I was born and raised in Yellow Springs, Ohio – home of Antioch College. My father was a wonderful actor and director and head of the Drama Department at Antioch for many years. My mother was very active in Civil Rights, Peace, and other social causes. I have two sisters, Barrie & Wendy and a brother, Tony, as well as my sibs-in-law, Peter, Anne and Migiwa.
I was fortunate to be just the right age at just the right time. In 1964 I drove out to San Francisco with a couple of friends to attend San Francisco State College. A friend got us an apartment in the Haight/Ashbury district. At that time, it was just a quiet student/family neighborhood. At the time that I was going to SF State, Stephen Gaskin was teaching English and his Monday Night Class hadn’t started yet.
My first apartment was on Page St. along the Panhandle of Golden Gate Park. In March of 1965, my mother called me from Selma, and encouraged me to join my parents and sister there for the now-famous March to Montgomery – which I did. It was a life-changing experience, being there a few days before the march. Every evening we gathered at Brown Chapel and heard many of the iconic leaders of the movement speak. We always ended the evening by folding our arms and holding hands, singing “We Shall Overcome.”
I’ve often said that Berkeley was Ground Zero for Radicals, who were trying to change the world, and San Francisco State was Ground Zero for Hippies, who were trying to create a world. I feel fortunate to have been in the Haight during the very beginning when we were exploring new ways of being in the world that reflected a new perspective, based on Love, Peace and compassion for our fellow humans. I have never stopped my quest for a world based on the goodness of the human heart.
My life experiences took me to many places, including British Columbia (Vancouver and Argenta – a Quaker community in the West Kootenays) Toronto, Buffalo, Washington, DC, Charlottesville – and then back to Yellow Springs in 1996. Along the way, I had the good fortune of having a beautiful daughter, Nathania, who is currently getting a Masters in Social Work at Ohio State. She and Aubury Longenecker are engaged to be married this coming Summer!
When I moved back to Yellow Springs, I became the coordinator of the public access channel there. As such, I produced a lot of different programs about the Village. If you know anything about Yellow Springs, you know that it is a vibrant community dedicated to the arts in its many forms and to enriching the community experience.
I have created this website to bring together all of my creative endeavors in a way that they can be shared. If you choose to subscribe to my site, simply go to the “Subscribe” tab and follow the directions.
Enjoy!
Patti