Free writing workshop " This is the easiest writing has ever been for me." "I have met some incredible people who have led inspiring lives." "I feel so lucky to be held in and inspired by this community you've created." Do you want to write but... ...can't seem to get started? ...get distracted and give up? ...don't like the isolation? Make an appointment with yourself to write this Wednesday morning. W riting prompts. Or you can w ork on your own project. Conversation. Company in the creative process. All levels welcome. Get Up and Write! Led by Charlie Varon Every Wednesday - 8am Pacific Time Free & open to all Email me for the Zoom link

How Jane McAlevey Taught Me How to Phone Bank Thank you, Jane McAlevey! The great labor organizer (accidentally) taught me how to talk to voters Last month, The New Yorker ran a piece called "How Jane McAlevey Transformed the Labor Movement." She also transformed how I make phone calls to voters. Here's the unlikely story of how that happened. I am a phone banker. I call voters and try to get them to vote for Democrats. I do not like doing this. I do it because our democracy is in trouble. I used to hate phone banking even more than I do now. What changed? That I can tell you in two words. Jane McAlevey. It’s April 2020. I’m calling voters in Arizona on behalf of two Democratic candidates for the state legislature. I’ve hit a long string of no-answers, half an hour of nothing. I go out to the garden for a break. Then I hear my phone ringing, inside the house. I run in, pick up, and hear a voice. "You called me?" A voter I hadn't reached is calling me back. I’m a bit flustered, look at my laptop screen to remember the names of the candidates, launch into my spiel. I say the candidates want to know what issues were important to voters. "How do you mean?" he said. I hear myself say, "Like – If you were in charge, what are the first three things you would change?" Immediately he says: "We have to enforce speed limits." He talks, energetically, about that, for a few minutes. "What else?" I say. "Education.” He talks, I listen. What he says gives me the opening I need. I tell him funding education is a top issue for the candidates I’m calling for. I give him a bit more detail, then say: "I think these candidates would be a good match for you." The conversation stays alive and energized to the end, I of course repeat the candidates' names multiple times. I think I got his vote. That magic question — "If you were in charge…" — yielded such different results from the generic "What issues are of most concern to you?" ! Only afterward did I realize where I’d gotten that question. A couple weeks earlier I was listening to Ezra Klein’s podcast. He had Jane McAlevey on – the legendary labor organizer. Ezra Klein: Walk me through a typical interaction with a worker, specifically one who may disagree with you. Jane McAlevey: When I start a conversation with a worker, I’m going to start by telling them exactly why I’m there. There’s no bullshitting: I’m here because coworkers of yours called up and they’re in and figuring out how you can make things better in the workplace. That’s it. I’m being very honest about why I’m on your do or. The very next thing I’m going to do is ask them a question: If you could change three things at work tomorrow, what would they be? * That question had apparently lodged in my brain and, when that voter called me back, it flew out of my mouth! I continued using that question, with good results. I told the phone bank captain, who passed it on to the campaign, which incorporated it into their phone bank script. A couple other campaigns have also incorporated that question or some version of it. I sent Jane a message telling her all this, and she replied: What a GLORIOUS email! Go, fight, and keep on winning! We have so much work to do. Be healthy, safe and strong * It's July 2022. I'm once again calling Arizona. I reach a woman I'll call Kara who, according to the information on my screen, is 21 and lives in Scottsdale. I ask her what she would do if she were in charge. "Protect reproductive freedom." No pause, no hesitation. She is angry about Dobbs , and what it's going to do to abortion access in Arizona. S he loves her 3-year-old son more than anything in the world, but if she were to get pregnant now, she wouldn't want to have another child. From her voice, her manner, her self-confidence, I picture a young white woman, broad-shouldered, blond, with a ponytail. Kara has a friend who's studying to be a Catholic priest. She tells me about her conversations with him, challenging him. Now he's come around to accepting that a woman's choice shouldn't be up to him, or the Church. Okay, abortion rights, I say. What else would you change? Education. Arizona's schools aren't good enough. Kara didn't a get a great education, she tells me, but it was decent. But she has friends who got a lousy education, and some of them have become Trump supporters. She still talks to them, but it's hard. Mainly she wants a good education for her 3-year-old son, and for all the kids of his generation. What else? Voting rights. She's been circulating petitions to protect voting rights in Arizona. I realize I'm talking to a born organizer. She's passionate, direct, a great speaker, a natural storyteller. I tell Kara she needs to run for something. "That's the best compliment I've ever gotten," she says. We agree that now is probably not the time for her to run for office -- she's a single parent, working, going to school -- but I insist that she consider it in the future. I ask about her friends, the ones she's getting to sign the voting rights petition. Are they all registered to vote? We work out a plan - she's going to post on Facebook, and offer every friend a dollar if they register. Facebook's not enough, I say, and insist she follow up with phone calls. Kara and I talked for nearly half an hour. That conversation was, in one sense, waiting to happen. But without that opening question, it wouldn't have. * It's October 2023. I'm calling voters in Virginia on behalf of Phil Hernandez, a Democratic candidate for state legislature. I reach a voter I’ll call Jennifer. The information on the screen told me she’s 66 years old. From her voice, I was pretty sure she was Black. “If you could change one or two things...” “Inflation. The cost of food, gas, rent.” There was anger in her voice. Fifteen dollars is not a high enough minimum wage. Yes, women should have control of their bodies, but what good is that if you don’t have enough to eat? The woman in the house next door is in her eighties and doesn’t have enough money for food. Jennifer kept going. And it’s terrible what’s happening to people in these wars, but why are we sending them money when our people at home can’t make ends meet? I listened, reflected back what I was hearing, asked her if it would be okay if I shared what she was saying with Phil Hernandez. “It’s important to Phil to know what people in the district are thinking.” Yes, that would be okay, Jennifer said. I’ve found that some people, once they feel heard, are open to hearing from me. I gently tried to steer the conversation to Phil Hernandez. Jennifer told me she’d voted for Democrats in the past, but now she’s planning not to vote. “They promise a lot, but nothing changes.” I asked her to tell me more about that, and she hung up. * So what happened in that call? Was it a failure? A confession about that call: I didn’t use the phone bank script I’d been given. Here’s how that script started: Hi! This is _________ with Phil Hernandez's campaign. Can I speak with __________? Great! I'm a volunteer with Phil's campaign. He is running for the Virginia House so he can go to Richmond to represent you, your family and this community. Can Phil count on your vote in the November election? If I’d gone with that opening, Jennifer would have hung up on me right away. * Over the last couple years, my own, loose, improvisational phone banking “script” has evolved. No matter what issue someone is talking about, no matter what side of the issue they’re on, I take notes. I tell the person I'm taking notes. I ask them if it would be okay to pass them on to the candidate. They always say yes. And I always pass them on. Sometimes I type them up and put them in the “Notes” field on the screen in front of me. Sometimes I put them in an email to the candidate. Sometimes, as was the case with Jennifer, I suggest the candidate follow up with a phone call: She voted for Dems in the past, now is so frustrated she's planning not to vote. If you call, she might get the sense that Democrats do care. That might earn her vote. * Think of it this way: Every time you call a voter, you are setting in motion a little play. There are two actors. Most phone bank scripts cast you, the caller, as a Salesperson. And the person who picks up the phone: they’re the person you’re trying to sell. What Jane McAlevey taught me is that we can change the play. The person picking up the phone is not a customer. Not the means to our end. They are a Member of Society . They have information w e need. That makes them the expert, the protagonist. Which is how it should be in a democracy. Thank you, Jane. November 12, 2023 Find out about: My coaching & mentoring for writers My free online writing community

What drivers say after honking The Honking Report On some Saturdays my partner, Myra, and I spend an hour at the anti-Maga protest outside the Tesla dealership in San Francisco. What's evolved is quite magical. We stand on O'Farrell Street holding our signs that encourage honking. On any given cycle of the traffic light, two to ten drivers will honk. Some then have to stop at the red light. Myra and I have different approaches. She goes up to cars stopped at the light and offers the driver a "Make America Human" pin. I approach drivers and say, “Thanks for honking!" When they open their window, I say: "These are crazy times we’re living in. What keeps you sane?” Some highlights from this week's conversations with honkers... Black woman in her 40s. She points a finger up. “My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He’s in charge.” She pauses, smiles. “And then, seeing you all out here – I know you’re angels he’s sent.” Shirtless Asian man, late 20s or early 30s. “Training.” What are you training for? “Soccer!” The light turns green and he’s gone. Filipino man in his 50s or 60s. He says: “This is too much. This has to end.” I say: “We are many. We are powerful. And we will eventually win. But what I want to know is, When is eventually? And will I live to see it?” “Oh, you will. We will.” White guy in his 40s. “Fuck that guy!” (Trump) “What keeps you going?” “My family and my passions.” Long-haired tattooed, white man late 30s, maybe 40s, unkempt, cheerful, scraggly beard. “I don’t know.” (Pause) “Marijuana!” Young woman in her 20s, bright eyed, Asian. “Reading the food section and the politics section.” I ask, “In what order?” “The politics section first. Then the food section as a reward!” White man driving a Mini Cooper. Early forties. Loud, fun, an extrovert. “Hair! Doing people’s hair! I’m a hairdresser. Making people look good! At least what I think is good.” We laugh. We high-five. A couple, white, in their 40s or 50s. The man says: “Ignoring the news. Don’t give him any more mind share.” A 40something white woman in a baseball cap. “Dancing. And my kids. And donating to Democrats.” White woman about 40. “Friends and family. Reading 1440.” She explains that “1440” is a news site. A white man, my age, doesn’t honk. Rolls his window all the way down. He is ruddy-faced and loud. “No Kings?” (He’s referring to my "Honk for No Kings" sign.) “What about the Democrats all clapping for King Charles when he spoke to Congress? Why did they clap for a king?” Hostility oozes out of him. Grievance. “I don’t know,” I say. “You tell me.” “You’re a traitor!” he informs me. A snake spitting his venom. “Have a blessed day!” I say. “ You have a blessed day!” he spits back. * I left the demonstration thinking about three of my interlocutors: The born-again Black woman. The loud gay hairdresser. The aggrieved Maga man with his gotcha talking point. If I were to put these characters onstage, or in a movie, I would be accused of stereotyping. Correctly accused. And yet there they were, each in their car, each playing their part. With complete commitment. Full embodiment. No self-consciousness. No self-doubt. Pitch perfect. But what if I put them onstage, not in their cars, but in the same room? What would they have to say to one other? * Other stuff I'm up to: Small group workshops My coaching & mentoring for writers My free online writing community

"The links that bind" Charlie Varon's Comic Bonbons #25: Poetry Unwound, "The links that bind" (in which I channel poet and podcaster Pádraig Ó Tuama) The Links that Bind 00:00 / 03:48 Written & performed by Charlie Varon Collaboration: David Ford, J.P. Tilleman Find out what else I'm up to (summer/fall 2026)

Charlie Varon's current doings What I'm Up to This Summer & Fall (2026) #1 I'm offering small group workshops , with personal coaching. Classes start in September. #2 I'm doing 1:1 coaching & mentoring for writers & performers. #3 I'm hosting a weekly Salon in San Francisco. Artistic community, a beautiful venue, a chance to write. And hear new work. Monday mornings at 10am #4 I'm leading Get Up and Write , my free workshop, now in its 6th year. Write, be inspired, find kindred spirits. Wednesday mornings, 8am PST, on Zoom. #5 You can hear my voice narrating the audio tour of the "Treasures of the Pharaohs" show at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. #6 Activism. I'm talking to voters in the Central Valley, so we can flip the House of Representatives blue. And having fun doing it! Interested in joining me? Email me

Free writing workshop Monday mornings in SF Start your week immersed in creativity and community Charlie's Monday Salon a welcoming space for writers and performers to connect, create, and share When: Mondays, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM Where: Noe Valley Ministry, 1021 Sanchez St, San Francisco Upcoming Dates: Aug 3, 10, 24, 31 Salon Schedule 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM: Writing Session Work from Charlie's writing prompts or focus on your own project. Then, 10 minutes to share work with a fellow writer 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM: Community Sharing Listen to new works presented by writers and performers. Additional Information: Participation is flexible; drop in as your schedule allows. There is no admission fee; donations are welcome. All are welcome, regardless of experience level. Click here & I'll keep you posted Find out about my small group workshops

Before a show, after a show: maintaining sanity as a performer Spiritual Exercises for Solo Performers Stage fright. Adrenaline. Vulnerability. Before a show. After a show. A few practices I've found useful. To view or download the printable booklet, click here . STORYTELLING SPIRITUAL EXERCISES FOR SOLO PERFORMERS Political Theater Now I remember seeing Mother Courage at Berkeley Rep a year or two ago. The acting and production were excellent! But the transaction seemed off. I would have preferred a documentary film about one of our current Mothers Courage, living in Iraq or Congo. The transaction at Berkeley Rep seemed comfortable. An affirmation that by watching this play and getting it, we audience members know something about the world and are on the right side of things. Some days I wonder how much theater (and other art forms) consists of flattering its audience. Offering comfort food of one sort or another. I look at the world. Who can fathom the global economy? The future of disease? Climate change? Korea? Megacities? The massive behavior modification experiment called the Internet? I inspect my world view. Totally inadequate to the times. So for me the question is always: How do I let myself write from inside the question, and resist any impulse to offer an easy resolution, facile answers, or stale truths? When I'm doing my work right, my characters take me to places I wouldn't otherwise go, and say and do things that scare and trouble me. And now I must indict myself. Last fall, my agent got me a weekend's worth of gigs doing Rush Limbaugh in Night School in Kirkland, WA and Tacoma. I printed out the 3-year-old script -- which was itself a 10th anniversary revision. Which meant that many of the words were already 13 years old. Reading the script, I laughed. Some good jokes! It was like reading someone else's play. One of the nice surprises of time passing. You get to be the audience of your own work. I memorized, I did character work, I purchased pears. Politically the play felt dated. I cut out some lines about voting machines in Florida. But satire really wants to be fresh -- to have not just the absence of the stale but the startling new. And RLNS did not meet that test. I rationalized doing the show on the grounds that it's a well-wrought story, it's funny, and people need to laugh. And I need to buy groceries. But that is a rationalization. One night recently in my solo performance class, a guy about my age did a piece about his first job as a newspaper reporter, in the early 1980s, in a small town in Connecticut whose main industry -- silverware making -- had just collapsed. The Hunt brothers had bought up silver futures, causing the price to skyrocket, and the industry fled overseas. The performance piece was full of the texture of decay -- potholes, eviction notices posted on plywood doors of houses, bars full at 2pm. A girl rides a motorcycle without a helmet, suffers brain damage, Reagan's Medicare cuts prevent her from getting the rehab she needs. The reporter writes a series of stories about this and wins an award; some action is taken; and there is a death. So why was I riveted? Why didn't this all feel dated? Maybe it was the presence of the man who had lived it. The events occurred 25 years ago, but he's here, still struggling to understand, wrestling with the past in the present, asking me to join him on the journey. Maybe it was the fact that it forced me, uncomfortably, to see afresh. "Holy shit, I lived through this! I lived through Reagan and decimation of social programs and deindustrialization!" Or maybe it was just that he told it well. (Winter 2008) POLITICAL THEATER NOW

Another Bernie Sanders dream Charlie Varon 's Comic Bonbons #9: "Bernie's Strange-Bedfellows Dream " Bernie's Strange-Bedfellows Dream 00:00 / 02:29 Written & performed by Charlie Varon Keep the bonbons coming! Email me when the next one is ready! Email Subscribe Attention, writers and performers: I have openings for mentoring/coaching starting in February.

KPFA April Fool's Prank 2007 Charlie Varon 's KPFA April Fool's Day Prank 2007 Charlie Varon's KPFA April Fools Prank - 2007 00:00 / 13:43 Written & performed by Charlie Varon Collaboration: Marc Fisher In 2007, KPFA's Larry Bensky asked Charlie to fill in for him on his Sunday Salon show. Charlie did, and here's what happened. Attention, writers and performers: I have openings for mentoring/coaching .

< Back #20 The grass is green and the sky is blue April 18, 2025 Written & performed by Charlie Varon Collaboration: J.P. TillemanSpecial Thanks: David Ford The grass is green and the sky is blue 00:00 / 02:02 Keep the bonbons coming! Email me when the next one is ready! Email Subscribe Get tix now Buy before May 1 and get $5 off w code COCOA More announcements #1 Don't postpone writing your memoir! Say What You Mean Before You Die New session starts May 1 #2 Can't stand what's happening in this country? Life is better when you're doing something to change it Here's one place to start Previous Next

Overcome writer's block and loneliness by creating in community! Boost your writing to the next level. "Thank you for your classes! They have enriched and expanded my world." I've been teaching writing and performance workshops since 1993. I love the creative process, and my goal is to help you take the next step in your work. Creative Writing with Charlie Varon 6 Mondays, May 9 - June 20, 2022 (no class May 23) 7-9pm Pacific time via Zoom During the course of the 6-week workshop, you will... Email me one piece you've written (up to 1250 words) I'll email you suggestions for revision, and you do a rewrite (in 2 hours or less) In class you read it to the group, and then I give supportive feedback Each evening you will also... Write to prompts Have a conversation with another writer, where you can read something you've written Hear some thoughts from me about the craft of writing Note that you can write in any genre you like, and there is no class performance. Payment is on a sliding scale via PayPal or check: Employed/doing okay financially: $300 Unemployed/underemployed/financially distressed: $175 Somewhere in between: $225 Sign up by May 1 and take $25 off your fee! Note: There are no refunds for this workshop To enroll: 1. Click my PayPal link and pay the appropriate amount 2. Email me to let me know you've done that. I'll send you Zoom links and other information!

Starting Points for Creating Characters 1. If you're writing a personal essay or memoir... Some thoughts from Philip Lopate: “In personal essays... the writer needs to build herself into a character... “So how do you turn yourself into a character? First of all, you need to have – or acquire – some distance from yourself. If you are so panicked by any examination of your flaws that all you can do is sputter defensively when you feel yourself attacked, you are not going to get very far in the writing of personal essays. You need to be able to see yourself from the ceiling... “A good place to start is your quirks. These are the idiosyncrasies, stubborn tics, antisocial mannerisms, and so on that set you apart from the majority of your fellowmen. There will be more than enough time later to assert your common humanity, or better yet, to let the reader make the mental bridge between your oddities and those of everyone else... Who wants to read about that bland creature, the regular Joe?” (Excerpted from “Writing Personal Essays: On the Necessity of Turning Oneself Into a Character”) 2. If you're creating fictional characters... My starting points: Abandon all shoulds. Look for any spark that lights you up or intrigues you. Create characters you don’t fully understand. Look for both external conflict and internal conflict in the character’s life. As you develop a character, and think about their backstory, write what gives you energy and don't worry about being thorough. 3. David Ford's wisdom on “normal” From a workshop David and I taught many years ago... Student (after reading something she’d written): “I don’t know, the people in this piece don’t seem normal.” David : “There’s nothing normal a bout people.”