Rough Cut: {The True Story of “Prudenciana” Elementary School} A California History snapshot: Designed and painted by artist Guillermo Aranda, Mary Flodin, and Amesti GATE students in the late 1990’s, the mural above depicts the cultural and natural history of the land where the school was built, from the time of the native Ohlones through […]
Rough Cut: Prudenciana Elementary School Read More »
Rough Cut: {The Heroine of my Story: Aurora Bourne} Please tell me what you think of Aurora. I’d really appreciate your feedback! Aurora surfs. A young friend of mine, a women’s champion surfer, vetted my surf scenes. They were fun to write. But my editor says they don’t do anything to “move the plot”. Most
Rough Cut: Introducing my Protagonist Read More »
Rough Cuts: {Watsonville Brown Berets, a snippet cut from Fruit of the Devil. This is a true story from back in the day . . .} Sunday morning, August 28, 1998. Prudenciana Elementary School. Watsonville. Aurora opened the door to the computer lab. Jose Santos, the new technology assistant, was down on his hands and
Rough Cut: The Shipper/Packer/Cooler Industry and the Brown Berets Read More »
I went down to West Cliff Drive in the rain this morning to watch wild twenty-foot surf pound the cliffs. Waves raised by this latest winter storm were so huge they crashed all the way up onto the road, spraying foam and leaving seaweed on the street and sidewalk. Nevertheless, there were lots of people
Our Safe Strawberry Working Group met last night at the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council Offices in Salinas with the Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner, Eric Lauritzen and seven other county, state, and federal pesticide regulatory officials. This meeting was a follow-up to the June 2 public meeting that overflowed the Cesar Chavez library in Salinas,
Don’t hold your breath waiting for politicians to move this country to sustainable energy policies. Focus on the marketplace if you want to help our country transition to sustainable energy. Right now is the perfect time to go solar if you own a house. We did it, and we love watching our electric meter run
Electric Cars Spark Change Read More »
I’ve taken the last 6 months away from my novel to go back to classroom teaching in the Pajaro River Valley. My middle school classroom – a well-equipped computer lab in a state-of-the-art Google Classroom paperless school – is surrounded by agricultural fields. Many of my 7th and 8th grade students are children of freseros
Organic and Sustainable Agriculture – Re-Designing the Food System Read More »
In 2010, I retired from public school teaching after 25 + years of service and started writing my novel about pesticide exposure near schools in the Pajaro Valley. This December, I learned that a long-time friend/colleague of mine who’s been teaching adjacent to strawberry fields in Watsonville for 30 years has been battling cancer. When
Nothing’s Changed, but This Changes Everything Read More »
It was our great honor and pleasure to celebrate this New Year with Congressman Sam Farr and his friends at Sam’s family ranch in Big Sur, California. Camped out on an exquisite piece of undeveloped land perched on the edge of the Pacific, we witnessed the procession of epic numbers of California Grey Whales south
Congressman Sam Farr Bringing in the New Year at Big Sur Read More »
3rd Year of Restoration, 2065, A.G.W.D. * Recording #568-e from the archived collection of Dr. Melody A. Escobar, Anthropologist Narrator: Yáahl, an old Storyteller, Age and Tribe Unknown. Claiming to be from Naadaayi Héen a Tayee, the Village on the River Under the River, an area not locatable by GPS Tape 3: Frogs in a
Climate Change Facts: Message from the Future. Read More »
The photo above is linked to a Community TV YouTube broadcast of four scientists discussing the question: How Global Warming is Changing our World. Have we already triggered tipping points from which there is no going back? I sought the advice of these and several other esteemed climate scientists when writing the following excerpt from
Tipping Points: How Global Warming is Changing Our World Read More »
PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION AT http://bit.ly/1pkc8oC to urge EARTHBOUND FARM to Support Measure J! Don’t Frack My Salad! Little San Benito County, California, is engaged in a David and Goliath struggle with the Oil Industry over fracking. San Benito is a scenic and historically significant county, with priceless agricultural and ranch lands. It supports a
Don’t Frack My Salad Read More »
Mid July, I traveled to Seattle to the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Conference, as a finalist in their annual writing competition. I spent four days in the Hilton, attending workshops, meeting people, and pitching my novel to agents and editors. The last evening of the conference, Joe flew up to join me at the awards
Competition Finalist at the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Conference Read More »
“Ring the bell that you can ring forget your perfect offering there is a crack in everything that’s how the light gets in” – Anthem by Leonard Cohen I worked on writing my story every day for three years, from 2010 to 2013. Then, last Fall, I took a full time teaching job with a
Thanks for your continued interest in my novel! I had to take an online teaching job this year to make some money, so I didn’t get to work on revisions as much as I wanted to – but, maybe it’s a good thing to let it “cool off” awhile. I’m currently on REVISION 10. I’ve
When Will Your Novel Be Published? When Can I Read It? Read More »