Charlene Anderson - Salt-and-Pepper Art (Poetry); Some Favorite Scenes (Visual Arts)
Charlene is a San Francisco resident and an OLLI member. She received a Master’s degree in English Literature from Purdue University. After working at the Indianapolis Public Library for some time, she moved to San Francisco and worked at UCSF for over 30 years, most recently as a grant analyst managing a large NIH grant. She wrote and co-published a novel entitled, Berkeley’s Best Buddhist Bookstore, and recently completed a novella, The Only Road in Sight. She has been a member of the OLLI Writers’ Circle for several years. |
Kaaren Strauch Brown - The Grace Garden Ghost (Fiction)
Kaaren is a retired Professor of Social Work, post retirement museum docent and a recent transplant to San Francisco. After annoying her fellow sixth graders with her fiction many, many years ago, she has returned to writing. Her science fiction book, The Abril Legacy, is available at Amazon E-Books. |
Juanita Callejas - Mintgreen Kitchens (Poetry - Bay Area Stew); Hazel (Visual Arts)
As a universal traveler in both mind and body, Juanita has explored a variety of destinations to get to her current “port” of creative writer. Her passport has been stamped as a Mexican-Nicaraguan First-Generation native-born San Franciscan mother of three, amazing visual artist, Alumna of SFSU (BA in Spanish; BS in International Business and Accounting) and UC Berkeley (MBA), Finance and HR professional, and grandmother of one amazing grandson. She continues to add pages to her passport for trips to all continents and more visual art and creative writing projects! |
Al Crowell - Senior Camp (Fiction)
Writing fiction has been a fun and difficult retirement occupation for Al. During his marriage counseling practice he wrote and published two self-help books concerning relationships. Wanting more creative freedom after retirement, he spent a few years becoming a ceramic sculptor—which was pure joy—and also took up fiction writing. The many shapes of relating are frequent themes in both of these art forms. “OLLI seems now after 8 years to be the place I have learned all I know,” he says. Humor and universal themes of aging, loving, sex, afterlife, and religion are reflected in his three e-books listed on Amazon. |
Lisa Dollar - Fountain of Dreams: A Fable (Fiction)
An explorer by nature, Lisa Dollar’s inner callings to make sense of her world have flung her wide—Africa, India, Latin America and the former Soviet Union, including a three-week International Peace March to the nuclear testing ground at Semipalatinsk—often accompanied only by a Lonely Planet Guide. Earth is her beloved and sacred home. Born in Nicaragua, she lives in San Francisco with her equally curious cat Pahti, who accompanied her home from a sojourn in Mexico. |
Elsa Fernandez - The Blue Shirt (Poetry); Real Men Drink Whiskey; (Poetry)
Elsa grew up in Asia. She has lived in San Francisco since 1970 and never gets tired of this lovely city. She has travelled the world and still gets excited flying back home and to finally land at SFO. Her family is scattered around the world—India, Australia, Dubai, England, Ireland and Argentina. She is a political junkie and majored in Journalism and Political Science. She loves music and plays the piano quite well (one of her dreams was to own a piano bar in upcountry Maui… she would probably call it the Maui Moon!). Writing poetry is an emotional outlet for her. |
Cathy Fiorello - Life Along the Way: Out-of-Sync & In-Sync (Nonfiction)
Cathy’s passions are food, Paris, and writing. A morning at a farmers' market is her idea of excitement. Visiting Paris is her idea of heaven. And much of her writing is about food and Paris. She worked in book and magazine publishing in New York, freelanced for magazines during her child-rearing years, then re-entered the work world as an editor. She moved to San Francisco ten years ago and published a memoir, Al Capone had a Lovely Mother. She has two children, one on each coast, and four grandchildren, two on each coast. Her mission is to make foodies and Francophiles of them all. |
Roberta Greifer - Bobbily Do (Nonfiction)
Roberta worked as a librarian with the San Francisco Public Library for 28 years in both the Main Library and its branches. For 5 and 1/2 years, after she retired, she lived in Pennsylvania where she took care of her ailing parents, returning to San Francisco in 2012. While in Pennsylvania she was a prizewinner in the Ardmore Public Library Poetry Contest in 2007 as well as receiving a 2010 award for one of her poems in Philadelphia Poets. In addition to being published in their 2008 and 2010 journals, her poems have been published in Room, Quixote and The Santa Clara Review. One of her poems was also included in Prompted, an anthology published by Philadelphia Stories in 2010. |
Mary Heldman - Collage (Visual Arts); Don't Leave Baggage Unintended (Fiction)
Mary is retired from a career in medical school administration, computer programming, and business systems analysis. She grew up in Los Angeles, but lived in Palo Alto, Washington D.C., Cambridge, and Stony Brook, New York before settling in San Francisco in 1974. She tutors at a local high school, studies piano, and designs costume jewelry. From time to time she writes sardonic prose for her friends. Mary wishes she lived with a chocolate lab or a golden retriever, but she doesn’t. |
Mary Hunt - Bob Marley's Cousin or .... (Nonfiction)
Mary Hunt worked at SFSU for twenty years, first in the College of Business Graduate Office and then in the Office of Research as IRB Administrator. Previously, she worked in music and media production. During her tenure at SF State, she raised a delightful daughter and also earned an MA in humanities, focusing on comparative culture. She has been an OLLI member and volunteer for three years. After taking an OLLI course in short article writing, she has had several articles published by neighborhood and online magazines. She is currently a volunteer on the Editorial Board of Vistas and Byways. Her interests include yoga, dance, travel, and looking things up in the Chicago Manual of Style. |
Vivian Imperiale - The Guide Post (Poetry); Hide and Seek (Poetry)
Vivian’s interest in mental health began when a man with schizophrenia was randomly assigned to her bowling team. Without knowing anything about schizophrenia, she used her instincts and was the first person to reach through to him in seven years. She then began studying and connected with the National Alliance on Mental Illness where she soon was leading their family support group and subsequently became president of the San Francisco and California affiliates and editor of their newsletters. In 1994 she received an award from the American Psychiatric Association “for her commitment and dedication to improve the understanding and care of those with mental illness.” She went on to have a rewarding career in vocational rehabilitation for those with psychiatric disabilities. All that from a chance encounter… |
Patricia Koren - Urban Forest (Photography - Visual Arts)
Patricia has been absorbed in the visual arts for the past 40 years. After receiving an MFA in photography, she became a graphic designer and worked for several different magazines, then founded Kajun Design, where she still works part-time. The last few years she has reconnected to her earlier passion for photography. Three of her photo series may be viewed at camerawalks.com. |
Mike Lambert - Lola: Waitress of My Dreams (Fiction - Bay Area Stew)
Mike is a long-time resident of San Francisco and led the effort to start Vistas & Byways in the fall of 2015. In an earlier life, he worked in the telecommunications industry for 35 years and taught at SFSU’s College of Business for 15 years. He refutes the adage about old dogs and new tricks. He took up creative writing as a hobby at age 75. He recently self-published two novels and a collection of his short stories. His main fictional character is Jessica Jones, a single working girl in contemporary San Francisco. See his Author page at Amazon under the name of M. L. Lambert for more details. |
Margaret Liddell - Roomers, Hog Headcheese and Other Foul Odors (Nonfiction);
Virgil's Eye: The Authorized Version (Nonfiction) After retiring from teaching elementary school, Margaret decided to take classes at OLLI San Francisco to try writing. Her memories of growing up in Chillicothe, Ohio turned into pages and pages of stories. Margaret has a great love of traveling to distant places with her family and also enjoys returning to her hometown to reminisce with lifelong friends. Her stories have appeared in Eleven Voices, the OLLI Journal, and a chapbook. |
Hank Miller - D. C. to Dixie (Nonfiction)
Hank Miller is a photographic artist who holds a BS in Business Administration from Auburn University, a Certificate from the New York Institute of Photography and Lifetime Teaching Credential, California Community Colleges, in Art and Design including Photography-UCSD Hank is a world traveler, instructor, and professional photographer for clients in Marin County, CA, and in Hawaii. Hank also instructs classes for the local community college and continuing education. Hank’s passion is photography. Hank has published a book on Digital Photography for Travelers available online. Hank was recently selected to be Artist in Residence, Hubbell Trading Post National Monument, Az, and Ghost Ranch, NM. |
Don Plansky - No Presents for Mr. Don (Nonfiction)
Don has been an active member of the OLLI at SF State interest group, the Writers Circle, for the past few years. He has also participated in many writer workshops at OLLI. In a former incarnation, he worked as a freelance journalist, contributing more than 200 articles to The Jewish Bulletin of Northern California, as well as book reviews for The Pacific World: Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies. |
Michèle Praeger - An Arresting Beauty : A Fable (Fiction) Michèle was born in England and brought up in France. Now she resides in the USA. She wrote two essays on fiction and culture. Now she writes fiction herself. Michèle was published in 11 Voices and recently published a collection of flash fiction, Baby,You Can Drive My Car, Blue Light Press, 2015. |
Jan Robbins - Rescue, Liberate, Rehabilitate (Nonfiction)
Jan felt like a native the minute she landed in California from New York in the early 70s. She helped start the first rape crisis center in Marin County. Then she went on to found one of the first on-site corporate chair massage companies in 1985 and was recognized in Time magazine. With degrees in Sociology and Psychology, she remains ever fascinated by the complexities in the human condition. Her two children and two grandchildren live in Thousand Oaks and Los Angeles. |
Rodney J. Shapiro - Yesterday (Poetry)
Rodney was born and raised in South Africa. After High School he worked as a journalist and published several short stories and articles. He also taught English Literature as a part-time school teacher, but ultimately decided on psychology as a career. He graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, with a PhD in 1965. He immigrated to the USA in 1966. His professional career included faculty positions as Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester, NY, and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. While dedicated to his profession of clinical psychology, his recreational pursuits have included long distance running, travel, devotion to pets, and amateur photography. His primary reverence is for writing prose and poetry. |
Pat Skala - Parking Lot Angel (Nonfiction - Bay Area Stew )
Pat is a native San Franciscan (only 3 generations) and a graduate of SFSC. Note the "C". Had she waited a year longer to graduate it would be a "U". She is a retired City employee and she and her husband live in the house that her grandparents built in 1927. She is a gardener, a quilter and an avid jigsaw puzzle person. Although she would love to be a star on Moth Radio, she limits her story telling to friends and family. Her stories are all true and focus on what she thinks of as "angels": People who come into our lives ever so briefly, but who tell us or give us something we need or point us in a better direction. |
Steve Surryhne - Live Fast (Poetry)
Steve was an Associate Lecturer in English Literature at San Francisco State University from 1993-2012. He is currently semi-retired, and has recently returned to writing poetry. A native of San Francisco, he was a baby-beat in the sixties, knew some of the beat poets and is now a neo-beat. In his alternate career, he worked in Community Mental Health in San Francisco from 1979-2012. He took first place in the Jack Kerouac Poetry Contest in 2015 and has published in The Blue Moon Review and Interpretations. He is currently working on a project with a photographer friend on poem-texts and photos. |
Allen Wilson - Poem with Woodpecker (Poetry); Brancusi's Daughter (Poetry)
Allen Wilson has, by turn, been a dishwasher, farm laborer, stock clerk, piano teacher, telephone salesman, court clerk, statistical typist, administrative assistant, construction estimator, grant writer, consultant to public and private non-profit organizations, executive director, and contract administrator. He’s a graduate of San Francisco State University (MA Humanities, 1970), married (49.25 years), has an adult daughter, is currently semi-retired trying to figure out what he wants to do when or if he grows up. He writes poetry because that’s what the voices in his head tell him to do. |