I am on Saturday Symposium today, on Veteran's Weekend. Talking about my trip to Beirut and the recent USS Inchon Reunion. Will post more pics soon. God Bless you all!
LYDIA CORNELL: AFI Best Actress Nominee, People's Choice Award winner; Actor, Writer, Director, Producer; woman and children advocate; teen mentor, comedienne, talk show host, inspirational pubic speaker best known for her starring role on ABC's "Too Close for Comfort" as TV legend Ted Knight's daughter 'Sara'; HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, and over 250 shows, episodes and movies worldwide. Turns tragedy into comedy, life-saving issues for women and equal pay for equal work...
Saturday, November 11, 2017
HONORING OUR VETERANS on SATURDAY SYMPOSIUM TODAY - TALK RADIO
Sunday, August 27, 2017
SURPRISED BY JOY ~ LOUISE PENNY, SOBRIETY and MIRACLES
Surprised by Joy
Mainly sunny, though light snow falling now, temps minus 10
Michael and I went into Knowlton for breakfast this morning - scrambled eggs with sauteed mushrooms, fruit and toast with spiced blueberry and rhubarb jam. Yum.
Michael's back - which has long been vulnerable - started giving him grief last night. So it was back to the little red pills, a couple of big blue ones, a massage with a special cream and a hot water bottle. This morning he woke up feeling much better, and even did his exercises. Then off to Knowlton.
This is a special day. In fact, when we returned we lit the fire, made a tea and while he got down to writing his book I did more editing on mine. I'd put a special CD into the player. The music from the film, The Piano. An old film, and I can tell you exactly how old. 15 years.
I only listen to it once a year. On january 2nd.
And as I listened to it, I felt the tears come. I sat in the living room, with Michael, and the fireplace and the dogs asleep at our feet, and the cold outside, and cried.
With relief. And gratitude. With amazement. And joy.
This is my anniversary in AA. Fifteen years. Sober. Fifteen years ago, at the age of 35, I knew the best was behind me. I'd staggered to a stop. Not so much weighed down with years of drinking, but hollowed out by it. Empty.
What brought me to my knees wasn't alcohol, but what it did to me. What it stole. My self respect, my laughter, my ability to make and keep friends. Eventually even my desire to have friends.
I was on an island, looking at the mainland. And slowly, the mainland was sinking, like Atlantis. Until there was no hope left. Just me. Alone.
I think I could have sustained the anger, the self-pity, the victimhood, even the pain. What I could no longer sustain was the loneliness.
And finally, on January 2nd, after trying for years to stop drinking on my own, I got help. I went to my first meeting. And a miracle occured. I don't use that word lightly or often. But I know it happened.
I walked out of that meeting no longer needing to drink. I worked hard, and continue to work hard, at AA. Doing the steps, going to meetings. But in that instant I went from wanting to die, to wanting to live.
In my books I write about Clara's painting of Ruth - as the old, embittered, forgotten Virgin Mary. And that Clara painted her in the instant when despair turned to hope. It was just a glimmer in her eye, barely there. But there. Clara captured Grace.
All my books are about that. About despair, yes. But ultimately they're about hope.
Gamache is kind, compassionate, thoughtful - not because he's too innocent, too naive, too stupid to understand how cruel the world is...but exactly because he does know. He knows the worst, and chooses the best.
I learned to do that. The world didn't change - I did. I wanted to die, was going to die. At 35 there seemed nothing but a chasm. And no way to sustain that loneliness for another week never mind 40 years.
Now, 15 years to the day later, I look at my life and marvel. At the love I'm given and the love I give. At the friends, the family. At the people who helped me. At Michael who I met 14 years ago. At the puppies. At our home. At the books I get to write and the people I get to meet.
But mostly I marvel at the inner landscape. At the island that became a mainland, that became a continent, that became a lovely, kind, caring world. Inside.
At 2 years sober we're given a medallion by our sponsors and asked what phrase we'd like engraved on it. I thought about that and chose - Surprised by Joy. A phrase I used deliberately, with gratitude, in Still Life. I keep that medallion with me always. To remember.
Tomorrow I'll be going to an AA meeting - making coffee beforehand, setting up chairs. Someone will give me a 15 year cake. And I'll have the great honour of giving Janet, a woman I sponsor (mentor) a cake celebrating her 10 years of sobriety.
I don't often talk about this. It's called 'Anonymous' for a reason. But once a year I talk about it in case there's someone out there who believes their life is at an end. In case there's someone reading this who feels on that island, yearning for the mainland. In case there's someone staggered by loneliness.
I want you to know, you're not alone.
Michael and I went into Knowlton for breakfast this morning - scrambled eggs with sauteed mushrooms, fruit and toast with spiced blueberry and rhubarb jam. Yum.
Michael's back - which has long been vulnerable - started giving him grief last night. So it was back to the little red pills, a couple of big blue ones, a massage with a special cream and a hot water bottle. This morning he woke up feeling much better, and even did his exercises. Then off to Knowlton.
This is a special day. In fact, when we returned we lit the fire, made a tea and while he got down to writing his book I did more editing on mine. I'd put a special CD into the player. The music from the film, The Piano. An old film, and I can tell you exactly how old. 15 years.
I only listen to it once a year. On january 2nd.
And as I listened to it, I felt the tears come. I sat in the living room, with Michael, and the fireplace and the dogs asleep at our feet, and the cold outside, and cried.
With relief. And gratitude. With amazement. And joy.
This is my anniversary in AA. Fifteen years. Sober. Fifteen years ago, at the age of 35, I knew the best was behind me. I'd staggered to a stop. Not so much weighed down with years of drinking, but hollowed out by it. Empty.
What brought me to my knees wasn't alcohol, but what it did to me. What it stole. My self respect, my laughter, my ability to make and keep friends. Eventually even my desire to have friends.
I was on an island, looking at the mainland. And slowly, the mainland was sinking, like Atlantis. Until there was no hope left. Just me. Alone.
I think I could have sustained the anger, the self-pity, the victimhood, even the pain. What I could no longer sustain was the loneliness.
And finally, on January 2nd, after trying for years to stop drinking on my own, I got help. I went to my first meeting. And a miracle occured. I don't use that word lightly or often. But I know it happened.
I walked out of that meeting no longer needing to drink. I worked hard, and continue to work hard, at AA. Doing the steps, going to meetings. But in that instant I went from wanting to die, to wanting to live.
In my books I write about Clara's painting of Ruth - as the old, embittered, forgotten Virgin Mary. And that Clara painted her in the instant when despair turned to hope. It was just a glimmer in her eye, barely there. But there. Clara captured Grace.
All my books are about that. About despair, yes. But ultimately they're about hope.
Gamache is kind, compassionate, thoughtful - not because he's too innocent, too naive, too stupid to understand how cruel the world is...but exactly because he does know. He knows the worst, and chooses the best.
I learned to do that. The world didn't change - I did. I wanted to die, was going to die. At 35 there seemed nothing but a chasm. And no way to sustain that loneliness for another week never mind 40 years.
Now, 15 years to the day later, I look at my life and marvel. At the love I'm given and the love I give. At the friends, the family. At the people who helped me. At Michael who I met 14 years ago. At the puppies. At our home. At the books I get to write and the people I get to meet.
But mostly I marvel at the inner landscape. At the island that became a mainland, that became a continent, that became a lovely, kind, caring world. Inside.
At 2 years sober we're given a medallion by our sponsors and asked what phrase we'd like engraved on it. I thought about that and chose - Surprised by Joy. A phrase I used deliberately, with gratitude, in Still Life. I keep that medallion with me always. To remember.
Tomorrow I'll be going to an AA meeting - making coffee beforehand, setting up chairs. Someone will give me a 15 year cake. And I'll have the great honour of giving Janet, a woman I sponsor (mentor) a cake celebrating her 10 years of sobriety.
I don't often talk about this. It's called 'Anonymous' for a reason. But once a year I talk about it in case there's someone out there who believes their life is at an end. In case there's someone reading this who feels on that island, yearning for the mainland. In case there's someone staggered by loneliness.
I want you to know, you're not alone.
Thursday, August 10, 2017
LYDIA CORNELL BIO 2017
About Lydia Cornell
Lydia Cornell, whose
great-great grandmother was Harriet Beecher Stowe, has been Invited to
contribute her writings to The International Museum of Peace, which houses letters from Nobel Peace
Prize Laureate Mother Teresa, Maya Angelou & Sir Edmund Hillary. Known for her knife-sharp wit on HBO, standup comedy, social media,
concerts, public speaking and morning-drive radio, Cornell has been called: “A female George Carlin and ‘the new Tina
Fey.’ A fresh voice; one of the most original voices in America today. ~
Cindy Pearlman, Chicago Sun Times and New York Times syndicate
With 18-34 million viewers Tuesday
nights on ABC primetime, and millions more in worldwide syndication, AFI Best Actress nominee and People's Choice Award winner Lydia Cornell grew up in America’s living rooms. Best known for her starring role as the daughter
of TV legend Ted Knight (The
Mary Tyler Moore Show, Caddyshack)
on the hit ABC series Too Close
for Comfort, she is an international celebrity with a fiercely loyal fan following whom she interacts
with daily on social media. Starring in over 250 TV shows
& films in 27 countries, including HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm,
she costars with
Robert Downey, Jr., Steven Tyler, Jon Bon Jovi and Gary Oldman in indie films
at Sundance; Variety’s Power
of Comedy with Rebel Wilson and Russell
Brand and The Kelsey Grammer
Comedy Hour. Her fan base exploded
last fall when she shot onto Google’s Top
Trends[1]
and Yahoo! Finance News’ Most Viewed News
Stories[2]
right behind William Buffet. Yahoo! Finance News: Lydia Cornell
interviews World Leaders, Pulitzer Prize Winners, White House and Presidential
Candidates for new morning drive AM radio show
Cornell is also a writer,
director, talk show host, women and children’s advocate, teen mentor; mother and inspirational public
speaker. In 2017, she was honored by the Los
Angeles Movie Awards for directing the SAG film It's My Decision and received the Southern California Motion
Picture Council's Golden Halo Lifetime
Achievement Award. As co-host of a radio network with Hell’s Kitchen chefs, MTV
stars and CLNS Sports Radio personalities, she hosts a top-rated podcast
on itunes, which was nominated for a Stitcher award. She
is currently working on a series of humor and spiritual recovery books. She is
producing docuseries with an astrophysicist from NASA-JPL and a Naval Intelligence officer,
as well as her own comedy TV series. She wrote and directed the indie short Venus
Conspiracy, which will soon be a feature film. Her articles have
appeared in Herald de Paris; A&E Biography; Editor & Publisher; Huffington
Post; Macon Daily, People, Us, Yahoo, New York Post, Script Frenzy and Lone
Star Icon. Too Close for Comfort airs daily on
Tribune Broadcasting’s new comedy channel Antenna
TV. Cornell took a sabbatical from Hollywood
in order to get sober, raise children, write books, and find her soul in a
pornographic world.
- Cornell's
blog is a triple Koufax nominee for best writing, recipient of the Thinking Blogger Award and winner of
the Freedom Award and three World Report Awards, is “a consistently thought-provoking
firecracker of pointed socio-political commentary and observant, caustic
wit.” (Yahoo News; Shotgun Reviews.)
- Despite rumors on TMZ and in the
tabloids, Cornell did not sue Kelsey Grammer.
Cornell is currently helping the FBI alongside Kelsey Grammer in a major
criminal investigation. This will be revealed in an upcoming expose.
- Has
been invited to contribute her writings to The International Museum of
Peace, which houses
letters from Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mother Teresa, Maya Angelou &
Sir Edmund Hillary.
Triumph over
Tragedy: A children’s
advocate, Cornell raised a child with brittle bone disease is an inspirational
speaker on domestic violence, and teen suicide prevention — as well as on
drug, alcohol and Adderall[1] abuse.
She endured a shattering personal tragedy when she found her younger brother’s
body after a drug overdose.
Recovery
Expert: Sober now for
22 years, she speaks to recovery groups of 200 or more. She spoke at Texas
A&M for Domestic Violence Prevention’s 30th anniversary
luncheon. Her talks are laced with poignant stories of transformation with an innate
sense of humor and comic timing. Cornell speaks at charity fundraisers,
hospitals, high schools, colleges and women’s centers on overcoming loss,
grief, unemployment, sexism, ageism, depression, self-sabotage, suicide,
raising aliens (teenagers) and every imaginable hardship. Her triumph over
addiction was the result of a ‘catastrophic spiritual awakening.’ “There is a
reason so many celebrities are in rehab these days,” she says. Her
experiences in overcoming a string of failures and humiliations inspired her
to assist others with their own demons. “My ego was so big, it had an apartment of its own with a walk-in closet.
Osteogenesis Imperfecta: Lydia has been invited to speak in Florida on
Osteogenesis Imperfecta or brittle bone disease. A mother of boys, she
raised a stepson whose bones broke every time he fell. “Raising a child with brittle
bone disease has been one of the most precious gifts of my life.” she says of
her stepson.
Public Service
Military: Received the USO Distinguished Service Award for trip to
Beirut war zone
In 2015, Lydia went to Lincoln Nebraska to support the troops for the Big Red Challenge. She will be in Santa Barbara for a celebrity
golf tournament to benefit “Santa Ynez Valley People Helping People.” She has worked with the Red Cross,
Firefighters, Autism Awareness, and High Hopes Ryan’s Reach
— Pat Boone’s charity for traumatic spinal cord injury.
Domestic Violence: She hosted a
documentary for Safe Passage Home, an organization that gives
extreme life makeovers to victims of domestic violence, for Oxygen
network. She housed domestic abuse victims and cared for their children
throughout the school year. With the help of the police, Cornell helped rescue
a battered woman from a predator.
Teen Mentor: As a teen mentor,
Lydia works with L.A. Team Mentoring (after school programs for underprivileged
kids) and is developing a site for troubled teens called The Answer Room.
- Currently
in talks with Dancing with the Stars
- Opened for
Paul Rodriguez at Pechanga 1500 seat theater
- Seen on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm; costarring with Robert Downey, Jr.,
Steven Tyler, Jon Bon Jovi and Gary Oldman in Me, Miami and Nancy Sundance;
Kelsey
Grammer Comedy Hour; Host of Variety’s Power of Comedy with Rebel Wilson, Russell Brand,
Helen Mirren, Melissa Etheridge, Aziz Ansari, Lake Bell, Dylan McDermott, Patton
Oswalt and Sarah Silverman; co-stars in director Jordan Alan’s Cats
Dancing on Jupiter with star of The Mentalist.
- Too
Close for Comfort is back daily on Tribune
Broadcasting’s comedy channel Antenna TV, on WGN and in top
markets nationwide. The show has been in worldwide syndication for over 25
years.
- She has her own
award-winning podcast and radio show and is co-owner of a network Beats and Eats on iTunes
with Hell’s Kitchen chefs, Sports Radio and MTV stars, and was nominated
for a Stitcher Award.
- A humorist and comedienne,
Cornell has been called the “female George Carlin.”
- She is currently
working on a series of humor and spiritual recovery books, which will be
out in 2018.
- Despite rumors on TMZ and
in the tabloids, Cornell did not sue Kelsey Grammer. Cornell
is currently helping the FBI alongside Kelsey Grammer in a major criminal
investigation. This will be revealed in an upcoming expose.
- Lydia Cornell's blog is a triple
Koufax nominee for best writing, recipient of the Thinking Blogger Award and winner of the Freedom Award and three World
Report Awards, is “a
consistently thought-provoking firecracker of pointed socio-political
commentary and observant, caustic wit.” (Yahoo News; Shotgun Reviews.)
- Has
been invited to contribute her writings to The International Museum of
Peace, which houses
letters from Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mother Teresa, Maya Angelou &
Sir Edmund Hillary.
- Received the USO Distinguished Service Award for Middle East and
Beirut war zone trip to visit the troops.
- Venus
Conspiracy – written and directed by
Lydia Cornell, costarring Deborah Van Valkenburgh, who played her sister
on Too Close for Comfort
- Pain is Inevitable, Sex Optional – on stage in her original three-woman show
- Political
Voices of Women Best Writing Awards ~ World Report Award, Thinking Blogger
Award; Weblog Award and Double Koufax Nominee.
[1] Google Hot Trends: Google Hot Trends: What is popular/what is hot Lydia
Cornell in Google’s top 100 trends when a cover story on
Cornell coincided with the news that her show was coming back on the air. Cornell
wrote over 175 spiritual-political articles on government, politics, Obama, the
election, sex and religion.
[2] Breaking
Yahoo! News: Too Close for Comfort actress Lydia Cornell interviews
world leaders, presidential candidates and Pulitzer Prizewinners for new radio
show.
Monday, June 26, 2017
Saturday, June 24, 2017
Thursday, June 22, 2017
RED CARPET ~ FACE FORWARD Helping victims of Domestic Violence at Comedy Store
AFI
Best Actress nominee and People's Choice Award Lydia Cornell is best known as
the star of the hit ABC series Too Close
for Comfort as Emmy legend Ted Knight’s daughter ‘Sara’. Cornell has been invited to contribute her writings to The International Museum of Peace,
which houses letters from Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mother Teresa, Maya
Angelou & Sir Edmund Hillary. Also
seen on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, Variety’s Power of Comedy, and the Kelsey Grammer Comedy Hour. An international star of over 250 TV shows and films in 27 countries, Lydia received the Southern California
Motion Picture Council’s Golden Halo Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. She
directed the SAG film “It’s My Decision” now on the film festival circuit, for
which she was honored as Best Director by Los Angeles Movie Awards. One of TV’s
most popular sex symbols, she is now a writer, director, mother, comedienne, talk
show host, women and children’s advocate, teen mentor and inspirational public
speaker. She has a book series due out in 2018. Her articles have appeared in
PEOPLE, US, Herald de Paris; A&E Biography, Huffington Post, Editor &
Publisher, Macon Daily, and Lone Star Icon.
Tonight is "Laughing It Forward" at the Comedy Store. Still time to buy your tickets. https://t.co/oYl8qWx0b7 #FaceForward #ComedyStore — w…
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