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Writers West of AlamedaAlameda, CA 94501 |
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MEMBERS BIOGRAPHIES AND PHOTOS in no particular or logical order |
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Tony Bellotti | After thinking for nearly a year about his interest in writing, Tony
Bellotti said the following: |
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Gretchen Fleischer | Gretchen is a longtime member and the current Treasurer. Her publishing credits include two articles in Yoga Journal, play reviews for the Alameda Times Star, four live websites and a blog about her vacation to Ireland between Imbolc and Beltane, 2005. She's working on a book of short stories and a novel, her magnum opus (thanks, E.B.!) Her degrees and credentials include a Bachelor of Arts in French, an (unused) teachers credential, and a wall full of diplomas issued by alternative healing modalities. Of course she is a minister in the Universal Life Church. She can also add and subtract using an abacus, and (in yet another fit of positive thinking) is learning to play the Celtic harp. Her day jobs have included various occupations in relocaton counseling, production planning for a garment manufacturer, administration stuff, and once upon a time (for two years) called bingo in a real-life casino (even though the novelty wore off in two weeks.) She is the Founder, first president and executive director of Frank Bette Center for the Arts, right here in Alameda. |
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Violet Grayson | Violet says of her writing, "My star rose early. At the age of fourteen, I wrote a poem and a rather dismal short story which I sent to Collier's Magazine. They rejected it, but I redeemed my pride by winning a school-wide essay contest in high school. I was also made an at-large reporter for the school newsletter, The Chronicle. In my senior year, I served as Literary Editor for our yearbook. One of my teachers wanted me to switch to the college course, saying he was sure I could win a scholarship to a school of journalism, but that was too much of a reach for me. Instead, I took an office job after graduation in 1943 until my first marriage in 1949." Thirty-seven years later in January of 1986 at the age of sixty, Violet launched her free-lance writing career. Since that time, she has had eleven personal experience stories, five articles, four how-to pieces and four short stories published in magazines. She also wrote twelve columns for The Foxboro Reporter, a weekly newspaper in her former home of Foxboro, MA. She's a frequent contributer to "Two Cents," an opinion column in The San Francisco Chronicle. In September 2006, Violet's book In the Village of Lonsdale was published by Trafford Publishing. Click here to read more on her Trafford webpage. |
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Patsy Paul | "What America Means to Me" was the eighth grade essay that won a first place trophy. Later writing became my therapy and it still is, writing three pages daily. My current work is an allegorical fantasy journey of discovery. Some of my poetry and a short story were included in a writing class anthology published by the teacher and the class. |
![]() | Monty Heying | I earned a business degree and began a corporate finance career in Texas, then
migrated to Northern California in my mid-thirties, where I married and raised two daughters. The San Francisco Bay Area is where I now reside, but Texas will always be home. |
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Patti Heimburger |
Patti said."I was reintroduced to creative writing at the age of 40 when I returned to college and took the required English Literature courses for a BA degree and enjoyed them. I later promised to take on a family writing project for my Mother at the end of her life. Since then have been working on this for years, incorporating more relatives with their warts and all. |
![]() | FORMER MEMBERS BIOGRAPHIES AND PHOTOS in no particular or logical order |
Irv Hamilton | After completing a tour in the Army as a military journalist in Europe, Irv came back to the States and took a position as a copy writer for the 3M Company in his home town of Chicago. That led to a series of corporate marketing assignments in New York and San Francisco. After spending a few years working for advertising agencies, he started his own, which served an array of clients for more than 25 years. He is now a senior vice president with an Oakland-based marketing firm called Placemaking Group which specializes in tourism and economic-development programs. |
![]() | Morton Chalfy | Mort Chalfy was born in the Bronx, NY and brought up in the Bronx and Long Beach, NY. He has traveled extensively throughout the US, living in Florida most of his adult life but in Texas as well and now in the San Francisco Bay Area. He remains in heart and in speech a boy from the Bronx. |
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IN MEMORIUM Phyllis Greenwood |
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, four Russian grandparents, one sister. Nine aunts and uncles. A prodigy, attended special school for prodigies, public high school, Brooklyn College, Antioch College, U. C. Berkeley, John F. Kennedy U. Four master's degrees. Licensed therapist, teacher, meeting facilitator, organizer, administrator, artist, writer and editor. Three husbands. Two children, two grandchildren. Lived in Ohio, Chicago, Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda. A lefty. An enthusiast of the spiritual life. Started reading and writing at 3, still doing it. Body old, mind young and full of fervor.
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