Like Alice B. Toklas, Beck prefers to sit with his back to a good view. After introducing himself and putting on a Mingus record, he sits in an acid-orange chaise longue with matching footrest. The two arched floor-to-ceiling windows behind him provide a spectactular panoramic vista of the placid Silverlake Reservoir. The air conditioning is […]
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Physical Text — What Your Body Can Teach Your Business
Where is the high wire? The trapeze? The death-defying leaps? Instead, the aerialist brings you down from the air. Off the freeways. Into your body. “Breathe. Bend. Slow it all down.” At first you resist. Then, bit by bit, you become silk. “Close your eyes. Lie down. Stretch your body. Imagine your body. What does […]
Gumbo Seekers & Fire-Belching Octopi in the Desert: Five Simple Steps to Give Your Business Writing An Un-Boring Boost
You enter the hot, dusty French Quarter of Black Rock City, seeking gumbo. You cycle around the metal octopus belching flames, pass the pirate ship on wheels, head for the bakery. You’re sleep-deprived, sweat-drenched and half mad. You’re thirsty and craving warm spiced soup in the middle of a pop-up city in the remote Nevada […]
Mirror, Mirror…Rubber Dolls, the Reluctant Entrepreneur and the Reflecting Power of Three Little Words
“I just can’t believe that that’s a seventy-year-old man in the mirror. And that’s why I do this. If I saw a seventy-year-old man in the mirror, I’d quit this tomorrow.” “What do you see when you look in the mirror?” “A very exciting female.” Robert is a man who’s into “masking” or “rubber dolling.” […]
Not Dead, Can’t Quit: How the Art of Memoir Might Save Your Business — Or Your Life
“Here comes ex-Navy SEAL Richard “Mack” Machowicz. Roaring, handsome face turned homicidal, black eyes now merciless, Mack rushes me with preternatural speed and grabs my throat in a crushing grip. A glass necklace pops off my neck and sprays beads over the polished wood floor of the Santa Monica Zen Center. Then I’m gone, body […]
Dollhouse Rock: The Gift of Your Untold Story
Sometimes loss of innocence doesn’t happen all at once. There are different moments, different markers. Picture them as buoys in the oceanic memory. They bob up at different times, depending on the wind, and the waves. Sometimes this season is all about buoys. Every candy cane, or sparkling light, or shattered Christmas ornament is a […]
Dragon Smoke, How I Lost My Dignity (Again), and Why The Art of Leaping Will Electrify Your Prospects and Clients
The temperature in the room spikes at 105 degrees. There’s a young guy in a Speedo sitting on a terrycloth-covered throne on a raised dais, his muscled skin slick with perspiration even though he’s got a fan blowing on him. The rest of us are marinating in our own sweat. Even the air seems wavy. […]
Gift from the Burning Ghats: How To Expand Time and Create Memorable Experiences For Your Clients
“Everyone knows if you want to torch old scaffolding, you travel solo. I am here for internal arson. Don’t touch me.” Somebody wasn’t in the best frame of mind! Ah, holidays. Perhaps you can relate. I was also younger and wildly unhappy at the time. Above is the pull quote from a story I wrote […]
Blue Flame Boogie: Hell Yeah You Have a Signature Story! And It’s the Key To Your Success!
“My mother cried over all the men in her life. I am in the Blue Flame. a dive bar in Onset, Massachusetts, carefully folding a dollar bill. This bar’s okay because the bartender’s nice and there’s a good jukebox. Right now it’s playing ‘Fire’ by the Ohio Players, which is one of the first […]
Manhunting in Tahiti, or, How To Find Your Why
“In Bora Bora, even the fish look like sperm.” The year is 2006. I travel to Tahiti with my writer friend — let us call her Beth — she to get a tattoo, me to find a sperm donor. Beth is shaken and sad, recovering from an abortion. She is young, her current relationship is […]
