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Posts Tagged ‘Austin’

Dazzle Dad With a Heaping Helping of Deliciously Clever Food Puns

Dazzle Dad With a Heaping Helping of Deliciously Clever Food Puns

(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet, or used by any means of social media sharing.)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“Saba creates and photographs food that is both whimsical and downright playful.”
— Bon Appétit

This Father’s Day, give your favorite father figures the gift of food and laughter with Don’t Worry Be Ha-PEA: 101 Deliciously Clever Food Puns from cookbook author and social media sensation Marie Saba.

Don’t Worry, Be Ha-PEA is a perfect gift or coffee-table book for anyone who appreciates good food and clever wordplay. Saba’s compilation of family-friendly, quirky and creative food puns will have dads everywhere testing their knowledge of pop culture (think Celine Dijon and Robert Brownie, Jr.), tourist attractions (St. Peter’s Basilica), cartoon characters (Elmer Fudge) and much more. Saba’s tasty visual puzzles are as intriguing as they are appetizing and beautifully photographed.

Entertaining and light-hearted, Saba’s puns aim to inspire creative thinking, connection and laughter that will leave readers craving more.

“Don’t Worry, Be Ha-PEA reminds us all that we can find humor in the most unlikely of places — the back of the pantry or the bottom of the veggie drawer,” Saba said. “It’s just the book we need right now.”

About the Author
Marie Saba is a former lawyer, cookbook author and freelance content creator. Her playful creations have been featured in numerous media, including Bon Appetit and Food & Wine, as well as on The Rachel Ray Show and Martha Stewart Show. Marie lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband, John, and their two children, Jack and Elaine.

Marie was recently named by Country Living Magazine as one of the top 100 creative people in the country.

For more information, visit https://mariesaba.com/, or follow her on Instagram: @MarieSaba; TikTok: @MariesKitchenTikTok; and YouTube: Marie’s Kitchen.

Don’t Worry Be Ha-PEA: 101 Deliciously Clever Food Puns
Publisher: Familius Publishing / Distributed by Hatchet
ISBN-10: ‎ 1641704640
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1641704649
Available from Amazon.com, Target.com, BN.com, Booksamillion.com and bookstores nationwide

Trish Stevens
Carla McClure
Ascot Media Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 2394
Friendswood, TX 77549
[email protected]
www.ascotmedia.com
281.333.3507 Phone

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25 Years in a Cult: Former Follower Draws Readers Into Disciple Mindset

25 Years in a Cult: Former Follower Draws Readers Into Disciple Mindset

(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet, or used by any means of social media sharing.)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Radhia Gleis didn’t wake up one day and decide to join a cult. That’s not how it happens, she said.

“It has nothing to do with intelligence or education,” she explained in a recent interview. “It has to do with being in the right (or wrong) place at the wrong time when you’re in a state of searching for something, and someone comes along who meets that need.”

Her powerful new book, The Followers: “Holy Hell” and the Disciples of Narcissistic Leaders: How My Years in a Notorious Cult Parallel Today’s Cultural Mania, articulates the complexity of how she fell under the influence of the charismatic leader of the Buddha-field cult. The Holy Hell reference in the book’s title is a nod to the 2016 Buddha-field cult documentary, in which Gleis appears.

A nutritionist, biochemical analyst and educator, Gleis says her post-traumatic stress, forever entombed in her psyche, is repeatedly triggered by the characteristics of current political and cultural leaders, prompting her to explore her past decisions through a much broader lens that sheds light on the blind spots — and dangers — of groupthink.

The Followers lays the groundwork by skimming Gleis’ upbringing in Hollywood and tracing the steps of her life when, at age 14, she began to crave a deeper sense of spirituality. She spent the next 12 years searching for nirvana, and at age 26, she found what she thought she had been searching for. Gleis draws strong parallels between her devotion to a cult leader — an authority — whose damaging behavior and influence she willfully ignored, and the followers of other narcissistic authorities. She goes into detail about the characteristics of narcissists and explains the “feedback loop” that sustains the disciple-narcissist dynamic.

Gleis weaves together her personal experiences with reflections on a number of thought-provoking topics, including the search for a higher truth, cults, groupthink and mind control, authoritarian leaders, malignant narcissistic personality disorder and sociopathy, the American schism, and how an intelligent, well-educated person may find herself under the control of a narcissistic sociopath.

Author Radhia Gleis has been a Certified Clinical Nutritionist, CCN, MEd. biochemical analyst and educator for over 33 years. She has appeared as a featured guest on numerous radio and television shows including Fox News, Austin. She hosted The Health Revolution and Let’s Get Healthy on Talk 1370 AM, KLBJ, and The Wellness Connection podcast on Voice America. She was the host and executive producer of three YouTube series: Wake up America; How the Body Works; and The Natural Way. She was featured in the internationally viewed movie, Holy Hell, which was broadcast on CNN and named one of Sundance Film Festival’s and Netflix’s top 10 documentaries. It can now be viewed on Amazon Prime.

For more information, please visit www.radhiagleis.com, or follow the author on Twitter (@radhia_gleis).

The Followers: “Holy Hell” and the Disciples of Narcissistic Leaders: How My Years in a Notorious Cult Parallel Today’s Cultural Mania
Publisher: Sage Card Publishing
ISBN-10: 1737125803
ISBN-13: ‎978-1737125808
Available from Amazon.com, BN.com and Audible.com

Trish Stevens
Kay Williams
Ascot Media Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 2394
Friendswood, TX 77549
[email protected]
www.ascotmedia.com
281.333.3507 Phone

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Gripping Exposé Draws Alarming Parallels Between Cult Dynamics and Today’s Political Landscape

Gripping Exposé Draws Alarming Parallels Between Cult Dynamics and Today’s Political Landscape

(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet, or used by any means of social media sharing.)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

How does an intelligent, well-educated person find herself under the control of a narcissistic sociopath? It’s a question that Radhia Gleis didn’t begin to ponder until after she’d spent 25 years in the Buddha-field cult. Why had she made the choices she did at the time? And why do so many others become followers of authoritarian leaders?

“What makes people give up their will, their sense of right and wrong — give up their moral compass and family ties for a person or an ideal?” Gleis asks.

A nutritionist, biochemical analyst and educator, Gleis says her post-traumatic stress, forever entombed in her psyche, is repeatedly triggered by the characteristics of current political and cultural leaders, prompting her to explore her past decisions through a much broader lens that sheds light on the blind spots — and dangers — of groupthink.

Her powerful new book, The Followers: “Holy Hell” and the Disciples of Narcissistic Leaders: How My Years in a Notorious Cult Parallel Today’s Cultural Mania, draws strong parallels between her devotion to a cult leader — and authority — whose damaging behavior and influence she willfully ignored, and the followers of other narcissistic authorities. The Holy Hell reference in the book’s title is a nod to the 2016 Buddha-field cult documentary of that same name, in which Gleis appears.

The Followers lays the groundwork by skimming Gleis’ upbringing in Hollywood and tracing the steps of her adult life when, at the age of 30, she fell under the influence of the charismatic leader of the Buddha-field, known by many names, including Michel, Andreas, The Teacher or Reyji.

Gleis weaves together her personal experiences with reflections on a number of thought-provoking topics, including the search for a higher truth, cults, groupthink and mind control, authoritarian leaders, malignant narcissistic personality disorder and sociopathy, the American schism, and how an intelligent, well-educated person may find herself under the control of a narcissistic sociopath.

Author Radhia Gleis has been a Certified Clinical Nutritionist, CCN, MEd. biochemical analyst and educator for over 33 years. She has appeared as a featured guest on numerous radio and television shows including Fox News, Austin. She hosted The Health Revolution and Let’s Get Healthy on Talk 1370 AM, KLBJ, and The Wellness Connection podcast on Voice America. She was the host and executive producer of three YouTube series: Wake up America; How the Body Works; and The Natural Way. She was featured in the internationally viewed movie, Holy Hell, which was broadcast on CNN and named one of Sundance Film Festival’s and Netflix’s top 10 documentaries. It can now be viewed on Amazon Prime.

For more information, please visit www.radhiagleis.com, or follow the author on Twitter (@radhia_gleis).

The Followers: “Holy Hell” and the Disciples of Narcissistic Leaders: How My Years in a Notorious Cult Parallel Today’s Cultural Mania
Publisher: Sage Card Publishing
ISBN-10: 1737125803
ISBN-13: ‎978-1737125808
Available from Amazon.com, BN.com and Audible.com

Trish Stevens
Carmen Jeffreys
Ascot Media Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 2394
Friendswood, TX 77549
[email protected]
www.ascotmedia.com
281.333.3507 Phone

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Cult Survivor Tells Her Chilling Story, and It Sounds Eerily Familiar

Cult Survivor Tells Her Chilling Story, and It Sounds Eerily Familiar

(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet, or used by any means of social media sharing.)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For a quarter of a century, Radhia Gleis willingly followed the teachings of a narcissistic sociopath known by many names: Michel, Andreas, The Teacher or Reyji. He was the leader of a cult called the Buddha-field, and until Gleis escaped the psychological prison of that life over a dozen years ago, she says she willingly joined scores of others who gave up “their will, their sense of right and wrong … their moral compass and family ties for a person or an ideal.”

Now a nutritionist, biochemical analyst and educator, she felt compelled to confront her emotional scars and tell the story that must be told, especially in light of the current political climate.

She says her post-traumatic stress, forever entombed in her psyche, is repeatedly triggered by the characteristics of current political and cultural leaders, prompting her to explore her past decisions through a much broader lens that sheds light on the blind spots — and dangers — of groupthink.

The timeliness of her story is told in the full title of her new book: The Followers: “Holy Hell” and the Disciples of Narcissistic Leaders: How My Years in a Notorious Cult Parallel Today’s Cultural Mania. The Holy Hell reference is a nod to the 2016 Buddha-field cult documentary film of that same name, in which she appears.

The Followers lays the groundwork by skimming Gleis’ upbringing in Hollywood and tracing the steps of her adult life when, at the age of 30, she fell under the influence of the charismatic leader of the Buddha-field.

She draws striking parallels between her devotion to a cult leader whose damaging behavior and influence she willfully ignored, and the followers of other authoritarian leaders, both past and present.

Gleis weaves together her personal experiences with reflections on a number of thought-provoking topics, including the search for a higher truth, cults, groupthink and mind control, authoritarian leaders, malignant narcissistic personality disorder and sociopathy, the American schism, and how an intelligent, well-educated person may find herself under the control of a narcissistic sociopath.

Author Radhia Gleis has been a Certified Clinical Nutritionist, CCN, MEd. biochemical analyst and educator for over 33 years. She has appeared as a featured guest on numerous radio and television shows including Fox News, Austin. She hosted The Health Revolution and Let’s Get Healthy on Talk 1370 AM, KLBJ, and The Wellness Connection podcast on Voice America. She was the host and executive producer of three YouTube series: Wake up America; How the Body Works; and The Natural Way. She was featured in the internationally viewed movie, Holy Hell, which was broadcast on CNN and named one of Sundance Film Festival’s and Netflix’s top 10 documentaries. It can now be viewed on Amazon Prime.

For more information, please visit www.radhiagleis.com, or follow the author on Twitter (@radhia_gleis).

The Followers: “Holy Hell” and the Disciples of Narcissistic Leaders: How My Years in a Notorious Cult Parallel Today’s Cultural Mania
Publisher: Sage Card Publishing
ISBN-10: 1737125803
ISBN-13: ‎978-1737125808
Available from Amazon.com, BN.com and Audible.com

Trish Stevens
D.S. Scott
Ascot Media Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 2394
Friendswood, TX 77549
[email protected]
www.ascotmedia.com
281.333.3507 Phone

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Former Buddhafield Follower Shares Unvarnished Truth About Cult Life

Former Buddhafield Follower Shares Unvarnished Truth About Cult Life

(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet, or used by any means of social media sharing.)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Radhia Gleis spent 25 years of her adult life in the Buddhafield cult, under the influence of a narcissistic sociopath known by many names: Michel, Andreas, The Teacher or Reyji. She escaped the psychological prison of cult life over 12 years ago, but the emotional scars remain. The post-traumatic stress, forever entombed in her psyche, is repeatedly triggered by the characteristics of political and cultural leaders of today, prompting her to explore her past decisions through a much broader lens that sheds light on the blind spots — and dangers — of groupthink.

“What makes people give up their will, their sense of right and wrong — give up their moral compass and family ties for a person or an ideal?” Gleis asks in her captivating new book, The Followers: “Holy Hell” and the Disciples of Narcissistic Leaders: How My Years in a Notorious Cult Parallel Today’s Cultural Mania, giving a nod to the 2016 Buddhafield cult documentary Holy Hell, in which she appears.

The Followers lays the groundwork by skimming Gleis’ upbringing in Hollywood and tracing the steps of her adult life, when, at the age of 30, she fell under the influence of the charismatic leader of Buddhafield.

She draws striking parallels between her devotion to a cult leader — an authority — whose damaging behavior and influence she willfully ignored, and the followers of other authoritarian leaders, both past and present.

Gleis weaves her personal experiences with reflections on a number of thought-provoking topics, including:

• The search for a higher truth
• Cults, groupthink and mind control
• Authoritarian leaders
• Malignant narcissistic personality disorder and sociopathy
• The American schism
• How an intelligent, well educated person may find themselves under the control of a narcissistic sociopath
• Cognitive dissonance
• The three basic types of people who join cults
• The power of words/influence of media

Informative, raw and irreverent, Gleis’ book shares the unvarnished truth about cult followers from the viewpoint of a former follower still grappling with the consequences of her choices.

Author Radhia Gleis is a Certified Clinical Nutritionist, CCN, MEd. biochemical analyst and educator for over 33 years. She has appeared as a featured guest on numerous radio and television shows including Fox News, Austin. She hosted The Health Revolution and Let’s Get Healthy on Talk 1370 AM, KLBJ, and The Wellness Connection podcast on Voice America. She was the host and executive producer of three YouTube series: Wake up America; How the Body Works; and The Natural Way. She was featured in the internationally viewed movie, Holy Hell, which was broadcast on CNN and named one of Sundance Film Festival’s and Netflix’s top 10 documentaries. It can now be viewed on Amazon Prime.

For more information, please visit www.radhiagleis.com, or follow the author on Twitter (@radhia_gleis).

The Followers: “Holy Hell” and the Disciples of Narcissistic Leaders: How My Years in a Notorious Cult Parallel Today’s Cultural Mania
Publisher: Sage Card Publishing
ISBN-10: 1737125803
ISBN-13: ‎978-1737125808
Available from Amazon.com, BN.com and Audible.com

Trish Stevens
Marta Riley
Ascot Media Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 2394
Friendswood, TX 77549
[email protected]
www.ascotmedia.com
281.333.3507 Phone

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Secrets Threaten to Unravel Family Ties in The Wool Over Their Eyes

Secrets Threaten to Unravel Family Ties in The Wool Over Their Eyes

(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet or used by any means of social media sharing.)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

At 18, Natalia Foster knew seven things about the biological father she’d never met: he was tall, dark, handsome and Italian. He was also married to someone other than Natalia’s mother, had three children and, clearly, no morals. Now, at age 28, Natalia knows something new: her father is dying.

The Wool Over Their Eyes, from Dione Martin, is an authentic, heartfelt story about complex family dynamics and the emotions that must be unpacked when long-buried secrets push their way to the surface.

Illegitimate and bi-racial, Natalia is the secret that her father, Joe, planned to take to his grave. His wife and family know nothing of Natalia’s existence — or that her mother is Black — but when word spreads that Joe has only months to live, Natalia feels compelled to meet him and salvage what little time with him she has left. But at what cost to Joe’s devoted wife, Rosa, and their grown children?

In the midst of Natalia’s family drama and pain is also a love story. Natalia must choose between two loves — a long-lost one and a new one. Her ex-boyfriend, Tyler Davis, who captured her heart and connected with her soul, resurfaces. But she meets a handsome doctor, David Duplessis, who’d cared for her father. Just as the relationship begins to blossom, David commits an act that severs her trust and sends her spiraling further into her dark abyss.

The Wool Over Their Eyes is loosely based on Martin’s personal experiences. She drew upon her own memories and insights of growing up without her biological father and being betrayed in her own marriage to inform her narrative and give her characters depth and authenticity.

“I wrote The Wool Over Their Eyes for fatherless girls, for women who have been betrayed, for those who have been rejected because of their race (or otherness) and for families that have been torn apart by secrets, lies and deception,” Martin reflects. “Healing is possible – through change, through empathy, through faith and through forgiveness.”

Author Dione Martin was born and raised in New Orleans, where she spent much of her childhood and teen years reading. She earned her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Minnesota-Morris and her Master’s in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. She is currently a senior communications director at Brinker International. She lives in Dallas with her two daughters and enjoys running, cooking, performing arts and attempting DIY projects. The Wool Over Their Eyes is her debut novel, and she is working on her next one.

For more information about the author, please visit www.dione-martin.com or follow her on Twitter (@DioneMartin30), LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/dione-martin/) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/dionehmartin).

The Wool Over Their Eyes
Publisher: Inspire on Purpose
ISBN-10: 1948903539
ISBN-13: 978-1948903530
Available from Amazon.com

Trish Stevens
Chelsea Smith
Ascot Media Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 2394
Friendswood, TX 77549
[email protected]
www.ascotmedia.com
281.333.3507 Phone

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Accomplished Musicians Honor Family’s Legacy with Three Tributes

Accomplished Musicians Honor Family’s Legacy with Three Tributes

For brothers Robert and James Freeman, who are both accomplished musicians, music and family mean everything. To honor their family’s musical legacy, which spans three generations, the brothers commissioned three breathtaking, original scores included on Three Tributes, a music CD (with an accompanying booklet), which would make a welcome addition to anyone’s collection of beautiful new music.

Three Tributes features award-winning composers Kevin Puts, Andrea Clearfield and Gunther Schuller, along with a host of world-class performers. The CD will immerse listeners in the magnificent sounds of an emotional violin solo, stunningly prestissimo strings, and the layered splendor of four hands on two pianos.

For Robert and James, a music CD seemed an appropriate way to honor their family’s multigenerational love and appreciation of music. Their parents, Henry and Florence Knope Freeman, were both children of musicians and graduated from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester in 1930.

Both Robert and James studied piano and theory at Cambridge’s Longy School while graduating from Milton Academy, and studied performance during the summers at Tanglewood, Blue Hill and Marlboro. They went on to Harvard, where each graduated with honors, followed by travelling fellowships for study in Europe.

Robert took his Ph.D. in music history at Princeton and taught there for five years before moving to MIT, where he made tenure just before moving for 24 years to the directorship of the Eastman School — his parents’ alma mater — followed by two years as president of the New England Conservatory and six as dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Texas at Austin.

James went straight from Harvard to Swarthmore College, where he taught and conducted for 37 years, served as departmental chair for 16 years and as Daniel Underhill Professor of Music. In 1988 he founded Philadelphia’s new music group Orchestra 2001, directing it until 2015 when he resigned to take on a new ensemble, Chamber Orchestra FIRST EDITIONS. In 1991 he was a Fulbright lecturer and conductor at the Moscow Conservatory, and has returned to Moscow many times since then to give concerts of new American music.

Both brothers have made lots of recordings, and have published their share of well-reviewed books and articles. When the idea arose to commission some original scores to honor their family legacy, Robert and James sought out music’s finest to bring their vision for Three Tributes to fruition.

Two of the composers featured on the CD have won the Pulitzer Prize. Kevin Puts is currently at work on an opera for the Metropolitan Opera. Andrea Clearfield, who took her DMA at Temple, is the founder of the Philadelphia Salon Concert Series, featuring contemporary, classical, jazz, world and electronic music, together with multimedia and spoken word arts. The late Gunther Schuller was one of the 20th Century’s music stars as composer, conductor, author and administrator. He was a great admirer of their father’s bass playing, and a good friend.

Robert and James hope that Three Tributes will inspire others to undertake similar projects. Neither of them is aware of any similar event in the history of music where two brothers from a family of professional musicians — spanning at least two generations before them — have commissioned significant works as a tribute to their parents and for future generations to enjoy.

Three Tributes CD
Available at: https://www.innova.mu/albums/james-and-robert-freeman/three-tributes

Trish Stevens
Teresa Hinojosa
Ascot Media Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 2394
Friendswood, TX 77549
832.569.5773 Direct
281.333.3507 Phone
[email protected]
www.ascotmedia.com

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