I just drove home, on this beautiful full moon California night in June, from a meeting at the AFL-CIO Labor Hall in Salinas with the Safe Strawberry Working Group. When I got home, I said hello to my dogs, poured three fingers of Chivas Regal in my glass, and read over the news and information […]
New State Report on Pesticide Use Near Schools Read More »
At Lighthouse Field in Santa Cruz, CA last weekend, we discovered a Leak in the SpaceTime Continuum. A phone booth from another dimension materialized on the field, and we were able to listen to voicemails from the many possible future threads unwinding out of the chaos created by unfolding Climate Change. Some of the voicemails
Leaks in Space Time, Future Games, and Water Read More »
“What is the Northwest? Anywhere the salmon can get to.” Timothy Egan. A Year Without Rain This year, there is so little water in the streams and rivers that the Coho Salmon had to be rescued by volunteers from the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project. Ground Hog Day. Today we had the first real
“The health of our waters is the principal measure of how we live on the land.” Luna Leopold This weekend, the University of California Santa Cruz Common Ground Center (“Education for a Just and Sustainable World”) sponsored a series of programs about restoring our watersheds. The keynote speaker was Brock Dolman of Occidental Arts &
Our Watershed as a Lifeboat, Our Whole Earth Watershed, “Planet Water” Read More »
I have been working on writing my novel, The Death of the Gecko, for the past two years. It’s an eco thriller about how ordinary people become accidental environmental activists when that which they hold sacred is assaulted. Imagine Erin Brokovich, Nevada Barr, and Margaret Coel going salsa dancing with the Lorax and Neil Gaiman’s
May 23, 2012 – work in progress Read More »
The following two chapters are excerpted from my novel, The Fruit of the Devil. Teachers at the school where I worked in 1998 were forbidden to have any contact or dialogue with the strawberry growers whose fields surrounded our school, even though students and teachers were ill, and it was highly probable that the cancer,
The Pesticide Chapters Read More »
I’ve been rubbing shoulders with genius. I’m a huge admirer of Luis Valdez of Teatro Campisino. His work influenced my novel. This Fall, I went to see his brilliant Valley of the Heart (Oh, you MUST see it!) in San Juan Bautista, and he graciously consented to this photo. (Swoon) The San Francisco Lit
Luis Valdez, Anne Perry and Jack London Read More »
Almost winter. The fruit trees in our yard are bare. The chickens are molting and laying no eggs. I’m revising. I got my manuscript back from editor Leonard Tourney. Not only an editor and literature professor but also a thriller novelist himself, he gave me some breakthrough insights. Pacing. No info dumping. So, what to
Does anyone have any pear recipes? Our magical fairy pear tree exploded with pears this August. Raining down sweet perfect pears by the hundreds. I’ve been giving away as many as possible, and trying to make sure Joe and I eat at least one a day. Please, leave your pear recipes here. My neighbor Beth’s
Pregnant with Pears Read More »
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” — Theodore Roosevelt August already… the “golden rollin’ hills of California” People have told me that my working title, Death of the Gecko, is confusing because it sounds like a story about the Southwest, which it is not. So, after brainstorming with a friend,
Title Change and Revision Read More »
I’m thinking of adding a tag line to the title of my novel: The Death of the Gecko, “Fruit of the Devil”, “La Fruta del Diablo”. That’s what the freseros, the people who pick in the strawberry fields, call strawberries. Strawberries are a beautiful fruit, and very nutritious, when grown organically. Fruit is one of
The Santa Barbara Writers Conference was an outstanding experience. I took the Pacific Coast Starlight down to the conference. Salinas to Santa Barbara. Good solitary writing time in the observation car. Interesting characters on the train. Beautiful landscapes, never seen from the highway. California Coast from the train One of the highlights for me
The Santa Barbara Writers’ Conference Read More »
I’m at the Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference. Today was Agent’s Day. I met with five agents, who each read my first five pages and heard my pitch. All of the agents were shocked and amazed by the fact that methyl bromide and chloropicrin are still being used to grow strawberries. All felt strongly that the
I attended a lecture last night at UCSC on Brain, Mind, and Consciousnes – part of a fascinating week-long conference. The speakers were Nora Bateson, daughter of Gregory Bateson (An Ecology of Mind) and Dr. David Presti, neuroscientist and UC Berkley professor, who has been teaching neuroscience to Tibetan monks in India at the request
when fiction bleeds into reality Read More »
Yesterday I Came Out. Five of my very knowledgeable and astute friends accepted copies of the First Draft of The Death of the Gecko to read and critique. After writing “in the closet” for two and a half years, it was a very exhilarating and scary feeling to expose my work to other people. Being
Coming Out: Exultation and Sorrow Read More »