TalkWithME

Diane Silver is a writer, political activist, & spiritual seeker who speaks about hope & an atheist’s faith to a variety of audiences. She has served as communications director for a candidate for Congress, a press secretary in a gubernatorial campaign, championed equality for LGBTQ people in bright red Kansas, & helped raise hundreds of millions of dollars for two Midwestern universities. Her writings have appeared in Ms., Salon.com, The Progressive, & many other venues.

Diane talks about her new book Your Daily Shot of Hope: Meditations for an Age of Despair, exploring the lived reality of hope, an emotion that both powers & heals. Hope provides us with the fuel we need to transform ourselves and our world, but in these unsettling times, hope can be difficult to find. Diane discusses a path to hope that is one part mindfulness, one part humor, and one part affirmation and audacity. As far as Diane is concerned, real hope provides room to grieve and acknowledges pain. Real hope recognizes challenges even as it thumbs its nose at the conventional wisdom that claims we can’t succeed.

Your Daily Shot of Hope: Meditations for an Age of Despair is available from Diane & at Amazon. Follow Diane Silver at www.HopeAndPolitics.com & www.DianeSilver.net

Diane Silver is a writer, political activist, & spiritual seeker who speaks about hope & an atheist’s faith to a variety of audiences. She has served as communications director for a candidate for Congress, a press secretary in a gubernatorial campaign, championed equality for LGBTQ people in bright red Kansas, & helped raise hundreds of millions of dollars for two Midwestern universities. Her writings have appeared in Ms., Salon.com, The Progressive, & many other venues.

Diane talks about her new book Your Daily Shot of Hope: Meditations for an Age of Despair, exploring the lived reality of hope, an emotion that both powers & heals. Hope provides us with the fuel we need to transform ourselves and our world, but in these unsettling times, hope can be difficult to find. Diane discusses a path to hope that is one part mindfulness, one part humor, and one part affirmation and audacity. As far as Diane is concerned, real hope provides room to grieve and acknowledges pain. Real hope recognizes challenges even as it thumbs its nose at the conventional wisdom that claims we can’t succeed.

Your Daily Shot of Hope: Meditations for an Age of Despair is available from Diane & at Amazon. Follow Diane Silver at www.HopeAndPolitics.com & www.DianeSilver.net

Jillian is Co-Producer, with Emily Holloman, of the dance performance, Elementum Show on March 10-11, 2017 at Kansas University. Jillian is currently a student of Dance at KU, heading toward a career as a Choreographer. She has studied both dance & tumbling since the age of 5; and has many years experience teaching these arts. The Elementum Show is a set of dances celebrating what is important in different people’s lives, in honor & memory of loved ones who have died of suicide, or who are struggling. The messages: you are not alone, it is ok to feel, it is ok to move on, and it is ok to focus on the positives, even as one who is grieving. Learn more at www.facebook.com/ElementumShow

Taurean is a native of Lawrence, KS and a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he studied classical theatre. As an androgynous gay African-American male, Taurean has known discrimination throughout his life. Taurean and host Marcia Epstein engage in a lively conversation about Activism in Oscars Speeches & Films; Danger from Gender & Other Stereotypes; #LoveWins. Follow Taurean at www.facebook.com/Taurean.LaCharles

Taurean is a native of Lawrence, KS and a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he studied classical theatre. As an androgynous gay African-American male, Taurean has known discrimination throughout his life. Taurean and host Marcia Epstein engage in a lively conversation about Activism in Oscars Speeches & Films; Danger from Gender & Other Stereotypes; #LoveWins. Follow Taurean at www.facebook.com/Taurean.LaCharles

Matt rambles around the Pacific Northwest, except when he’s ramblin’ around New Orleans. He is co-founder of Six Ft. Swells Press, which specializes in After Hours poetry. He has been published in numerous collections & his own books of poetry including The Coast Is Clear (Six Ft. Swells Press) & Get Well Soon (Epic Rites Press). He has read at events in CA, WA, OR, WA, & Louisiana. Matt favors the short poem, as most of his writing is done on cocktail napkins while exploring bars & taverns across the country looking for music, love, lust, heartbreak, whiskey, beer, & that perfect jukebox. Photos & paintings by Matt at

Matt rambles around the Pacific Northwest, except when he’s ramblin’ around New Orleans. He is co-founder of Six Ft. Swells Press, which specializes in After Hours poetry. He has been published in numerous collections & his own books of poetry including The Coast Is Clear (Six Ft. Swells Press) & Get Well Soon (Epic Rites Press). He has read at events in CA, WA, OR, WA, & Louisiana. Matt favors the short poem, as most of his writing is done on cocktail napkins while exploring bars & taverns across the country looking for music, love, lust, heartbreak, whiskey, beer, & that perfect jukebox. Photos & paintings by Matt at

About Russian Gypsy Fortune Telling Cards, KS Weather Is…, Transformations 2017, One Hundred Good Women, Death Is…, & more. All with love & laughter!

Jay is a 33 year broadcast radio & television veteran on-air personality, voice-over artist & station manager. Jay moved to Lawrence in 2011 to be the General Manager of KLWN & its related stations. He founded LawrenceHits.com in 2013 as a community based Oldies radio station that focuses on growing the profits of locally owned & operated Lawrence businesses. He now also owns stations in Cleveland, Chicago, LA & Yuma, Arizona. Jay believes “As it is good in the community, so it is good with you and me.” Follow Jay’s adventures through http://www.LawrenceHits.com

Wachs discusses his relocation back to Lawrence, establishing Lawrence Kansas as the permanent corporate headquarters for Wachs Media and his plans for HITS locally as well as an update on the company.

For more information contact Jay at 785-764-8380 or [email protected]

Since 1970 John Yamrus has published 25 volumes of poetry and 2 novels. He exploded onto the national poetry scene after winning the prestigious Wakefield Poetry Prize. He has had more than 1,800 poems published in print magazines around the world. Selections of his poetry have been translated into several languages, including Spanish, Swedish, French, Japanese, Italian, Romanian, Albanian and Bengali. His poetry is taught in a number of colleges and universities. I ADMIT NOTHING from Epic Rites Press is his newest book. John’s advice to poets: read, write, read, edit, read, send for publications, read, and most of all, persist. Follow John, and buy the books, at http://www.johnyamrus.com