BIO
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I was born in Los Angeles, and attended public school in Berkeley, Los Angeles, Bellingham, (Washington) and Geneva (Switzerland).
My mother's parents were Ashkenazi Jewish. My father's ancestors were-- according to oral tradition-- French (Occitan), English, Scots-Irish, German, Swiss-Italian, "Black Dutch", and Native American. (Tribe uncertain--possibly Kickapoo and/or Cherokee.)
I grew up watching and listening to the stories around me, and letting them speak through me.
At the age of thirteen, I began a Buddhist meditation practice which has informed and anchored both my daily life and my ongoing investigations of humanity's relationship to spirit.
In my late teens and early twenties, I lived in London, Barcelona, and Spain, supporting myself by translating, teaching English and various other odd and interesting jobs.
Returning to San Francisco, I earned a B.A.
in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and worked in marketing, public relations, education and legal investigation, while performing and publishing poetry and short fiction.
Both my creative work and my teaching has been inevitably influenced by what I have learned in my travels about life, healing, collaboration and creativity. Teachers and influences have included Psychic Horizons ( San Francisco), Michael Harner's neoshamanism, Reiki Master Cheryl Coleman, Dona Lucia of the Mapuche people, Maria Apasa Machaca of the Q'ero Nation in Peru, and numerous others.
Since 2001, I have lived and worked in Argentina, Peru, Bolivia and California, writing and photographing for various news media, and teaching courses and workshops in writing, creativity and energy healing.