Summer (& Fall) Shenanigans
Museletter :: Summer 2025
““Summer’s lease hath all too short a date.” — Shakespeare
My summer was tremendously amuse-ing (California trips with mountains, oceans, cities, and redwoods; perfume lectures and museums, movies, thrift shops, restaurants, movies, hikes, historic haunts, whale watching, rock collecting) until it wasn’t (ear infection, microbiome-blasting meds, Covid, plus the former game show host and convicted felon is finding new ways to try to kill us and where are those Epstein files?) Kids are all back to school, but before summer is officially over I’d best hit send on this round-up!
Looking back on this spring, I am somewhat in awe of how much I accomplished, setting goals and keeping pedal to the proverbial metal like I knew what I was doing. I tried to stay focused on the world I want to be in, even when it felt like the one we share was falling apart. Since the spring Museletter…
Our Literary Avengers Earth Day Write-In on April 19th was awesome
I interviewed Cory Doctorow for Writing to Resist in May! (Watch it, it’s really good and also Carol Queen is a revelation to me! And David Hoper a great discovery.)
We elected the legendary Barbara Lee as mayor of Oakland—big relief—and
I held my own (paper) Tank Parade on Flag aka No Kings Day.
(Yes, I used that header intentionally. We all need to put the punishment model behind us.) In May and June, there was the Mother of All Launches and these are the wonderful things that are now in the world:
The Winning Family Audiobook — I’m having trouble keeping up with all the positive comments people are making!!! One I heard twice in one day was, “wish I’d read this sooner.” I’m glad so many of you are reading it, now or whenever! It’s 50% off on Audiobooks.com through the end of August!
Mom’s signature course, How to Improve Self-Esteem in Your Family … it’s amazing to have her back in action, take a sneak peek and see if you know someone who could use what one attendee in the Air Force called, “The best thing that has ever happened in my life.”
My own course, Monday Meeting Magic, for running efficient family meetings*
The Uplift Family Playbook is taking a loooong time to get to Amazon but you can get the paperback, digital, or spiral-bound versions right here. I love that I got more of my pictures out into the world!
All of these are bundled together in the Uplift Family Upshift!
Also I launched a podcast…have you had a listen toThe Whining Family yet? There are only two episodes out so far, one with my grown son Donald who tells some embarassing (okay, hilarious) family secrets…and one about how the family can be a place to build Democracy skills. More on the way!
THANK YOU to all of you who followed the launch! You are the wind beneath these flabby wings!
* Monday Meeting Magic, The Winning Family, and Perfectly Revolting are new additions to The Library this summer! Paid subscribers can access complete books and videos.
I'm doing a little too much in the next 2 months but there’s momentum going and it should be fun. Sadly, I won’t be hosting my beloved Poet’s Parlor in September, or even attending the annual Gatsby picnic. (Decophiles, check out my conversation with Laurie Gordon about what happened after she coordinated the Preservation Ball in April. I’m taking a some heat for this interview.) But it’s mostly because I’m giving a talk that day!
“For the Love of Mr. Miller” at Pardee House 9/14
Meeting the amazing women in Joaquin Miller’s anti-Gilded Age life for a tapestry of inspiration. From the legendary Paquita, his Wintu bride, to Miriam Leslie, the first female Gilded Age tycoon, to his daughter Juanita, the "White Witch of Oakland," we'll meet the dozen or more famous poets, actresses, heiresses, most of whom hit the headlines as this prolific artist’s muses. Tickets $25 | benefit for the Pardee Home.
Pop-up Shop & Gatherings at Mills Reunion 9/19 & 9/20
Come get some books from my Traveling Bookstore at the “Mills Marketplace” during lunch on Holmgren Meadow on Friday, September 19, from 12:00 - 2:00 pm. Join me later that evening at the epic Darius Millhaud concert, and come to the reception afterwards. I’ve gotten religious about this event, not only to support the remnants of Mills’ legendary music program, but to learn more modern music history. As I’m studying Paris in the 1920s, his name keeps popping up with “Les Six,” a group of composers who pushed the envelope. Milhaud escaped Nazis by coming to Mills in 1940, and was Dave Brubeck’s teacher there.
On Saturday evening, September 20th, let’s have a beer off campus at the second annual “Ghosts of Mills” hangout.
Dirndl Fashion Show at Oaktoberfest 10/5
Our first Dirndl Day in the Dimond was a huge success last year, and we're going to do it again! We're going to need volunteers, prize donations, and most importantly...contestants for our Dirndl (etc.) Fashion Show on Sunday, October 5th at 2:15pm on the Family Stage. Say you're coming on Facebook! We’re adding a new judging category called "Etcetera," to welcome traditional/national costumes from all of the cultures represented in our neighborhood!
So grab some friends and beer tickets! Once again, there will be a $100 cash prize for a handmade dirndl inspired by The Dirndl Diaspora. (Not in Oakland? Host a Dirndl Diversity Fashion Show where you are!)
Movie Night at the Alteneheim, 10/10
On Friday, October 10th from 7-9pm, The Dirndl Diaspora is showing at the Altenheim, the historic "old folks home" in the Dimond. This should be a fun afterparty, and I hope people also dress up for the event. Get your (free) tickets today! Not in Oakland? Contact me about hosting a showing where you are. You can also watch it right here on this very screen!
“In the Hights” Literary Arts Festival in Joaquin Miller Park, 10/12
At the turn of the last century, Joaquin Miller held “bandit barbecues” at his artist’s retreat known as “The Hights” — now known as Joaquin Miller Park. Miller and other Bay Area writers in the 1890s “Oakland gang” called their readings and skits “jinks.” Join us for a community-sourced meal orchestrated by James Farais of Indigenous Edibles and get to know the Friends of Joaquin Miller Park, an organization of dedicated park volunteers. Stay for a short “lojinks festival” featuring local personalities and literary lights speaking California’s founding voices back into life, sponsored by the California Writers Club, founded in 1909.
Confirmed readers/performers include historian Richard Schwartz, New CWC Berkeley Branch President & minister Debi Mason, historical creative Richelle Leiberman, District 5 councilwoman Janani Ramachandran, and Oakland Poet Laureate and world-rocker Ayodele Nzinga—more are coming! Hosted by Kristen Caven, CWC Writer in Residence at Joaquin Miller Park and host of www.millerlight.org. Come and check out the Berkeley Branch's new collection, the "California Writers Library" of rare books.
Guests, Performers, Sponsors: Register today for “In The Hights!” This event is free and open to the public with an RSVP.
Learn more and watch for more program info at https://tinyurl.com/HightsFest
All these events are theoretically on my events calendar on my website! Watch for invite links on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky and Linkedin!
After all the fun stuff here, I’m still hoping to hop the pond for a pilgrimage or two this fall. Itinerary is Rome, Paris, and stops in Germany, Switzerland, SudTyrol and Milan. Don’t worry, I’ll write about it (as I do) and take lots of pictures!
Until then I’m an armchair traveler (and time traveler). I mostly listen to audiobooks now. Here are some titles I recommend!
Bone Broth by Lyndsey Ellis - she worked on this riveting family story at my former writing spa, it’s a great read, get it in the CWC Bookshop.
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom & Lost Cause by Cory Doctorow - he’s such an energizing mind and did you see I interviewed him?
The Phoenix Crown by Jane Chiang - a historical thriller featuring four brilliant women united against a toxic tycoon against the backdrop of the 1906 quake.
Realms of Gold by George Rathmell - this was a find for me! Now I really understand California Writers… at least the first, second and third wave between 1850 and 1950! (See poster, above) Also I jammed this one into my eyes.
I also read
On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder - it’s short and we all need to learn from history and I also bought the hardback in an airport bookstore and read it in public for a few months because resistance is everywhere.
Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain) & James (Percival Everett) at the same time. A great conversation between two books but ultimately both disappointed me.
And a bunch of books about Paris!
The Ladies’ Paradise by Émile Zola. I figured I should read something by him since people say “From Aristotle to Zola” when talking about books. This was like watching Mr. Selfridge in my mind.
When Paris Sizzled by Mary McAuliffe is a romp of a “Who’s Who” of artists in the 1920s. Great companion piece to Realms of Gold. The lines between Paris and San Francisco are well drawn.
Paris, France by Gertrude Stein. I’m kind of mad that no one made me read this book before. It’s almost as hyper as my new Youtube comedy maker crush Micarah Tewers but about real things. Would be great as an animated cartoon.
But the best audiobook of ALL of course, is
The Winning Family: Where No One Has to Lose by ME and Dr. Louise Hart! “I am so happy for this two-generational edition of The Winning Family; it is a miraculous gift that validates its original power and includes everything we’ve learned in the past 35 years. It was far ahead of its time then, and is now timeless. The excitement, healing and shifts in perception—from fear-based parenting to love-based parenting—has changed many of my students’ lives.” —Nevin Valentine MA, Early Childhood College Instructor and Parent Educator
Thanks for keeping up with me, let me know what your muses are having YOU do under the stress of these times!
Love everyone around you, revel in abundance, see beyond sorrow, keep creating!
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