I was a Professor of Comparative Literature, Cinema History, Dramatic Art & Speech for four decades, and a worldwide ESL educator on all levels for thirty years. Every year in academia, however, I — simultaneously — held down blue-collar jobs, and it is in that realm where I learned so much of what is important to me today. There and with my lovely family. [For the convenience of those impressed with academic credentials, I have boldfaced some of mine below... though I recommend focusing on the life experience in lieu of those passports.]

Directly below are select personal experiences which have contributed to my being involved in socially-conscious/environmentally-conscious work today.

1942 September 21 born in Newark, New Jersey , U.S.A. to South African Minnie Gink Mann-Oxley and Brooklyn’s William Oxman, both Russian Jews, fleeing Germany after 1938’s Kristallnacht.

1945 Introduced to David Dellinger during mom’s work with him at Direct Action, War Resisters League, Industrial Workers of the World and Collier’s Printing. One of my earliest memories is of our family paying tribute to a friend killed in the bombing of Nagasaki.

1946 My Aunt Esther is killed by the Irgun bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.

1949 Witness to the Peekskill Riot centered on the September 4th Paul Robeson concert.

1950 Meeting with Edna St. Vincent Millay at Steepletop in Austerlitz, New York.

1952 Interact with Welterweight Champion Kid Gavilan in training camp, courtesy of Nat Fleischer.

1953 Uncle Max describes his experience seeing En attendant Godot at the Théâtrede Babylone in Paris and meeting Samuel Beckett.

1955 Meeting with Raphael Lemkin at Rutgers University-Newark Law School.

1956 First attempt at running away from home, I hitchhike across several states.

1957 Record single with L. Russell Brown for Fury Records as The Duals at historic Beltone Studios; much time spent in Harlem.

1958 Production of my first full-length play at Weequahic High School, Newark, New Jersey.

1960 Freshman year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison begins.

1961 Transfer to Rutgers University-Newark, NJ where I meet my mentor George W. Weber.*

*Carl Jung had two good friends who contributed to the development of his insights: Heinrich Zimmer, the great Indologist, who became Joseph Campbell’s friend and mentor, and Richard Wilhelm, the great Sinologist. My mentor was a product, in part, of contact with Wilhelm’s intimate followers.

1962 I assist Lester Moore, Dramatic Art & Speech Chairman, in securing the status of major for his discipline; I direct/act in many plays, studying all elements of theatre art and cinema history at Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey. I establish the 1st foreign film festival on campus. I participate in the Artists’ Committtee to Free Siqueiros — headed by Alexander Calder and Ben Shahn — and experience the Mexican muralist’s prison paintings at the ACA Gallery in New York.

1963 Parkway Playhouse summer stock in Burnsville, North Carolina; final visit to Flannery O’Connor.

1964 Receive my B.A., begin teaching Dramatic Art & Speech, Cinema History and Comparative Literature at Rutgers University-Newark; the beginning of my employment in academia which spans four decades at various institutions of higher education. On the set of Beckett’s/Schneider’s Film.

1965 Receive my M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City.

1966 Life-changing experiences with members of the Royal Shakespeare Company performing Marat/Sade at the Martin Beck Theatre in New York, as mentoring by Tennessee Williams begins.

1967 Contact with James Baldwin at Wilt Chamberlain’s Small’s Paradise, Harlem, New York. Visit to Irpinia and many other realms in Italy, including Florence following the flood. http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.html at Riverside Church in New York City where I witness Martin Luther King with two students of mine from Bronx Community College who were to die later in Viet Nam; I worked incessantly to help youngsters avoid the draft. I see kids I grew up with who had become law enforcement officers shooting at friends of mine in the Newark Riots.

1968 Life-changing experiences centered on activism based in and around the Columbia University campus. Visit with Upton Sinclair.

1969 Political activism kicks in, as I help my students keep their draft deferments, and do much more.

1970 Birth of my first child, gorgeous daughter Noelle, on 10 October.

1971 Performance of my first musical at New York Institute of Technology, Long Island, New York; it was the first theatrical offering in the history of the institution (founded in 1955).

1972 Doctoral studies in Educational Theatre at New York University with John McCabe, focusing on both Shakespeare and Laurel and Hardy. Fund raising for Roberto Clemente’s relief for Nicaragua’s earthquake victims.

1973 Contact with Alan Watts and Joseph Campbell. Members of Peter Brook’s International Centre for Theatre Research describe theatrical experiences, including those with Teatro Campesino’s miracle plays; raised money for UFW-related activities.

1974 Editing at McGraw-Hill Publishing.

1975 Begin impersonating someone to ________________________________________________*, as I continue my own doctoral studies at Columbia University. *To be elaborated on, upon request.

1976 Immersion in the drug culture of New York City; investigative journalism in lieu of academia.

1977 Begin to drive a taxi in New York; it lasts for two years.

1978 Begin work for Studio Instrument Rentals; meet many musicians on intimate basis.

1979 First screenplay completed; submitted to Ridley Scott as per his request.

1980 Fund raiser for non-profit Massachusetts Fair Share, focusing on environmental issues.

1981 A week, for the most part, with Phillip Larkin in Hull.

1982 Top salesperson for The Pearl Factory throughout Hawaii; taught ESL to refugees.

1983 Director of The Lahaina Players in Maui, Hawaii; workshops conducted for visiting Asians.

1984 Investigative journalist and columnist for The Russian River News and The Paper of West Sonoma County; worked with editor Steve Pizzo who broke the S&L Scandal. My surfer/papparazzi dude…son, sweet-hearted Aja, is born 28 January.

1985 Supervised soup kitchens in Guerneville and Forestville, California. Appeared in Francis Ford Coppola’s Peggy Sue Got Married; interviewed the director on a tightly closed set.

1986 Director of ESL for International Education Research and Analysis Corporation, Osaka, Japan.

1987 Director of English Players of Nippon, performing in Osaka, Kobe and Tokyo.

1988 Royal Society of the Arts/Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults equivalent training, St. Giles College, San Francisco/UK.

1989 Volunteer work for earthquake victims in and around Santa Cruz County, California.

1990 I prepared immigrants for the TOEFL SAT and GRE exams at John Adams Community College in San Francisco, California; assisted applicants with citizenship papers.

1991 Submitted songs to the music industry and games to various companies; lived in Hawaii, divorcing myself permanently from all family ties/financial support from Oxman College. Top salesperson for Wyland Art Galleries throughout Hawaii.

1992 Advocated for the School of Americas Watch; fund raising and informing the public worldwide at the invitation of Maryknoll Father Roy Bourgeois.

1993 Conducted Drama Workshops and provided other vacations for North Americans in Europe.

1994 Fund raising for Nigeria’s Ken Saro-Wiwa worldwide.

1995 Nanny work, tutoring in Soquel, California.

1997 Meet, bond with and commit to (my present partner) Sylvie… via a romance advertisement.
She has a beautiful son, Jesse, born 14 December 1985.

1998 Substitute teaching in Santa Cruz County, California, home schooling Jesse.

1999 Tour guide for visiting Europeans and Japanese; Director of Home Stay Program.

2000 Our only child together, Marcel, is born 7 February. Oh, Marcello, ‘Cello, Marcelino…! Friends die as a result of the Cochabamba Water Wars.

2001 Beginning of full-time efforts for French Paintbox and Paris Graves; vacation programs in Europe. Reading of Susanne Antonetta’s lovely Body Toxic: An Environmental Memoir changes everything for me to a much greater degree than the 9/11 dynamic; the most significant immediate dangers to us all are clarified.

2002 Andy Goldsworthy at the Cass Sculpture Foundation, Goodwood, West Sussex, UK.

2003 Securing police protection for local Muslims under physical attack in Santa Clara County, CA.

2004 Sylvie and I, with no experience and less of a budget, produce One Dance: The People’s Summit. It is one of the biggest cultural/political/environmental events in the history of Santa Cruz, California; free for the public for three days, it includes rare documentary footage, exclusive interviews, and speakers from around the world. It is a turning point in our lives; highly instructive.

2005 We collect books for the incarcerated; fund raising for Leonard Peltier. Beginning of work for TOSCA (Transforming Our State of California) with the imprimatur of Howard Zinn; a project in the electoral arena following a new paradigm.

2006 We open Blossom Home, our vintage furniture store in Los Gatos, California; a grand success until cancer hits the family; we learn about new little-known causes for cancer in the community.

2007 I assist Sylvie with her Interior Design business. Marcel receives an honorary passport from the High Commisioner for Cabinda in the UK… as Goodwill Ambassador for the beleaguered nation. Jay Leno invites Marcel to appear based on home video; we turn down The Tonight Show.

2008 Sylvie undergoes a mastectomy. We lay the groundwork for Cancer Free Italy. Writing of Millay Song Against the Day begins, a drama based on personal encounter with Edna St. Vincent Millay.

2010 The family prepares to relocate to Villa Lina in Lazio, northwest of Rome at the invitation of Contessa Paola Igliori. We begin our search for a worthy recipient of our huge, quality English-language library in Italy, Montenegro and Spain.

2011 We meet delegates of the International Technical Committee ISO/TC 28, courtesy of Marcello Meroi, Presidente della Provincia di Viterbo and Count Virgilio Manni, to discuss the potential for tourism in Lazio. Sylvie and I begin work on our Music in Cinema Institute for the Amalfi Coast. We try to engage Roberto Benigni and Nicoletta Braschi for singular work in cinematic solidarity… as we continue to move in solidarity on socially-conscious/environmentally-conscious local/regional/national/worldwide issues, using Santa Cruz County as our base of operations in the United States of Amnesia… for the moment. Make connection with Ermanno Olmi as the family and I head to Lake County to explore options there, and in adjacent counties. Work continues on full-length plays, Left Out and A Billion Reasons.