The current war in Israel renews attention on the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. I invited Rabbi Pinchas Taylor to talk about Judaism and its influence. During our conversation he provides a primer on Judaism, what it means to be chosen and the role of the Messiah in the Jewish and Christian faith. He explains the conflict in Israel is more than a battle over land and helps listeners to understand why Israel is fighting to defeat Hamas.

Grace Harry has a great story including 30 years in the music business, but something was lacking from her life. It was something she'd not experienced since childhood. It was Joy. Harry decided to rediscover and embrace the joy in her life and she wants readers to do the same. In The Joy Strategist, Harry takes readers on a journey to explore how to find joy, how to re-discover joy and how to feel true unfettered joy and incorporate it into our everyday lives. She coaches readers with her story and her toolbox of playful activities which include reconnecting with your "inner GPS," ceasing the war you've waged against your heart; cultivating your starting 5 or the community of people closest to you and breaking free from your ego by dismantling beliefs that keep your hopes and aspirations out of grasp.

The weather is cooler. Halloween is near and it's a great time to curl up by the fire with a good book. We start the show this week with a brief conversation with New York Times best-selling author Shelby Mahurin. Her latest book is The Scarlet Veil. It's a dark and thrilling vampire romance set in the world of Mahurin's Serpent & Dove series of tales. Next we talk with Dr. Tabia Akintobi, Professor and Chair of Community Health and Preventive Medicine at Morehouse School of Medicine. MSM has partnered with the makers of Advil for the "Advil Pain Equity Project." It is a multi year commitment to help address pain inequity and racial bias in the diagnosis and treatment of pain. The initial campaign, "Believe My Pain" tells the stories of people who've experienced pain inequity. A survey of 2000 Americans found that 93-percent of Black individuals report pain impacting their day-to-day life. 83-percent report a negative experience when seeking help managing their pain, and three of four say they believe there is bias in how pain is diagnosed and treated. This project will also lead to a course at MSM to educate medical students on pain equity.

From award-winning author Brandy Colbert comes a new book: The Blackwoods. It's the story of four generations of a Black Hollywood family filled with ambition, fame, struggle, loss and love. Colbert masterfully weaves together the narratives of Hollis, Ardith and Blossom Blackwood. Theirs is a story where everything is personal and nothing is private.

It's a simple fact. Even leaders need coaches. Archie L. Jones, Jr., a Morehouse grad, Atlanta resident, Harvard Business professor, author, executive and board director joins is my guest on the show. He's the founder and CEO of NxGen COACH Network, an organization created to help and empower the next generation of global leaders, particularly those in underinvested and underrepresented communities. He's just launched a new podcast - Training Camp for Leaders with Archie L. Jones. We talk about the goals for his podcast and much more in this episode of Perspectives.

On Sunday, October 8th, V (formerly Eve Ensler) , the Tony Award-winning, best-selling author of The Vagina Monologues and Reckoning, will host an Evening of Reckoning and Rising at the Carter Center to celebrate V’s newest book Reckoning and the 25th anniversary of the V-Day movement to end violence against women, gender expansive people and the Earth. The benefit event will include readings and remarks from V (formerly Eve Ensler), V-Day Board Members Rosario Dawson, Jane Fonda, Maya Penn & Pat Mitchell; City of Joy co-Founder and Director of V-Day Congo Christine Schuler Deschryver, Joaquina Kalukango, Dr. Tanyaradzwa Tawengwa, Laura Turner Seydel and Paige Alexander.

Most know Ted Turner through his many well documented successes: founder of CNN; Time Person of the Year; winner of The World Series and America's Cup; former owner of the Atlanta Braves, TBS, TNT, MGM, Hanna-Barbera, and the Atlanta Hawks. His gargantuan land holdings are now the subject of a new book, a very big, new book. Conserving America's Wildlands: The Vision of Ted Turner is a newly published compendium of stunning images shot by Ted's photojournalist son, Rhett. The two million acres under Turner land management includes everything from alligators and mountain goats to wolves, grizzly bears and migratory birds in flight. My guest is Rhett Turner.

Arts Clayton has worked to enrich the lives of the residents of Clayton County for more than 30 years. The gallery, at 136 South Main Street in Jonesboro, plans to paint the town beginning Saturday, September 30 with the start of an International Arts, Music & Film Festival. The event is produced in collaboration with City Council Chair Jeff Turner and is an effort to cultivate the spirit of Art among the people in the community with an emphasis on youth and others to be a part of the creative flow in Clayton County. My guests are Arts Clayton Executive Director Brian Hebert and Tammary Scott Dowdell, the Arts Clayton Events Chair.

In the fight to defeat addiction, are people in recovery winning the daily battle? Aware Recovery Care believes it offers a unique tool to helping people in recovery win the fight. Their program delivers treatment in the privacy of the home with a focus on personalized care with the family's involvement. The program began in Connecticut with input from specialists at Yale University and has expanded into eleven states including Georgia. Laura Perry, Director of Family Wellness for Aware Recovery Care is my guest.

Corazon Lopez yearns to finally start training as a babaylan (a mystical healer and spirit guide) under her powerful guardian, Aunt Tina. As soon as her magic awakens, Corazon plans to bring her parents back from the dead and no longer have to rely on a soul key to allow visits with their ghosts for a few hours every Saturday night. But when a vengeful ghost steals Corazon’s precious key, the fragile balance between the human world and the spirit world is thrown out of whack. Aunt Tina reveals that if Corazon wants her magic to awaken, then she can just lay the ghost to rest by fashioning a new soul key. With her rather bloodthirsty gecko companion, Saso, Corazon embarks on a quest through the spirit realms. But they must move quickly, for if the ghost gets through the spirit glass, all hope will be lost. Such is the story of The Spirit Glass, a new novel for middle schoolers and today we chat with the author Roshani Chokshi.