Rash Acts . . .

—From CB— Having moved from maniacal lifelong focus in theatre—63 years that art form being the center of my life—to prose fiction, it takes multiple stimuli to get me back into the old familiar harness. But it’s happened. At a local party, someone from an arts center...

Risk and Courage . . .

—From EF—         On May 24, 2014, our son Eli and his lady Meg had a beautiful wedding for which they did their own planning: Quaker-style in the redwood circle at Stern Grove, and the attending throng were a testament to the many spheres in which their lives move....

Losing My Shirt . . .

—From CB— How do you lose your shirt? Playing blackjack, obviously, or just being me. My heavy brown plaid shirt, which I wear on chilly California days like a jacket over a regular shirt, is almost an acquired racial characteristic—not a card-carrying person of...

Long Strong Shirt-tails . . .

—From EF—          In my family searching, I have already found plenty of roots of my own life in art. My brother plays orchestral tuba. My dad and mom both had music as a strong part of their lives. My sister is a quilting artist of great repute. But where does my...

Certainty . . .

—From CB— I hate, loathe, despise making decisions. Whether it’s a major life event or the choice of using an Oxford comma, the moment has all the appeal of the electric chair. In creative work, all is relative, yet there are countless decisions before lights go up on...

Boundaries & Horizons . . .

—From EF— Recently I read an essay by Barry Lopez in The Sun that impacted me deeply. Barry Lopez is a writer perhaps best known for Arctic Dreams, which won the National Book award in 1986; his most recent work is Horizon, relating his epic travels from the Pacific...

Anniversary . . .

—From CB— Last Thursday we celebrated our 59th anniversary. Cornish hens, a good Chardonnay, a fire in the fireplace, and Elizabeth suggested a challenge: that we each speak of times—make it seven, as something to aim for—when we recall the other being especially...

Father . . .

—From EF— I am doing my best to assemble the halves of who I am. Eighteen months ago I met my mother’s son for the first time, thanks to Ancestry DNA. For forty years I had worked to discover my blood-root, the woman whose womb carried me, and though she had...

The Compulsion of Stories . . .

  —From CB— With Elizabeth and others, I’ve written 50 produced plays (ye gods, I just counted!), over 200 sketches, 40+ short stories, and now working on the seventh novel—not to mention countless press releases and grant applications (another form of story-telling)...

Fires Again . . .

 —From EF— Friday, people were already wearing masks downtown; I saw one young woman in a stylish paisley model. The fire was thirty miles north, but the air was already dense. Sebastopol is south and west of the last two years’ infernos, and we have a cooler, damper...