I am a retired community college instructor who taught on an open campus for several years before transferring to teach inside Washington state prisons. During my 18-year career teaching inside, I developed parenting, family relationships and social responsibility curriculum specific to the needs of incarcerated students. One of my published works, Parenting From a Distance: Your Rights and Responsibilities, is about to go into its fourth edition.
All my novels are set near salt water. All my characters are influenced by the sea. My major nonfiction work, written as a paean to prison education and memoir of an unusual career, takes readers inside an island prison. Every offender housed there looked across the sea to the mainland and dreamed of the boat ride that would set him free. Every correctional employee’s commute included a ferry crossing, docks and floats, ramps and ropes.
I’ve made writing part of every course I taught. Assignments in the parenting book and other curriculum included personal activities as “Writing to Clarify Thinking.” All included prompts to Write From Life.
Author of several articles and short stories published in professional journals and literary magazines.
Publisher and Editor at Plicata Press LLC.
Author of 12 published books, 10 still in print.
Author of several articles and short stories published in professional journals and literary magazines.
Publisher and Editor at Plicata Press LLC.
Teacher, community colleges and inside prisons, 25 years.
Speaker at numerous professional conferences, both correctional education and writers’ forums.
Director and Co-Director of writers’ workshops
Recipient of Washington Reads award from the state librarian for two works – Dancing to the Concertina’s Tune: A Prison Teacher’s Memoir, and YA novel An Inmate’s Daughter.
Recipient of Pierce College Dean’s Award for Outstanding Service for Correctional Education, Tacoma Community College Award of Appreciation for Dedicated Compassion for Students, and Washington State Correctional Education Association Award for Outstanding Contributions to Correctional Education.
More About Me:
I am a strong proponent of the lecture/discussion method of teaching. It was an important part of my success with helping incarcerated students reach out to their families and prepare for their release and reintegration into their communities.
I believe we all learn more when we interact with others, listen to feedback and pay attention to personal critique.
Characters and me ~ always near the sea…
