The journalist Richie McGinniss has always craved action. As a reporter he’s found it – and a lot more – in the chaos of the streets, embedding himself with protestors to cover the most divisive and violent demonstrations in American history.

Richie may be a media professional of the new era, posting his intense, on-the-ground videos on social media, but he brings an old-school newsman’s credibility from his extensive professional experience and globe-trotting life story.

Richie studied Arabic and Middle Eastern history at Georgetown University and subsequently traveled to Jordan, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, and Egypt’s Tahrir Square less than a month before it became the flashpoint for the widespread protests and revolutions that erupted during the Arab Spring.

Richie has worked at the Al-Jazeera program, “Min Washington,” broadcasting to households in Arabic throughout the Middle East, at NBC News’s Washington Bureau as a production assistant, and as the video director at Daily Caller, where he built a team of ten video producers.

While covering the demonstrations in Kenosha, Wisconsin, sparked by the police shooting of Jacob Blake, Richie witnessed Kyle Rittenhouse shoot Joseph Rosenbaum and nearly got shot himself when a bullet ricocheted near his foot. Richie was plunged into the national spotlight and praised for his clear, non-biased, neutral reporting of the violence.

On the ground for the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol, Richie not only got closer to the action than virtually any other journalist but emerged with a nuanced understanding of how news events can be interpreted and manufactured by the media.

Richie recently published his book, Riot Diet: One Man’s Ride Through America in Chaos. I’ve read Riot Diet and can tell you it’s a powerful series of reports from some of the most infamous protest riots of our times. Though definitely not for the faint of heart, I highly recommend Richie’s book to anyone interested in an insider’s look at some of the people covering those events and how they unfold.

https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0DLQXN1DK

Cleo Childs released her spoken word poetry album, “Moving With” in May 2024. And her book, also called “Moving With,” is soon to be released.

Both projects are the culmination of years of writing about the journey of grief Cleo experienced after losing her mother to Alzheimer’s when she was 28 years old.

Cleo’s mom was an English major in college and her grandmother, who is also one of her editors, was an English teacher for 30 years, so she came naturally to writing as a grief processing tool. With her work, Cleo hopes to show the path her grief took from having her mother, losing her mother, and the peace and acceptance she feels now. She also hopes to authentically and honestly look at what her grief felt like so other people going through their own grieving don’t feel alone and have a sense of community.

You can learn more about Cleo and her various projects at cleochilds.com.

Gabby Gruen spent most of his professional life as a writer-producer inside the country’s most prominent ad agencies.

After twenty years of elevating the brands of some of our most prestigious advertisers, and with the help of a Screenwriting MFA from UCLA, Gabby started writing screenplays. His original scripts found homes inside a major motion picture studio and on assignment for several less prominent purveyors of the cinematic arts.

With the recent publication of his first novel, “The Uniform,” a thriller that takes place during the Holocaust, Gabby has begun his fiction writing career. I’ve read The Uniform and can tell you it’s an intense trip through a nasty piece of World War II as experienced by David Korda, a young doctor and Jewish labor camp prisoner, who’s become an enslaved road crew worker destined for a death camp until he comes upon the body of a murdered Gestapo officer. David contrives to use the officer’s bloodied uniform as a means of escape. I was riveted by this chilling page turner. If you like great reads, I highly recommend The Uniform to you.

Gabby will soon publish his second book, The Ride of a Lifetime, a crime story set on the frozen streets of Detroit.

If you are searching for Gabby’s books on Amazon, please search for G Gruen.