Saturday Mornings with Joy Keys

Romance, dating, sex and – Muslim women? In this groundbreaking collection, 25 writers sweep aside stereotypes to share their search for love and speak openly for the first time about love, relationships, sexuality, gender, identity, homophobia, and racism. The Editors Ayesha Mattu is a writer and international development consultant. Her writing has appeared in the International Museum of Women, Religion Dispatches, The Huffington Post and the award-winning blog, Rickshaw Diaries. She was selected a Muslim Leader of Tomorrow by the UN Alliance of Civilizations and the ASMA Society in 2009. Ayesha is working on a memoir about losing faith and finding love from which The Opening is excerpted inLove, InshAllah. She lives with her husband and son in Northern California. Nura Maznavi is a civil rights attorney, writer, and Fulbright Scholar. She has worked with migrant workers in Sri Lanka, on behalf of prisoners in California, and with a national legal advocacy organization leading a program to end racial and religious profiling. Nura is working on a screenplay and several short stories. Nura’s third love—after food and traveling—is California, where she was raised and lives currently.  http://loveinshallah.com/about/

February is National Children’s Dental Health Month. Jonathan Shenkin, DDS, MPH, is an American Dental Association (ADA) expert spokesperson on pediatric dentistry. He has a full time pediatric dental practice in Augusta, Maine.   Dr. Shenkin earned his dental degree from Columbia University and a master’s of public health and a certificate in health care finance from Johns Hopkins University.  He completed his pediatric dentistry residency at the University of Iowa, and he completed a dental public health residency at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).   Dr. Shenkin is board certified by the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry.  Dr. Shenkin is a Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry and is a former president of the Maine Dental Association. He also serves on the board of directors of the New England section, of the American College of Dentists.  He is a clinical assistant professor of Health Policy, Health Services Research and Pediatric Dentistry at Boston University. www.ada.org

This is a Pre-recorded interview GLENN ELLIS, SR.: The Birmingham, Alabama native has earned a well-deserved reputation as an internationally respected health educator and complementary medicine consultant. His second book, Information is the Best Medicine, was released in the winter of 2011. He maintains a busy lecture schedule in the U.S. and abroad, where he highlights health disparities and medical ethics. He has made scientific presentations in Belgium, Germany, Cuba, and The Netherlands. Ellis’ weekly radio broadcasts are now heard in 53 U.S. markets and 53 countries around the world. Ellis is a frequent contributor to Real Health Magazine, The Black AIDS Institute Newsletter, as well as The National Medical Association’s, Healthy Living magazine. He is a member of the Review Staff of the American Journal of Public Health, The Association of Healthcare Journalists, and was a Founding Editor-at-Large for BlackDoctor.org. Ellis is President of Strategies for Well-Being, LLC, a health education and consulting company headquartered in Philadelphia, where he consults with national corporate clients on promoting and providing health education for consumers and providers.  Ellis studied pre-med at the University of Pennsylvania. He then continued his studies at the International College of Bio-Dynamics and the Atlantic Academy of Classical Homeopathy. www.glennellis.com

Rebecca Walker is an award-winning author and lecturer. She is the author of the memoirs Black, White and Jewish, and Baby Love and editor of the anthologies To Be Real, What Makes a Man, and One Big Happy Family. Her writing has appeared Bookforum, Newsweek, Glamour, Marie Claire, The Washington Post, Vibe, and Interview, among many other publications and literary collections. Time magazine named her one of the most influential leaders of her generation. A recipient of the Alex Award from the American Library Association, she bas been featured on Oprah, and Good Morning America. Black Cool: One Thousand Streams of Blackness, edited by Rebecca Walker with a forward by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., explores the ineffable state and aesthetic of Black Cool. From the effortless reserve of Miles Davis in khakis on an early album cover, to the shock of resistance in black women’s fashion from Angela Davis to Rihanna, to the cadence of poets as diverse as Staceyann Chin and Audre Lorde, Black Cool looks at the roots of Black Cool and attempts to name elements of the phenomena that have emerged to shape the global expectation of cool itself Visit her at www.rebeccawalker.com.  

Eddie Joseph was an intelligent honors student well on his way to starting college early. But growing up in the Bronx’s black ghetto in the ‘60s meant that in lieu of finding early college acceptance, Eddie instead found a warm welcome as one of the youngest members of the Black Panther Party. Incarcerated on Rikers Island by 16-years-old and charged as one of the Panther 21, Eddie was at the heart of one of the most important criminal cases of his time. Once exonerated, he began calling himself Jamal and took up the mantle as one of the youngest leaders of the Panther’s New York Chapter. In PANTHER BABY: A Life of Rebellion & Reinvention Jamal Joseph speaks out about his induction into Panther life and his transformation from street kid to influential member of an important national movement. He illuminates the rationale, practice, and emotional backdrop for soldiers of the Black Panther movement, and his story is also a comprehensive recollection of a time of rapid change in New York as well as national history; Joseph recalls the Vietnam protests, the Weathermen, police brutality, the War on Drugs, gang violence and more, even up until the murder of Joseph’s godson, Tupac Shakur.  

Jennifer Jones, MSW, LCSW is a licensed clinical social worker. She has a passion for working with individuals and couples in helping them increase their self awareness, their understanding of their family of origin as well as helping them enhance their connections and relationships with others. Jennifer specializes in communication enhancement, premarital counseling, blended family issues, parent/adult-child relationships, grief and loss, and infidelity. Jennifer received her Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy at Council for Relationships and her Masters of Social Work from the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.councilforrelationships.org/index.shtml Shane K. Perrault, PhD is a psychologist and coach with more than 16 years of experience. Dr. Shane received his doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the Ohio State University and did his residency at Johns Hopkins Medical Center and the Baltimore Veterans Administration. In addition to maintaining a thriving practice in Silver Spring, MD, he has conducted workshops and training in the MD/DC/VA area on topics including effective communication and conflict resolution. http://www.adhdpc.com/

Andre Royo is a Bronx-born actor with an impressive list of television and film credits. Best known for his role as confidential informant Bubbles on HBO's acclaimed series The Wire, he's also appeared in a recurring role on Fringe, and guest starred on shows including Law & Order, CSI: NY, Heroes, Party Down, and How to Make it in America. Film credits include Shaft, August, and Super, as well as several more films in development and production. His performance as the father of a disease-afflicted teen in Spike Lee’s Jesus Children of America was met with universal praise. Outside of his acting work, Royo has also hosted prefight coverage for HBO sports. He can currently be seen in Red Tails, the George Lucas-produced story of a crew of African American pilots in the Tuskegee training program. Andre lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter. Special Guest: Tuskegee Airman Major John Harrison, retired Air Force command pilot, one in a class of 41 airmen who received flight training in Tuskegee, Ala., in 1943. Harrison has flown more than 12 types of aircraft and logged more than 10,000 hours all over the world, but he never got to fly World War II missions due to racism.

James (Jameel Saleem) gets evicted from his apartment and moves in with his girlfriend of three months Kim (Kimelia Weathers) and quickly discovers she's everything he never wanted in a woman. He enlist best friends Carville (Quincy "Qdeezy" Harris) and Leona (Noelle Balfour), plus high-schooler Scoop (Nick Sinise) and strangers Big Boy and Kevin Hart to find a relationship exit strategy, but for Kim, breaking up isn't an option. Jameel Saleem won the 2008 FirstGlance Film Festival's "Best Short Film Award" and was a 2010 Slamdance Writing Finalist. He wrote and directed in Indie feature Cream Soda (2009) and recently directed and co-produced the horror flick Fear Not (2010). Kimelia Weathers, born in Jamaica and raised in Washington, D.C.C., began acting in local theater and has appeared on HBO's The Wire and Mario Van Peebles' film Bring Your A Game. She has a B.A in Communications from the University of Maryland.  Website: http://exitstrategy-themovie.com/ Facebook: http://exitstrategy-themovie.com/www.facebook.com/exitstrategythemovie

Special Guest: Marcus T. Paulk  is an actor, rapper and dancer best known for his role as Myles Mitchell in the UPN sitcom Moesha, which aired from 1996 through 2001.   He has also appeared with Bow Wow in the 2005 film Roll Bounce, as 'The Funk' in Another Cinderella Story, and with Antonio Banderas in the 2006 film Take the Lead.   He stars in the movie Red Tails as David 'Deke' Watkins. Red Tails film is a fictional tale inspired by the true story of America’s first all black aerial combat unit. http://www.redtails2012.com/  

Naturi Thomas is the published author of a children’s book, Uh-Oh! It’s Mama’s Birthday! (Albert Whitman & Co., 1997) Booklist called it, “appealing…one of those stories with a universal premise.” She also sold first rights to her full-length comedic play, Hating Raymond.   She was a SAG actress, appearing on Nickelodeon, “As the World Turns,” and way, way off-Broadway. Her fiction, poetry and personal essays have been published in: Barrow St., The Subway Chronicles and Underground Voices and Children, Churches and Daddies, among others.   How To Die In Paris- An edgy, poetic, often darkly comic, memoir of a young middle-class black woman who escapes a tortured past in New York to pursue a new life in Europe—only to find herself broke, desperate, and contemplating suicide on the streets of Paris.

Special Guest: Director of Engineering Extension at Kansas State University Bruce Snead has been a state extension specialist in residential energy, radon and indoor air quality at Kansas State University since 1982, and became Director in April 2011. In the 1980s much of his work involved energy efficiency in existing and new homes, and solar energy applications for homes and businesses.   He has conducted radon industry training in the mid west since 1989, as part of the Midwest Universities Radon Consortium in partnership with the University of Minnesota. Bruce has also led K-State’s role in the Kansas Radon Program for twenty one years, and is now leading the National Radon Program Services and projects for the US EPA, which provides technical assistance to the public through toll free phone lines and web based services.

Special Guest:Clinton Roane (Broadway- Scottsboro Boys, NY Theatre-The Sporting Life of Icarus Jones, Regional Theatre- Hello! My Baby.) BFA from Howard University.   Special Guest: Actor David Bazemore (Regional- Hairspray, Beauty an the Beast, West Side Story) BFA from Shenandoah University. Actor JC Montgomery was unable to make the interview. The two wonderful actors are currently starring in the Philadelphia Theatre Company's production of The Scottsboro Boys. The Scottsboro Boys is a stirring musical that explores the infamous 1930's 'Scottsboro Case' in which a group of African-American men are falsely accused of a terrible crime, ultimately provoking a national outrage that sparked the American Civil Rights movement.  Philadelphia Theatre Company''s website: http://www.philadelphiatheatrecompany.org/2012/boys.html PBS special about The Scottsboro Boys: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/scottsboro/

Simone graduated from Long Island University's C.W. Post Campus in 1996. She has a Bachelor's of Science degree with a concentration in Marketing and Advertising. Her career began in the music industry working for companies such as RCA Records and BMG Entertainment in the PR and online marketing divisions. In 2001, she branched out on her own as a coach full-time. As a certified Small Business Campcoach, she coaches entrepreneurs on building their businesses and creating a balanced life. In addition to business coaching, she's also added life coaching to her many skills. Simone is a certified Master Life Coach and Holistic Health Practitioner(Behavioral Healthcare Consulting, AADP Accredited), and a certified Compass Life Coachto help her clients live balanced and fulfilled lives. In her quest to find balance and show others how to live a holistic life, she developed the Own Your Power Lifestyle Centerin November '08 in Hollywood and Pembroke Pines, Florida. The OYPLC will empower you with the tools to nourish your mind with educational workshops, feed and heal your body with yoga and natural remedies, and soothe your soul with energy-balancing and focused meditations. Simone grew to love the effects of energy balancing on her life and became certified as a Reiki-Master Teacher so that she could incorporate new wellness services at the lifestyle center. CIRCLE OF POWER--www.ownyourpower.biz/circle   8 WEEKS TO CEO- http://ownyourpower.biz/blog/2011/12/14/8-weeks-to-ceo-enroll-today/  

Alsarah, is a Sudanese born singer, songwriter and ethnomusicologist. She studied Music with a concentration in Ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University. She worked with The Sounds of Taraab performing classical Taraab music from Zanzibar and Kenya ranging from the 1940s-today. Alsarah & The Nubatones came together out of a collective love for Nubian music and a genuine belief that Soul transcends all cultural and linguistic barriers. Inspired by the pentatonic scale they blend a selection of Nubian 'songs of return' from the 1970s-today with original material and traditional music of central Sudan. The Nubatones is comprised of Alsarah, Haig Manoukian, Karine Fleurima, Rami El Aasser, and Mawuena Kodjovi To hear more about Alsarah, please visit:www.soundclould.com/alsarah. She is also featured on Sudan365 album: http://www.sudan365.org/read-more.771.html Hisham Haj Omar  is a filmmaker and youth activist with Girifna. Girifna (“We are fed up” in Arabic) was established two days before the voter registration process was to begin for the country's first multiparty vote in nearly a quarter-century. They use orange as their color and the V-for-victory sign as a logo.Part of Girifna's mission is to encourage Sudanese to learn about their rights and start demanding them through nonviolent protest. Hisham Haj Omar, helped build Girifna's multimedia Web site. Girifna members carry cellphone-size video cameras to their activities so they can post images of the excited crowds, and often of the police interrupting their activities. www.girifna.com

Sonia Sanchez is the first Poet Laureate for the City of Philadelphia, PA. Poet. Mother. Professor. National and International lecturer on Black Culture and Literature, Women’s Liberation, Peace and Racial Justice. Sponsor of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Board Member of MADRE. Sonia Sanchez is the author of over 16 books includingHomecoming, We a BaddDDD People, Love Poems, I’ve Been a Woman, A Sound Investment and Other Stories, Homegirls and Handgrenades, Under a Soprano Sky, Wounded in the House of a Friend (Beacon Press, 1995), Does Your House Have Lions?(Beacon Press, 1997),and most recently, Morning Haiku(Beacon Press, 2010).  A recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts, the Lucretia Mott Award for 1984, the Outstanding Arts Award from the Pennsylvania Coalition of 100 Black Women, she is a winner of the 1985 American Book Award for Homegirls and Handgrenades, the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Humanities for 1988, the Peace and Freedom Award from Women International League for Peace and Freedom (W.I.L.P.F.) for 1989, a PEW Fellowship in the Arts for 1992-1993 and the recipient of Langston Hughes Poetry Award for 1999. Does Your House Have Lions? was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. She is the Poetry Society of America’s 2001 Robert Frost Medalist and a Ford Freedom Scholar from the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. She is the recipient of the 2005 Leeway Foundation Transformational Award. She was the first Presidential Fellow at Temple University and she held the Laura Carnell Chair in English at Temple University.  TWITTER @poetsanchez  WEBSITE: www.soniasanchez.net