I was born with Spanish, Scotch-Irish, German, Ecuadorian, and West African genes. The sounds and rhythms of these cultures influenced me and my writing. I make music while I write using rhythm, silence, and beats.
As a child, my Andean nanny told me stories of St. Martin de Porres, the first black Catholic saint along with Snow White, Blanca Nieves. Internally, this opened up my world view that everyone is equal. The local library was my sanctuary and I read about five books a week. Often more. By the time I was eight, I wrote and illustrated books and was published in a children’s magazine.
Growing up, my best friend was Jewish, Lorna Pomeroy-Cook, and together we weathered an inhospitable environment in the San Fernando Valley. We easily shifted from one boisterous home to the other and survived by being artists, living apart from society.
As a young adult, I worked at NBC and The Tonight Show as a receptionist and writer’s assistant where I learned comic writing. The writers were hilarious pranksters who taught me how to write jokes, but under my desk was a copy of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. My passion for social justice spurred me to college where I studied photojournalism. Upon graduation, I sold my first photo assignment to Time Magazine, an essay on Jackie Onassis visiting families in the Watts ghetto. Jackie and Rosey Grier had hired me for this top-secret job.
Other assignments and jobs followed including work with the Los Angeles Times, Burda Publications, then as a writer for Don Bluth Productions (Disney). I moved to Northern California where I clerked at the Biblioteca Latinoamercana and wrote an Op-Ed that helped rally the community to build a new library and youth center. I became an arts and entertainment writer for The Mercury News. I interviewed some of the world’s greatest artists and developed a book on art and consciousness.
After a spinal injury, the project came to a halt, but I read case histories in medical libraries, exercised like hell, and developed a wholistic program to full recovery. I gained a new outlook on life which led me to study Zen and resume writing.
On Upwork’s Top Talent Cloud, I developed a worldwide scriptwriting business including screenplays, TV pilots, documentaries, short films, treatments, web videos and investigative scientific research. My first play Badass Women—The World’s First Ladies Strike Back, has had five readings in San Francisco and New York. I also wrote the screenplay.
The best decision I ever made, besides moving to Northern California, was to study Zen. I have studied Zen for twenty years and on August 10, 2025, I was ordained as a Sōtō Zen priest in the Suzuki Roshi lineage. My new teacher, Kyōshō Valorie Beer, has encouraged my free-spirited practice and creativity. Zen has made my voice stronger and life calmer.
Kannon Do Zen Center in Mountain View, California
ON AN AVERAGE DAY …
Aside from meditating, writing, and listening to music, I have a thriving dog care business. Below is Twinkie, a special needs pup with Cerebral Palsey.
My home is my sanctuary where neighborhood children and their dogs visit. I lead a simple and modest bilingual life.
I wake up, meditate forty minutes, stretch exercise, have breakfast, and write the rest of the morning. I love to play with words. I still get excited discovering new words like gruñion which means crabby man in Spanish! By noon, I’m at my beloved JCC, the Jewish Community Center, where I rock out in Zumba!, salsa, and spin classes. I also swim laps and exercise on resistance machines in the training room. Not all in one day!
The rest of the day, I eat healthy, write some more and take nature walks to ease my soul. Below is a magic leaf which seemed to be dancing in the air.
Once a month, I attend a Cosmology/Astro Physics group on Zoom that sparks my neurons. We discuss the latest quantum theories, neutrinos, and how time stops in a black hole. This is my kind of a book club! We study Carlo Rovelli, Stephen Hawking, and keep up with the Webb Telescope. Below is a Webb image showing us the billions of galaxies in the universe.
By eight p.m., I wind down from the day’s events by reading a book with a dog nestled at my side. But wait! Sprinkled throughout the day are phone conversations or visits with wonderful friends because as Suzuki Roshi says, friends are the whole of a holy life.
Above and below with my eleven-year-old neighbor best friend, Doga. Her name Doga means Nature in Turkish. She is becoming quite the filmmaker!
On weekends, I attend Kannon Do when I can, hike with dog friends, and if there’s time, I take Zen photographs. I am working on an art show geared to open next Spring.
May you live a happy life too. It awaits you every moment.