Lauren Potter you may well know as Becky Jackson on the popular television show Glee. She identifies with Becky, likes her and knows what they have in common. How did she get this role? She says, with a perfect sense of self-awareness, that the director wanted someone who was cute and a little spunky. Lauren talks about her life, her moments...

The English born Hollywood actress Kay D’Arcy, a little shy of her 60th birthday, decided she could not live life as a has-been. She had been married for 28 years, had 5 grown children, had been a nurse and midwife for 48 years, and when her husband, as she says, “chose a new pahth” (yes her English accent adds the right...

Minerva Gail Hawkins is a poet. That alone says a lot but not near enough to understand the complicated life that underscores her work. She started writing at the age of eight (a story about a sickly child and the balloons that floated up to her hospital room), had parents who encouraged her poetry, was a graduate of Temple...

Michael Vaccaro. For those of you who know him, that is probably all you need to hear, because you know about his NYC origins, his having grown up under the influence of television in the 70s and 80s, and his first movie role when he was 8 in that Robert Altman film. You know about his being Baby John in...

Lee Meriwether was simply minding her own business one fine day and found herself on the road to becoming Miss America. Given image she had of herself as a young girl, gawky with big ears, and snaggle-toothed, entering a beauty pageant was nothing she had ever thought of doing. She recalls walking to class at San Francisco City College one...

You may know the actress Ann Benson from movies and television – CSI, Pranked, Mad Men, and Off Their Rockers (with Betty White) to name a few. You may know that she is the writer Jerry Segal’s wife, and mother to actor Robby Benson and fashion designer Shelli Segal. What you may not know is a great deal more about...

Michael Steiner was once a high school and college basketball coach who thought at some point that maybe he could act. He laughs and says he found, on his first audition, he could not. But, there was a talent lurking, because Michael saw he was good at working with developmentally disabled people. He also knew that people with disabilities were underrepresented in the entertainment business, so he created a social...

Keston and Andrea Ott-Dahl first saw their perfect and beautiful happily-kicking daughter in the ultrasound. This was a joyful day for everyone. Andrea, mother of two beautiful children from a previous relationship, was now the surrogate for another lesbian couple who had tried unsuccessfully for six years to have a baby. But the ultrasound showed something else to the doctor; the...

Michele Spitz long ago realized there are people whose limitations prohibited them from buying tickets to cultural events, so she started taking them as her guests. Kidnapped them whenever she could, she says. She liked the company, and because she loved seeing people introduced to something new and wonderful, she discovered her calling in life. Michele, Woman of her Word,...

Dr. Marylou Naccarato used to work for the IRS and is now a board certified clinical sexologist with a doctorate from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, and a certified sexuality educator. Marylou has forged a career in human sexuality that began quite by accident and with a neglected population. She was watching a cable television program...