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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

Charlie Varon's satire and other mischief Charlie Varon 's Comic Bonbons #7: "Poetry Unwound " Poetry Unwound 00:00 / 02:00 Written & performed by Charlie Varon Keep the bonbons coming! Email me when the next one is ready! Email Subscribe

The 5 most important things I've learned as a writer Webinar - Sun Feb 5, 2023 10 to 11.30am Pacific on Zoom 60% of what I know in 90 minutes Short video clips from the webinar: Unnatural (2 min) Time (2 min) Energy (3 min) Energy - Part 2 (1 min)

Bernie's Dream - Oct 24 Charlie Varon 's Comic Bonbons #15: Bernie's Dream - Oct 2024 Bernie's Dream - Oct 2024 00:00 / 04:50 Written & performed by Charlie Varon Collaboration: J.P. Tilleman Attention, citizens! Less than a month till the most important election of our lives. Join me to make a difference!

For booking information, contact: Jeannine Frank 310/476-6735 Jeannine@FrankEntertainment.co m

Fwd: Life Gone Viral – Is it really that far-fetched? Our play refers to many new technologies & Internet phenomena. Some audience members think we've made this stuff up. We haven't. Click on the photos below for samples of each You Tube genre. End of life videos Miniature unarmed drones Cell Phone Spying Nipple piercing ...and yes, our own "Cancer of Blame" More links for the truly curious... End of life videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2JaNAwY9gE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYY9WJ-SaxY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRYnlc2v9z8&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeE2xg3REtA Miniature unarmed drones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkpnwnWSnnI&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSCLBG9KeX4&feature=relmfu Cellphone spying: http://spousespysoftware.com/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3vL55xAtow&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_QVulN9MGs&feature=fvwrel Nipple piercing videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt4nTzxCup8&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Rr-jmNft3k&feature=related

5 mistakes writers and speakers can easily avoid \ 5 worst mistakes writers and speakers make 1. It's too long. Can a paragraph become a sentence? Can a sentence become a phrase? Can a phrase become a word? Do you really need that word? 2. It's not funny. Or the joke is stupid. If you think you're not funny, you may be right. But you may just need help finding the humor. (AI will not save you.) 3. It doesn't ask enough of the audience. Fear makes us over-explain. Most explanation bores the audience/reader. 4. It doesn't build. Time is not neutral. It is working against you. 5. It hasn't been tested. Working in isolation often breeds shitty work. Find a director or collaborator you trust. (AI will not save you.) 6. You forget to have fun. Yes, there are bad moments. That's part of the creative process. But if you're not finding joy, neither will your audience. Starting July 1, 2024 in San Francisco: Storytelling: A master class with Charlie Varon

Against perfectionism For years I labored with the useless idea that there is one, perfect path between the idea for a piece and the finished piece of writing. Logically, this idea leads one to ask, every few minutes, "Am I on the right path, or not?" The fear of doing it wrong inhibits risk, experiment, fun, discovery. I find it more helpful to imagine a vast network of roads branching out from the starting point. It doesn't matter that much where you start. Nor does it matter terribly which road you take at any juncture. The main thing is to notice when your energy is liberated, when things seem to be opening, flowing, and when the discoveries are coming. Follow that energy, and don't worry about the specific path. This view suggests that there is not one perfect result, but a vast number of possible outcomes that are valid, and even wonderful, expressions of the initial creative impulse. Any one will do! Note: There will be moments along the way when you will need to step back and think critically about the piece, asking (with a director or someone you trust) the tough questions about whether it builds, holds an audience, fulfills its promises, and holds water conceptually. But these questions should wait until the piece has enough life and momentum to withstand that kind of inspection. (And I always need a day or two to recover from such a critique, and let go of precious ideas I held about the piece that have turned out to be illusions. Within a week the pain subsides, and new openings present themselves.) Destination In order to begin writing or creating anything, most of us need to have a sense of where we're going. "I'm heading for that mountain!" And we begin the journey, full of enthusiasm and energy, eager to progress toward our destination and indeed to get there. Then, a ways down the road, we look around. We know more than we did before we began; we're beginning to get a feel for the terrain. We see things we couldn't have seen, and we modify our destination. We head for a different part of the mountain, or an adjacent mountain, or a different mountain range entirely. This process of reassessing and redirecting repeats itself. We need to have a destination we're moving toward, but not stick to it rigidly when a new, more compelling destination presents itself. All destinations are provisional. And, while our conscious mind requires a destination, we can cultivate a trust that the process will take us where we need to go. Learn from documentary filmmakers As I'm working on a new piece, I have a desire to know how the words I'm writing today are going to fit into the finished play or monologue. But I can't really know, because it's too soon to know - and that's a bit disconcerting. And what about the prospect that today's words might end up being cut! Well, then why I am bothering to write them? My partner, Myra, used to help produce documentary films, and I got to observe the process. Documentarians film everything. Then they put it all together into what they call a first assembly. After that they take a stab at shaping the material into a story - the rough cut. At this point, more filming may be needed. Then they put together a second cut. And on it goes, version after version, with material being added, deleted, moved around. I purposely imitate the documentary process. When that voice demands to know how today's words will fit into the end product, I answer: "I don't know. I'm 'filming' everything. I'll edit later." Filmmakers talk about the ratio of film shot to the running time of the finished film. Four to one, five to one, even eight to one. So I've borrowed that way of thinking, and now assume that I will have to write three to five times as much material as I need. A related idea is... Many at-bats Baseball players are doing well if they get three hits per ten at-bats. I try to remember this when I have a "bad day" writing. Not every day will yield a home run, or even a single. So it's important to have as many writing sessions as possible. Not all of them are supposed to be "successful." There's a lot of sitting with the problem, waiting, trying things that end up not working. But these "failures" are an essential part of the process. It's part of the writer's job to… Become comfortable with discomfort A lot of the work is just hanging out with what's unresolved, holding multiple possibilities and exploring them openly, letting things get unwieldy and a little out of control, and not jumping too quickly to easy salvation. Rough carpentry before the finish work How tempting it is in the early stage of a writing project to fuss with what you've already written rather than take the risk of writing the next paragraph. How tempting, when hearing work in progress, to criticize small flaws, to quibble with a punch line, to suggest a better word or phrase. But before putting on the trim, you need to build the house. The writer's job in the early going is to keep writing, to write lots and lots and in so doing to discover the world of the play. Those helping the writer can help by refraining from nitpicking, and by offering comments that speak to the new work as a whole. Intellect and intuition To write, we need both. The trick is to know when to deploy which. This is an area where it's best to listen only to yourself, and to learn over time what works for you. But I offer these thoughts for your consideration: 1. The intuition leads you to more interesting and risky places than the intellect. 2. Perhaps this is because the job of the intellect is to get people to like you. 3. When you notice that this desire to be liked is taking over your writing, stop. Check in with the intuition, ask it what's central or true, what is trying to be expressed. 4. Let your intellect ask the question, but let your intuition answer it. The answer will often surprise you. 5. The intellect wants to end the scene, reach closure; the intuition is more curious and willing to explore without knowing the outcome. 6. Keep to your writing schedule, and show up at the appointed times. But remember that the intuition does not obey schedules. It speaks when it is ready, sometimes when you least expect it. What people care about Mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, spouses and lovers. Conflicts pertaining to the above. The self, and the conflicts within the self. The above relationships occupy the center of a bull's eye. They are what human beings seem wired to care about most. The next ring out on the bull's eye contains more distant kin (cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents, in-laws, etc.), close friends, and other relationships of long-standing from which it's hard to escape. Also relationships where one person has power over another: bosses and workers, landlords and tenants, etc. In the outermost ring of the bull's eye are strangers. Audiences are hungry for relationships toward the center of the bull's eye, for the history of those relationships, and for what has changed or is changing in them. A second bull's eye (which we can visualize as an overlay of the first) has at its center our old friends conflict, violence, sex, illness, death, deception, status and money. So, a play about two strangers who meet and converse (even if the dialogue is very witty or arresting) tends to be less compelling than a play about a man who owes his mother money and is having an affair with his boss. A word is a shadow of a thought …and on the stage what is unspoken is as important as what is said. It's part of the writer's job to "listen" for, and write, the silence. And to imagine what is being thought and felt in it. In addition to silence, there are grunts, sighs and other kinds of exhalation, mouth noises of all sorts. There are shrugs, hand gestures, body movements and postures. There are looks. The palette of the playwright includes more than words. Ten commandments of comedy Jim Rosenau and I wrote these a few years ago. 1. Surprise yourself. 2. At every stage of the process, if it's not getting funnier, it's getting less funny. 3. Comedy loves specifics. 4. Comedy needs conflict. This is what makes people care enough to laugh. 5. Comedy thrives on discontinuity. 6. Separate the creative phase from the editing phase. 7. Push it too far. You can always pull it back later. 8. When you think you're done, cut, cut, cut. Throw away even your best jokes if they don't serve the piece. 9. Stuck? Add one random idea and see what you can make. 10. Comedy happens in relationships. Find the people you enjoy being funny with. © 2003 Charlie Varon