Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith,
Founder and Spiritual Director

Dr. Michael Beckwith’s life is a living testament to building spiritual community. In the 1970’s he began an inward journey into the teachings of East and West, and today teaches universal truth principles found in the New Thought-Ancient Wisdom tradition of spirituality. Gifted with a vision of a trans-denominational spiritual community, in 1986 he founded the Agape International Spiritual Center upon his faith in that original vision.

In a personal letter to him Coretta Scott King wrote, "I greatly admire what you are doing to bring about the Beloved Community, which is certainly what my dear husband worked for and ultimately gave his life."

Recently described in “What Is Enlightenment?” magazine as a "non-aligned trans-religious progressive," Dr. Beckwith shares his powerful conviction of creating the Beloved Community through his participation on international panels with other peacemakers and spiritual leaders including Dr. T. Ariyarante of Sri Lanka, and Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mohandas K. Gandhi. He is co-founder of the Association for Global Thought, an organization dedicated to planetary healing and transformation.

Dr. Beckwith is the originator of the Life Visioning Process, which he teaches throughout the country along with meditation, scientific prayer, and the spiritual benefits of selfless service. He facilitates retreats, workshops and seminars. His books include: “Inspirations of the Heart”, “Forty Day Mind Fast Soul Feast”, and “A Manifesto of Peace”.

Dr. Beckwith’s achievement as a humanitarian and emissary of peace have been widely acclaimed. In 2003, his activities were enumerated when he was written into the Congressional Record of the 107th congress. He is the recipient of numerous humanitarian awards, some of which include: The 2004 Africa Peace Award, Thomas Kilgore Prophetic Witness Award, Howard Thurman Stained Glass Window Award by Morehouse College, a commissioned oil portrait for Morehouse’s prestigious Hall of preachers, and the Humanitarian Award of the National Conference for Compassion and Justice.

Thousands gather weekly to receive inspiration from Dr. Beckwith at the Agape International Spiritual Center in Culver City, California. Together, Drs. Michael Beckwith and Rickie Byars Beckwith have written lyrics and music performed by the Agape International Choir in concert venues worldwide. Always in demand, their performances inspire peace and goodwill in the global community. They share their lives with their four adult children and six grandchildren.

Steve Luxenberg, an associate editor at The Washington Post and author of the award-winning Annie’s Ghosts: A Journey Into a Family Secret, has worked for more than 30 years as a newspaper editor and reporter.

Steve’s journalistic career began at The Baltimore Sun, where he worked for 11 years. He joined The Post in 1985 as deputy editor of the investigative/special projects staff, headed by assistant managing editor Bob Woodward. In 1991, Steve succeeded Woodward as head of the investigative staff. Post reporters working with Steve have won several major reporting awards, including two Pulitzer Prizes for explanatory journalism.

From 1996 to 2006, Steve was the editor of The Post’s Sunday Outlook section, which publishes original reporting and provocative commentary on a broad spectrum of political, historical and cultural issues.

Steve has given lectures, talks and workshops about his book, journalism issues and nonfiction writing at conferences, universities, book festivals and discussion forums, and has made occasional guest appearances on radio and television. He also has a TV “credit”: Look carefully, and you’ll see him as an extra in the fifth and final season of HBO’s dramatic series, “The Wire,” which aired in 2008. (Hint: Episode three.)

Annie’s Ghosts was named to The Washington Post’s Best Books of 2009 list and was honored as a Michigan Notable Book for 2010 by the Library of Michigan. It was  featured on NPR’s All Things Considered and on the Diane Rehm Show. Other media coverage included articles or reviews in as Parade, The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, The Detroit Free Press, The Detroit News, the Buffalo News, the Jerusalem Post.

Several community libraries have selected Annie’s Ghosts for a “One Book/One Community” event, hosting discussions about the book and then inviting Steve for a concluding talk and discussion. The Buffalo News picked Annie’s Ghosts as the January 2011 selection of its Buffalo News Book Club, a monthly feature that promotes one book to the newspaper’s readers.

After the publication of Annie’s Ghosts, Steve was chosen to deliver the 2010 Horace W. Davenport lecture at the University of Michigan. He was also the keynote speaker at the following events: the National Alliance on Mental Illness’s annual Washington gala “Unmasking Mental Illness,” the annual meeting of the Maryland Mental Health Association, the 2009 meeting of the Fellows in Mental Health Journalism at the Carter Center in Atlanta, the 2010 Issues on Aging conference at Wayne State University, and the 2010 Writers at the Beach conference in Rehoboth Beach, Del.

Steve also has spoken at the Aspen Institute and at the 2010 Michigan Judicial Conference, moderated a panel discussion at the 2010 MentalHealthAmerica annual conference, and lectured at the National Council on Community Behavioral Healthcare’s 2010 Mental health and Addictions Conference.

Steve has also given talks and readings at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland Baltimore County, Towson University, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York City, as well as public libraries in California, Michigan, New York and Florida. His talk about his research methods for Annie’s Ghosts has become popular among genealogy groups.

In his current role as a Post associate editor focusing on special projects, Steve directed a team of reporters that examined the federal government’s offshore drilling policy and  regulation of the oil and gas industry as part of the newspaper’s coverage of the Deepwater Horizon explosion in April 2010. Steve also oversaw in-depth stories on the causes and consequences of the financial crisis that unfolded in 2008. One of those projects, on the rise and fall of insurance giant AIG, was a 2009 Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Steve is a graduate of Harvard College. He grew up in Detroit, where Annie’s Ghosts primarily takes place. He and his wife, Mary Jo Kirschman, a former school librarian, live in Baltimore. They have two grown children, Josh and Jill.

David Weddle - Writer and Executive Producer for such esteemed shows as Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars and CSI

BIO FROM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Weddle

David Weddle is an American television producer and writer, best known for episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1996–1999), The Twilight Zone (2002–2003), Battlestar Galactica (2004–2009), and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2009-2011) with writing partner Bradley Thompson. They also wrote for the short-lived series Ghost Stories (1997) and The Fearing Mind (2000). Weddle and Thompson are currently writing and producing for the TNT series Falling Skies.
 

Biography

Weddle's father fought in World War II and saw action during the Guadalcanal campaign and the Battle of Peleliu.

Weddle graduated from the USC School of Cinema, as did writing partner Bradley Thompson, whom he first met in an acting class.

A fan of Sam Peckinpah, Weddle met the director on several occasions. Weddle and his parents knew Fern Lea Peter, Peckinpah's sister, and her family. He was able to watch Peckinpah direct what would be his last film, The Osterman Weekend.

After Peckinpah's death in 1984, Weddle used Peckinpah's production files and correspondence that had been given to the library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to write a biography of the director. This biography, If They Move . . . Kill 'Em!: The Life and Times of Sam Peckinpah was released in 1994.

It was the biography that brought Weddle to Deep Space Nine and later to Battlestar Galactica. Ira Steven Behr, a fan of Peckinpah, invited Weddle to Paramount Pictures. This enabled Weddle and Thompson to pitch stories to the show. The two joined the writing staff for DS9's final seasons. They also met and worked with producer Ronald D. Moore on the show.

Weddle and Thompson wrote twelve episodes of Deep Space Nine. Weddle can be seen in the background of the scene set at Vic Fontaine's Lounge in the final episode, "What You Leave Behind". He later wrote a DS9 novel set after the series with Jeffrey Lang. Entitled "Abyss", it focused on Section 31, the Federation's secretive intelligence service.

Weddle considers "Inquisition" to be the best Star Trek episode he and Bradley Thompson wrote, for showing "that the Federation, as perfect as it seemed, had to resort to unsavory tactics and work black bag operations to keep their world safe and pristine".

Weddle and Thompson were invited by Ron Moore to work on the reimagined Battlestar Galactica. They served as story editors on the first season of the show and became co-producers in the second season. Their responsibilities as producers increased during the third season, and they achieved supervising producer status for the fourth season.

In 2008, Weddle and Thompson joined the staff of CSI: Las Vegas mid-way through Season 9 as writers and supervising producers.^[1] As of Season 10, they became co-executive producers. An episode they wrote for the 11th season, "Fracked," won the Environmental Media Association's 21st Annual Environmental Media Award for Television Episodic Drama.^[2]

Weddle has dined and chatted at length with Jerry Lewis on his private yacht in Southern California. He appreciates Jerry Lewis as an "auteur" and wrote an article about the director and actor that appeared in the Los Angeles Times Sunday magazine section suggesting that Lewis be awarded an honorary Academy Award. Lewis won this award on February 22, 2009, though for his humanitarian achievements rather than his work in the cinema.

In 2011, Weddle and Thompson joined the second season of the Steven Spielberg alien invasion drama Falling Skies as writers and producers.

Dr. Timothy Birdsall is a visionary leader in integrative medicine. In 2009, he was recognized by the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP) as Physician of the Year, and in 2010 received the President’s Award of the Oncology Association of Naturopathic Physicians.

In October 2011, Dr. Birdsall was promoted to Chief Medical Information Officer at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA). In this role, Dr. Birdsall is leading CTCA in clinical system enhancements and optimization to better serve our patients and those who provide care to our patients. Previously, he served as Vice President of Integrative Medicine, overseeing our unique treatment model, which combines state-of-the-art conventional medical treatments with scientifically supported therapies such as nutrition therapy and naturopathic medicine.

A well-known lecturer and naturopathic physician, Dr. Birdsall is a sought-after presenter at medical conferences worldwide. He earned a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine degree from Bastyr University in Seattle, where he served on the faculty for five years. He is also a Fellow of the American Board of Naturopathic Oncology.

In January 2008, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt appointed Dr. Birdsall to serve a four-year term on the National Advisory Council for Complementary and Alternative Medicine for the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Dr. Birdsall's professional achievements also include serving as Speaker of the House of Delegates and Vice President of the AANP. In addition, he currently serves on the board of directors of the Oncology Association of Naturopathic Physicians.

Dr. Birdsall was the founding Editor in Chief of Alternative Medicine Review, the first peer-reviewed medical journal edited by naturopathic doctors to be indexed on MEDLINE. He coauthored the book How To Prevent and Treat Cancer With Natural Medicine. Currently, Dr. Birdsall serves on the Editorial Consultants Board for the journal Integrative Cancer Therapies.

For his extensive experience in the area of naturopathic medicine, Dr. Birdsall has been recognized in American Men and Women of Science, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Science and Engineering, and Who's Who Registry of Global Business Leaders.

Meet Dr. Adam Perlman, MD, MPH, FACP

Dr. Adam Perlman received his BA from Tufts University and MD from Boston University School of Medicine. He completed residencies in Internal Medicine and Preventive Medicine as well as a General Internal Medicine Research Fellowship at Boston Medical Center. In addition, he earned a Masters of Public Health with a concentration in biostatistics and epidemiology from the Boston University School of Public Health.

Dr. Perlman became Director of Integrative Medicine for the Saint Barnabas Health Care System and founding Medical Director for the Carol and Morton Siegler Center for Integrative Medicine, in Livingston, New Jersey in 1998. In that role, he had primary responsibility for developing and overseeing the Complementary & Alternative Medicine Program, including both the Integrative Medicine Center and the Center for Health and Wellness, for the largest healthcare system in New Jersey.

In 2002, Dr. Perlman became Executive Director for the Institute for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (ICAM) at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), where he is an associate professor of medicine within the School of Health Related Professions. In 2004, he was named the UMDNJ Hunterdon Endowed Professor in Complementary and Alternative Medicine; and in 2007, Dr Perlman was appointed Chairperson for the Department of Primary Care within the School of Health Related Professions. This Department includes the Physician Assistant Program, Respiratory Care Program and the Institute for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

His scholarly activities include numerous grants and publications. He was guest editor for the Complementary and Alternative Medicine volume of Medical Clinics of North America, and is associate editor for the Complementary and Alternative Medicine section of the Physician Information and Education Resource (PIER), developed by the American College of Physicians and American Society for Internal Medicine. His diverse research interests have included such projects as a clinical trial evaluating the effect of multivitamin supplementation on school performance in underserved children, a trial assessing the efficacy of massage for osteoarthritis of the knee and a survey exploring the use of CAM in patients with cancer. Most recently, he was the recipient of an R01 Research Grant, funded by the NIH’s National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, to continue his research on massage therapy for osteoarthritis of the knee. Dr Perlman’s research has been published in the Archives of Internal Medicine and featured in the New York Times.

In 2010, Dr Perlman became Chair for the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine, a consortium comprised of 44 leading academic medical centers with integrative medical programs.

In 2011, Dr Perlman moved to North Carolina and became the Executive Director for Duke Integrative Medicine. In that role, he has primary responsibility for overseeing Duke's Integrative Medicine program, including the 27,000 square foot, Duke Integrative Medicine Center.

Dr Perlman has published multiple articles and book chapters on various aspects of CAM and in 2006 authored the book, Own Your Own Health-The Best of Alternative and Conventional Medicine for Pain, published by Health Communications, Inc. He lectures widely and is a frequently featured media expert in the area of Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Scott Purcell – Publisher
Mr. Purcell has been in the internet industry since the inception of the browser, founding Epoch Networks in 1994 and building it into the largest privately-held ISP in the country; with 240 POPs and a national tier-one backbone. Epoch served corporate customers (e.g. Hughes Satellite, American Red Cross, FHLB Atlanta, et al) and built a large private label reseller network consisting of telecom companies around the country. In March 1999 Mr. Purcell founded OnAir Networks and quickly positioned it as the leading music distribution service; building the music streaming and downloading services for such companies as Sony and Universal. A frequent speaker at industry conferences, Mr. Purcell has appeared before Congress on numerous occasions and helped shape early internet policy with the FCC. He has been on the Board of the Commercial Internet eXchange, and was the internet liaison for the Recording Industry Association of America.

Led by Scott Purcell, Kasidie.com has put in place an initial team with tremendous experience in relevant industries including internet infrastructure, software development, database design and media syndication. The team consists of professionals with substantial experience in taking start-up internet enterprises through growth, venture capital, and mergers and acquisitions. And, yes, we are active in the swinger community.

Bio Credit to EzineArticles.

As VP Publishing & Communications for Ripley Entertainment, Tim O'Brien is responsible for coordinating the publicity and promotion of the company's 70-plus attractions throughout the world. Serving as the corporate national spokesperson, Tim enthusiastically shares the Ripley product with the public through numerous TV and radio appearances.

Prior to his position with Ripley Entertainment, Tim served as senior editor of Amusement Business, the world's leading business trade magazine for the amusement park and attraction industries. During his 18 years with the magazine, Tim traveled the world chronicling the news and the history of the parks and attractions industry.

Since carving out his journalistic niche as an industry specialist, the award winning photojournalist has had nearly 5,000 articles and more than 3,000 photos published. Tim has visited more than 500 parks and attractions in 18 countries and has ridden in excess of 400 different roller coasters. He has appeared in 10 theme park documentaries on the Travel Channel, The Discovery Channel and National Public Television and has authored nine books, including "The Amusement Park Guide," considered the Bible of theme park and amusement park guidebooks.

As national corporate spokesperson for Ripley, Tim has gotten to know, up-close and personal many of the world's unique pieces of weirdness, including shrunken heads from the Jivaro Indian tribe of Ecuador, South America; Vampire Killing kits from Eastern Europe; two headed cows, chickens, pigs and goats from America's farmlands; to the world's largest hairball.

During the past 12 months alone, Tim has appeared in more than 300 radio and TV interviews, including The Daily Buzz, The Martha Stewart Show, Montel Williams and Good Morning America, talking about his favorite subject - the weird and wacky world of Ripley's Believe It or Not!

A graduate of Ohio State University with a master's degree in journalism/film production, Tim is an accomplished photographer and public speaker, having lectured extensively at industry seminars, high schools, and various civic groups.

In 2001 he won the coveted "Lifetime Service Award" from the International Assn. of Amusement Parks & Attractions (IAAPA) for his devotion and his "long-term achievement Award" for his dedication and service to the theme park and attractions industry.

He was born in Columbus, Ohio, grew up on Buckeye Lake, and took his first airplane ride at age 7.

Brian Herbert, the author of numerous novels and short stories, has been critically acclaimed by leading reviewers in the United States and around the world. The eldest son of science fiction superstar Frank Herbert.

Brian has been involved in a wide variety of professions and endeavors, including work as an author, an editor, a business manager, an inventor of board games, and a creative consultant for both television and collectible card games. He did not begin his writing career until he was nearly thirty years old; prior to that he worked as an insurance underwriter and agent, an award-winning encyclopedia salesman, a waiter, a busboy, a maid, and a printer. He and his wife once owned a double-decker London bus, which they converted into an unusual gift shop. Brian also operated a mail-order record and tape business, in which he sold “golden oldies” music to remote regions of the world, including the Australian outback.

When Brian was in his late twenties and early thirties he began to grow closer to his father, who was a complex, enigmatic man. Brian’s efforts to unravel the intriguing mysteries of his father began with a detailed journal that Brian maintained for years, chronicling the fascinating events of the Herbert family—a document which ultimately included the tragic deaths of his mother and father, and which he expanded into a comprehensive biography of Frank Herbert. Tor Books published this work, entitled DREAMER OF DUNE on April 21, 2003. The quest to understand one’s father—which Joseph Campbell has described as one of the epic hero journeys of mankind—continued as Brian studied the entire six-volume Dune series and created a massive Dune Concordance. This would prove to be an invaluable reference book during the writing of additional Dune books in the three-volume Prelude to Dune series, which Brian undertook with Kevin J. Anderson in 1998, and with the publication of the new Legends of Dune series books, DUNE: THE BUTLERIAN JIHAD, DUNE: THE MACHINE CRUSADE, and DUNE: THE BATTLE OF CORRIN.