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New Video: Michael Dingler and "NOLA Rising" |
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Wednesday, 19 March 2008 |
From the Crescent City, AuthorViews is excited to introduce Michael "Rex" Dingler, New Orleans artist, activist and creator of the NOLA Rising Project. We met up with Dingler at the 2008 Alternative Media Expo in New Orleans for an interview you don't want to miss.
If you've had the chance to wander around New Orleans within the last year or so, anywhere from the bustling streets of the French Quarter to the emptiness of the lower Ninth Ward, you've no doubt seen the uplifting work of Dingler and his NOLA Rising Project.
NOLA Rising is a post-Katrina art campaign encouraging the people of New Orleans to display works of art across all areas of the city, in hopes of renewing the creative spirit of New Orleans and just giving residents something bright and cheerful to smile about.
Since the project's inception in mid-2007, Dingler personally has drawn over 2000 posters and 500 signs that have been put up by NOLA Rising "street teams" on walls, telephone polls, bulletin boards -- anywhere and everywhere -- throughout the Greater New Orleans area.
Dingler has spawned an entire movement out of his vision to brighten up New Orleans. Friends and supporters contribute to NOLA Rising with paintings and signs by the hundreds, hoping to replace the bleakness of a hurricane's aftermath with creativity, color and the New Orleans spirit.
For some (ridiculous) reason, there are a few individuals throughout the city who have taken offense at the project, viewing the art as nothing more than graffiti.
According to an article in The Gambit Weekly, "Fighting the Aerosol Nation," for the past five years, Fred Radtke has been in charge of a Louisiana nonprofit organization called Operation: Clean Sweep, essentially an anti-graffiti task force.
With the support of local government and law enforcement, Radtke is responsible for removing graffiti. But since he can't just erase the graffiti, Radtke covers it with gray paint, and consequently has come to be known as the The Gray Ghost.
Over the past few months, Radtke and Operation: Clean Sweep have begun to target NOLA Rising, specifically Rex Dingler. This is not only unfair, but insane, since Dingler clearly has positive intentions, not to mention the fact that this project has nothing to do with graffiti -- it's installation artwork that can be removed easily. What's the point of painting the "gray ghost" over a stapled-up poster that you can simply pull down?
Radtke has gone so far as to have a police officer cite Dingler for 1,100 counts of illegally posting on telephone polls, an absurd charge that Dingler is fighting wholeheartedly, despite the immense cost of his legal defense. As the trial date nears, here's what Dingler has to say about Radtke.
Taking the advice of his legal representation, Buddy Spell of the law firm Spell & Spell, Dingler has set up a defense fund to help him raise enough money to cover his legal costs. Donations to the fund can be made to:
SPELL & SPELL
C/O Michael Dingler Defense Fund
924 Ellis Street
Franklinton, LA 70438
Check out Dingler's AuthorViews video and the Defend New Orleans video, for more information on NOLA Rising and the trumped-up charges against the artist.
There's also a good article in New Orleans CityBusiness, called "'Gray Ghost' Feuds with Nola Rising Creator," which offers statements from both Dingler and Radtke.
Photos courtesy of Humid City
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New Video: Chris Matherne and "The Shaping of a Destiny" |
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Tuesday, 18 March 2008 |
AuthorViews is excited to present two minutes with fantasy novelist Chris Matherne, cut from his interview at the 2007 New Orleans Book Fair.
Matherne is a life-long fan of fantasy and adventure novels. In fact, he decided to write The Shaping of a Destiny because he was tired of reading "slow paced fantasy adventure books that seemed to crawl along at a snail's pace." Matherne's debut novel is anything but slow.
In this video, Matherne discusses why he thinks readers enjoy The Shaping of a Destiny, and offers two humorous anecdotes about his writing experiences.
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New Video: Valentine Pierce and "Geometry of the Heart" |
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Monday, 17 March 2008 |
AuthorViews is proud to introduce Valentine Pierce, a native New Orleanian and staple of the New Orleans poetry scene. Pierce has been reading and performing her poems all over the country for years, from clubs and coffee houses in the French Quarter to art galleries and festivals on the West Coast.
AuthorViews met up with Pierce at the 2007 New Orleans Book Fair to talk about her first poetry anthology, Geometry of the Heart. Although Pierce has had nearly 60 poems published in various books and anthologies, this is the first time she has published an entire book with her work exclusively.
In this two-minute video cut from her interview, Pierce recites a poem she wrote about living in New Orleans -- a taste of the soul and passion we can expect from the rest of her poetry.
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New Book: Renee Bobb and "The Self-Publishing Process" |
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Friday, 14 March 2008 |
Renee Bobb is an expert in the fields of self-publishing and small business development. She has published four guidebooks on theses topics, and has founded a book publishing and small business consulting company called R.B.I. Enterprise.
Through her firm and various workshops, Bobb has trained nearly 1,500 authors on how to self-publish.
AuthorViews had the privilege of interviewing Bobb at the 2007 Virginia Festival of the Book about her new book, The Self-Publishing Process: The Beginners Guide to Book Publishing Success.
In the two-minute video we cut from her interview, Renee talks about why authors and entrepreneurs find her books extremely valuable.
Anyone interested in developing a business or publishing a book should check out Bobb's clip and related links.
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New Video: Dedra Johnson and "Sandrine's Letter to Tomorrow" |
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Thursday, 13 March 2008 |
AuthorViews would like to introduce Dedra Johnson, an accomplished writer, blogger and novelist, who has been doing fantastic blogging work with our sister company, Patron Saint Productions.
Dedra sat down with AuthorViews at the 2007 New Orleans Book Fair to talk about her debut novel, Sandrine's Letter to Tomorrow, an inspiring story about a light-skinned black girl who grows up in 1970s New Orleans in an environment of poverty, racial prejudice and emotional abuse.
A resident of the Crescent City, Dedra has received tremendous praise for her book locally, as well as nationally. Sandrine's Letter to Tomorrow is well-written, with rich, realistic characters that seem to touch readers who grew up not only in New Orleans, but in any city where race and class were often divisive issues.
In this two-minute video, Dedra describes how 9-year-old Sandrine evolves over the course of the story, ultimately learning to stand up to some of the negative forces in her life.
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New Video: Ann Conti Morcos and "The Tale of Nada Nutria" |
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Thursday, 13 March 2008 |
AuthorViews is proud to present two minutes with Ann Conti Morcos, cut from her interview at the 2007 New Orleans Book Fair.
With nearly two decades of writing and editing experience, Morcos published her first children's book in 2002. The Tale of Nada Nutria is a story about a community of nutria that gets separated when a hurricane destroys their home.
Nutria are large rat-like rodents, ranging from 10-20 pounds in adulthood. Native to South America, nutria were brought to Louisiana by fur traders in the early 1900s.
The Tale of Nada Nutria is truly one-of-a-kind, the first and only children's book ever written about nutria. What's remarkable is that Morcos is able to express themes as powerful and human as friendship, family and courage with nutria as her main characters.
In this video, Morcos describes the two historical Louisiana events that her story is based on, and explains why she actually decided to write a children's book about nutria.
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New Book: Drs. Carol S. Pearson and Hugh K. Marr, "What Story Are You Living?" |
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Tuesday, 11 March 2008 |
AuthorViews is pleased to bring you an excerpt from What Story Are You Living?: A Workbook and Guide to Interpreting Results from the Pearson-Marr Archetype Indicator, written by the creators of the PMAI themselves, Dr. Carol S. Pearson and Dr. Hugh K. Marr.
Archetypes are the unconscious patterns of behavior that influence people's lives. Based on decades of research and analysis in this area, Pearson and Marr have developed What Story Are You Living? to be a guidebook that will help readers identify and learn from their specific archetypal profiles. By discovering the archetypes affecting your life, you can learn to alter unproductive habits and ultimately discover personal strengths and motivations you never even knew existed.
What Story Are You Living? offers practical and scientifically supported advice that can actually help improve your life right now.
In this excerpt, Pearson and Marr briefly explain the purpose of the PMAI and discuss the three stages of an archetypal journey: preparation, transformation and return.
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New Video: Rev. Goat Carson and "Shallow Graves" |
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Monday, 10 March 2008 |
AuthorViews is excited to introduce Reverend Goat Carson, a remarkably fascinating and worldly figure who truly has done it all: musician, songwriter, Native American spiritual leader, published author. He even ran for President in 1992, amassing 100,000 votes before losing to Bill Clinton.
Rev. Goat spent most of the 1970s immersed in the Hollywood scene, recording songs and working as a screenwriter on various films. Shallow Graves is Goat's twisted and intense satire of the Hollywood lifestyle, complete with movie stars, satanic cults, zombies and human sacrifices.
In this video, Rev. Goat talks about Shallow Graves and how his work experience in Hollywood influenced his writing style.
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New Book: Kaza Kingsley and "The Monsters of Otherness" |
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Friday, 07 March 2008 |
AuthorViews is proud to present an excerpt from Erec Rex: The Monsters of Otherness, the second novel in Kaza Kingsley's bestselling series.
The first story in Kingsley's series, Erec Rex: The Dragon's Eye, introduces us to a 12-year-old hero named Erec Rex and his quest through Alypium, an unforgettable world of fantasy, mystery and magic. Kingsley's series continues with the sequel, Erec Rex: The Monsters of Otherness, which brings us back to Alypium for a perilous adventure that could change this enchanted world forever.
In this excerpt from Erec Rex: The Monsters of Otherness, Erec visits the Memory Mogul's shop in search of his lost childhood memories.
Readers and critics alike are calling Erec Rex the next Harry Potter. Take a glimpse and see for yourself.
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Possible Link Between Autism and Childhood Vaccines |
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Thursday, 06 March 2008 |
Yesterday, CNN.com released a story about a link between childhood vaccines and autism. According to the article, "Case Renews Debate on Vaccine-Autism Link", government officials have acknowledged for the first time ever that certain childhood vaccines actually contributed to the development of autism-like symptoms in a 9-year-old girl from Georgia.
The little girl's family is seeking compensation from a federal vaccine-injury fund; and the government has actually admitted the family deserves it.
There are nearly 5,000 other families suffering from the same misfortune and filing suit against the government. Although this one case feels like a victory for all these families, each case must be determined on its own merits, so there's still a long way to go before the government is held accountable.
At the 2007 Virginia Festival of the Book, AuthorViews filmed a second interview with author Sarah Honenberger about her book White Lies: A Tale of Babies, Vaccines, and Deception, a realistic story about a mother's struggle against the government and a powerful drug company over her daughter's vaccine-related injuries.
Honenberger has conducted extensive research on the scandal behind the National Vaccine Compensation Fund and the government's failure to provide safe vaccines.
Now with the government seemingly on verge of accepting responsibility for damages linked to childhood vaccines, what a perfect time to release this video!
For more info, please check out the article.
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New Book: Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo and "The GenoType Diet" |
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Wednesday, 05 March 2008 |
AuthorViews is thrilled to welcome renowned physician and bestselling author Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo, whose new book The GenoType Diet presents groundbreaking research on nutrition and weight loss.
Dr. D'Adamo has devoted over a quarter-century to studying the relationship between blood type, food and disease, and introduced the world to his innovative and exciting theories on nutrition in 1996 with his New York Times bestseller Eat Right 4 Your Type.
Several health books later, The GenoType Diet takes the science behind Dr. D'Adamo's theories to a new level, based on the striking concept that people actually have the ability to alter their genes' behavior to help lead healthier lives.
Dr. D'Adamo's theories are fascinating -- and easy to read -- and can help change not only your life, but the lives of your children and grandchildren, too.
In this excerpt from The GenoType Diet, Dr. D'Adamo discusses the process of methylation -- coating your genes through diet to make them harder or easier to express -- and how it relates to dieting, nutrition and health.
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New Video: Margaret Sartor and "Miss American Pie" |
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Tuesday, 04 March 2008 |
AuthorViews would like to introduce the charming Margaret Sartor, Duke University professor and author of Miss American Pie: A Diary of Love, Secrets, and Growing up in the 1970s. This 2-minute clip was cut from Sartor's interview at the 2007 Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival.
Miss American Pie is a compilation of diary and notebook entries, letters and photographs from Sartor's adolescence. She fuses them together to express not only the story of her own childhood, but the influential themes, events and issues of the 1970s as well.
In this video, Sartor describes how telling a story through the use of primary documents produces an "authenticity in voice" that you simply can't create with any other form of writing.
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New Video: Will Hutchison and "Follow Me to Glory" |
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Monday, 03 March 2008 |
AuthorViews is pleased to present two minutes with military history expert Will Hutchison, taken from his interview at the 2007 Virginia Festival of the Book.
As a former officer in the US Marines and Army, and a Federal Law Enforcement Agent, Hutchison's knows a thing or two about combat. Now a renowned writer and lecturer on military history, Hutchison has gone through great lengths to create a flawlessly realistic tale about one of the most famous regiments in British military history. Follow Me to Glory won the Independent Publisher's Bronze Award for Best Regional Fiction and was a Finalist in the 2007 ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards.
In this video, Hutchison describes some of the extensive research he needed to conduct in order to bring Follow Me to Glory to life.
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New Book: Sandra Ingerman and "How to Heal Toxic Thoughts" |
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Friday, 29 February 2008 |
AuthorViews is excited to welcome back Sandra Ingerman for her third installment on our site. Her new book is called How to Heal Toxic Thoughts, and provides helpful, practical tools for coping with stress and negative (toxic) feelings.
In this excerpt from How to Heal Toxic Thoughts, Ingerman explains the deep power behind words and their meanings. She reinforces this idea with a visualization exercise for the reader to practice. Relax...take a deep breath...and try it.
Ingerman has a very gentle and soothing air about her, which comes across well in her video. She truly embodies the message she's trying to convey -- to treat yourself, those around you, and the Earth with kindness and positivity.
For more on Sandra Ingerman, feel free to check out her video on Medicine for the Earth or the excerpt from Shamanic Journeying.
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