Dear Friends and Family, Stories are King As a kid I got grief from my family because my stories would always veered toward the dramatic. Since mine was a scientific family, facts were king. When my mother died a few years ago and I became the last living member of my nuclear family, I realized that my stories were now the stories. There was no one else to offer a different point of … Read More

  Dear Friends and Family, Ken Burns, the documentary film maker, says that communication only happens between people who see eye-to-eye, who see each other as equals and equally human. This sounds obvious, even a cliché, but it is very hard to do in practice when you take the full weight of this seriously, and to heart. For example, I’m doing a book event at S.F. State University later today – how will I … Read More

  Dear Friends and Family, It’s surprising, and somewhat disconcerting, when other people understand my books better than I do. Chris Ertel, author of the national bestseller ‘Moments of Impact; How to Design Strategic Conversations that Accelerate Change‘, told me that ‘The Secret Life of Clowns‘ addressed corporate “learning and development” in “a vivid and universal way.” Not what I was thinking when I wrote it. At recent Snow Clown readings, I’ve been getting … Read More

  Dear Friends and Family, 2019 has started fast for me and ‘The Snow Clown‘, with lots of book events and interviews (see below). In my spare time, I have, like you, been reading, listening to and watching stories about everything from the wonderfully diverse class of new U.S. Representatives to the government shutdown to the four beautiful circus/theater shows I attended in December. Stories are a hot topic in 2019, and not just … Read More

Dear Friends and Family, On Sunday, I finished performing in a three-week run of a wonderful circus/dance/music piece called ‘JOY!’; the next night my family lit the full menorah to celebrate the last day of Hanukkah. Some holiday light at the darkest time of the year.   The Power of Storytelling In a recent interview with the NY Times, Michelle Obama and Tracee Ellis Ross (“Black-ish”) talked about the power of storytelling: Michelle Obama: … Read More

Dear Friends and Family, In this Gazette: a FREE event, a Big Book sale, some holiday ‘JOY!’ and thoughts on the Politics of Human Connection – what more could you ask for? The Politics of Human Connection A few weeks ago, I was working a phone bank supporting progressive candidates. One guy started our conversation with, “I would never vote for a Democrat in my life.” I asked him why and he told me … Read More

Dear Friends and Family, Today’s virtual swag includes invitations to Dell’Arte International for a Snow Clown book event on October 20 and Medical Clown Project’s Grand CIRCUS Rounds at Laguna Honda Hospital on October 7. First, I have a few thoughts on living in the moment. “Be Here Now”, the deceptively simple idea that Ram Dass introduced to mainstream America in the early ‘70s, shows up in improv, education and even Judaism, sexist language … Read More

Dear Friends and Family, The Snow Clown has dropped! All of you who pre-ordered copies should have them in your hands soon; if you were waiting, now’s the time to get yours – thesnowclown.com, Books Inc. Alameda or Amazon. Everyone in the Bay Area please come join me for a reading at Books Inc. Alameda on November 8 at 7pm (come early – they ran out of chairs reading for The Secret Life of … Read More

  Dear Friends and Family, You are reading these words, my first e-newsletter, because you’ve also read The Secret Life of Clowns or because you’ve expressed interest in my work or because I really hope you’ll express interest in my work some day. If none of these are true, you still may want to get this monthly newsletter because there will be a gift in every one, virtual swag. This month’s swag is the … Read More