Forum Network

Joshua Kendall is a freelance journalist and author whose work has appeared in various publications, including *Business Week*, *The Boston Globe*, and *The Washington Post*. He has also co-written three academic psychology books. Kendall is now working on a biography of Noah Webster, the author of America's first dictionary, who celebrates his 250th birthday this year. For his outstanding reporting on psychiatry, he has received national journalism awards from both the National Mental Health Association and the American Psychoanalytic Association. He received a BA from Yale College in comparative literature and graduated summa cum laude. He also did graduate work in comparative literature at Johns Hopkins University. He lives in Boston.

Colm Toibin was born in Enniscorthy, in the southeast of Ireland in 1955. His first novel *The South* was finished in 1986 but not published until 1990, being turned down in the meantime by most English publishers. His first book, *Walking Along the Border* with photographs by Tony O'Shea, was published in 1987. In September 1987 he began work on his second novel *The Heather Blazing*. In 1988 he spent a year in Barcelona where he wrote *Homage to Barcelona* and renewed his acquintance with the city and with certain villages in the Pyrenees where *The South* is set and where he has spent a great deal of time since then. In Ireland, during these years he wrote regularly for 'The Sunday Independent', first as drama critic and television critic and later as political commentator. In 1994 he began to write for The London Review of Books and has since then been a regular contributor. His 'Love In a Dark Time: Gay Lives from Wilde to Almodovar' ( Picador, March 2002) is made up mainly of pieces from the London Review of Books. In 2000 he became a Fellow at the Center for Scholars and Writers at New York Public Library, working mainly on the Lady Gregory papers there. This resulted in 'Lady Gregory's Toothbrush', a section of which appeared in The New York Review of Books in August 2001. Colm Toibin has given workshops and masterclasses at Listowel Writers Week, The Arvon Foundation and The American University at Washington DC. He has also taught at the MFA program at the New School in Manhattan. His books have been translated into eighteen languages.

Jill Petty is an editor and publisher at South End Press, an independent, collectively run, non profit publishing house dedicated to political nonfiction and activist writing.

Joe Cavanaugh is the director of field services, Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF). REEF is a grassroots organization that seeks to conserve marine ecosystems by educating, enlisting and enabling divers and other marine enthusiasts to become active ocean stewards and citizen scientists.

Mr. Smyers is a Field Biologist at Oxbow Associates, Inc. a wetlands and wildlife consulting company specializing in rare amphibian and reptile study and mitigation. He has studied the behavior and ecology of amphibian and reptile species native to the eastern United States for more than 10 years. He has conducted field research on five species of turtles in southern New England including radio-telemetry studies on four state-listed species of turtle in Massachusetts: Blanding's turtle (Emydoidea blandingii), spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata), eastern box turtle (Tarrapene carolina carolina), and wood turtle (Clemmys insculpta). In addition, Mr. Smyers conducted laboratory and field studies of three species of pond-breeding salamanders in southern Louisiana. He continues to work on independent research on the evolutionary biology and ecology of amphibians and reptiles in southern New England. His research interests include life history plasticity and population biology of amphibians, ecology of freshwater turtles, and the functional ecology of larval caddisflies in ephemeral ponds. Mr. Smyers has provided consultation services for projects such as residential developments, utility easements, roadway improvements, airport expansions, and development within military facilities with potential impacts to wetlands and rare wildlife. In addition, Mr. Smyers has conducted amphibian and reptile surveys for The Nature Conservancy at two sites in Massachusetts.

Brad Timm is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Natural Resources Conservation at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His research interests are focused on gaining an improved understanding of species-environment relationships and movement ecology of wildlife species in order to devise more effective conservation and management strategies for these organisms. For his doctoral research, Brad is investigating the ecology and conservation of the Eastern Spadefoot toad, a species listed as Threatened in Massachusetts, at Cape Cod National Seashore. Specifically, he is assessing breeding habitat preferences of the Eastern Spadefoot toad using results from extensive larval trapping surveys and is assessing the post-breeding movement ecology of adults using radio-telemetry techniques. Prior to his doctoral work, Brad earned his masters degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst examining the emigration timing and orientation of juvenile pond-breeding amphibians in western Massachusetts, and as an undergraduate at the University of Rhode Island worked on a number of research projects, the majority of which focused on the ecology of pond-breeding amphibians.

Highlights of Joshua's brilliant career include recording "How I Got Over", a Mahalia Jackson staple, at age 13, singing at the request of the Vaughan family at the funeral of legendary jazz diva Sarah Vaughan, at age 15, and singing at New York City's Lincoln Center in the 1993 JVC Jazz Festival, thus maintaining his special link with Mahalia Jackson, whose appearance in the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival introduced Gospel music to a deeply appreciative audience. In 1995, Joshua and Mahalia Jackson's pianist, Eddie Robinson (who performed together extensively) accepted an award on behalf of Ms. Jackson for her induction into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in Tulsa , Oklahoma . In 1998, Joshua was selected to honor Ms. Jackson in her hometown of New Orleans , La. , where the National Postal Service unveiled its series of Gospel music stamps honoring Ms. Jackson, Clara Ward, Rosetta Thorpe, and Roberta Martin. In 2001, he sang before the Swedish prime Minister, Goran Persson, and various officials at the opening of the Padei Institute for Jewish Studies. He was made an Official "Ambassador of Peace through Song" by the Swedish government. Keep On Walking, a recently released 60 minutes documentary film on Mr. Nelson, tells the story of this artist's unique ability to blend the cultural and religious aspects of his life evoking the spirit of the great Mahalia Jackson while taking audiences by storm. The film has been aired on national television in Sweden , Denmark , France , Germany , Holland , Japan , Israel , and Italy . Still in its infancy, it has already garnered awards at various film festivals; most notably the Northampton Film Festival and The Newark Black Film Festival, where it won the award for Best Film (The Paul Robeson Award). Joshua, along with the Jubilee choir, a choir made up of people from different cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, have performed at the following Film Festivals- The Northampton Jewish Film Festival, The Newark Black Film Festival, The Brooklyn Jewish Film Festival (Brooklyn Academy of Music), The Boston Jewish Film Festival, The Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival, The Berkshire Jewish Film Festival, The London Jewish Film Festival, The Toronto Jewish Film Festival, The Berlin (Germany) Jewish Film Festival, The Copenhagen (Denmark) Jewish Film Festival, The Miami Jewish Film Festival, The Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival, The West Hartford Jewish Film Festival, The Santa Rosa Jewish Film Festiva,l and the Jewish mini-series at the Manhattan Y. There are a great number of other Film Festivals that have shown this fascinating film but Mr. Nelson did not perform. Joshua's television credits include A+ for Kids on WWOR-TV, with Savion Glover for the Great, Great Kids series; SingSation, a Gospel program taped in Chicago and broadcast nationally on CBS-TV (1995-1997, 2005); and Black Entertainment Television's Bobby Jones Gospel (1995-2003). While still in high school, Joshua organized a choir, which provided the music for the WWOR-TV video, Volunteering: A Gift of Time, sponsored by PSE&G (1992). The video debuted in Trenton , where the group performed for then Governor Jim Florio. The Film Keep on Walking aired on PBS and affiliate networks nationally in 2003 and 2004. Internationally it aired on the national networks of Sweden , Denmark , France , Germany , Holland , Japan , Israel , and Italy in 2003 and 2004. Mr. Nelson also appeared on the The Oprah Winfrey Show, which aired October 2004 and December 2004. Along side Jamie Fox, Mr. Nelson was named by Oprah as The Next Big Thing. Performing How I Got Over a song that Oprah works out to and Elijah Rock Oprah remarked, I have never heard a voice like his, he literally brought the house down. Most recently Ms. Winfrey along with Maya Angelou (poet and best selling author) presented Mr. Nelson in An Evening of Healing, a benefit concert for the Maya Angelou Center for Minority Research in Winston-Salem, North Carolina (Nov, 2004). Joshua graduated from Newark 's Arts High School in Newark , New Jersey , a school that also produced noteworthy graduates like the late Sarah Vaughan, Melba Moore, Andy Bey, Tisha Campbell, Frankie Negron, and Savion Glover. Joshua was the school's official soloist for the four years he studied there. He went on to do a two year college and kibbutz program in Israel studying at the Hebrew Union College as well as the Hebrew University . He currently serves as director of music at Hopewell Baptist Church in Newark, NJ, which is housed in a former synagogue (the former B'nai Jeshurun), and is a Hebrew school teacher for 6,7 and 8th graders at Temple Shari-Tefilo Israel, located in South Orange, NJ. Joshua has conducted extensive research on Mahalia Jackson and on the other Gospel luminaries, and has presented seminars on the history of Gospel music to young audiences. He is a proponent of preserving traditional Gospel music and travels worldwide performing the music in its original form. His cultural and religious background and extensive travels through Israel influenced him to pioneer a new form of music he has termed KOSHER-GOSPEL MUSIC - Hebrew/Jewish music with a soul feeling. Growing up in a black Jewish synagogue, Joshua decided to take the soul Hebrew sounds prominent in many black synagogues and take them to the outside world, blending Jewish Liturgical and African American musical styles. In Joshua's own words, Since the Jewish nation started in Africa , musically she shall return. Through his unique talent, Electrifying performances and profound commitment to spiritual music, Joshua is transforming new listeners everywhere. I want to let people hear it and realize that it is not just good to listen to - it is good for the soul."

Jeremy Piven is an American actor. He is best known for his role of Ari Gold in the hit HBO series, Entourage, for which he has won the Emmy award for Best Supporting Actor on three occasions.

David Dugan founded Windfall Films with Oliver Morse and Ian Duncan in 1987. His strong narrative approach to science and history documentaries has won him many awards, including three Emmys, a Royal Television Society Award and two British Science Writers Awards. Dugan likes the challenge of turning difficult subjects into engaging films. He created and produced the Emmy award winning series DNA, to mark the 50th anniversary of the double helix, which featured most of the key players in the history of this molecule. He has also tackled fundamental physics in Reality On The Rocks, a trilogy of films in which the comic actor, Ken Campbell tries to get to grips with Stephen Hawkings' A Brief History of Time. Dugan is executive producer on many of Windfalls science and history productions, including Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, Monster Moves, Revealed and Do You Want to Live Forever.