a life-long friendship. Their hopeful, life-affirming story offers insight into how we can gain an understanding for those in the throes of personal anguish and how to extend compassion to those who may be struggling. Kevin Briggs has shared what he's learned in his memoir, Guardian of the Golden Gate. He currently speaks with law enforcement organizations, schools, and businesses to share inspire compassion and understanding about mental health and suicide issues.

Silvia Foti was raised on reverent stories about her hero grandfather, a martyr for Lithuanian independence and an unblemished patriot. His granddaughter, growing up in Chicago, was treated like royalty in her tightly knit Lithuanian community. But in 2000, when Silvia traveled to Lithuania for a ceremony honoring her grandfather, she heard a different story…a “rumor” that her grandfather hand been a “Jew-Killer”. Silvia, an award-winning investigative journalist could not ignore such a sharply barbed rumor and embarked on a wrenching twenty-year quest for the truth. This journey into World War II history is intensely personal, but filled with universal lessons about courage, faith, memory, and justice as told her memoir, The Nazi's Granddaughter: How I Discovered My Grandfather was a War Criminal.

What's the purpose of poetry anyway? In these troubling times of ecological challenge, political vitriol, and social unrest, it's easy to wonder about the value of the arts in all forms. But for Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge, the answer is simple. Poetry isn't merely a distraction from the world, it's a necessary element of surviving in it. She sees herself as living between the worlds, the one our bodies inhabit and the one from where poems come. She's dedicated much of her adult life to inviting others to join her in a world of words, taking poetry out of its rooms in high towers and making it accessible to anyone. Susan's book, Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words (now in its 30th Crown/Random House printing) was number 7 on a Penguin Random list of the best books on writing. Anne Lamott wrote, “This is a wonderful book—smart, wide-eyed, joyful, helpful, inspiring. You're going to love it, and love writing poetry more for having read it.” Susan has held workshops on journals, creative writing and collage with thousands of adults and children and has worked in over 80 rural libraries in sessions sponsored by Poets & Writers Org. Susan has a chapbook of poems, Bathing with Ants, and a book on creativity and collage, Foolsgold: Making Something from Nothing and Freeing Your Creative Process (Crown).

When enjoying lunch with a dear friend, Elizabeth Appell began to feel peculiar. The next thing she knew she was waking up in the hospital after surgery, following a sudden stroke. To her great good fortune, Elizabeth's friend had been in the audience at a one-woman show of another Morning Glory Project guest, Dr. Diane Barns, who wrote and performed Stroke of Luck in which she shares her own story of suffering a stroke, along with tips for identifying and helping others having a stroke. She instantly called 911 and because of speedy help, Elizabeth's recovery has been nearly miraculous. Elizabeth is a playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and filmmaker. Her play Confessions of a Catholic Child has won several competitions. The play was produced in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Her plays Chalk Lines and Moon Walkers both were semi-finalists at the O'Neill. Squawk the Musical! was tapped by Apples and Oranges, New York for development sessions and had its first reading late in 2019. More recently, she's working on Elements of Betrayal, a limited series, and The Family Trick, a play about a woman who slips into the Nether looking for the truth about her family. The play was just shortlisted by the London Playwrights.

After a long career as a psychologist, organizational consultant, and sports education specialist, George Selleck has had a lot of experience at trying to understand people, groups, and relationships in work, sport, and life. But in is in his twilight years, while suffering life-threatening illness that George's greatest teacher has arrived in the form of a prematurely born grandson. In his heartwarming book, Kian and Me: Gifts from a Grandson, George shares insightful lessons about how to live in a happier, healthier, and more fulfilling way. But the lessons in this inspiring book are not from grandfather to grandson. Rather, it is Kian teaching his granddad about connection, curiosity, positivity, and so many more simple practices for living beautifully.

Sallie Weissinger felt ready to date again after the passing of her beloved husband. She tried the updated version of the newspaper personal ads through which she'd found her husband in the first place and signed on to dating websites. When she made a list of the qualities she wanted in a new love she noticed that the first letters of those qualities spelled out “PASTRAMI,” which appealed to her sense of humor and her sense of purpose. Dating sites offered mixed results, so Sallie decided to employ other skills as well as her community of friends and family to help her find a romantic partner. She built a website and offered a reward of $5,000 to a non-profit chosen by a “Love Liaison” who successfully matched her up with someone special who fit her PASTRAMI qualifications and who proved to be a partner for at least one year. Her system worked and she was introduced to the second true love of her life. Sallie's unique search reminded her to appreciate the abiding friendships, the meaningful volunteer work, and her garden and dogs. New love, she realized, would be only one of many blessings. Her story is about more than a search for romance, it's about life lived fully, the importance of deep connections, and one woman's search for meaning.

As a dual citizen of New Zealand and the United States, Angela Muir Van Etten served as national president of both Little People organizations and qualified as a lawyer in both countries. She was admitted to the bar in New Zealand, Ohio, and New York. As a dwarf of three-feet-four-inches, LPA has twice awarded Angela its highest honor—the Kitchens Meritorious Service Award—for her work as a leader in banning dwarf tossing in licensed establishments in New York and Florida and in breaking the six-inch reach barrier in buildings and facilities open to the public throughout America. Angela has been a legal writer and editor of disability civil rights law books for Thomson Reuter, a staff writer for the Christian Law Association, and an advocate and coordinator for the Coalition for Independent Living Options. Her articles on dwarfism and disability advocacy have been published in LPA Today, and online in the HuffPost blog.

Lucky-number-seven of nine children, Margot McMahon discovered their front acre of woods, ravines and the Lake Michigan shoreline before riding horses in prairies, hiking mountains and sailing while her social justice journalist parents wrote and painted their history. Natural materials like wood, sand, bronze and stone inspired her to sculpt while being locally, nationally and internationally awarded. Margot was compelled to find and tell their untold story to better understand herself as she emerged from a flock of artistic siblings. Growing up in this hectic and artistic family, young Margot was unaware of her parents' history: Who knew her father was captive and force-marched between three POW Luftwaffe camps? That her mother flew across the nation in first generation Boeing planes, later finding ways to be an award-winning travel writer and teacher while raising a large family? Margot has preserved the history of her parents' dramatic lives beyond what she observed in her own lifetime. Fasten your seat belts, hold on tight and enjoy the ride through A WWII Saga and If Trees Could Talk!  

Judy Lipson is the Founder and Chair of Celebration of Sisters, established in 2011 to commemorate the lives and memories of her beloved sisters to benefit Massachusetts General Hospital. Judy has published articles, given speeches and been interviewed by the Open to Hope Organization, the Centering Organization, SKATING Magazine, and in literature published by Massachusetts General Hospital, where she has maintained a close philanthropic relationship for more than twenty years. Her passion for figure skating secured her the United States Figure Skating Association 2020 Get Up Champion Award.

As an Episcopal priest, Willa Goodfellow's ministry included work with troubled teens, college students, congregations in transition, diocesan structures to develop spiritual leadership within local communities, and advocacy for the full inclusion of LGBTQ people. She was a professional troublemaker. Life-long depression caught up with her in her fifties. Her poor pitiful brain nearly threw itself over the edge as a consequence of a major depression misdiagnosis and treatment with way too many antidepressants, until she was re-diagnosed with bipolar disorder and began her road to recovery. But hey—she got some great rants out of the experience and went freelance as a troublemaker. She is now a mental health journalist, speaker, blogger, and author of Prozac Monologues: A Voice from the Edge.

Stephen Dexter is an actor, writer, audiobook narrator, and activist based in New York City whose work can be seen on both stage and screen. He has appeared on Off-Broadway and International stages and is a lifetime member of the legendary Actors Studio. He has worked steadily in film and TV, most recently appearing on "Evil" on Paramount Plus, "Dr. Death" on NBC Peacock, and "Billions" on Showtime. He is also an award-winning audiobook narrator with over 200 titles to his credit. His most recent film "American Morning", which he wrote, produced and stars in alongside Emmy-winner Richard Schiff ("The West Wing", "The Good Doctor"), deals with the aftermath of a school shooting and the desperate measures a survivor resorts to to reconcile his guilt and affect change. The film is currently on the festival circuit and has been lauded both here and abroad receiving a Spirit Of Cinema nomination and Special Mention for Best Short Film at the venerable Oldenburg Film Festival in Germany.

As the co-author, with Ellen Bass, of the iconic and groundbreaking book The Courage to Heal Laura Davis rode the hurricane-force that was unleashed by empowering women to talk about surviving sexual abuse, while also being catapulted to fame for the worst thing that had ever happened to her. In her new memoir, The Burning Light of Two Stars: A Mother Daughter Story Laura reveals what it was like behind the force of that hurricane and tells the intimate story of her relationship with her mother, of whom she eventually became caretaker.