I am a freelance journalist and author. Bearded Lady, a Kindle Single chronicling my battle with body hair, is my most recent piece. Prior to that, I wrote Sparkle, my Kindle Single on engagement rings. Sparkle managed to become a 2011 top 10 Kindle Single. Prior to that, I wrote several articles for Inside Jersey, The Star-Ledger's monthly magazine. One of these pieces, The Pleasure Lab, was awarded a bronze Eddie Award. I wrote several articles for Inside Jersey, The Star-Ledger's monthly magazine. One of these pieces, The Pleasure Lab, was awarded a bronze Eddie Award.

I've also written articles for First Things, New York Magazine and The New York Times. When I am not freelancing, I am: working on my second book, taunting my lactose intolerance with lattes, cracking my knuckles, and then wondering if I'm going to get arthritis from cracking my knuckles and adjuncting at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

My first book, Thanks For Coming, was published by Harper Collins in 2009. It is curently being translated into three languages - German, Portuguese and Spanish. In the summer of 2010, Thanks for Coming was optioned by HBO.

Before I was writing novels and freelancing, I was a staff writer for the Village Voice and for daily newspapers in both India and Thailand.

Paul Petersen
Founder of A Minor Consideration

Paul Petersen has been through practically the worst that can happen to a former child star when the Hollywood tide suddenly turns and one is no longer a part of the neat elite. Unlike others, however, such as Anissa Jones, Rusty Hamer and Dana Plato, he survived. As a result, actor Paul Petersen today is THE most dedicated advocate in protecting both present-day child stars and shunned one-time celebrity tykes alike. Paul formed A Minor Consideration, a child-actor support group back in 1990, and it has had a tremendously positive and profound effect in Hollywood.

It started out much differently for Paul back in the 50s. Born in 1945 in Glendale, California, he had an enthusiastic stage mother who pushed him into the business. He began performing as an eight-year-old as one of the original "Mousketeers" on the "Mickey Mouse Club" in 1955. He also appeared in such movies as The Monolith Monsters (1957) and Houseboat (1958) opposite the likes of Cary Grant and Sophia Loren before scoring big at age 12 as Donna Reed's son on her popular sitcom. With Carl Betz as his highly practical doctor dad and Shelley Fabares as his older pretty sister, the foursome became the ideal nuclear family for late 50s/early 60s viewers. Paul and his alter-ego Jeff Stone literally grew up on the show. By his teens, the good-looking, dark-haired lad had become a formidable heartthrob. Fan clubs sprouted up everywhere. So popular were both Paul and Shelley that they spun off into recording careers, groomed to become singing idols despite their modest voices. She scored with the #1 hit "Johnny Angel" and he had a few minor hits with "She Can't Find Her Keys," "Keep Your Love Locked," "Lollipops and Roses" and "My Dad."

The fun ended, however, after the show's demise in 1966. His All-American teen typecast didn't fit the bill as the dissonant Vietnam counterculture took hold. His acting attempts as a serious young adult also went nowhere. Audiences still saw Paul as Jeff Stone. Roles in A Time for Killing (1967), Something for a Lonely Man (1968) (TV) and Journey to Shiloh (1968) came and went. Guest parts on "The Virginian" and "The FBI" did nothing to advance him. What he could scrape up were such outdated roles as "Moondoggie" in a revamped Gidget TV movie.

Lost and abandoned, Paul eventually was forced to give it all up and went through a period of great personal anguish and turmoil. Wisely, he enrolled at college and started writing adventure novels (penning 16 books in all). For 10 years he ran his own limousine service. His biggest accomplishment to date, however, has been to give back selflessly to an industry that unceremoniously dumped him. In essence, A Minor Consideration is an outreach organization that oversees the emotional, financial and legal protection of kids and former kids in show business. Among the issues Paul deals with are better education, and stricter laws regarding a 40-hour work week. For those who have "been there, done that" and are experiencing severe emotional and/or substance abuse problems, he offers a solid hand in helping them find a renewed sense of purpose. Today, Paul is rightfully considered "the patron saint of former child actors."

Born in Liverpool, Julie was, from the beginning recognised as an important new talent in Jazz. Working with such significant names as Stan Tracey, Bobby Wellins, Don Wellar, Harry Becket, Jean Toussant, Courtney Pine and many more. This work culminated in her touring the UK and Europe with The Charlie Watts Big Band. More recently, Julie had contributed to the last two Acoustic Alchemy albums and is completing her own unplugged and plugged in albums for release at the end of the year.

Collective Breaks
Julie has appeared on recordings for record labels as diverse as Rough Trade through to BMG and appeared in front of 20,000 people at festivals across Europe from Belguim to Holland, Germany to Greece. Her radio work is as varied as John Peel to Radio 2 Night Owl and Jazz FM. She has had residencies at Ronnie Scott's, wrote and performed with Mikis Theodorakis and has written and produced for George Michael's Aegean label. Julie's more recent work has seen her writing and performing with A Guy Called Gerald (Voodoo Ray), for his long awaiting "To All Things What They Need". Writing and recording for the Sensei record label and DJ Asle, along with a series of recordings for Circulation, Hoochie Papa, Albert Costello, Sultan and Ned Shepherd at Harem.

Collaborations
Julie was signed to Yoshitoshi Records (Deep Dish) for her huge club hit single "Sugar" with her crew Dyad 10. Pete Tong championed the Tocadisco mix on Radio 1, having previously played the Nika & Asle mix. Julis has also work on tracks with Matt Darey, AlB Rich, Bassnectar, Dawn Patrol, DJ Asle, Alex Santer, Steen Thottrup & Nicka (Miro), Grandbrother, Judge Jools and many more.

Her last three releases were "Sugar", "Cut 2 The Chase", "Fever" and her own album "Silvatung on Blue Sand". Currently working on a new album "Thieves of Promise", a double release, the first being "Thieves of Promise: Unplugged", the acoustic version and the second, the same numbers remixed by a variety of artists, "Thieves of Promise: Plugged-In".

Geoff Stray's research into 2012 started about 25 years ago, and was first summarized in a now-rare A4 booklet called BEYOND 2012, A CONVERGENCE OF ESCHATOLOGICAL INFORMATION, and in September 2000 was compiled on a website, '2012 Dire Gnosis’, which was designed to gather more input from people all over the world. This has become the internet's leading database on 2012. Geoff is still the webmaster, regularly updating the site and sending out newsletters

He has written articles for SC magazine, SALVIA DIVINORUM MAGAZINE, KINDRED SPIRIT and AVALON RISING and has given presentations in USA, Belgium and Peru. In 2005, he published BEYOND 2012. CATASTROPHE OR ECSTASY: A COMPLETE GUIDE TO END-OF-TIME PREDICTIONS, bringing all the research together into what some are calling” the 2012 encyclopaedia". Geoff is a shoemaker in his spare time.

David Brownstein, M.D. is a Board-Certified family physician and is one of the foremost practitioners of holistic medicine. He is the Medical Director of the Center for Holistic Medicine in West Bloomfield, MI. Dr. Brownstein has lectured internationally to physicians and others about his success in using natural hormones and nutritional therapies in his practice. Dr. Brownstein has authored nine books:

These books illustrate the success Dr. Brownstein has had in treating many different conditions including:
Adrenal Fatigue
Arthritis
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Fatigue
Fibromyalgia
Headaches
Hormone Imbalances
Immune Disorders
Migraine Headaches
Thyroid Disorders including hypothyroidism and autoimmune thyroid disorders

Steve Bhaerman is an internationally known author, humorist, and workshop leader. For the past 23 years, he has written and performed as Swami Beyondananda, the "Cosmic Comic." Swami's comedy has been called "irreverently uplifting" and has been described both as "comedy disguised as wisdom" and "wisdom disguised as comedy."

As the Swami, Steve is the author of Driving Your Own Karma (1989), When You See a Sacred Cow, Milk It For All It's Worth (1993), Duck Soup for the Soul (1999) and Swami for Precedent: A 7-Step Plan to Heal the Body Politic and Cure Electile Dysfunction (2004).

In his "past life" (before Swami), Steve started an alternative high school in Washington, D.C. and co-authored a book about his experiences, No Particular Place to Go: Making of a Free High School. A political science major, he later taught history to autoworkers at Wayne State University in Detroit as part of the Weekend College. In 1980, Steve co-founded Pathways Magazine in Ann Arbor, Michigan, one of the first publications bringing together holistic health, personal growth, spirituality, and politics. Subsequent to Pathways, Steve was a freelance writer and co-author with Don McMillan of Friends and Lovers: How to Meet the People You Want to Meet (Writer's Digest Books, 1986).

Since 2005, Steve has written a political blog with a spiritual perspective, Notes From the Trail, hailed as an encouraging voice "in the bewilderness." His latest book, written with cellular biologist Bruce H. Lipton, PhD is Spontaneous Evolution: Our Positive Future and a Way to Get There From Here (Hay House, 2009). Steve is active in transpartisan politics and the practical application of Spontaneous Evolution. 

Rob Robertson,M.D. is 1974 graduate of the University of Louisville School of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency in Emergency Medicine at the U.of L. Affiliated Hospitals and was appointed Director of Emergency Services at Baptist Hospital in Western Kentucky. During his tenure there, the EM Department grew to a patient load of over 50,000 visits annually. In 1994, Dr. Robertson opened a wellness and preventive medicine practice called Doctors Nutrition System and developed nutritional supplements and protocols that were incorporated into their practices by multiple physicians throughout the Midwest.

In researching products for his company, he discovered transfer factors through the over 3,000 articles that had been published since 1949. " I was simply overwhelmed. Why hadn't I heard about this?" Transfer factors and their use in augmenting the immune response seemed like the " the missing link in our attempt to provide patients with a natural, safe way to lessen their chances of becoming ill." When Dr. Robertson discovered that transfer factors were going to be made available commercially, he closed his medical practice and sold his supplement company because, " I simply had to become involved in helping to tell the world, literally the world, about what I consider to be one of the defining discoveries in the history of medical science."

The availability of transfer factors and his interest in the perplexing Fibromyalgia Syndrome led to his incorporating natural products developed by William J. Hennen, Ph.D. into a program which has been named THE FIBROMYALGIA RECOVERY PROGRAM. "Do we have all of the answers?I'm not certain that anyone will ever be able to make that claim. But we feel very confidant that by stressing and addressing the immune system breakdown and dysfunction, we have a way to intervene in the fibromyalgics multitude of symptoms in a beneficial way. One of the most gratifying experiences that I've ever had is to hear a fibromyalgic call and tell me that they just want to say thanks for having their life given back to them." Dr. Robertson is now involved full-time in THE FIBROMYALGIA RECOVERY PROGRAM and in continuing to help tell the transfer factor story.