Thibault is the author of three books, Law and Justice in Everyday
Life, the most recent one, was published in 2002. Between 2000-2006,
he published the “Cool Justice” column in The Connecticut Law Tribune.
He is a regular guest on radio and TV interview shows in Hartford. He
served as chief investigator for the Washington, D. C. public interest law
firm, Judicial Watch, at the time of its investigation of corruption
activities in the U. S. Commerce Department. In 2004, Thibault
delivered the Pew Memorial Lecture in Journalism at Widener
University in Chester, Penn.

Currently, Thibault is an adjunct lecturer in English and a mentor in
the MFA writing program at Western Connecticut State University. He is
author of The History of the Connecticut State Police and The 12-Minute
MBA for Lawyers, a consulting editor of the literary journal, Connecticut
Review, and—as an indication of his many outside interests—a licensed
professional boxing judge.

Internationally renowned as a performance poet, Patricia Smith is four-time national individual champion of the notorious and wildly popular poetry slam, an energized competition where poets are judged on the content and performance of their work. She is also regarded as one of the few performance poets whose work translates effortlessly to the page. Indeed, the Small Press Review declares, "Smith writes the way Tina Turner sings." Smith's most recent collection, Teahouse of the Almighty , was chosen by Ed Sanders for the 2005 National Poetry Series, and was published by Coffee House Press in 2006. Her three previous books of poetry are, Close to Death (Zoland Books), Big Towns, Big Talk (Zoland Books), and Life According to Motown (Tia Chucha). She has won the prestigious Carl Sandburg Award, as well as a literary award from the Illinois Arts Council and an honorary degree from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. In 2006, she was inducted into the International Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent, putting her in the company of Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Alice Walker, and others.

She was featured in the nationally-released film "Slamnation", and was a featured poet on the award-winning HBO series "Def Poetry Jam." Smith has shared the stage with Adrienne Rich, Rita Dove, Joyce Carol Oates, Allen Ginsburg, Walter Mosley, Ntozake Shange, Gwendolyn Brooks, Galway Kinnell and Viggo Morgensen.

An author of prose as well poetry, Smith wrote Africans in America (Harcourt Brace), a chronicle of slavery in this country and the companion volume to the groundbreaking four-part PBS series.

Michael Neff is the founder and director of WebdelSol.Com and it's affiliated literary organizations including the Algonkian Writer Workshops. He is an artist, photographer, also chief editor of Del Sol Review, as well as publisher of the several literary journals including In Posse Review, The Potomac, Perihelion, 5_Trope, and La Petite Zine. His literary work has appeared in numerous publications including American Way, North American Review, Pittsburgh Quarterly, Quarterly West, Conjunctions, and The Literary Review. His book YEAR OF THE RHINOCEROS is forthcoming from Red Hen Press.

Peter Krok is the editor of the Schuylkill Valley Journal and serves as the humanities/poetry director of the Manayunk Art Center where he has coordinated a literary series since 1990. His poems have appeared in more than seventy publications including the Yearbook of American Poetry, America, Midwest Quarterly, Poet Lore, Potomac
Review, and in 2005 his poem "10 PM At a Philadelphia Recreation Center" was included in Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania (published by Penn State University). His book Looking For An Eye was published by the Foothills Press.

Maurya Simon is the author of The Enchanted Room and Days of Awe (Copper Canyon Press, 1986, 1989), Speaking in Tongues (Gibbs Smith, 1990), which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and The Golden Labyrinth (University of Missouri Press, 1995). A fifth volume, A Brief History of Punctuation, was published in a limited edition by the fine letter-press book publisher, Sutton Hoo Press, in 2002. Simon’s sixth volume, Ghost Orchid (Red Hen Press, 2004) was nominated for a 2004 National Book Award in Poetry. A new, limited edition, letter-press collection of ekphrastic poems, WEAVERS, based on the paintings of Los Angeles artist Baila Goldenthal, was published by Blackbird Press in October 2005, and Simon’s eighth volume of poems, Cartographies, was published 2007.
Simon was the recipient of a 2002 Visiting Artist Fellowship from the American Academy in Rome, a 1999-2000 NEA Fellowship in poetry, a University Award from the Academy of American Poets, the Celia B. Wagner and Lucille Medwick Memorial Awards from the Poetry Society of America, and a Fulbright/Indo-American Fellowship in Bangalore, South India. Simon has been a fellow at Hawthornden Castle in Edinburgh, Scotland, and at the Baltic Centre for Writers and Translators in Visby, Sweden, as well as a lecturer at Lund University in Sweden. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, TriQuarterly, The Southern Review, The Kenyon Review, The Georgia Review, The Gettysburg Review, Grand Street, Agni, Ploughshares, Shenandoah, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, the New England Review, and in more than forty anthologies.

Bogen’s real poetry writing adventure did not begin till she was 47 when she took a poetry workshop run by Doug Anderson. That was followed by summer seminars at The Catskill Poetry Workshop, The Frost Place, Ropewalk and Bread Loaf. Her poems and reviews appear widely in journals including Shenandoah, The Gettysburg Review,The Georgia Review, Margie, Poetry International, and Field. Her work has been featured twice on Poetry Daily and twice on Verse Daily. One of her poems has been chosen by Poetry Daily for inclusion in their new hardcopy anthology. Her chapbook, Living by the Children’s Cemetery, was chosen by Edward Hirsch as the winner of the 2002 ByLine Press Competition and her full-length collection, Landscape with Silos, was a National Poetry Series finalist in 2004 and won the 2005 X.J. Kennedy Poetry Prize (judged by Betty Adcock). Landscape with Silos, was released by Texas Review Press in August 2006. She runs free writing workshops in her home.

Fleda Brown was born in Columbia, Missouri, and grew up in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She earned her Ph.D. in English (specialty in American Literature) from the University of Arkansas, and in 1978 she joined the faculty of the University of Delaware English Department, where she founded the Poets in the Schools Program, which she directed for more than twelve years. Her books, essays, and individual poems have won many awards. Her sixth collection of poems, Reunion (2007), was the winner of the Felix Pollak Prize from the University of Wisconsin. She has read and lectured in secondary schools, retirement communities, libraries, bookstores, a prison for delinquent adolescents, Rotary Clubs, AAUWs, and many universities and colleges, from Oxford University, London, to small liberal arts colleges. She has slept in a bunkhouse and has read with cowboy poets in North Dakota, and she has read for the Governor of Delaware and for the Delaware Legislature. She served as poet laureate of Delaware from 2001-2007, when she retired from the University of Delaware and moved to Traverse City, Michigan. She teaches in the Rainier Writing Workshop, a low-residency MFA program at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA, and she spends summers with her husband, also a retired English professor, at their cottage on a small lake in northern Michigan. Between them, they have four children and ten grandchildren.

E. Ethelbert Miller is a literary activist. He is a board member of The Writer’s Center and editor of its Poet Lore magazine. The author of several collections of poems, his last book How We Sleep On The Nights We Don’t Make Love (Curbstone Press, 2004) was an Independent Publisher Award Finalist (and number one on our 2004 list of Books to begin your Poeducation now). Mr. Miller received the 1995 O.B. Hardison Jr. Poetry Prize, given by the Folger Shakespeare Library for both teaching and writing excellence. In 1996 he was awarded an honorary doctorate of literature from Emory & Henry College. In 2003 his memoir Fathering Words: The Making of An African American Writer (St. Martin’s Press, 2000), was selected by DC WE READ for its one book, one city program sponsored by the D.C. Public Libraries. In 2004, Mr. Miller was awarded a Fulbright to visit Israel. Poets & Writers presented him with the 2007 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award. Mr. Miller is often heard on National Public Radio (NPR).

Powerful and moving clips from George Carlin,Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Howard Zinn and Dennis Kucinich on the state of the U.S.

Dick Bakken began performing his poetry without a manuscript in 1972 and within a year was collaborating with dancers at innovative performance and spoken word poetry events. From 1975 to 1980 he crisscrossed the country giving readings and performances until, during a tour of the Southwest, he settled in Bisbee, Arizona where he still lives. Dick Bakken was the director of Heart of Carlos Spoken Arts, Jump the Border!, and the Bisbee Poetry Festival. He was also poetry editor at The Bisbee News.

Dick Bakken's poetry has been published in over 200 periodicals and anthologies, eight books, on two audio cassettes, and two video cassettes. He has won numerous awards and grants, and continues to tour, working with musicians, mimes, painters, sculptors, photographers, and filmmakers.

Dick Bakken is "one of the few poets in America whose reputation, a substantial one, rests almost solely on his public readings which are lyrical, dramatic, liturgical and celebratory all at once," wrote Christopher Howell, owner of Lynx House Press.

Jerry was trained in art, however. “I went to school for three years at Rockland Community College and the State University of New Paltz, both in New York. One day, the one teacher who believed in me and saw how committed I was as an artist said to me, ‘What are you doing here? Why don’t you just go out and do it?’ He said the one thing that I knew I needed to do, but was afraid to. Even though I had almost completed my degree program, when he said this to me, I walked straight out the door, never to return. I do have an A.A. degree, for those interested in my minimal credentials.”

At age 29, he set out to discover the rock-bottom truth of his life. For years he questioned the limits of his creative life as a studio painter. After destroying all of his art and giving away everything he owned, Jerry began a life of unconditional trust, allowing life to provide all that was needed. He lived this way for over 10 years and then moved to the state of Washington, where he married Marilyn Strong and produced a large new body of art.

Jerry was approached by the publisher at Sentient Publications and asked to write a book about those years, which he agreed to do. The book was completed in 4 months and titled, "The Inspired Heart," published by Sentient Publications in the Fall of 2002. He and Marilyn have finished an extensive booksigning and lecture tour. (Read sample chapters and foreword by Thomas Moore.)

Marilyn and Jerry’s charming Whidbey Island home is now filled with his unique sculptures and paintings. He also built a 40-foot meditation tower, the Flaming Stupa, on his property.

A video of Jerry’s life and work, In the Hands of Alchemy, is available from Parabola. Jerry is available for film showings, speaking engagements, and workshops with his wife—singer and adult education teacher, Marilyn Strong.

Jerry, Marilyn, and the Flaming Stupa are featured in a chapter of a new book called, "Holy Personal: Looking for Small Private Places of Worship" by Laura Chester, with photos by Dona Demari, and foreword by Thomas Moore (Indiana University Press).

Repeat show. Good independent music. QUEENIE (USA) : Dream of Flight, Lost, AMIT ERIZ (Israel): Postcard, Clever and Strong, CONSEQUENCES (Sweden); Wasted Under the Stars, BARRY McLOUGHLIN (Canada); The Most Wonderful Girl In The World, Fifth Avenue.

Lyn Lifshin has written more than 100 books and edited 4 anthologies of women writers. Her poems have appeared in most poetry and literary magazines in the U.S.A., and her work has been included in virtually every major anthology of recent writing by women. She has given more than 700 readings across the U.S.A. and has appeared at Dartmouth and Skidmore colleges, Cornell University, the Shakespeare Library, Whitney Museum, and Huntington Library. Lyn Lifshin has also taught poetry and prose writing for many years at universities, colleges and high schools, and has been Poet in Residence at the University of Rochester, Antioch, and Colorado Mountain College. Winner of numerous awards including the Jack Kerouac Award for her book Kiss The Skin Off, Lyn is the subject of the documentary film Lyn Lifshin: Not Made of Glass. For her absolute dedication to the small presses which first published her, and for managing to survive on her own apart from any major publishing house or academic institution, Lifshin has earned the distinction "Queen of the Small Presses." She has been praised by Robert Frost, Ken Kesey and Richard Eberhart, and Ed Sanders has seen her as "a modern Emily Dickinson."

Practicing Conscious Living and Dying: Stories of the Eternal Continuum of Consciousness

Published by O Books - http://www.o-books.com/

An uplifting collection of spiritually illuminating texts and powerfully
thought-provoking real life stories, showing death as an integral part of life. These touching observations of closeness to someone who is in the dying process, and personal accounts of near-death experiences and after-death communication, illustrate how coming to terms with the inevitability of death is actually a life-affirming experience. These emotionally evocative and inspirational experiences address timeless questions and help expand our limited awareness of the nature of consciousness. They show how each of the individuals concerned has come to understand that death teaches us that the preciousness of life must be lived with a sense of purpose and meaning, as a celebration of our existence.

Annamaria Hemingway is a Ph.D. candidate and currently writing her dissertation on The Near-Death Experience: A Mythic Model for Conscious Living and Dying. She also writes articles for various magazines and her work is primarily focused on all aspects of conscious living and dying. She is also a member of the International Association for Near-Death Studies.

In 1999, Rus started posting poetry onto online forums. In 2003, he began his column Poetry & Poets in Rags, a Tuesday night weekly that is carried by the InterBoard Poetry Community (IBPC), part of the Web Del Sol site, at http://www.webdelsol.com/IBPC/wire_rags.htm. For the past two years, he has published a companion blog at http://poetryandpoetsinrags.blogspot.com. Poetry & Poets in Rags is essentially a clearing house of links on current poetry articles, keeping the online poetry world informed, connected, represented, and hopefully growing in influence.
He blogs his own writings and poetry selections at Clattery MacHinery on Poetry, where his most popular article has been Alley War Poetry: http://clatterymachinery.wordpress.com/2007/09/24/alley-war-poetry. His writing has appeared in online publications such as Aught, Melic Review, The Quarterly Journal of Ideology, and recently in the anthology Best of Cafe†Cafeâ€, Summer 2007.

For the past two years, he has been scheduling and inviting the esteemed judges for IBPC's monthly and annual contests. His efforts are for positive change through poetry, and his commitment is to the world community of poets, and specifically online poets, those who participate at the workshops (http://clatterymachinery.wordpress.com/2006/07/19/25-online-poetry-forums-and-workshops), and those who foster the growth of poetry on and through the web.

DREAD DAZE

The sights and sounds of Dread Daze were started by lead vocalist, Najashi. Based in Los Angeles, California, Dread Daze is a multi-racial, multi-cultural group of six dedicated and hardworking, talented musicians, whose positive attitudes and heart-felt honesty are brought to life throughout their poignant songs. They play and write original material, creating an uplifting and new sound, in hopes of touching the world through positive music and always encouraging love and peace within mankind.

Dread Daze consists of Najashi(lead vocalist), Ria Daniels(vocals), Brian Ward/Belfast Posse(guitar/vocals), Issac/Dread I(keys/vocals), Toi(drums), Brain C(bass), Together, they have made their mark in the music scene having performed with legends such as Steel Pulse, Arrested Development, Pato Banton, Eek A Mouse,Half Pint,Mikey Dread Wailing Souls, the Abyssinians,Don Carlos and many more. They have also recorded with members of The Black Eyed Peas, Jurassic 5, James Early of M.C Hammer’s first album, and more recently recorded in the infamous Hitsville West, a.k.a. Motown Studios, where legends, Marvin Gaye and The Jackson 5 once created music history.

Apart from the band’s official website, www.dreaddaze.com, don’t forget to check them out at www.myspace.com/dreaddaze for updates and music downloads. To date, Dread Daze has had over 76,000 hits and downloads online alone...just a small indication of their worldwide audience and appeal. Made of true substance, their message is pure and their songs are infectious. Prepare yourselves for the new and positive vibration that’s about to explode right through your speakers. Welcome to the future of music…welcome to Dread Daze!

In "Marilyn Monroe Returns: The Healing of a Soul," newly released paperback, July 2007, board-certified psychiatrist Dr. Adrian Finkelstein presents astonishing evidence that a patient he has treated over a span of eight years, Canadian pop singer Sherrie Lea Laird, is the reincarnation of Marilyn Monroe.

In "Marilyn Monroe Returns" takes readers inside Marilyn's world, revealing for the first time the inner thoughts and feelings of the world's most famous sex symbol. You don't have to be a believer to be fascinated by this detective story of a doctor and patient team in search of Marilyn, and even outright skeptics will be intrigued by the eerie similarities between Marilyn and Sherrie Lea and the completely new revelations about Marilyn's life - and death.

Adrian Finkelstein, M.D. is a board-certified psychiatrist currently on the teaching staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and in private practice in Malibu, California. He has served as chief of outpatient psychiatry at Mount Sinai Medical Center, and as an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Chicago Medical School, Rush Medical School, and the UCLA School of Medicine, and received his medical training from the Hadassah Medical School at Hebrew University in Israel and the world-prestigious Menninger School of Psychiatry in Topeka, Kansas. Sherrie Lea Laird, who goes by the stage name Sherrie Lea, is a Canadian pop singer whose dance remix of "No Ordinary Love" topped the charts in Canada and Europe.

Jane Guskin and David L. Wilson are the co-editors of Weekly News Update on the Americas, Guskin also edits Immigration News Briefs. Guskin produced a widely circulated immigrant rights flier entitled “What’s So Wrong About Immigration?” Her essay “The Case for Open Borders” was published in Melting Point or Boiling Point? The Issues of Immigration. Wilson’s articles on Latin American issues have appeared in publications including Monthly Review, Extra!, and New York’s El Diario-La Prensa

For more information click thepoliticsofimmigration@gmail.com.

Photo by www.feastoffools.net

Pop-culture journalist Gregg Shapiro’s interviews and reviews run in a variety of regional LGBT publications and websites. His poetry and fiction have appeared in numerous outlets including literary journals such as Beltway, modern words, Bloom, White Crane Journal, Blithe House Quarterly, Mipoesias, and the anthologies Sex & Chocolate: Tasty Morsels for Mind and Body (Paycock Press), Queer Quarterly 2007 ( and Poetic Voices Without Borders 2 (Gival), Blood to Remember. His collection of poems, Protection, will be published in January 2008 by Gival Press. He lives in Chicago with his life-partner Rick and their dogs, Dusty and k.d.

Antoine was born in Africa and reared in the South of France. As a young man, he pursued a career as a commercial pilot and earned advanced academic degrees in Economics & Business Administration.

After the extraordinary events that he experienced as a hostage in Lebanon, Antoine moved to United States. Following the dictates of a very creative mind, he extended his professional adventures into the filmmaking and real estate industries. Antoine credits his success in these widely divergent fields to a unique mind-set, “My mind interprets all thought the same way: in terms of love.” He attributes his serene existence to his ability to discern what truth is. He focuses on sharing his understanding of reality by not allowing the past to cloud his vision.

During a Hollywood event, Antoine met Liliana, the woman that the voice had told him about while he was in captivity. During their first encounters he remained reserved about what he knew of her assignment, he simply answered all her provocative questions with the truth he learned from the voice.
Antoine is not required to write. He communicates, listens and reasons with Liliana all the time on the subjects delivered to them. He still resides in Southern Coast of California where he pursues his interest in the real estate industry.

Raised in Marietta, Georgia, Royal became a local singing sensation at Savannah, Georgia's Bamboo Ranch in the 1950s and 1960s. He is best known for the 1965 Top Ten pop hit "Down in the Boondocks," which, along with the singles "I Knew You When" (Top 20, 1965) and "Hush" (1967), were written and produced by Joe South. His 1969 single, "Cherry Hill Park," peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100.
During the 1980s, Royal scored a comeback with several Top 10 country hits, including "Tell It Like It Is," "Burned Like a Rocket," and "I'll Pin a Note on Your Pillow."
When his rejuvenated career as a country music hitmaker quieted down, he followed up with bookings throughout the 1990s in large country music bars and became a successful act on that circuit. And, he is still making music. His latest release is “Going By Daydreams.” Check http://BillyJoeRoyal.com for more info. Also you could check any of the several million entries on any search engine to learn more about this legendary performer,

Paul Hipp: I Am The Decider, MC Shexter: This Is War, Eddie Vedder: I Am A Patriot, Charlie Chaplin: from The Great Dictator, Steven Pritchards: This Is War.

“Over the last 30 years, my many journey’s have taken me through almost every aspect of arts and entertainment production at home and around the world. Everything from designing ballet and opera productions to world tours with Genesis and Billy Joel, from major motion pictures to my current spot as Technical Director of the Spencer Theater for the Performing Arts in Alto, NM, my world in live stage performances never failed to enrich my life. Growing up as a frustrated performer, I found a great fulfillment in an amazing, behind the scenes world of creativity working alongside such great actors as Jack Nicholson, Jeremy Irons, Nick Nolte and musical artists like Don Henley, John Melloncamp, Alice Cooper and, yes, even Ozzy Ozbourne.”

Since I was a child I've always had a special bond with animals. For many years I didn't make the connection between all the different kinds of abuse and how it was linked together until I joined PETA and Last Chance for Animals. The fur and factory farms as well as medical research facililties and puppy mills were never a thought in my mind. I never realized how much child and animal abuse was going on. I started rescuing dogs and cats in 1987 soon after my beloved dogs Smoky and Roxy were poisoned. I was angry at the media and the department of animal regulations for giving pit bulls such a bad reputation, with no protection against dog fighters and over-breeders. The other issue that bothered me was that there wasn't a single organization reaching out to the Hispanic community about animal abuse issues.

Kari TIEGER is a Singer/Songwriter who writes and sings in both English and French, primarily about spiritual growth and relationships, sharing her unique perspective on life.

Her compositions range anywhere from dramatic vampire love songs to songs of hope for the future. She explores life and love, as seen though the eyes of an American francophone.

http://www.karitieger.com

Sam has cared for the needs of the dying in palliative care for over 16 years. During that time, Sam has served as the Chair, and now, Co-Chair of the Hospice Ethics Committee at the Hospice Care Center of VNS in Akron, Ohio. He has served several years as a State Continuing Education Chairperson for the Association of Professional Chaplains. For well over a decade, Sam has been an active editorial review board member and contributing writer for Healing Ministry Journal, The Journal of Terminal Oncology, and The American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care.

Sam began his speaking about spiritual care over 15 years ago and continues to speak at public engagements on the local, national, and international levels. He has spoke at several college campuses and keynoted at several Hospice Conferences. His first book of four "What the Dying Teach Us: Lessons on Living" is a National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization selection.

Sam's undergraduate study was at Georgetown College with a B.A. in Psychology. He received his Master of Divinity @ The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky with an emphasis in the Pastor/Teacher track. In 2003, Sam Oliver finished his post-graduate certificate in Healthcare Ethics through Rush University in Chicago, IL. Presently, Reverend Doctor Samuel Lee Oliver is the Chaplain at the Hospice Care Center of VNS in Akron, Ohio.

Donna Henes, the award-winning author of THE QUEEN OF MY SELF: STEPPING INTO SOVEREIGNTY IN MIDLIFE.Donna Henes has become known as the “Midlife Midwife," helping women transition into their mature power and fulfill their best potential at this stage of their lives. As the influential “60s generation” reaches their 60s, we are poised to welcome a new era of freedom, profound thought, innovation, and bravery which will have far-reaching effects in the world.

Personal, anecdotal, funny, and wise, THE QUEEN OF MY SELF has received praise from Dr. Christiane Northrup, Olympia Dukakis, Jennifer Louden, and Susun Weed, among others. And the response from women across the country has been overwhelming.

Donna writes a weekly column for UPI Religion & Spirituality Forum. The author of The Moon Watcher’s Companion and Celestially Auspicious Occasions, she maintains a full schedule of workshops, lectures, readings, and retreats, as well as an e-mail newsletter, and has for the past four years been “Visionary in Residence” at the Omega Institute.

You can find out more about Donna Henes at her website, www.thequeenofmyself.com.

Reclusive entity from the world's small presses, given to writing poetry, novels, short stories & promulgating them rather randomly for years throughout the universe, since early 1980s... Hey, here's the standard bio (& I'm an ancient dudester pushin' 60 sipping Dewar's): "Peter Magliocco, writer/artist/editor, was raised in Southern California but has spent over 20 years editing the underground lit-zine, ART:MAG, out of Las Vegas, Nevada. His bio appears in the Marquis' Who's Who in America, 2004-06... Known as The Mag Man in small press circles, his futuristic novel, NU-EVERMORE, appeared in 2002 -- also later as an ebook -- via Trafford Publishing (in cooperation with his own Limited Editions Press). Another novel, HIAWATHA ROCKS, was published by Airleaf (www.airleaf.com), with a book of poetry & art, EX LITEROTICA, in '06 from Publish America (www.publishamerica.com)...."

“A Near-Death Experience (NDE) at the age of three began a life-long journey of self-discovery and enlightenment. I am determined to live my life to the fullest and bring that same joy to others.

If you're looking for words of wisdom on life, love, relationships, money, sex, whatever motivates you... drop me a line, add me as a friend or stop by my site and sit a spell...

My recent article has been published in 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life along side such notable motivators as Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy, Denis Waitley and my personal mentor and hero, Greg Reid. (It's really a good book, and not just 'cause I'm in it).

I have hundreds of articles, cartoons and daily thoughts to help you enlighten up your life at my website Gurustu.com. Come on by and say hi.”

In April, 2007, a small group of Texans spent time in Jordan interviewing Iraqi refugees, NGOs and the United Nations High Commision for Refugees to get the real story about the this crisis which is largely ignored by the media.

For personal notes on the trip click: http://belindasubraman.livejournal.com/

ATTENTION. DEFICIT. DISORDER. is a book.

It's a novel.

It's a story about how difficult it is to find meaning in the Information Age.

It's a contemporary rendition of the classic coming of age novel.

It features a man who wants to shave his head for reasons he can't explain.

It features a really old man and a really young prostitute.

It features a big desert, a charming mentally disabled man, and some hardcore spelunking.

If you so desire, you can order it online at:

amazon.com

Barnes & Noble

Powell's

Borders

BookSense

....Or at any other online bookseller.

Otherwise you can pick it up at your local bookstore.

Or you can steal it.

Reuben Beckham is a Thanatoligist working for hospice. He is also the leader of El Paso Friends of the International Association for Near Death studies.

Hal McGee:

" I have been making homemade recordings of my own experimental, electronic, industrial and noise music since September 1981. In the 1980s I recorded with Debbie Jaffe, under the name Viscera, and solo under the name Dog As Master. From 1984-87 Jaffe and I operated the Cause And Effect International Distribution Service. We distributed more than 5,000 tapes of homemade experimental music. From 1989 to 1991 I published six issues of the homemade experimental music magazine Electronic Cottage. In 1998 I produced the Tape Heads compilation series of recordings by more than 200 audio artists. I have released more than 120 albums, and in addition to numerous solo works I have collaborated with Al Margolis, Chris Phinney, Dave Fuglewicz, Brian Noring, Phil Klampe, Charles Rice Goff III, and many others".

"Member, International Association of Reiki Professionals
I received a BBA from UTEP in 1983 and worked as a CPA in public and corporate accounting in El Paso, Texas for 23 years. I took my first Reiki class in 2004 to satisfy a deep interest in the power of chi that developed from my martial arts background--I have been giving Reiki sessions on a regular basis ever since. Giving and receiving Reiki is a beautiful experience and has had a powerful impact on my life. In 2006 I became a Reiki Master and began to pursue my devotion to this healing art on a full time basis".

http://desertlotusreiki.com

Jonathan Penton is the editor of www.UnlikelyStories.org. He is the author of three chapbooks of poetry: Last Chap (Vergin' Press, 2004), Blood and Salsa (self-published, 2006) and Painting Rust (self-published, 2006).

John Amen is the author of two collections of poetry: Christening the Dancer (Uccelli Press 2003) and More of Me Disappears (Cross-Cultural Communications 2005). He has also released one folk/folk rock CD, All I’ll Never Need (Cool Midget 2004). His second CD will be released in Spring 2007. He is featured in the 2007 Poet’s Market. Further information is available on his website: www.johnamen.com. He founded and continues to edit the award-winning literary bimonthly, The Pedestal Magazine (thepedestalmagazine.com).

Cast of Characters:

Chuck Joy: psychiatrist and poet

Jim Clark: professor, editor, poet, writer,songwriter and singer

Cheryl Townsend (CAT): poet, photogragher, editor and publisher

Frank Wilson: book reviewer, poet and writer

Scotland's National Bard, Robert Burns, gave a voice to ordinary life and was himself as much an inspiration as his poetry. Burns profound belief in the worth of every human being, no matter who they are or what their origins was the most inspiring aspect of the man. He may have endured grinding poverty for most of his short life, but he did not allow hardship to destroy his future.

Nearly 250 years after his birth, the greatest tribute we can pay Robert Burns is to adopt his worldview and recognize that every child is exceptional no matter where they are from or what their circumstances.

Janice Hale-Hobby is an El Paso poet and writer. You can sample her writing and read her bio at http://JaniceHaleHobby.com

Betty Ruiz says, "My main passion is as follows. I have recently returned to my childhood passion of songwriting. I wrote my first song when I was 7 years old. I am presently exploring the sensational realm of rap. I am enthralled with its vivid and challenging schematics. Holistically, I am a certified Reiki practitioner looking to become a Reiki Master soon enough. Using an innate ability in me and unleashing it to help others is unmeasurable in value. Scholastically, I am majoring in Creative Writing with a minor in Interpretation and Translation. Apart from my dream of being a vocal performer on stage one day, my less sensational dream is to be an interpreter for the U.N. I wish to travel to the Yucatan peninsula, the Inca ruins, the Andes in Peru, the Amazon. I wish to smell the roses in Alaska and dip my toes in the muddy Mississippi river, but first and foremost, I wish to look for the snake's skeletal remains inside the walls of my mother's childhood adobe home located in Jalisco, Mexico".

John Burns left Liverpool and moved to the Highlands of Scotland where he has lived for over 20 yrs following his passion for climbing and walking in the Scottish mountains. It was only coming to terms with the challenges of caring for his autistic daughter that drove John to resort to poetry and there he rediscovered his love of words and found a new passion in live performance. More recently John has been writing his first novel and now frequently walks into the spot light as a stand up comedian. He now produces Purple Comedy, an Internet podcast show that frequently enters the realms of the surreal but often takes on more serious subjects.

Notes by Jeff Holmes of The Floating Men

MY MUSIC BIO: the floating men jeff holmes - guitar/vocals scot evans - bass/harmonica/harmony vocals biography 2005 - Celebrating 15 Years Since forming in 1990, Nashville legends The Floating Men have become one of the most influential indie acts in the Eastern US, releasing seven critically-acclaimed studio albums and a bevy of officially-authorized bootlegs. Their songs are covered by young performers all over the country, their lyrics are discussed in college classrooms, and they have inspired innumerable songwriters, musicians, and poets.

MY CONSERVATION BIO: Jeff Holmes is the Co-Chair of both Southeastern Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation ( SE PARC ) and the Upland Snake Conservation Initiative of the Gopher Tortoise Council. He is also a co-author of the SE PARC Habitat Management Guidelines. As Conservation Planner/Senior Field Biologist for Conservation Southeast, Inc., Holmes has extensive field experience throughout the Southeast. Prior to joining CSI, Jeff worked first as Zoologist, then as Director of Conservation Planning with The Nature Conservancy of Tennessee.

Diagnosed with advanced colon cancer on her birthday in 2005, Sylvia Thompson discovered the healing power of creative writing through her illness. She teaches meditation, Reiki, Chakra and Color Therapy and takes part in a women's Kabbalah study group in her community. Her book "In the Garden of Illness I sit by the Well of Hope" is available through SHADOW POETRY or you may have a special expanded version printed just for you through LULU. For more samples of Sylvia's poetry go to Author's Den. Her book is also available at Barnes and Noble.com and Amazon.com

Cheryl A Townsend is a poet, avid photographer and the onetime
publisher/editor of Impetus Magazine, which was published through
Implosion Press. Implosion Press now proudly publishes epitome
magazine, a regional magazine that celebrates the arts. minds and
ambitions of women in NE Ohio. She is the co-founder of the Womens Art
Recognition Movement (W.A.R.M.) and used to be the owner of cat's
Impetuous Books in Kent, Ohio, where she specialized in small press
books and held regular poetry readings, art exhibits and live musical
performances and the notorious annual Alleyway Readings.

Cheryl starred as a feminist, modern day, Jesus in the award-winning
indie film "Jesus & Her Gospel of Yes", produced & directed with Alfred
Eaker. http://gospelofyes.collectivekitz.com/act.htm

A good selecetion of her artwork can be viewed at
http://www.artmajeur.com/cheryltownsend/

" I am a neurologist who started out as a New York writer, mainly poetry, but also wrote some book and TV reviews, and fiction. My current job leaves me less time to create than I would like. I have 2 novels in progress that I am trying to get out of my system and on paper. I grew up with a crazy, NY writer dad, the descendant of prominent, formerly polygamous Idaho Mormons, who was raised in DC and eventually became an avant garde novelist, a journalist and editor at magazines like The New Yorker and LOOK, and a college professor, all with no more than a 7th grade education. Our house guests included such diverse people as Terence Stamp, Norman Mailer and Alger Hiss....."

Peter Buffett is a well established musician, composer and producer. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Buffett began his career in the early 1980’s in San Francisco where he wrote music for commercials. After recording four albums for Narada Records, Peter signed with Epic and then Hollywood Records resulting in four additional releases. His Emmy award winning CD entitled, Ojibwe was released on his own label, BisonHead.

After scoring the Fire Dance scene in the Oscar winning film Dances With Wolves, Peter went on to score the entire 8 hour miniseries for CBS produced by Kevin Costner called 500 Nations. Soon after, famed composer John Barry brought Peter to Abbey Road studios in London to write music for The Scarlet Letter.

Peter’s production, Spirit first became a successful PBS Pledge Special in 1999 that led to a 4 month tour in the U.S. In 2004 an updated version, Spirit – The Seventh Fire, was located on the National Mall for the Smithsonian’s opening of the National Museum of the American Indian. Spirit – The Seventh Fire combines Imax scale film and imagery, all native dancers and a live band to tell the story of one man’s journey towards reconnection through his heritage and the land we live on.

While Spirit prepares for a European tour, Peter continues to score films and release records. His latest release Gold Star is the seventh on the BisonHead label and his first featuring his vocals.

Cliff Kindy has spent parts of several years on peacemaking trips to Iraq. He is a member of CPT which places violence-reduction teams in crisis situations and militarized areas around the world at the invitation of local peace and human rights workers. CPT embraces the vision of unarmed intervention waged by committed peacemakers ready to risk injury and death in bold attempts to transform lethal conflict through the nonviolent power of truth and love.

 "Bosnia's answer to Jimi Hendrix!" - Misha Berson, Seattle Times

"The music is as fascinating as the story of the musician himself, a man who somehow learned to draw incredible sounds from the guitar while surrounded by the chaos of wartime Sarajevo. There is depth to each of the songs on this CD that words can't really explain and the best I can say is that Amir Beso is easily on the caliber of Santana or Jimi Hendrix in terms of raw talent. I don't believe there's one song on this CD that you won't love." - Unsigned Magazine

"Sarajevo-born songwriter Beso laces his Gypsy guitar instrumentals with hints of New Age loopiness on this debut CD. It's a little like receiving massage therapy in the middle of a Balkan picnic." - Tizzy Asher, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Here is a roughly 30 minute segment from the Sanctuary Compilation Tape Series I produced out of Germany from the early to mid-80s. It's a little wacky but interesting. You'll hear two home-spun songs by Sam Sharger, some hard to classify sounds from Lenny Bove, a segment recorded in India by myself and a self-penned song in French from Louise Mailot.

CaDra is a studio project around producer rakenDra Smit and multi-instrumentalist/singer Caroline Beukenkamp.
In their sound studio in Amstelveen, in the Netherlands, they play and experiment with sounds, vocals, instruments, song structures and words from all over the world.

Their mystic popmusic seduces the listener to open up. The music, though, is only an excuse to guide the listener towards the end of it, towards the fade-out. The fade-out is a very important element in their music. They take great care in letting a song disappear very smoothly into the big silence.

In the East they have a certain meditation practice which is called the 'Temple-Bell Meditation'. Early in the morning the monks keep their attention fixed to the decaying sound of a temple bell. These bell sounds last very long and when the last subtle overtone dies out, that's the moment..., that's when you can dissolve in Sunyata, in a state of bliss beyond fear.

Connie Day, NP, has just returned from one of her nine month stays in Afghanistan. . She tells about her experiences in the medical clinic in war torn Kabul.

Connie's notes: Worked in refugee camps in Pakistan
Led mobile clinic in Afghanistan during the war with the (Russian) now Soviet Union.
Worked in Angola, Africa during the civil war providing health care for the displaced
Returned to Afghanistan twice since 9-11
As an NP, my specialty is women's health. I last worked in a women's hospital in Kabul where I set in place a curriculum and taught Afghan midwives. Also provided a study guide to prepare midwives for their National Certification Exam administered by the Ministry of Health.

Diagnosed with colon cancer on her birthday in 2005, Sylvia Thompson discovered the healing power of creative writing through her illness, She teaches meditation, Reiki, Chakra and Color Therapy and takes part in a women's kabbalah study group in her community. Her book "In the Garden of Illness I sit By the Well of Hope is available through http://www.ShadowPoetry.com

Los Angeles-based Kings of Jupiter, featuring the sitar playing of Rane,is all about fusion: east into west, ancient greeting the new. The band plays at festivals as well as rock and acoustic venues like the Hard Rock Cafe, Synergy Lounge, L.A County Museum, and Hotel Cafe. Kings of Jupiter is currently in the studio -- Check http://myspace.com/kingsofjupiter for fresh tracks.