The Fire That Won’t Go Out: Why Ignoring Your Calling Is Costing You More Than You Think

NY Weekly Staff on January 22, 2026

From the outside, your life might look impressive. You’ve checked the right boxes, built stability, earned respect, and maybe even achieved the success you once dreamed of. Yet beneath the surface, something feels off. A quiet restlessness follows you into the early morning and lingers late at night. You feel tired in a way sleep doesn’t fix. Accomplishments no longer satisfy. And no matter how much you have, something essential feels missing.

According to The Fire That Won’t Go Out by Deborah Long, this isn’t failure, weakness, or ingratitude. It’s a calling.

Most people imagine a calling as something dramatic, a lightning bolt moment, a sudden revelation, a perfectly timed opportunity. But real callings rarely arrive that way. They come as whispers. Persistent nudges. An unease that refuses to be silenced. The book reframes burnout, dissatisfaction, repeated life disruptions, and even emotional or physical breakdowns as sacred signals, not signs that something is wrong with you, but signs that something within you is trying to wake up.

Ignoring that inner voice comes at a cost. Over time, disconnection from purpose can manifest as chronic fatigue, anxiety, depression, loss of creativity, or the haunting sense that you’re living someone else’s life. You may find yourself succeeding on paper while slowly suffocating in spirit. The body often keeps the score, through tension, illness, or exhaustion, long before the mind is ready to admit the truth. This is the silent erosion of well-being, where every day feels a little less fulfilling, a little more disconnected.

The book challenges the myth that purpose must be flashy or instant. Instead, it introduces a grounded, relatable version of the Hero’s Journey, one where the call to adventure shows up as discontent, the refusal of the call looks like logic and responsibility, and courage begins not with certainty, but with listening. This journey doesn’t require abandoning your life overnight. It asks something deeper: honesty, attention, and the willingness to take one imperfect step toward what feels true. By embracing this journey, you can begin to reshape your path and find fulfillment without needing to completely disrupt everything you’ve built.

The book speaks directly to high-achieving individuals who feel secretly unfulfilled, those who have done everything right and still feel wrong inside. It validates the fear that comes with change while exposing the greater danger of staying numb. Deborah Long discusses personal experience, spiritual insight, and reflective exercises to help readers recognize the signals they’ve been missing: the patterns, the restlessness, the repeated longing to do something that matters.

Powerfully, the book reframes discomfort as guidance. That tension you feel isn’t something to medicate, minimize, or fix. It’s something to follow. The fire inside you hasn’t gone out because it exists for a reason. It’s meant to light the path toward meaningful contribution, authentic service, and a life that actually feels like yours. This shift in perspective allows you to embrace discomfort as part of your personal growth and journey to deeper satisfaction.

The cost of ignoring your calling isn’t just dissatisfaction. It’s the slow erosion of vitality, creativity, and joy. But the moment you begin listening, even quietly, something shifts. Energy returns. Meaning reappears. And what once felt like confusion begins to feel like direction.

The Fire That Won’t Go Out is an invitation. If you’re tired of feeling successful but empty, restless but unsure why, this guide will help you recognize the call you’ve been avoiding and step into the purpose that’s been waiting for you all along.

Answer the whisper. Reclaim your purpose. Order The Fire That Won’t Go Out today, and begin the journey you were always meant to take.

What Seminary Didn’t Teach Me: Rich Reaves on Love, Loss, and Listening

NY Weekly Staff on January 22, 2026

By: Rich Reaves

The lessons at the heart of Black & Blue don’t arrive as declarations. They arrive as moments, quiet ones, unresolved ones, unmistakably human ones. This is not a book interested in tidy conclusions. It is a book about paying attention.

For nearly twenty-five years, Rich Reaves lived alongside students carrying far more than backpacks and homework. In that time, he wore many titles; pastor, teacher, coach, mentor, but the role that mattered most, the one that shaped everything else, was the simplest and the hardest: listener.

On paper, Reaves did everything right. He went to college. He completed seminary. He learned theology, leadership structures, the language of ministry. What no classroom prepared him for, he admits with unguarded clarity, was how to love people in real life. That education came later, earned slowly, through proximity to pain.

Black & Blue is the record of that education.

The book unfolds as a series of true stories; short, intimate portraits of young people who trusted Reaves with their lived realities. These are students navigating bullying, racism, exclusion, poverty, and the quiet violence of being marginalized for who they are. Reaves never positions himself as a savior. He refuses that framing altogether. Instead, he shows up, listens carefully, and stays longer than most systems are built to tolerate.

That staying is where the bruises begin.

Over time, the weight of these stories accumulates. Love, when practiced without distance, leaves marks. Reaves captures the tension of serving in spaces that praise compassion in theory but resist it in practice. The students he welcomed and cherished often made him unwelcome in return—not because of anything they did, but because their presence unsettled institutional comfort.

What makes Black & Blue quietly powerful is its refusal to simplify. There are no cardboard villains here, no clean exits. Institutions are complicated. People are flawed. Good intentions collide with harmful outcomes. Reaves allows these contradictions to stand on their own, without forcing them into lessons or resolutions.

One of the book’s most understated revelations comes when Reaves acknowledges that the work eventually broke him. Not all at once. Not dramatically. Burnout didn’t announce itself—it arrived disguised as faithfulness. Yet within that breaking, something unexpected emerged: his brokenness didn’t weaken him. It clarified him.

That realization forms the emotional center of the book. Reaves’s vulnerability never feels performative. It is measured, patient, and earned. He writes the way someone speaks after holding things in for years. There is no urgency to impress or persuade—only a desire to be honest.

Outside the intensity of the work, glimpses of Reaves’s personal life offer a necessary counterweight. He and his wife, Leigh, have been together since college, building a life rooted in curiosity and gentleness. Their days are shaped by simple rituals, long walks, gym sessions, vegan meals, coffee dates, reading, travel. Their daughters ground the narrative in joy and continuity, while their dogs, Ozzy and Paco, add warmth and levity to an otherwise heavy emotional landscape.

These details matter. They remind us that resilience isn’t built through endurance alone, but through tenderness, through the ordinary practices that keep a person human.

Black & Blue will resonate deeply with readers navigating religious deconstruction, those who have served young people in any capacity, and anyone who has wrestled with the hidden cost of care. It also speaks to a broader cultural moment, one where emotional labor is expected, applauded, and rarely protected.

Reaves doesn’t offer a blueprint for reform. He offers a witness. He preserves the stories that shaped him, honoring the students who trusted him by refusing to flatten their lives into inspirational takeaways.

There is humility in that restraint.

In the end, Black & Blue asks a deceptively simple question: what does preparation really look like? Not credentials. Not titles. But the willingness to sit with discomfort, to listen without fixing, and to accept that love, real love, will leave you changed.

This is not a book written to prove a point. It is written to tell the truth. And in doing so, it offers something increasingly rare: an honest account of service, told by someone brave enough to admit what it cost.

From the Marine Corps to Hollywood: How James Henley Jr. Became an Unlikely Voice in the AI Conversation

NY Weekly Staff on January 19, 2026

By: Derek McDonald 

By the time artificial intelligence started showing up everywhere, James Henley Jr. had already built a life around high-stakes systems and fast-moving change.

He served as a Marine Corps infantryman. He worked in executive protection, a field built on planning, discretion, and calm under pressure. Later, he spent years in Hollywood and digital distribution, helping content move through the early internet when the rules were still being written.

So when Henley began writing about AI, he did not sound like a futurist trying to predict the next decade. He also did not sound like someone selling a miracle solution. His tone was more grounded. He wrote like a person who has seen new technology arrive, reshape a culture, and leave behind a lot of confusion.

That background helps explain why You and AI, now a three-volume series, reads differently from much of the AI content circulating online. It does not rush to impress. It focuses on what holds up in real use. 

An Author Before an Advocate

Henley did not set out to become an “AI voice.” He started with a practical frustration.

As he tested AI tools, he noticed a gap. Most material fell into two extremes. On one side were technical explanations that assumed the reader wanted to become an expert. On the other side were sweeping opinions, either fear-heavy warnings or hype-filled promises. What he did not find, at least in the form he wanted, was a simple guide for ordinary people who wanted to use AI without giving up their judgment, authorship, or identity.

He approached the subject the way he says he has approached disruptive systems before: try the tools, push them, verify what they produce, and then describe what works. His writing reflects someone who is not offended by complexity but does not want complexity to become an excuse for confusion.

He also writes with an awareness that technology changes faster than people do. The tools may evolve weekly, but the pressure on the user stays familiar: the temptation to cut corners, accept easy answers, and mistake speed for truth.

Writing With the Machine, Not for It

Volume One reads like a journal of first contact. Henley walks through early experiments with AI tools and highlights the subtle ways they affect behavior. He returns again and again to the same warning: the output can look confident even when it is wrong, and the user can slowly stop checking without noticing.

Rather than treating AI as a hero or villain, he treats it as a force multiplier. If you are organized, it can sharpen your workflow. If you are careless, it can scale that carelessness quickly.

In Volume Two, the focus shifts from observation to structure. Henley leans into guardrails and habits. He argues that convenience is not neutral. The faster the tool, the easier it is to skip the step that matters most: thinking.

By Volume Three, his lens widens. He writes more about what AI does to creative ownership, identity, and economics. The tone stays steady. He does not claim to have the final answer. Instead, he keeps returning to one idea: even if intelligence becomes collaborative, responsibility still belongs to the human.

Discipline Over Hype

In a short conversation, Henley described the series in plain terms.

What sparked the trilogy?
 “I wasn’t interested in hype. I wanted clarity. I wanted a field manual, not a technical manual. That became Volume One, and then it grew.”

How much has changed because of you versus the technology?
 “Both. The platforms evolved while I was writing. Volume One reflects the first usable wave. By Volume Three, the tools were much more capable. The books became a time capsule.”

Did AI ever redirect your thinking?
 “Yes. During Volume Three, the system flagged a concept and pushed me to examine it deeper. That pause led to discovering legitimate intellectual property.”

Why does discipline matter so much?
 “Without it, AI creates drift. You need guardrails. Consistency. Recalibration. The technology is powerful, but discipline still comes from humans.”

Why the Message Lands

Henley’s argument is not flashy. It is also not comfortable for readers who want an easy conclusion.

He does not say machines will fix what people broke. He does not frame AI as inevitable salvation or inevitable collapse. He keeps it closer to the ground: if you use these tools, you still own the outcome.

That idea resonates because it feels true in daily life. AI can help you draft, brainstorm, organize, and build. It can also encourage lazy shortcuts. The difference is often not the model or the platform. It is the person using it.

In a moment when many voices are rushing to be the loudest, Henley’s work insists on something slower: verify, think, and stay accountable. That is not a trendy message, but it may be the one that lasts.

About the Author

James Henley Jr. lives in Lakewood Ranch, Florida. His You and AI series explores practical AI use with an emphasis on human judgment, authorship, and responsibility. 

Connect with James Henley Jr.

More information about James Henley Jr. and the You and AI series is available on his official website at jameshenleyjr.com. Readers can also follow his work and updates on Facebook and Instagram, where he shares ongoing reflections on AI, authorship, and human responsibility.

When a Dean With Jewish Roots, Paul Warren, Walks Into a Jesuit University: A Memoir of Prejudice, Politics, and Unexpected Grace

NY Weekly Staff on January 15, 2026

Paul Warren never expected that accepting a deanship at the University of San Francisco would force him to confront ghosts he’d been carrying since childhood. But sometimes the most profound personal growth happens in the least expected places, like a Catholic, Jesuit institution on the opposite coast from everything he knew.

For thirteen years, from 1989 to 2001, Warren served as Dean of the School of Education at University of San Francisco, meticulously documenting over six hundred anecdotes that would eventually become his memoir, University Follies: Jewish Roots in a Jesuit University. What emerges from these pages isn’t just another academic chronicle. It’s a profoundly human story about confronting our own prejudices and discovering connection across cultural divides.

The Weight of History

Warren arrived at USF carrying invisible baggage. Growing up in Greenwich Village in a liberal theatre family during the 1940s and ’50s, his childhood was relatively isolated from Catholics. His mother was an actress, his father an arts-appreciative dentist, and their world revolved around the progressive politics and social justice themes that permeated Village life. Then came the McCarthy era, when the Catholic Church’s support of Senator Joseph McCarthy inflicted real pain on his family and their friends in the arts, people whose livelihoods were threatened by blacklists and whose reputations were destroyed by innuendo. These experiences left traces of prejudice that Warren didn’t fully recognize until decades later.

His path to USF wasn’t straightforward. After his father died when he was fifteen, Warren’s world transformed overnight. From a private progressive school, he transitioned to an overcrowded New York City public high school, then to Princeton (much to his mother’s dismay), and then to substitute teaching that evolved into full-time work at a Hell’s Kitchen high school with predominantly Black and Puerto Rican students. A PhD from NYU, work in Brooklyn’s Ocean Hill-Brownsville District, and eventually a position at Boston University shaped his understanding of education and social change.

After years as professor and administrator at Boston University, following 8 years as Dean of the School of Education appointed by John Silber the controversial University President John Silber, differences with the president signaled it was time to leave. That’s when the USF opportunity emerged.

A New World

The University of San Francisco proved to be something altogether different. The situations Warren encountered ranged from the absurd to the profound. Staff decoration of a Christmas tree with condoms, requiring delicate navigation of competing values. Conflicts between professors and staff members threatened to escalate. Labor-management battles erupted with regularity. A pig barbecue for Multicultural Services Day ended with fire trucks, smoke, and chaos when someone forgot to get a permit from the fire department.

Through it all, Warren kept his log, capturing not just the events but the emotions and human dimensions that official university histories tend to gloss over. As one memorable passage illustrates: “It was only one week later when Father’s reference to Deuteronomy as a reference for the wisdom he was to share outperformed my citation of the Halakah. The School’s mission statement and undergirding programs, I’m afraid, still promised – all things to all people. Without a clear definition and priorities, marketing was hampered. With little prospect of budget increases, we risked being placed in a Procrustean bed in which all programs would be equally short, equally long, and equally dead.”

The Transformation

What makes University Follies remarkable isn’t just Warren’s honest accounting of challenges particular to university leadership. It’s his willingness to examine his own transformation. Through close working and social relationships with members of the Jesuit Community, something unexpected happened: “the ghosts of Catholic prejudice thawed.”

Warren came to understand that universities are fundamentally human institutions. Both positive and negative characteristics of human behavior regularly surface. Idiosyncrasies aren’t bugs in the system; they’re features of any organization populated by real people. The Jesuit administrators and professors, through their behaviors and relationships with Warren, sometimes helped address the long-standing personal religious prejudices he brought with him.

The memoir captures this evolution honestly. One particularly moving moment occurs during the inauguration mass for Father President Steve Privett SJ. As priests in white robes processed down the center aisle of St. Ignatius Church carrying portraits of six Jesuit martyrs slain in El Salvador, Warren found himself swept up in the mystery and humanity of the Catholic Mass. “I, a child of Jewish and Episcopalian parents, brought up in a home that questioned the existence of God, once a young man in a family in which Catholicism took a beating, now found myself wrapped in the mystery and humanity of this Catholic Mass.”

The Boulder and the Hill

Warren doesn’t shy away from the frustrations. He repeatedly uses the metaphor of Sisyphus pushing a boulder up a hill, only for it to roll back down. Faculty parking disputes derailed important program initiatives. A promising retreat in Marin County to discuss school reorganization descended into chaos as professors fought to protect their turf. His appointment of progressive educator Herb Kohl without a traditional doctorate sparked resistance from colleagues who saw it as a violation of protocol and union contract.

Yet there were victories too. A teacher named Nina, a slight white woman flourishing in a Bayview public school serving primarily poor Black students, demonstrated that good teaching transcends racial boundaries. Student Julia, bursting with enthusiasm for teaching, represented hope for urban schools. And in small moments, like rescuing a neglected goldfish named Birdy by convincing the staff assistant to buy a proper aquarium, Warren found evidence that his words could make a tangible difference.

A Legacy Documented in Real Time

When Warren retired and returned to Boston after thirteen years, he carried with him the words of the university provost’s farewell toast: “You have done irremediable good for the School and the University.” He wasn’t entirely confident in the validity of that assessment. But he was convinced of something more personal and perhaps more profound: his belief in the university as both a human institution and an academic one had been validated.

Published in 2024 after Warren retires from Vermont and nearly twenty-five years of university management experience, University Follies offers something increasingly rare: an honest, humorous, and ultimately hopeful account of overcoming prejudice through sustained human contact.

The California Bookwatch notes that the memoir “contains more than hindsight writing,” precisely because Warren was documenting events in real-time. This contemporaneous recording gives the book an immediacy and authenticity that retrospective memoirs often lack. We don’t just learn what happened. We experience what it felt like to navigate unfamiliar territory while confronting one’s own limitations.

As the Midwest Book Review concludes: “Readers interested in accounts of educational labor/management battles, dueling principles, the Jesuit ambience of the university Warren worked for, and the follies which emerged from the intersection of student, teacher and management concerns will find University Follies more than entertaining while it educates on challenges particular to university leadership.”

University Follies: Jewish Roots in a Jesuit University is a book about universities, but more fundamentally, it’s a book about humans: our capacity for prejudice, our potential for growth, and our ability to find connection in the most unexpected places. Progress may be slow. The boulder may need to roll back down the hill many times. But with patience, openness, and a willingness to document the follies along the way, transformation is possible.

Read, Remember, Act

University Follies: Jewish Roots in a Jesuit University offers far more than an insider’s view of academic politics. It’s a masterclass in navigating cultural differences, overcoming deep-seated biases, and finding common ground in the most unexpected places. Whether you’re connected to Jesuit education, fascinated by university life, interested in Jewish-Catholic relations, or simply love memoirs that combine humor with profound insight, Warren’s honest storytelling will resonate with you. With rave reviews from California Bookwatch and Midwest Book Review calling it “highly recommended” for its “lively story of ironic interactions and wry humor,” this is the university memoir you’ve never read before.

University Follies: Jewish Roots in a Jesuit University is available now in eBook and Paperback, on Amazon, Book Baby, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and several other major digital platforms.

Joyful Resilience: A Journey of Loss, Love, and Autism Advocacy That Redefines Resilience

NY Weekly Staff on January 14, 2026

In Joyful Resilience, author and artist Agazit Negash steps into one emotionally demanding role any person can inherit: becoming the anchor of a family shattered by back-to-back tragedy while fighting to secure a life of dignity, support, and independence for her autistic brother, Biruk. Told through a blend of raw honesty, cultural history, humor, and relentless advocacy, the book reveals a story that is heartbreaking yet unexpectedly uplifting.

The narrative opens with an emotional blow that most readers will struggle to imagine. Twenty-five days after losing her father to Alzheimer’s, Agazit learns, while sitting in an airport, that her mother has also passed away. The grief is immediate and crushing. With no time to process the losses, she must pivot into crisis mode, stepping into a caretaker role for Biruk, who arrives off the plane without their mother and intuitively absorbs the shock written across their sister’s face.

What follows is a book that stretches far beyond a story of tragedy. It becomes a chronicle of love sharpened by responsibility and reshaped by the complex reality of neurodiversity. Biruk, a 33-year-old autistic adult, becomes both the source of her strength and the person who needs her the most. His innocence, his curious humor, and his ability to charm strangers into buying him chips and Coke offer readers moments of levity that soften the book’s heaviest moments.

Joyful Resilience: A Journey of Loss, Love, and Autism Advocacy That Redefines Resilience

Photo Courtesy: Agazit Negash

Yet Joyful Resilience is not just the story of a relationship. It becomes a window into the world of autism advocacy, community networks, and the bureaucratic gauntlet that caregivers must navigate. After returning to Washington, D.C., Agazit confronts the overwhelming weight of finding long-term support for Biruk: service providers, adult programs, specialists, caregivers, financial assistance, and organizations built for neurodivergent adults who need structured routines and reliable supervision. She enters this world not as an expert but as a determined sister who refuses to let her brother fall through a system that is notoriously uneven and complicated.

Her journey becomes an unexpected education. She builds relationships with autism networks, advocates, case managers, and behavioral therapists. She learns what resources exist, what gaps families must fill themselves, and how cultural misconceptions about autism shape everything from diagnosis to community acceptance. In this advocacy, readers see the book’s heartbeat: a woman discovering that caregiving is not an act of sacrifice, but an act of love built from purpose and unwavering loyalty.

Woven through Biruk’s story is another narrative just as compelling: the history of their mother, Rahawa, whose life unfolds across chapters that feel almost cinematic. From escaping an arranged marriage at fourteen to surviving a civil war and rebuilding her identity before immigrating to America, her story embodies courage, faith, and remarkable emotional intelligence. It becomes clear that the strength Agazit relies on, especially in the darkest moments, comes from her mother’s legacy of resilience.

As the memoir moves across Eritrea, Ethiopia, Seattle, and D.C., readers witness the intersections of family, culture, migration, and identity. The book highlights the emotional reality of caregiving: the guilt of physical distance, the pressure of constant decision-making, and the quiet triumphs that come from small breakthroughs. FaceTime calls with Biruk become anchors. Coordinating appointments becomes second nature. And through every hurdle, she remains determined to protect him, empower him, and ensure he is supported by a community rather than confined by his diagnosis.

The brilliance of Joyful Resilience lies in its ability to hold contradictions. The book is tragic but humorous, heartbreaking but hopeful, culturally grounded yet universally relatable. It is a testimony to sibling love, to the realities families face as they navigate neurodiversity, and to the ways humor and tenderness can coexist with grief.

Joyful Resilience: A Journey of Loss, Love, and Autism Advocacy That Redefines Resilience

Photo Courtesy: Agazit Negash

By the final chapter, readers walk away not only moved by the story but also inspired by its core message: resilience is not about avoiding suffering but about choosing to build purpose within it. And sometimes, as Agazit shows, the most powerful advocacy begins with the simplest act: loving someone enough to fight for their place in the world.

Meera Gandhi’s Three Tips for Peace in a World That Won’t Slow Down

NY Weekly Staff on January 13, 2026

By: Jeremy Murphy

At a moment when burnout, anxiety, and constant acceleration have become part of daily life, Meera Gandhi is offering something deliberately quieter and far more practical. Her book, Three Tips: The Essentials for Peace, Joy, and Success, is built not on lofty abstractions or spiritual jargon, but on lived experience, hard-earned lessons, and a belief that peace is not accidental; it is practiced.

Gandhi wrote the book after years of learning “how to take the long way home…” a Supertramp song from 1979. As she explains, she had made mistakes, hit roadblocks, and gathered wisdom she felt compelled to pass on, “in an easy, sort of non–preachy – but feel-good way.” The goal was never to lecture, but to offer guidance that people can actually use. “Sometimes when we find ourselves hitting problems,” she says, “then we need to take some time to dig deeper, do some soul-searching, and accept situations and move onto positive solutions.” That acceptance, she believes, is where clarity begins.

The structure of Three Tips is deceptively simple, and that’s its power. The book contains 52 chapters, one for each week of the year. Each chapter centers on a specific life theme and offers three concise, actionable tips. Readers are encouraged to slow down and meditate on just one set of ideas per week, allowing each lesson to integrate gradually rather than overwhelm. “If you meditate on one tip a week,” Gandhi says, “I think you can invite a lesson.”

The topics themselves span the full spectrum of modern life. There are chapters devoted to education, leadership, entrepreneurship, relationships, conflict resolution, balance, abundance, rebuilding, reconciliation, and personal growth. Rather than isolating spiritual wellness from professional ambition, Gandhi insists the two must coexist. One cannot thrive without the other.

Take her chapter on overcoming bias, one of the most resonant examples of the book’s tone. Gandhi doesn’t moralize; she reflects. She acknowledges her own misjudgments and how they backfired. Her three tips are direct: don’t prejudge; always be courteous and respectful, even when reservations exist; and look deeper, remembering that “the cover is not the book.” Celebrate differences, because they add texture and richness to our lives rather than detracting from them.

Another widely embraced section focuses on pacing ourselves through life, an urgent message in a culture addicted to speed. “Slow down,” she urges. “Just a little bit. Please breathe.” The second tip is to stay present, because the past no longer exists and the future is being shaped right now. The third is to consciously set your own pace. “After all,” she says, “we can only live one moment at a time, and that moment is ours.”

The book’s clarity was hard-won. Gandhi initially wrote a much longer manuscript and brought it to a publisher in India. The response was blunt. The editor liked her ideas and her honesty, but told her the book wasn’t publishable. “Come back to me when you have something I’m able to publish,” he said. It was humbling. But before she left, he offered one crucial piece of advice: back up what you preach with real-life anecdotes.

She took that advice seriously. Gandhi rewrote the book from the ground up, weaving in personal stories and reshaping the structure into the three-tips format. When she returned with the revised manuscript, the reception was entirely different. The publisher immediately recognized its clarity and warmth, and the book deal followed.

The deeper motivation behind Three Tips emerged during the pandemic. Gandhi witnessed friends, many outwardly successful, struggling behind closed doors. “We assumed that wealth would shield people from mental distress,” she says, “and it didn’t.” That realization shifted not only her writing but the direction of her philanthropic work toward mental wellness. “If we don’t have our mental health,” she says simply, “we don’t have anything.”

Gandhi is candid about her belief that America is facing a mental health crisis. Stress levels are at historic highs, social connection is eroding, and the pressure to constantly perform is relentless. Yet she also sees hope. Meditation is on the rise. People are redefining success. Some are turning away from corner offices rather than sacrificing their health. “People are waking up,” she says.

What Gandhi hopes readers take away from Three Tips is not perfection, but perspective. “If they can be even a little shifted,” she says, “sometimes that’s all it takes, to look at your situation differently and find hope.” In a world obsessed with more money, more speed, more achievement, her book offers something radical: enoughness, one week at a time.

Website: https://www.meeragandhi.com/

Craig Olson Launches Hitler’s Pianist, Roosevelt’s Secret

NY Weekly Staff on January 13, 2026

By: Ethan Lee

New book reveals a fascinating and lesser-known chapter of World War II history

Acclaimed author Craig Olson’s new book, Hitler’s Pianist, Roosevelt’s Secret, is a compelling work of narrative nonfiction that brings to light the astonishing, least-explored stories of the Second World War.

Olson, who is based in San Diego, CA, combines extensive archival research with narrative drive for a work that is by turns captivating and eye-opening.

Olson uncovers the extraordinary life of Ernst “Putzi” Hanfstaengl, a man whose path carried him from elite American circles to Hitler’s inner circle and eventually into the service of President Franklin Roosevelt. The book explores a little-known story at the intersection of music, high society, espionage, and the extraordinary choices people make under totalitarian rule.

Olson brings a unique expertise to the subject. An entrepreneur and former SteelSeries executive, he is also a devoted student of twentieth century history. His master’s thesis on Hanfstaengl’s cooperation with Roosevelt between 1942 and 1944 laid the groundwork for this book. His research took him through archives and libraries across the United States and Germany, culminating in a series of personal interviews with Egon Hanfstaengl, Putzi’s only son. This informs the book’s rich detail and its nuanced exploration of moral ambiguity, political influence, and the complex ways individuals are shaped by the politics of their time.

“This is also a story about friendship where it was least expected, inside the music rooms and fashionable salons of early 20th century-Munich, where every note could be both beautiful and an unsettling harbinger,” said Olson. “I wrote this book to present an incredible and unlikely chapter of history about a pianist who was both a member of Hitler’s inner circle and a critical asset in Roosevelt’s clandestine campaign against the Nazis.”

Born in Bavaria in 1887 to a prominent German family with American roots, Hanfstaengl spent nearly two decades among the cultural and social elites of Harvard, Boston, and New York. Returning to a Germany in tumult, he became drawn to the rising figure of Adolf Hitler, whose charisma and ability to command a room captivated him. What followed was a chapter of history few readers may be familiar with. As Hitler’s personal pianist, informal adviser, and early liaison to the foreign press, Putzi occupied a curious and pivotal position at the intersection of culture, power, and propaganda.

Olson’s book relays this astonishing tale in a story that is both sweeping and intimate, examining the personal contradictions of a man both inside and outside the regime he helped promote. As Nazism escalated, Hanfstaengl increasingly found himself at odds with the radical ideology taking hold. His eventual exile during the early years of the Second World War would make him an unexpected asset to Franklin Roosevelt’s clandestine S Project, which aimed to psychologically undermine Hitler and weaken his influence over the German public.

With the book’s release, Olson has introduced a Virtual Version of himself, allowing anyone to call a dedicated number and ask any questions about the book, or schedule a meeting, a podcast appearance, or an interview directly with him or his digital counterpart. The virtual agent, speaking in Olson’s own voice in multiple languages, can answer questions about the book and provide an interactive experience for those who wish to delve deeper into this lesser-known extraordinary story, representing an unparalleled level of access to a new book.

With its combination of rigorous research and gripping storytelling, Olson provides a narrative that is as compelling as it is historically significant, bringing attention to a remarkable true story.

The book is now getting scores of positive reviews from readers, historians, and authors from across the USA and beyond.

“Olson’s new book is like a time machine as he takes readers on a unique history journey,” said Dr. Paul Fitzgerald (PhD), a widely known author, publicist, and columnist. Dr. Fitzgerald now writes columns that regularly appear on RollingStone.com through the Rolling Stone Culture Council. Rolling Stone Culture Council is the definitive network of senior executives and influential leaders selected for their accomplishments in art, food, beverage, sports, cannabis, gaming, television, entertainment, hospitality, theater, fashion, media, film, and music. Dr. Fitzgerald is also a columnist for Entrepreneur and The Toronto Tribune, and his work has also been featured in USA Today, CNN International Report, InventorSpot, and The Toronto Sun.

“I was fortunate to read an advanced copy of the book, and I could not put it down. Oslon’s new book, which just launched, is a powerful story and reveals a unique part of history unknown to most of us.”

Hitler’s Pianist, Roosevelt’s Secret is now available on a number of book websites, Amazon, Indigo, Waterstones, Bookscape, and Barnes & Noble.

Exploring the Divine Code: David Courtney’s Trinity, Infinity Divinity

NY Weekly Staff on January 13, 2026

By: Paul White

In a literary landscape crowded with surface-level spirituality, Trinity Infinity Divinity by David Courtney stands apart as a deeply personal and intellectually engaging exploration of faith, numbers, and divine order. Blending theology, numerology, mathematics, and biblical interpretation, Courtney’s book invites readers into a world where numbers are not simply symbols, but are proposed as potential sacred keys.

Originally conceived more than a decade ago and refined over years of study and contemplation, Trinity Infinity Divinity was officially released on Amazon on December 26, 2024. The book represents the culmination of Courtney’s long-standing interest in writing and his evolving journey into numerological theology.

At the heart of the book is a thought-provoking numerical framework. Courtney suggests a coded system in which numbers are interchangeable in specific triads and groupings: 1, 4, and 7; 2, 5, and 8; and 0, 3, 6, and 9. According to the author, these numerical relationships are not random and appear to form a hidden structure embedded across timekeeping systems, religious calendars, and sacred texts.

Through 29 chapters, Courtney explores how this numerical code may appear consistently across the ancient Hebrew calendar established by Hillel II, as well as the Gregorian, Julian, New Julian, Enochian, and both civil and sacred Hebrew calendars. Regardless of how a seven-day week is organized, he argues, the same numerical patterns seem to emerge. For Courtney, this consistency may suggest divine design rather than coincidence.

The book’s spiritual foundation is evident. Courtney attributes the origin of his insights to divine inspiration, expressing his belief that Jesus Christ guided him toward uncovering these patterns. Biblical references are woven throughout the text, particularly the recurring theme of light versus darkness. Rather than portraying them as simple opposites, Courtney explores them as mutually defining forces, each revealing the absence of the other.

One of the book’s central ideas revolves around the number 888, which Courtney describes as a symbolic gateway to understanding divinity. In Greek numerology, 888 is often associated with Jesus. Courtney extends this symbolism further, demonstrating how numerical calculations, letter values, and linguistic interpretation might align to reinforce his faith-based conclusions. For readers attuned to numerology, Kabbalah, or symbolic theology, these passages offer significant challenge and fascination.

David Courtney’s path to writing Trinity Infinity Divinity was anything but conventional. A writer, poet, and musician from a young age, he did not initially foresee authoring a numerology-focused theological work. His interest evolved after studying Kabbalistic texts such as The Universal Language of Cabalah by William Eisen and The Mystery Religions and the Seven Seals by David Lane. These works sparked an intense engagement with numbers that gradually reshaped his creative direction.

Courtney is candid about his process. He describes a tendency to obsess deeply over patterns and meanings, an intensity that permeates the book itself. This unfiltered honesty adds to the work’s authenticity. Trinity Infinity Divinity does not attempt to simplify its ideas for mass appeal; instead, it speaks directly to readers who are willing to engage with complex concepts and spiritual questions.

The author’s message is ultimately one of faith. Courtney hopes readers come away with a strengthened belief in God and an appreciation for how numerical order may reflect divine truth. For him, numbers are not simply abstract concepts but could be seen as evidence of sacred intention woven into reality itself.

While Trinity Infinity Divinity may appeal most strongly to readers interested in theology, numerology, Kabbalah, and metaphysical mathematics, it may also resonate with anyone drawn to unconventional perspectives on faith. It is a book born from conviction, persistence, and a desire to explore the unseen structures that might govern belief and time.

David Courtney continues to write and create, with future projects including poetry and music-focused works. For now, Trinity Infinity Divinity stands as his most ambitious and revealing publication to date.

Readers interested in learning more about David Courtney or connecting with him directly can find him online at www.facebook.com/geneticphrenetic or reach out via email at geneticfrenetic@yahoo.com.

FATALISM: A Millennium-Spanning Screenplay Exploring the Nature of Destiny

NY Weekly Staff on January 13, 2026

By: Lois R. Hernandez

What if the most crucial events of your life were not the result of free will, but the inevitable consequence of a secret hidden a thousand years ago? This is the gripping premise explored in FATALISM, the published screenplay from THREE DOGS PRODUCTIONS and the collaborative minds of Marcello Intraligi, Francesco Giampietro, and Wayne Shepherd. More than just a script, this is a masterclass in cinematic suspense, inviting readers to become both audience and detective in an epic narrative where the past is not merely prologue, it is destiny.

FATALISM is a story split across a millennium, opening with chilling intensity in Northern Europe, AD 1005. In a bleak, underground cavern, the elderly Father Timothy is subjected to brutal torture by the formidable Warlord Ahrman. The Warlord’s obsession is singular: extracting a secret the priest is sworn to keep, a dark and potent truth so dangerous it must be concealed for a thousand years. This desperate, violent confrontation sets the clock ticking on a monumental historical mystery, establishing a chilling sense of predestination that permeates every subsequent scene.

The narrative then executes a daring leap into the present day, shifting to the desolate, atmospheric ruins of King Galen’s Castle. Here, the story introduces its modern protagonists: Katrine, Nicholas, and Ronim. These three individuals appear to be undertaking a simple exploration, but fate has already sealed their roles in a story spanning centuries.

The play’s true core is revealed through the character of Katrine. Marked by a distinctive bird-wing birthmark, a visual motif that underscores the screenplay’s themes of flight and fate. She makes a monumental discovery. Unearthing a hidden canister, she recovers a single, exquisite gold ring. This is no ordinary trinket; it is the very artifact Father Timothy risked his life to hide in the year 1005.

The discovery of the ring acts as a historical fulcrum, wrenching the modern characters into the ancient conspiracy. The screenplay skillfully layers moments of profound grief, loss, and spiritual mystery as Katrine realizes her life, and the lives of those around her, are not accidental occurrences but the culmination of a millennium-old plan. The tension is palpable as the modern trio must now navigate the sinister forces that have been lying in wait since the Dark Ages, forces determined to exploit the secret the ring represents.

For readers, FATALISM provides a unique and engaging experience.

As a published screenplay, it provides an unvarnished view of the creative process, showcasing the economy of language, the precision of visual direction, and the sheer narrative architecture required for a high-stakes thriller. The meticulous attention to detail in each scene offers insight into the complexity of storytelling. Readers can appreciate the layers of tension and atmosphere that are carefully crafted, reflecting the collaborative efforts of its creators.

Enthusiasts of cinema will appreciate the script’s taut pacing and visual intensity. At the same time, lovers of literature will be drawn into the rich thematic exploration of free will, historical consequence, and the enduring power of sacrifice. The script balances moments of high drama with introspective depth, making it a compelling read for those who enjoy both visual storytelling and thought-provoking narratives. Its complex characters and layered themes create an immersive experience that resonates on multiple levels.

Ultimately, the play is a polished, compelling work that achieves a balance few narratives manage: it is both an exciting, time-traveling mystery and a thoughtful examination of what it means to choose your path when destiny insists on choosing for you. The seamless blending of past and present creates a narrative that challenges perceptions of time and fate. As the characters grapple with their roles in this grand scheme, the screenplay invites the audience to reflect on their own relationship with destiny and choice.

Coming to Africa: How Gbitee Doryen Gbitee Reframes the Birth of Liberia as a Transatlantic Human Story

NY Weekly Staff on January 12, 2026

History is often told in terms of institutions, policies, and dates. But the deeper truth of history always revolves around humans. It is shaped by people who make difficult choices in uncertain times and take steps that can alter the fate of multiple generations. In Coming to Africa: Historical Figures in the Founding of Liberia, Gbitee Doryen Gbitee invites readers to revisit one of the most complex chapters in Black Atlantic history through the human lens.

Gbitee takes a unique approach when talking about Liberia and its history. Rather than presenting its foundation as a political project or a colonial scheme, he stresses that it was a convergence of longings, fears, ideals, and contradictions carried by individuals. He effectively portrays the hopes of freed Black Americans who were seeking dignity and autonomy at a time of high politics and racial discrimination.

What makes Coming to Africa especially compelling is its insistence on complexity. Gbitee does not give in to the urge to write plainly about heroes and villains. Instead, he shows how the same movement could be seen as containing both emancipatory potential and coercive logic. The Back-to-Africa idea provided some Black Americans with a chance to imagine political self-rule for the first time, even as it emerged from a society unwilling to accept them as equals, where deep racial divides and systemic oppression shaped the context in which these ideas were born and spread.

Gbitee’s background as a former production and circulation manager of a leading newspaper in Liberia is evident in his writing. He has worked with editors in the newsroom to produce objective news articles. His goal was to strive for balanced and factual news stories. Currently, he is a history student and researcher, deeply committed to uncovering diverse perspectives and exploring untold narratives. As a result, he has used thorough and careful research techniques in his book to trace how merchants, missionaries, politicians, and African leaders became participants in a shared, if uneven, historical moment that shaped Liberia’s development.

Another important point this book covers is the repositioning of Liberia within global history. Liberia is often treated as a marginal or exceptional case of African and American history. Gbitee works to challenge that framing by showing that Liberia’s story may reflect the larger questions about freedom, race, migration, nationalism, and belonging, which continue to resonate in contemporary global struggles. The founding of Liberia may reflect the unresolved contradictions of the 19th-century Atlantic world, where competing ideologies of freedom and Power were in constant conflict. As a result, the book has significant contemporary relevance. Gbitee writes with clarity and restraint, allowing the truth of the history to be clearly set forth. His prose is measured, accessible, and grounded in evidence, ensuring that readers can engage with complex ideas in a straightforward manner. The book’s 115 pages are not filled with jargon. In contrast, they offer valuable insight to the readers, prompting reflection on both past and present struggles. Each chapter builds patiently toward a more layered understanding of what it meant and still may mean to imagine a Black republic in a world structured by empire and inequality.

In doing so, Coming to Africa has become more than a book that offers a look into Liberia’s formation. It is a valuable depiction of how nations are born from the hopes and compromises of ordinary people, realizing when the time is right and taking action.

Moreover, Coming to Africa stands as an important contribution to African, African American, and diaspora studies. For readers who are keen to learn about the origins of Liberia and the transatlantic forces that shaped it, Coming to Africa: Historical Figures in the Founding of Liberia is an essential and informative read.

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