The Morning Glory Project

Julie Barton is the New York Times Bestselling author of Dog Medicine, How My Dog Saved Me From Myself. Julie's story is not your average dog story; rather, it's the story of learning to live through and live with depression by learning a different kind of self-talk. It's also a story of a loving, but flawed family. Dog Medicine was the recipient of a silver Nautilus Award for its “exceptional literary contributions to spiritual growth, high-level wellness and positive social change.”

Raised by counter-culture parents in San Francisco’s roaring ‘60s, with her progressive politics intact, to say nothing of being female at a time when women were rare in policing, Karen Lynch was not exactly what would’ve been called “cop material”. But for a kid with a mom who suffered mental illness and who was exposed to abuse and neglect, she saw the police as helpers who often rescued her from danger.

With humor and heart, author, Eileen Rendahl tells the story of grief, family, and enduring beyond loss. In this episode of The Morning Glory Project, she shares how writing this fictionalized version of her story, along with the support and laughter of her family got her through the toughest moments.

The people in his San Francisco inner-city community who encounter Damien Posey affectionately call him Uncle Damien—Unk for some of the youth. To watch his tireless work on behalf of youth, homeless people, and others in need on the streets of San Francisco’s poorest and roughest neighborhoods it’s hard to imagine him as his former self, a self-described wild child who ran with gangs, went in and out of jail, group homes, and youth ranches, and committed crimes that eventually led him to a ten-year sentence in federal prison. In prison, away from the street life, Damien experienced an awakening that he wanted a different life for himself and for his then two-year-old daughter, and that he could use his natural leadership skills for the good. His transformation can best be described by one of his handles: Once a monster, now a mentor. An inspiring story of transformation and a profile of dedication and determination.

Maureen Langan is an award-winning stand-up comic and radio talk show host. In her one-woman show, Daughter of a Garbageman, Maureen shares with great humor and great heart the story of growing up with her Irish mother and Bronx-born father, in a loving, but flawed family. With working-class values peppered with alcoholism and other challenges, Maureen reveals her the strengths, struggles, and secrets and the lessons she has taken (or ignored) into adulthood and life as a performer. Somehow she manages to salvage the most loving messages she was taught, including her dad’s peculiar statement of affection: Love your guts!

While enduring a fragmented family and an unstable mom, Meredith May found inspiration in the gentle guidance of a grandfather and a sense of order and “family” that she observed while he taught her the art of beekeeping. Poignant, intriguing, and sometimes funny, this book and this author are bound to inspire.

Coming from a loving, complicated, literary family, Sands Hall did not precisely fit the profile for one who would submit to a slow yet willing absorption into the Church of Scientology in the 1980s where she spent nearly a decade. In her candid and nuanced memoir, Reclaiming My Decade Lost in Scientology, Sands shares her spiritual and artistic journey both during and after her years in what has since been called a “cult”. How has she found meaning and purpose rather than ruminating in regret? And what are the lessons she took from her experience? That’s what we learn in conversation with her.

Brooke Warner’s deep love for stories and books led her to a career in publishing where she eventually became an acquiring editor for an independent women’s press—her dream job. But when the publishing industry changed, aiming more toward celebrity than substance, she feared her dream was fading. With determination, taking huge risk, and sometimes stumbling, Brooke co-founded She Writes Press, overcoming industry opposition to build a nationally recognized, award-winning alternative to the old models for book publishing.

Toby Dorr might just be the world’s unlikeliest felon. So law-abiding that she counted to three at every stop sign before putting her foot on the gas, she had a lifelong drive to be “perfect” and to please others with no thought to her own needs. With her emotional well dry she had rendered herself vulnerable to trust the very first person who paid her attention—a choice that ultimately landed her in prison. Jail time gave her a chance to reflect and she learned how far a person can fall…and still get up.

Diagnosed with AIDS in 1985, when the first HIV tests became available, Mark S. King felt he'd been given the death sentence that took far too many in those years and since. Somehow Mark's body endured until the life-saving medications could come along. Today, he credits his “fabulous disease” with giving him the gift of empathy for others.