She told Dr. Martin Luther King she planned on leaving Star Treck: "No! You are our image of where we're going, you're 300 years from now, and that means that's where we are and it takes place now. Keep doing what you're doing, you are our inspiration"

Russell Simmons was among the handful of celebrities making a daily show of support of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) via a very visible presence on the ground in lower Manhattan and other cities

With an MFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, Alrick Brown is a filmmaker and teacher who has found his calling writing, directing and producing narrative films and documentaries focusing on social issues affecting the world at large. For over two years, he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cote d'Ivoire.

Adrian Adel started out as a singer with Portland funk band Fatman.  Then she discovered photography. Today Adel is a photographer and graphic designer with a clientele that includes many Portland musicians, including Liv Warfield, Luck One and Rose Bent. 

Here, he talks both about acting and about taking a break from his career to work for President Obama an associate director in the White House Office of Public Engagement.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Lady Gaga is launching a foundation with the help of the MacArthur Foundation and Harvard University.

Portland funny girl Rissa Riss dishes on comedy, career and getting expelled in 3rd grade 

A native of Jacksonville, Fla., Ken Bevel is a graduate of the University of Memphis with a bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering Technology; he's also a graduate of the Naval Postgraduate School with a MBA in Logistics Management.  After 20 years of active service in the United States Marine Corps, Capt. Bevel retired to serve in the ministry on the staff of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga. 

Here, he talks about producing "Thunder Soul," a reverential bio-pic which pays tribute to the late Conrad "Prof" Johnson (1915-2008), the founder and conductor of Houston's Kashmere High's legendary stage band.

A devoted father, Touré lives in Fort Greene, Brooklyn with his wife, Rita, and their two children, Hendrix and Fairuz. Here, he talks about his new book, "Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness?"