Psychjourney Audio Book Club

Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Meth Addiction

MP3 File  Length-57 minutes, 9 seconds

Deborah Harper, President of Psychjourney, interviews Mr. David Sheff, author of  Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Meth Addiction published by Houghton Mifflin Co.

Mr. David Sheff

David Sheff’s books include, Game Over, China Dawn, and All We Are Saying. His many articles and interviews have appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Wired, Fortune, and elsewhere.  His piece for the New York Times Magazine, “My Addicted Son,” won an award from the American Psychological Association for “Outstanding Contribution to Advancing the Understanding of Addiction.” Sheff and his family live in Inverness, California.  Visit his website.

The Butterfly Garden: Surviving Childhood on the Run with One of Americas Most Wanted

MP3 File  Length- 35 minutes, 20 seconds

Deborah Harper, President of Psychjourney, interviews Mr. Chip St. Clair, author of The Butterfly Garden: Surviving Childhood on the Run with One of Americas Most Wanted published by Health Communications, Inc. 

Mr. Chip St. Clair

Chip St. Clair is the recipient of a U.S. Congressional Record for ardent advocacy on behalf of abused and neglected children and fights to keep child predators behind bars. 

He began sharing his story nationally in 2002, having been featured on major television programs such as Dateline and Good Morning America. St. Clair’s work often places him in the media spotlight as he fights relentlessly for tough legislation aimed at protecting children, having worked with fathers-turned-advocates Mark Lunsford, and Marc Klaas, and most recently helping to pass Montana’s, Maryland’s, and Michigan’s version of Jessica’s Law. 

Today, he shares his inspirational story with children and adults in schools, panel discussions, and seminars, as he lectures both locally and nationally. In his free time he enjoys outdoor activities, and indulging in his thirst for great literature. He is currently at work on several new book projects. 

St. Clair and his wife reside in Michigan with their two Yorkshire Terriers, Juliette and Cheyenne.  Visit his website. 

The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy

MP3 File   Length-36 minutes, 16 seconds

Deborah Harper, President of Psychjourney, interviews Mr.Robert Leleux, author of The Memoirs Of A Beautiful Boy published by St. Martin's Press.

Mr.Robert Leleux

For nearly thirty years, Robert Leleux has remained internationally unknown as a celebrated bon vivant, fashion icon, and man about town. Neither the best-selling author of Highland Fling (1931) or Wigs on the Green (1935), Mr. Leleux's work is in no way associated with that circle of Bright Young Things who illuminated the London social scene during the interwar years. He is known not to have been portrayed by Julie Christie in John Schlesinger's Oscar-winning film Darling. In 1972, Mr. Leleux wasn't made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He does not currently reside at Swinbrook House in the Cotswolds.

Incidentally, Robert Leleux happens to be the author of The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy, where more information on his life may be found. His writings have appeared in, among others, The Texas Observer and The New York Times Magazine. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, Mr. Leleux lives happily in Manhattan with his husband Michael. They dream of having a daughter.  Visit his website.

Insomniac

MP3 File   Length-41 minutes, 33 seconds

Deborah Harper, President of Psychjourney, interviews Dr. Gayle Greene, author of Insomniac published by University of California Press.

Gayle Greene, Ph.D.is a professor of Literature and Women’s Studies at Scripps College, Claremont California. Her graduate background at Columbia was in Shakespeare, a subject she still teaches. She’s published books on feminist theory and contemporary women writers, including a study of Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing.

In the nineties, her interests to science. In 1999, she wrote The Woman Who Knew Too Much: Alice Stewart and the Secrets of Radiation, a biography of the pioneer radiation epidemiologist whose research turned up the links between fetal-x-ray and childhood cancer. Greene then began researching insomnia, reading everything she would lay hands on, and for the past several years she’s been attending American and European meetings of sleep researchers worldwide.

She’s a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, a professional medical society for researchers and clinicians, and a board member and the patient representative of the American Insomniac Association, an organization within the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.  Visit her website http://sleepstarved.org 

The Ditchdigger's Daughters: A Black Family's Astonishing Success Story

MP3 File

Length-40 minutes, 0 seconds

Jamie Mason, co-host of North Star Guardians, interviews Dr. Yvonne S. Thornton, author of The Ditchdigger's Daughters: A Black Family's Astonishing Success Story published by Kensington.

Dr. Yvonne S. Thornton

Dr. Thornton is a double-Board Certified specialist in obstetrics, gynecology and maternal-fetal medicine. She has risen to the academic rank of Professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology. She is a member of the Association of Women Surgeons, a life member of The New York Academy of Medicine, and is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American College of Surgeons.

As senior perinatologist in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, Dr. Thornton established and developed the program for a new form of early prenatal diagnostic testing known as CVS (chronic villus sampling). Dr. Thornton was one of the original American investigators whose CVS results were relied upon by the FDA prior to its granting approval for the procedure in 1989.  Visit her website.

Visit Jamie Mason's website and blog.

Her biography is presently in  Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the World. She is listed in The Best Doctors -- New York Metro Area. She was listed in New York Magazine as one of the Top Ten Maternal-Fetal Medicine Specialists in New York City.

Doctor Thornton was the first black woman in the United States to be Board-certified in High-Risk obstetrics and to be accepted into The New York Obstetrical Society.

Dr. Thornton is the national best-selling author of the Pulitzer prize-nominated book entitled, The Ditchdigger's Daughters: A Black Family's Astonishing Success Story published in 1995, with over 300,000 copies in print. This family biography (co-authored with Jo Coudert) is a tribute to her parents and was condensed in The Reader's Digest, adapted into a World Premiere Movie and nominated for the Peabody Award and the Cable ACE Award for Best Picture.

In 1996, the American Library Association named it as one of the Best Books for Young Adults and Doctor Thornton was given the "Excellence in Literature" Award by the New Jersey Education Association. She has authored two other books;a medical text entitled, Primary Care for the Obstetrician and Gynecologist and Woman to Woman: Leading Gynecologist Tells You All You Need Know abt your Baby your Health.

The 99th Monkey: A Spiritual Journalist's Misadventures with Gurus, Messiahs, Sex, Psychedelics, and Other Consciousness-Raising Experiments

MP3 File   Length-24 minutes, 15 seconds

Deborah Harper, President of Psychjourney, interviews Mr. Eliezer Sobel, author of  The 99th Monkey: A Spiritual Journalist's Misadventures with Gurus, Messiahs, Sex, Psychedelics, and Other Consciousness-Raising Experiments published by Santa Monica Press.

Eliezer Sobel has led intensive creative workshops and retreats at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, the Open Center in New York City, and the Lama Foundation in New Mexico, and similar venues around the United States. He was also the editor in chief of the New Sun magazine in the late 1970’s, the publisher of Wild Heart Journal, and his articles, short stories, and poetry have appeared in the Village Voice, Yoga Journal, Tikkun, Quest, New Age Journal, and many others. Sobel was awarded the prestigious Peter Taylor Award for his novel Minyan: Ten Jewish Men in a World That is Heartbroken. Visit his website www.eliezersobel.com   

Blackout Girl: Growing Up and Drying Out in America

MP3 File  Length-28 minutes, 59 seconds

Deborah Harper, President of Psychjourney, interviews Ms. Jennifer Storm, author of Blackout Girl: Growing Up and Drying Out in America published by Hazelden.

Jennifer Storm was born and raised near Allentown, PA and attended Northampton High School. She graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Science in Rehabilitation Services and a Master’s Degree in Organizational Management from The University of Phoenix. In August 2002, Ms. Storm joined Victim Witness Assistance Program as the organization’s second Executive Director.

Before joining VWAP, Ms. Storm was the first full time director of the Statewide Pennsylvania Rights Coalition, a non-profit coalition dedicated to securing and defending fully inclusive civil rights for LGBT people in Pennsylvania. During her tenure at Pennsylvania Rights Coalition, Ms. Storm worked diligently on obtaining inclusive hate crime legislation. In 2002, the Pennsylvania legislature passed one of the most inclusive hate crime statues in the country. In 2002, Governor Edward G. Rendell appointed Ms. Storm as a commissioner to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. Visit her website http://jenniferstorm.com

Distorted: How a Mother and Daughter Unraveled the Truth, the Lies, and the Realities of an Eating Disorder

MP3 File  Length-30 minutes, 28 seconds

Deborah Harper, President of Psychjourney, interviews Lorri Antosz Benson and her daughter Taryn Leigh Benson, co-authors of Distorted: How A Mother and Daughter Unraveled the Truth, the Lies, and the Realities of an Eating Disorder published by Health Communications, Inc.

Taryn Leigh Benson and Lorri Antosz Benson

Lorri Antosz Benson (Naples, FL) is a former talk-show producer, syndicated columnist, and a speaker and expert on eating disorders and resources for parents. She has appeared on Boston's Morning Show and CBS's "This Morning." 

Taryn Leigh Benson (Gainesville, FL) is in her third year of college and is in active recovery from an eating disorder. She was profiled in a Q & A documentary, which is used as part of the psychology curriculum at the University of Florida.  Visit their website www.distortedthebook.com

Heart in the Right Place: A Memoir

Deborah Harper, President of Psychjourney, interviews Ms. Carolyn Jourdan, author of Heart in the Right Place published by Workman Publishing.

MP3 File

Length-41 minutes, 11 seconds

Carolyn Jourdan is a former U.S. Senate Counsel to the Committee on Environment and Public Works and the Committee on Governmental Affairs (now Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs). She has degrees from the University of Tennessee in Biomedical Engineering and Law.

Carolyn lives on the family farm in East Knox County, Tennessee, and has seven stray animals (four dogs and three cats.)

She has become a popular speaker on television, radio, and in person.  Visit her website www.carolynjourdan.com

My Father's Heart: A Son's Journey

MP3 File

Length-55 minutes, 11 seconds

Deborah Harper, President of Psychjourney, interview Mr. Steve McKee the author of My Father’s Heart: A Son’s Journey published  by Da Capo Lifelong Books.

Mr. Steve McKee

Steve McKee is the author of My Father’s Heart: A Son’s Journey, Coach, and The Call of the Game. My Father’s Heart” is based on a pair of articles that Steve wrote for The Wall Street Journal, where he has worked since 1994. He is currently an editor on the Journal’s Global Copy Desk. He was for a time the first sports editor of the Journal’s Friday Weekend Journal, and in 2001-2002 he was the original writer of the online Journal’s popular sports column, “The Daily Fix.” Steve was also the sports columnist for the Journal’s daily coverage of the 2002 Winter Olympics from Salt Lake city.  Visit his website www.steve-mckee.com