DIG LIFE DEEP!

In 1952, when Pauline Adams was just five, she took a life-changing taxi ride from Cambridge, New York to West Arlington, Vermont with her mom and siblings to pose for Norman Rockwell. As Adams recalls, the famous American artist wanted African American models for a work known as "We the Peoples." It was a project for the United Nations. Adams, now a retired nurse with 13 grandchildren, shares her fond memories of Norman Rockwell and how his legacy has shaped her life.  

Who Was Norman Rockwell?

Norman Rockwell received his first commission at age 17. In 1916, he created the first of 321 covers for The Saturday Evening Post. Rockwell's Americana images were loved by the public, but not embraced by critics. He created World War II posters and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977.

Early Years

Born Norman Percevel Rockwell in New York City on February 3, 1894, Rockwell knew at the age of 14 that he wanted to be an artist, and began taking classes at The New School of Art. By the age of 16, Rockwell was so intent on pursuing his passion that he dropped out of high school and enrolled at the National Academy of Design. He later transferred to the Art Students League of New York. Upon graduating, Rockwell found immediate work as an illustrator for Boys' Life magazine.

By 1916, a 22-year-old Rockwell, newly married to his first wife, Irene O'Connor, had painted his first cover for The Saturday Evening Post — the beginning of a 47-year relationship with the iconic American magazine. In all, Rockwell painted 321 covers for the Post. Some of his most iconic covers included the 1927 celebration of Charles Lindbergh's crossing of the Atlantic. He also worked for other magazines, including Look, which in 1969 featured a Rockwell cover depicting the imprint of Neil Armstrong's left foot on the surface of the moon after the successful moon landing. In 1920, the Boy Scouts of America featured a Rockwell painting in its calendar. Rockwell continued to paint for the Boy Scouts for the rest of his life.

Sources: biography.com and show notes

Author Stephen Haggerty, who writes under the name, ST Haggerty, has spent his summers in Arlington, Vermont since he was a toddler and the history and folklore of the rural Vermont hamlet is steeped in his bones. Arlington his where the late America painter and illustrator, Norman Rockwell produced some of his best known and finest works. Rockwell lived here with his wife and three sons, including Jarvis Rockwell. Haggerty and Jarvis Rockwell knew many of the same models that his dad made famous on canvas and in cover illustrations. These models are the inspiration for Haggerty's much anticipated book, Call Me Norman: The Backstory of Rockwell's Beloved Models. 

Who Was Norman Rockwell?

Norman Rockwell received his first commission at age 17. In 1916, he created the first of 321 covers for The Saturday Evening Post. Rockwell's Americana images were loved by the public, but not embraced by critics. He created World War II posters and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977.

Early Years

Born Norman Percevel Rockwell in New York City on February 3, 1894, Rockwell knew at the age of 14 that he wanted to be an artist, and began taking classes at The New School of Art. By the age of 16, Rockwell was so intent on pursuing his passion that he dropped out of high school and enrolled at the National Academy of Design. He later transferred to the Art Students League of New York. Upon graduating, Rockwell found immediate work as an illustrator for Boys' Life magazine.

By 1916, a 22-year-old Rockwell, newly married to his first wife, Irene O'Connor, had painted his first cover for The Saturday Evening Post — the beginning of a 47-year relationship with the iconic American magazine. In all, Rockwell painted 321 covers for the Post. Some of his most iconic covers included the 1927 celebration of Charles Lindbergh's crossing of the Atlantic. He also worked for other magazines, including Look, which in 1969 featured a Rockwell cover depicting the imprint of Neil Armstrong's left foot on the surface of the moon after the successful moon landing. In 1920, the Boy Scouts of America featured a Rockwell painting in its calendar. Rockwell continued to paint for the Boy Scouts for the rest of his life.

Sources: biography.com and show notes

NIKHIL KAMATH is India's young billionaire, according to Forbes. His wealth and success is driven by his huge success in India's fledgling financial services industry. Nikhil is the co-founder of India's biggest brokerage firm Zerodha, as well as True Beacon, a wealth management company for wealthy investors worldwide. 

Zerodha, started in 2010 with "the goal of breaking all barriers that traders and investors face in India in terms of cost, support, and technology." Zerodha says it has over five million clients generating millions of daily orders, generating more than 15 percent of all retail trading volumes in India. Kamath, who dropped out of school at 15, grew up in a middle class family with a banker father and music teacher mother. A former chess champion he worked at a call center in his youth and a stockbroking company for three years, saving up a princely sum of about $190,000.

Nikhil's companies have responded to the the Covid-19 crisis in India with humanitarian relief efforts that include ambulance services. He said the crisis is real and tragic and has touched many lives.  Every possible relief effort must be made as a matter of urgency to help the sick and ailing during this crisis in India. But he also notes that the full scale of the tragedy is misrepresented in the media from the global reporting to local reports. "The truth lies in between somewhere," he told a reporter.

Zerodha: https://zerodha.com/

True Beacon: https://www.truebeacon.com/

Justin Danhof is the General Counsel for the National Center for Public Policy Research, as well as Director of the Center’s Free Enterprise Project (FEP). Danhof previously worked as a research associate with the National Center for Public Policy Research from 2008 to 2009. Prior to joining the National Center for Public Policy Research, Danhof worked in the Miami-Dade State’s Attorney’s Office in the Economic Crimes and Cybercrimes Division, for the Massachusetts Alliance for Economic Development and at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Danhof’s work has been widely published and quoted in major newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Politico, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Boston Globe, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Washington Post.  He has also appeared on the Fox News Channel, One America News Network, and the Fox Business Channel, among others.

Launched in 2007, the National Center for Public Policy Research’s Free Enterprise Project focuses on shareholder activism and the confluence of big government and big business. The Free Enterprise Project (FEP) is the conservative movement’s only full-service shareholder activism and education program: It files shareholder resolutions, engages corporate CEOs and board members at shareholder meetings, petitions the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for interpretative guidance, and sponsors effective media campaigns to create the incentives for corporations to stay focused on their missions.

As the leading voice for conservative-minded investors, FEP annually files more than 90 percent of all right-of-center shareholder resolutions. Dozens of liberal organizations, however, annually file more than 95 percent of all policy-oriented shareholder resolutions and continue to exert undue influence over corporate America. 

Founded in 1982, follow the National Center, a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think tank on Twitter at @NationalCenter for general announcements. To be alerted to upcoming media appearances by National Center staff, follow its media appearances Twitter account at @NCPPRMedia

Generations Deep: Unmasking Inherited Dysfunction and Trauma to Rewrite Our Stories Through Faith and Therapy (ISBN 978-1-17329545-2-6, Out Loud Publishing, 2021) by Gina Birkemeier has achieved Amazon Best Seller status within in a day of launching. The book reached No. 1 in New Releases in the Christian Personal transformation Category and ranked No. 35 among Amazon’s Best Sellers lists. In this powerfully-written book, Birkemeier shares her own family’s personal story through four generations, showing how destructive behaviors of one generation are repeated by following generations and that unless we take time and effort to repair the past, this dysfunctional cycle will continue. Offering questions and theories to consider, including a questionnaire created with the help of sixty therapists, Generations Deep will guide readers toward their own growth where it’s possible to banish shame and find freedom—for themselves and for future generations.

The book has a faith component also, with Birkemeier drawing not only from her career as a licensed therapist but also her ministry work in writing it. The paperback edition retails for $16.95 and the Kindle version is $12.99. The book is ideal for anyone interested in self-help and self-improvement.

"I am humbled by the reception Generations Deep has received since its release. This book is about connecting dots. About showing how patterns, beliefs, behaviors, ideas, identity and styles of relating are passed down. It’s about creating awareness and understanding. It’s about learning how trauma impacts us at a cellular level- but so does healing. I believe that this message resonates with so many and is why readers are seeking the book out.” said Gina Birkemeier.

Faith and therapy played important roles in Birkemeier’s personal healing. Today with nearly two decades of experience in counseling and ministry, she uses this knowledge to guide readers on how to do their own work and heal from inherited behaviors. She shows that cycles can be broken, and readers can shed the chains of inherited behaviors that are destructive. From there, they can live healthier lives and pass that life on to future generations. Reading Generations Deep will leave the reader encouraged and empowered to break unhealthy cycles in their own lives..Generations Deep.

About the author

Gina Birkemeier is a nationally-renowned licensed professional counselor, author, and speaker. Gina approaches her field with a specific purpose to help people find the freedom to be who they were created to be. In her practice, Gina draws upon her professional background in counseling and ministry to assist others to break the bonds of previous generations and live enriching and productive lives.

Gina holds a master’s degree in counseling and theology from Covenant Theological Seminary and is a therapist at CrossRoads Counseling.

Visit her website: www.generationsdeep.com

In The Wealth Hoarders, How Billionaires Pay Millions to Hide Trillions, Chuck Collins has just ripped the lid off this secret industry, laying out how the super wealthy hide their fortunes and escape tax liability. Chuck is an expert on economic inequality, and as an heir to the Oscar Mayer family fortune, he knows the wealth defense industry from the inside. Chuck gave away his own family inheritance rather than pursue a life of almost guaranteed comfort and financial security. His new book contains personal accounts of his own experience, and he interviews practitioners including lawyers and accountants, who rip the lid off this practice.

By age 15, depression and anxiety had taken their toll on Mark Henick. Clinging to an outside girder on an overpass, a deeply troubled Henick made the only decision he thought he could. And he let go. Henick’s newly released book, So-Called Normal: A Memoir of Family, Depression and Resilience, aims to break the relentless stigma of mental illness through his candid, intensely personal account of his youth, the events that led to that fateful night on the bridge, and the experiences and transformation that followed. 

Henick takes readers inside the mind of a boy who had to deal with the breakdown of his parents’ marriage, an abusive stepfather, bullying and trauma — all while trying to navigate his progressively worsening mental health. In the backdrop is a community that didn’t talk about mental illness, one where silence and maintaining the comforts of “normal” was paramount. So-Called Normal is a vital, triumphant story of perseverance and recovery that has already touched the hearts of many, including television personality Rosie O’Donnell. 

“Mark Henick is a powerful storyteller. His vivid account of his early years as a depressed, suicidal teenager is a page-turner. So-Called Normal is beautifully written, heart-wrenching, and hopeful. Necessary reading for anyone who wants a peek inside the mind of someone who journeyed through mental illness and found hope on the other side,” O’Donnell said. Author Mark Henick’s TEDx talk, Why We Choose Suicide, is one of the most watched in the world and has been viewed millions of times. His search for “the man in the brown jacket” whose bravery and strong arms kept him from falling to his death went viral around the world (and was successful!). Henick has been on television and radio and has written many articles on mental health. He has hosted more than 60 intimate conversations about mental health with notable public figures and celebrities on his podcast, So-Called Normal, and has executive produced and hosted the Living Well podcast for Morneau Shepell. Henick has served on the board of directors for the Mental Health Commission of Canada, and was the president of a provincial division of the Canadian Mental Health Association — the youngest person in either role. He has worked as a frontline clinician, a program manager and the national director of strategic initiatives for CMHA. 

Currently the CEO and principal strategist for Strategic Mental Health Consulting, Mark Henick is in high demand as an international keynote speaker on mental health recovery. To watch Henick’s powerful TEDx talk, please visit https://youtu.be/D1QoyTmeAYw. 

For more information, please visit www.markhenick.com or connect with the author on the following social media sites: www.facebook.com/markhenick/; https://twitter.com/markhenick; and www.youtube.com/markhenick. For the recent PEOPLE Magazine feature about Henick and the man who saved him, please visit https://people.com/human-interest/inside-one-mans-search-stranger-saved-him-suicide/. So-Called Normal: A Memoir of Family, Depression and Resilience Publisher: HarperCollins Release Date: January 12, 2021 ISBN-10: 1443455032 ISBN-13: 978-1443455039 Available from Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Audible and others

Decades as a Christian leader — most notably at the U.N. as president of the Center for Family & Human Rights — have earned writer Austin Ruse, once a Washington liberal with little faith, his share of defeats and triumphs. "Perhaps most valuably, he has intuited keen tactical insights from his confrontations with the dark side of human nature. You come away from this groundbreaking book with the sense that Ruse knows the enemy better than the enemy knows himself," according to the Sophia Institute Press on its release of Austin Ruse's engrossing new book, Under Siege. No Finer Time To Be A Faithful Catholic.

In Under Siege, Ruse carefully examines how the anti-Christian forces gained power over every elite institution in America. "He exposes their most deviant plans for the future. He then issues his authoritative call to arms, brilliantly arguing that there is no finer time to be a faithful Catholic. God Himself called each of us to live in this time and place, to contribute to the renewal society and the Church, and to vanquish the enemies of civilization, says the Sophia Institute Press.

In this latest episode, Ruse is neither downcast nor defeated in his outlook, but instead he passionately embraces the difficulties he sees all around for the Catholic faithful. Ruse argues that each is called specifically to this battle, and he provides a roadmap for fighting the major challenges American Christians now face. 

"He identifies the vulnerabilities of the Leftists who appear so dominant today, and he pinpoints Catholicism’s most potent sources of resistance," says Sophia Institute Press. "More than anything, Ruse argues that, as dark as these days seem to be, future generations will look upon this generation with envy that they could not have been here with us in these dangerous times when everything seems so lost. Ruse lays it all out in these simple, balanced pages. The best days could be ahead for us, but only if we accept — and stick to — this plan to rebuild Christendom."

ISBN-13:9781644130346

Publisher: Sophia Institute Press Publication 

At 18 years old, Wendell White lay trapped in the trunk of a car and assumed it would be his last ride. Battered from a beating during a drug deal gone-wrong, all he could think about was his 19-month-old son. White prayed. He asked God for forgiveness. He steeled himself to face the consequences of the sinful life he was living. And he wondered in angst, “How in the world did I get here?”

The Devil Thought He Had Me! is White’s raw, compelling story of resilience and survival, and a profound testimony to the power of God’s grace and mercy. “After getting beaten and put into the trunk of a car, I knew then that I wanted to help the youth and adults all over the world to not make the same decisions that I had made,” he reflects.

The Devil Thought He Had Me! is the result of White’s genuine desire to use his own tragic story to connect with and help alter the trajectory of others who have veered off course. White candidly walks readers through his early days in the poverty-stricken Englewood community on Chicago’s South Side, where his mother sold drugs to make ends meet and often left White and his siblings home alone as she worked the streets. He would later follow in his mother’s footsteps until that fateful day when a drug buyer paged him to purchase two and a half ounces of crack cocaine. And everything went wrong.

The Devil Thought He Had Me! is White’s profound journey from drug-dealing teenage father to well-grounded husband, father, friend, mentor and servant of God. It’s White’s hope that by openly sharing his experiences, he can help others facing difficult life circumstances realize that there’s a pathway out.

“This book was written to be a light in a dark world,” White says. “If I can change the way that you think, I can change the way that you live.”

Author and motivational speaker Wendell White has had to overcome obstacles most cannot even imagine. His difficult upbringing on the South Side of Chicago taught him many bad habits but also instilled in him the values of loyalty, toughness, respect and a strong work ethic.

Today, he is a powerful speaker who draws from his life experiences to address audiences.  He is motivated by faith, changing lives, inspiring others and legacy. The Devil Thought He Had Me! is his first book.

For more information, please visit www.wendellwhitespeaks.com, or follow the author on Facebook at Wendell White; on Instagram at wendellw_24; and on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe1s8sYANHZdGtsXJnOCDpw/videos.

God Waits Outside (Dragon Tree Books, 2020) by Michael Churchward is the compelling and gripping real life story of Churchward, a renowned yacht captain who was arrested and thrown into a Turkish prison for a crime he did not commit. God Waits Outside recounts Churchward’s ordeal which is a tale of suffering, endurance, courage, and ultimately the triumph of the human spirit.

The book is riveting account of Churchward’s yearlong saga caught in the twisted justice systems of two countries – Greece and Turkey all because of a baseless charge. It examines the injustices in the world, the corruption of the legal process, the squalor and suffering of a Turkish prison while caught between the justice systems of two foreign nations, and ultimately a triumph for Churchward and for justice. Churchward who had never found himself to be a deeply religious person discusses in the book, the fear of abandonment and the discovery of faith. This real -life saga will keep readers enthralled to the last page.

“Writing God Waits Outside was both cathartic and a labor of love,” said Michael Churchward. “I found that I had so much inside me that I had not discussed in the past about my ordeal that I wanted to be told. I am glad that it can reach an even wider audience in an audiobook edition.

“I hope when readers read God Waits Outside, they come away inspired with the belief that no matter how dark and hopeless a situation might be, there is always light ahead,” continued Churchward. “And on a lighter note, the book will confirm that a Turkish prison is really as bad as it is claimed to be and even worse.”

Michael Churchward has packed a ton of fascinating details and his philosophy of life into his new book. He tells of the generous help of Ross Perot, the former US Presidential candidate in Churchward’s pursuit of freedom, and the welcome intervention of actor Dustin Hoffman in his saga. Also playing a hugely critical role in his release from the forces of darkness, is the anonymous Mr. R., one of the wealthiest men in America, and Churchward’s former longtime boss.

Churchward is a world-renowned yachting captain with has broken world several records in his career. Today he resides in Pompano Beach, Florida. God Waits Outside is available on Amazon.