The Way of StoryJudging the Ojai Film Festival 2014
Ojai Film Festival 2014 The theme of our Ojai Film Festival is “Enriching the Human Spirit Through Film” and that is why for fourteen years, I have been a final judge for this particular film festival. No gratuitous violence or sex graces the screens at this festival. Each year we open with a free premiere […]
Werner Herzoz and daring to try
Werner Herzog is celebrated as one of the most influential and innovative filmmakers of our time, but his ascent to acclaim was far from a straight trajectory from privilege to power. Abandoned by his father at an early age, Herzog survived a WWII bombing that demolished the house next door to his childhood home and […]
CALAMITY JANE RIDES AGAIN!
Calamity Jane rides again! “I saw Calamity Jane on Sunday and I can’t stop thinking about it. It was as perfect a show as I’ve ever seen on our stage. What a cast! I couldn’t add more superlatives without heaping superlatives on superlatives. It was absolutely the most enjoyable theatre experience I’ve had in years.” […]
Esalen, Earthquakes, & Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle
Esalen Institute, Big Sur, CA Just returned from a terrific 5-days at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA where every August I teach The Way of Story: the craft & soul of writing workshop. Here a group of aspiring writers met in Big Sur at Esalen Institute, bathed blissfully in sulphur baths overlooking the Pacific […]
The Price of Genius: Robin Williams
The Price of Genius: Robin Williams The “crack” is where the light shines through! Asked to write for Psychology Today blog about Robin Williams, I wrote an article based on my talk earlier this month at the Creativity & Madness Conference. The talk was mainly about Virginia Woolf and her struggle with madness in a […]
Santa Fe: Creativity & Madness Conference 2014
Santa Fe, New Mexico Just returned from a stimulating stay in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Invited to stay with friends, I took this photo of their courtyard lotus pond with koi fish. When not attending the Conference, I would lay in a hammock and watch the pond, the varied show of passing clouds, and […]
Summer Workshops in CA
Catherine Ann Jones Heal Your Self with Writing workshop in Ojai, CA Our lives may be determined less by past events than by the way we remember them. Expressing and listening to one’s own life story is an ancient mode of healing. So how do we learn to listen more to the stories that heal? […]
Santa Barbara Writers Conference aftermath
Santa Barbara Writers Conference is an annual six-day writers conference, now in its 42nd year. The ghost of sci-fi author Ray Bradbury seemed hovering as though his recent death would not deter his presence as he had come every year for so many years. A few years ago, the Conference was about to go under […]
Esalen Institute, Big Sur, CA every August
The Way of Story, Aug 17-22, 2014 (and every August!) at Esalen in Big Sur, CA Experiencing Esalen: Fire under Water Awoke early at 4 a.m. and was pulled to the window. The ebb and flow of the ocean resounded gently, providing comfort. I […]