UB education student appears on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Wednesday, September 10

September 9, 2014

When thieves took off with more than $30,000 worth of band instruments – and brutally damaged ones they didn’t bother to take from the school where she teaches music – Melissa Salguero, a master’s degree student at the University of Bridgeport, went online for help.

Among those who were moved by her crowdfunding and YouTube pleas: Ellen DeGeneres, who invited Salguero to attend the taping of her popular afternoon talk show. Salguero was happy to be in the audience, but when DeGeneres called Salguero up to the stage to pay a public tribute to her, Salguero was stunned.

“Advocating for my students on national TV was a once-in-a-lifetime event,” she said. “I couldn’t stop crying.”

The Ellen DeGeneres Show will be aired on Wednesday, September 10.

Salguero won’t reveal what happens, but she will watch the show at the Cox Student Center at UB with her classmates from the School of Education.

She is earning a Master of Science in Secondary Education with a concentration in music.

Her professor Frank Martignetti, who directs music education at the School of Education, decided the graduate seminar should watch the show. “Melissa is an example of the best that the UB School of Education has to offer. Her ability to engage the community in support of her students is a model to all of us in the music education community,” he said. “We’re immensely proud of her.”

For the past six years, Salguero has been teaching at P.S. 48 in the South Bronx, among the poorest districts in the city. The average family income is $16,000 a year, and Salguero commutes over two hours from her home in Bridgeport to get to school by 7 a.m., to lead band practice before a full day of classes. When school lets out in the South Bronx, she commutes back to UB to take late-afternoon and evening classes and “usually makes it” on time.

“I love it,” she says. “I want to share my passion and love for music with students.”

But Salgueros’s drive was put to the test last April, when thieves broke into P.S. 48 last April and took off with saxophones, flutes, horns, an electronic keyboard, and other band instruments that were too costly for the school to immediately replace.

“I used it as a teachable moment to be flexible and be positive,” she said. “If my students saw me distraught and horrified, which I was when I walked through the doors that morning, that wouldn’t be good. So they saw me handling the situation maturely, and they’ll emulate that. The lesson was about staying positive.”

She logged onto the crowd-funding site, GoFundMe.com to raise money for new instruments. So far, donors have chipped in just over $2,600 toward her $30,000 goal.

“My students cannot believe there are people outside of their neighborhood who’ve heard of P.S. 48 and who want to help us. They can’t fathom that. It’s awesome to see. The lesson for them has been if you have a goal or a dream, don’t stop.”

Read more »

5 reasons Ellen DeGeneres is awesome

Once again, Ellen DeGeneres demonstrated her awesomeness before a breathless nation.

The comedian and talk show commanded one of the funniest and most engaging Academy Award ceremonies in recent history Sunday, March 3.

Her awesomeness as host included that hilarious pizza money gag, the awesome selfie with half of Hollywood and welcomed Anne Hathaway to the stage as the “first white presenter” after talking about the likelihood that “Twelve Years a Slave” would win Best Picture.

The performance should not have surprised anyone who has watched this marketing genius at work.

Ellen is always awesome and here are five reasons why:

She is a great girlfriend

Ellen is married to actress Portia de Rossi, but she is everyone’s girlfriend. She’s welcoming, funny and seems the kind of friend you would not mind standing in a long line with because she’d crack you up the entire time. Plus she gives stuff away.

She’s nerdy cool

With her upbeat attitude, Ellen makes plaid and white flats look stylish day in and day out. She’s goofy from her grin to her hairstyle. She looks good, but doesn’t look like she spends 9 hours in front of a mirror painting her face.

She dances

Ellen is not a good dancer. She’s a great dancer. She does what she wants on the dance floor. She feels the beat. She has the rhythm.

“Doesn’t it feel good to dance?” she asked Bradley Cooper on a 2012 show. “No matter if it is good or bad, it just feels good.”

She’s a master flirt

Ellen flirts in that innocent way extremely personable do with everyone — guests, audience members, men and women. It is all in good fun. She’s kissed singer Justin Timberlake and hilariously gawked at singer Katy Perry’s ample bosom in a viral photo at the 2013 Grammys. Imagine her charms at work against Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

She’s a do-gooder who loves her mama

By all appearances, Ellen and her mother, Betty DeGeneres, have a wonderful relationship. That has no doubt helped shape her generous spirit. Ellen is an animal rights activist and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights advocate.

She had used her celebrity to raise millions for Toys for Tots.

“I love toys, I love tots. I love tater tots. Who doesn’t love tater tots,” Ellen said during a speech she made as part of a Duracell Toys for Tots campaign.

Read more »

DeGeneres Show producer makes contact regarding UCC's 'Get Ellen to Synod' campaign

A producer for The Ellen DeGeneres Show has contacted the UCC's communications director, asking for more information about the UCC's campaign to get the popular TV personality to attend the denomination's national General Synod, July 1-5, in Tampa, Fla.

"Evidently, it was a news report in Tampa about our campaign that finally got through to Ellen and her staff," said the Rev. J. Bennett Guess. "We were contacted by one of Ellen's producers and asked to submit more information about our request of her."

After telling the producer about General Synod and why the UCC's planning committee thinks Ellen should address the UCC, Guess received a written response: "I just wanted to let you know I passed your information and request along to our executives. Our staff here deals with the show, but Ellen's life outside the show, including appearances, is handled by a different team. I know they are aware of your request and hopefully will be in touch with you."

"I at least feel good knowing that, at this phase, Ellen is aware of our campaign," Guess says, "but we're going to have to significantly ramp up our grassroots effort if we're going to make it impossible for Ellen to ignore our invitation. But if Betty White's fans can get her to host SNL, we can convince Ellen DeGeneres to come to Tampa."

Tampa's major league baseball team, the Tampa Bay Rays, may be lending a hand to the UCC's efforts as well. Guess said he was contacted recently by a team representative who expressed interest in having DeGeneres toss the first pitch at a game when she comes to Synod.

"Getting the whole city of Tampa involved could really give our invitation a boost as well as ensure that the region won't miss the fact that the UCC is coming to Florida," Guess says.

One of the most effective methods of generating publicity, Guess says, is for local churches to initiate contact with the local TV station that airs The Ellen DeGeneres Show and to demonstrate how your local church is active in the national campaign.

"By creating a fun video and letting your local affiliate know about it, you are not only advancing the campaign but attracting attention for the UCC in general," Guess says. "Don't forget that your appropriate network TV station has a vested interest in promoting Ellen's show, so take advantage of that."

A "Get Ellen to Synod" Facebook page now has more than 6,000 fans

Read more »

Stories about Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen DeGeneres is one of the most popular contemporary comedians and the host of a successful daytime talk show. She is perhaps best known to young audiences as the voice of the endearing but absentminded fish Dory in the blockbuster animated hit Finding Nemo (2003), a role that perfectly captured her rambling, seemingly unrehearsed comic style. After rising through the ranks of stand-up comedy during the 1980s and early 1990s, DeGeneres became a successful television star with her show Ellen in the mid-1990s. Her career became temporarily derailed in the late 1990s, but she got back on track a few years later, surpassing her earlier successes by a long shot. During 2003 DeGeneres published a best-selling book of short stories and essays, toured across the United States with a new stand-up routine, voiced the part of Dory in Finding Nemo, and launched her syndicated talk show. Displaying the self-assurance that comes from a string of successful career moves, DeGeneres explained to Nicholas Fonseca of Entertainment Weekly how she feels about her latest venture: "I've never been so passionate about something. I will probably do this for the rest of my career."

A late-blooming comedian

DeGeneres was born outside New Orleans and spent most of her childhood there, living with her parents and her older brother, Vance. As a child, DeGeneres spent much of her free time exploring the city. She recalled to Liz Scott of New Orleans Magazine, "I rode my bike everywhere. All over the campus [of Newcomb College]. All over uptown. You know, people can grow up in New Orleans without realizing how unique a city it is. I remember thinking that it was a really neat place." When DeGeneres was thirteen years old, her parents divorced, and she moved with her mother to Atlanta, Texas. As quoted in the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture,she recalled using comedy to help her mother through the painful period after the divorce: "My mother was going through some really hard times and I could see when she was really getting down, and I would start to make fun of her dancing," DeGeneres remembered. "Then she'd start to laugh and I'd make fun of her laughing. And she'd laugh so hard she'd start to cry, and then I'd make fun of that. So I would totally bring her from where I'd seen her start going into depression to all the way out of it."

"I'm doing a talk show. It's not my job to get into an argument with somebody about religion or politics or sexuality or anything. It is my job to make people laugh."

After DeGeneres graduated from high school in 1976, she moved back to New Orleans, holding down a series of jobs, none of which suited her personality. She worked for a time in a law firm but felt stifled by the dress code. She held a number of restaurant jobs, from hostess to bartender to oyster shucker. She also worked at a retail clothing store and as a house painter. Ultimately she realized that she did not like following other people's rules, and she would have to make a career for herself that allowed for independence. At the age of twenty-three, she started to flesh out a comedy routine, first performing just for friends and then at local coffeehouses and comedy clubs. Soon she became the master of ceremonies, or emcee, at a New Orleans comedy club. In 1982 she entered a national talent contest held by the cable network Showtime, sending in a videotape of her stand-up act. When DeGeneres won the contest, earning the title of "Funniest Person in America," she went immediately from local New Orleans comic to nationally recognized up-and-coming comedian. Over the next several years, she traveled around the country performing stand-up comedy, and she appeared on several HBO specials.

In 1986 DeGeneres made history in her first-ever appearance on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Most comedians who appeared on the Tonight Show performed their stand-up routine and then returned backstage, never being invited to sit on the couch and have an on-camera chat with Carson. The invitation to sit down with Carson paid tribute to a comedian's talent and stature. A female comedian had never been asked to sit on the couch after a first-time performance on the show. The night DeGeneres debuted on the Tonight Show in 1986, Carson brought her over to the couch. She had arrived.

Breaking ground

In 1991 DeGeneres was honored as best female stand-up comic at the 1991 American Comedy Awards. About the same time, she branched out to begin acting in television series. She appeared in a couple of short-lived sitcoms, Open House and Laurie Hill, before earning her own show. These Friends of Mine premiered on ABC in March of 1994, receiving mixed reviews and decent ratings. The show starred DeGeneres as Ellen Morgan, an employee (and later owner) of a bookstore called Buy the Book. It focused on the lives of Ellen and her friends, finding humor in the mundane, everyday events of the characters' lives. By the beginning of the second season, the show had undergone major changes, including its title, which became Ellen. The reviews and the ratings steadily improved, as more and more viewers connected with DeGeneres's oddball humor and appealing, average-gal persona. DeGeneres earned numerous nominations for Emmy Awards, and in 1997 she won the prestigious Peabody Award for her work on the show.

In the spring of 1997, DeGeneres made pop-culture history by having her character come out as a lesbian, becoming the first gay lead character on a network television sitcom. That show, called "The Puppy Episode," garnered forty-six million viewers and brought DeGeneres an Emmy Award for best comedy writing. At the same time, DeGeneres herself came out to millions with a cover story in Time magazine announcing that she is gay. The announcement came as no surprise—fans and journalists had speculated that it was coming—but it still generated a media storm. Many fans wrote supportive letters, while others were scandalized by the news. During the 1997–98 season, Ellen began losing viewers. Many observers suggested that the show had fundamentally changed when the main character's sexual orientation became the focus of numerous episodes. Some believed that the network simply did not want the controversy generated by the announcement about Ellen's sexuality. Some major advertisers had pulled out, and the network, fearful of offending viewers, began attaching warning labels to episodes that showed Ellen kissing another woman or discussing her sexual orientation. The show was cancelled after the 1997–98 season.

After her show's cancellation, DeGeneres went through a difficult period, both professionally and personally. Her highly publicized relationship and August of 2000 breakup with actress Anne Heche (1969–) eroded much of the goodwill fans felt toward her—or at least that is what DeGeneres believed, as she explained in an article inPeople magazine: "I went through a phase, whether it was true or not, where my perception was, 'Everyone hates me now,' and it felt horrible." She appeared in a number of films during this period, including EDtv and The Love Letter, but none of these established her as a successful film actress. In 2001 DeGeneres starred in a short-lived sitcom called The Ellen Show, which was praised by reviewers but never attracted a large audience.

Amid these disappointments, DeGeneres's professional life hit one distinctly positive note, setting the stage for what some have described as her career's second act. Soon after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, DeGeneres was asked to host the prime-time Emmy Awards, a program that had been delayed twice due to the

From left, Christiana Aquilera, Molly Shannon, and Ellen Degeneres, during a taping of The Ellen Degeneres Show .

AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.tragedy. As many in the entertainment industry struggled over how to amuse audiences—or whether they should even try—in the somber aftermath of 9/11, DeGeneres impressed her fellow actors and millions of viewers with what Fonseca described inEntertainment Weekly as a "witty, respectful, and wise" performance.

Finding her audience—again

Over the next year or so, DeGeneres began showing up on television more and more often. She hosted Saturday Night Live, appeared on an episode of Will and Grace, and occupied the center square on the primetime game show Hollywood Squares. Suddenly, in 2003, DeGeneres was everywhere. She returned to stand-up with a hugely successful thirty-five-city tour, culminating with an HBO comedy special called Ellen DeGeneres: Here and Now. She published a best-selling book of comic essays called The Funny Thing Is..., and she lent her voice to what became the highest-grossing animated movie of all time: Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo. The character of the blue tang fish Dory seemed tailor-made for DeGeneres's wide-eyed, naive, and intensely likable persona, and in fact the role was written expressly for her. In a September of 2003 article in Entertainment Weekly, Andrew Stanton, the film's director and cowriter, explained why DeGeneres was his only choice for that character: "Everybody has that friend who's funny merely for existing. That's Ellen. You're not waiting for a punchline with her. You're just waiting for her to speak so you can start laughing."

In the fall of 2003, DeGeneres found herself once again at the center of a self-titled television program; this time she was not the star of a sitcom but the host of a syndicated daytime talk show. In its first season, The Ellen DeGeneres Show earned positive reviews and solid ratings across the nation. The successful year was topped off with a record twelve Emmy Award nominations in 2004, the most ever received by a talk show in its debut season. According to an article in the Washington Post, when she heard the news about the Emmy nominations, DeGeneres responded with a comment typical of her self-criticizing, slightly insecure comedic style: "They told me, you got nominations for every single category except the song, and I instantly said, 'What's wrong with our song?'" In addition to three technical awards, DeGeneres's program won the 2004 Emmy for outstanding talk show. Basking in a post-Emmy glow, DeGeneres commented in an article at CNN.com: "I have fun every day. It's the best job I ever had."

The joys of DeGeneres's professional successes are underscored by her stable and happy personal life. She has spent several years in a relationship with photographer and actress Alexandra Hedison. The two share a home on a three-acre spread in the Hollywood Hills. In a late 2003 article in People, DeGeneres reflected on her career, concluding that both the highs and the lows have been valuable to her: "Right now I'm in such a good place, and I'm so grateful for every step of the way, because it makes me appreciate this time even more."

Read more »

Ellen DeGeneres Biography

With her own talk show, Ellen DeGeneres is one of America's most well-known comedians, also serving as a prominent gay/lesbian role model.

“I think what saved me is being honest. I think I somehow had the courage to do something and to say something that I knew would possibly end my career. Instead of making business more important, I made my soul and my life more important. And I think by being truthful, and being honest, that saved me.”
—Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen DeGeneres - Funniest Person in America (TV-14; 1:41) Ellen DeGeneres spent many years in local stand up clubs refining her act until she submitted her routine to Showtime and won the title Funniest Person in Louisiana, ultimately leading the way to the national title.

Synopsis

Born on January 26, 1958, in Metairie, Louisiana, Ellen DeGeneres hit it big as a stand-up comedian before starring on her own sitcom, Ellen. In 1997, she came out as gay, and became a staunch advocate of LGBT rights. She has been the host of her own award-winning talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, since 2003, and married girlfriend Portia de Rossi in 2008.
Early Life

Ellen Lee DeGeneres was born January 26, 1958, in Metairie, Louisiana, to an insurance salesman and a working mother who divorced when DeGeneres was a teenager. When she was growing up, DeGeneres dreamed of becoming a veterinarian, but she gave up the idea because she was "not book smart." Instead, she waited tables, sold vacuum cleaners, painted houses and worked as a legal secretary.

DeGeneres's older brother, Vance, an actor/comedian and former correspondent for The Daily Show, was long considered the humorous member of the family. Then once, during a public speaking event, DeGeneres found herself frightened by the crowd and used humor to get through the experience. She was a hit, and received offers to do stand-up comedy. She began performing in 1981, bolstered by her mother's moral and financial support.
Stand-up Comedy

At the age of 23, DeGeneres began performing at a local coffeehouse. She got her big debut in 1986 when, acting on a tip from Jay Leno, The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson sent a booking agent to catch her act at the Improv in Hollywood. As a result of that engagement, DeGeneres appeared on The Tonight Show and earned the distinction of being the only female comic to be invited by Johnny Carson to sit on the famed "couch" during her first visit.

DeGeneres then began making regular appearances on the talk show circuit, including performances on The Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Later with Greg Kinnear,Larry King Live, and Good Morning, America. She was also profiled in detail on ABC's PrimeTime Live.

Sitcom History

Her wit won over audiences, and DeGeneres finally found success as an actress with her own prime-time sitcom—the self-titled television series, Ellen. The series was originally titled These Friends of Mine, but was renamed in 1994. From that point, the show evolved from its beginnings as an ensemble effort into a showcase for DeGeneres.

The show faced strong criticism when, in April 1997, DeGeneres's character became the first lead in sitcom history to openly acknowledge her homosexuality on air. An ABC affiliate in Birmingham, Alabama, refused to air the landmark episode. Fearing controversy, some of the show's sponsors, Daimler Chrysler among them, withdrew advertisements.

Several episodes following her reveal had gay themes and, throughout the remainder of the season, DeGeneres and ABC executives faced a storm of criticism. But the show also received rounds of applause from gay-friendly activists—including DeGeneres's mother, Betty DeGeneres, who appeared on numerous talk shows in support of her daughter. Despite a supportive audience, an Emmy Award for the coming-out episode and the show's groundbreaking place in television history, Ellen was canceled in 1998.

But DeGeneres had already made the move to the big screen, starring in the dark comedy Mr. Wrong (1996) as a woman in search of the perfect man. She also appeared in the comedy EdTV (1999), starring Matthew McConaughey, and the television production of If These Walls Could Talk 2(2000), in which she shared a much publicized love scene with Sharon Stone.
Talk Show Host

Returning to television in 2003, Ellen DeGeneres became a big hit with daytime viewers with her self-titled talk show, Ellen. Since its inception, the show has won a slew of Daytime Emmy and People's Choice Awards.

Also in 2003, DeGeneres lent her voice to the animated box office smash,Finding Nemo. The next year she received two Emmy Award nominations for her stand-up comedy special Ellen DeGeneres: Here and Now.

A unique combination of kind and funny, Ellen DeGeneres became a popular choice to host major awards telecasts. She was tapped to host the Grammys in 1996 and 1997; the Primetime Emmys in 2001 and 2005; and the Academy Awards in 2007 and 2014. Underscoring her popularity, DeGeneres in 2009 was chosen to fill the coveted fourth slot as a judge on American Idol, replacing Paula Abdul.

DeGeneres is also the author of several books, including My Point ... and I Do Have One (1995) and Seriously ... I'm Kidding (2011). Her film work slowed after her talk show took off, but she returned to the studio for production ofFinding Dory, set for a 2016 release.
Personal Life

For several years, DeGeneres dated actress Anne Heche and, in 1999, the couple bought a home in Los Angeles. Although at one point they publicly announced their desire to be married, the couple broke up in August 2000.

DeGeneres then dated Alexandra Hedison for a few years before becoming involved with actress Portia de Rossi in December 2004. DeGeneres married de Rossi on August 16, 2008, in what was perhaps the highest-profile gay marriage after California legalized the unions

Read more »