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

On comedy, a changing city, and an octogenarian who wants to surf Charlie Varon talks about his new show, Feisty Old Jew QUESTION : What got you writing Feisty Old Jew? CHARLIE : Sometimes a character shows up in my imagination and just takes over. That’s what happened with Bernie Schein. He’s an aggressive, mischievous 83-year-old guy from Brooklyn, very smart but never finished high school. Fearless. Amazing guts. Also manipulative and obnoxious! He’s lived in San Francisco for 60 years and has a thing or two to say about what the city is becoming. QUESTION : Is Bernie a mouthpiece for your views of what’s happening in San Francisco? CHARLIE : His view is more extreme. He hates the young people he sees drinking $6 cups of coffee, hates their yoga studios and their chichi restaurants with the pink aioli and truffle butter. And he also hates them just for being young. One of the reasons I write is that my characters can do and say things I – as a shy and polite person – can’t. Bernie is such a character. QUESTION : How long have you lived in San Francisco? CHARLIE : I moved here from New York in 1978. I was 19 years old. It was still an affordable city, and it was a fantastic time and place to be a young bohemian and soak up all the art and culture and politics happening in this experimental city. Back then my rent was $70 a month. Now people can spend seventy bucks a month on lattes. QUESTION : Why are you wearing a wetsuit in the photo? Do you surf? CHARLIE : The monologue takes place on one of those hot October days in San Francisco. Bernie is out on the street, gets tired of waiting for a cab, and finally sticks out his thumb. He gets picked up by three 20-somethings in a Tesla with two surfboards strapped to the roof and a cappuccino maker in the dashboard. By the time they get to Marin, Bernie has convinced the kids to let him go surfing for the first time in his life and has bet them $400,000 that he’ll ride a wave. QUESTION : You didn’t answer my question. Do you surf? CHARLIE : I have never surfed and do not plan to. The photo shoot was the first and last time I will wear a wetsuit. QUESTION : What performers have influenced you most? CHARLIE : Growing up in New York, I listened to the radio, and that's probably had the biggest influence on me. The pure human voice. Jean Shepherd, perhaps the best American storyteller ever heard on radio. Bob and Ray, and their quietly insane comedy sketches. Malachy McCourt, Long John Nebel, Paul Harvey, a zillion radio preachers. The BBC. Oh, and my father. He wasn't on radio. He was a dentist, but he did—still does—all kinds of voices and accents. And he and my mom, a librarian, gave me a love of language, spoken, written, the delight in the infinite ways human beings can shape thought into language, and all of that infused with a very New York Jewish sensibility! QUESTION : You are now well established as an artist in solo theater and as a satirist. What are some pivotal experiences that brought you to this place? CHARLIE : The key moment happened in 1991. Stephanie Weisman saw me perform a rough version of a solo show that I didn't even know I would finish. She took out her calendar and offered me a 6-week run at The Marsh. First I trembled; she had called my bluff. Then I said yes, and that has made all the difference. That launched me. A couple years later, almost as a lark, I did a show called Rush Limbaugh in Night School, which was a big hit at The Marsh and then went on to New York and Washington DC. The other essential fact is my collaboration with David Ford. Director isn't a strong enough word. David has been the midwife of all my shows for 23 years. He is the most brilliant theater artist I've ever worked with and he has taught me most of what I know about theater. QUESTION : Who should come see this show? CHARLIE : People who love comedy. Who care about what’s happening to San Francisco. Who aren’t afraid of characters who are smart, complex, funny… and old! And who want to find out what happens when Bernie gets in the water and tries to surf!

"Wake up and smell the data" Charlie Varon's Comic Bonbons #24: "Wake up and smell the data!" (feat. Oliver Sacks & Studs Terkel) Wake up and smell the data 00:00 / 04:38 Written & performed by Charlie Varon Collaboration: J.P. Tilleman, David Ford Next live pop-up show! Wed April 22, 2026 at The Magic Patio in SF Get tix Find out what else I'm up to this spring

Alan Watts: "Puzzling Evidence" Charlie Varon 's Comic Bonbons #13: Alan Watts, "Puzzling Evidence" Alan Watts - Puzzling Evidence 00:00 / 06:00 Written & performed by Charlie Varon Collaboration: J.P. Tilleman Attention, writers and performers: I have openings for mentoring/coaching .

Bernie Sanders' dream of Henry Kissinger Charlie Varon 's Comic Bonbons #8: "Bernie's Henry Kissinger Dream " Bernie's Henry Kissinger Dream 00:00 / 03:24 Written by Charlie Varon & David Ford Performed by Charlie Varon Keep the bonbons coming! Email me when the next one is ready! Email Subscribe Use code BONBON and save $25 on the Intensive

Gratitude for heroes of the opposition Send a postcard to a hero of the opposition! Thank brave people for taking a stand for democracy and against tyranny Every Wednesday for the past 5 years, I've led a free Zoom workshop called Get Up and Write Starting in April 2025, I added a 3-minute segment at the end We all write postcards to a brave person standing up for democracy It's fun to imagine that person receiving cards from a bunch of appreciative strangers! What we are learning: It's easier and more fun to do this in community than alone It's a great way to start the day It's good to do as a regular, weekly practice Be part of it! Check this web page each week for the postcard recipient and send your own card to them You can share the link and multiply the impact! This week's recipient (Dec 24, 2025): Wilmer Chavarria, Superintendent Winooski School District 60 Normand Street Winooski, VT 05404 Dear Superintendent Chavarria, Thank you and your colleagues for acting bravely on behalf of your students and community, and for responding boldly and publicly to tyranny and demagoguery. Your actions are invigorating and inspiring. May your courage be contagious! 9% of the district’s students are Somali. In response to Trump’s anti-Somali tirade, District leaders hosted a Somali flag-raising ceremony. Read more Past recipients: Nov 19: Omar Jorge, CEO, Compare Foods Supermarkets in Charlotte, NC (helping protect immigrants by waiving delivery fees) Nov 12: Evanston, IL Mayor Daniel Biss (helping his city resist the brutality and lawlessness of ICE) Oct 22: Marc Elias (lawyer leading the fight to uphold our system of elections) Oct 15: Hon . Karin J. Immergut: Blocked sending National Guard troops to Oregon (later overturned) Oct 8: Hon. Diane Schafer Goodstein: Blocked Trump regime’s attempt to access SC voter data. On Oct 5 her home burned. Political arson? Unknown. But the very fact of that possibility is horrifying. Oct 1: Bishop Michael Pham of San Diego (standing up for people targeted by ICE; Watch video) Sept 24: Hon. Sonia Sotomayor (for her powerful, eloquent dissents) Sept 10: Hon. Sparkle L. Sooknanan ( blocked the Trump regime from deporting Guatemalan minors) Aug 20: Texas State Rep. Nicole Collier - refused to sign a “permission slip” to leave the state Capitol . Aug 13: Texas State Rep. Ann Johnson who left the state to protect democracy. Watch interview Aug 6: Youman Wilder, baseball coach, defended his young players from ICE agents - Read more July 23: Maurene Comey (prosecutor fired by Trump regime; warned colleagues not to succumb to fear). July 16: Hon. Joseph N. Laplante ( blocked Trump exec. order ending birthright citizenship - Read more ) July 9: Michael Osterholm (helped launch the Vaccine Integrity Project) June 18: Ben Schrader (resigned rather than prosecute Kilmar Abrego Garcia on trumped-up charges ) June 4: Marc Van Der Hout, immigration rights attorney representing Mahmoud Khalil May 21: Jaime Cook, Principal, Sackets Harbor Central School. Read about her here . May 14: Sen. Chris Van Hollen May 7: Hon. Beryl A. Howell ( U.S. District Court) April 30: Hon. Loren L. AliKhan (U.S. District Court) April 23: Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Delaware) April 16: Alan Garber, President of Harvard University April 9: Christopher Eisgruber, President of Princeton University Other stuff I'm up to Charlie Varon's Comic Bonbons (political satire) Get Up and Write (my free weekly Zoom workshop) Charlie's Monday Salon (for writers and performers, in person in San Francisco)

Charlie Varon's satire and other mischief Charlie Varon's Comic Bonbons #5 "Here on Planet Earth," featuring Sir David Attenborough Here on Planet Earth 00:00 / 02:51 Written by Charlie Varon & David Ford Performed by Charlie Varon Keep the bonbons coming! Email me when the next one is ready! Email Subscribe