Amy Wachspress has
been reading stories out loud to children ever since she was a child
herself. She still reads more children’s books than adult books because
children’s books are way more fun. Raised in Schenectady, New York, she
traveled in Europe, Canada, Israel, and the United States before becoming
a devoted Californian in 1978. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English
and Drama from Syracuse University, her master’s degree in English
Language and Literature from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and
she completed her coursework for her Ph.D. in English at Washington
University in St. Louis before she left academia. She also attended the
Bread Loaf School of English through Middlebury College in Vermont for
four summers.
She worked for over
a dozen years as a scenic carpenter, scenic artist, welder, stagehand, and
theater technician in the San Francisco Bay Area. She was the first women
hired to work on permit as a scenic carpenter in the traditionally all
male local theater technicians’ union. She worked as a scenic artist and
sculptor for the San Francisco Opera Association and the San Francisco
Ballet for six seasons and as a carpenter in many non-union theater shops,
such as the Berkeley Repertory Theater and the Magic Theater. She worked
as a welder for the inaugural season of the Denver Center Theater Company.
After leaving the field of technical theater, she worked as a writer and
editor, an administrator for education and child protection organizations,
and a Head Start administrator. She authored Cleopatra for the
Quercus Publishing Company History Series in 1986. She makes a living
writing federal grants for cities, counties, schools, museums, libraries,
nonprofits, and faith-based organizations nationwide. She has raised over
$70 million in grant funds, mainly for projects that benefit children and
families; particularly those who are marginalized, discriminated against,
and economically oppressed. In the early 1980s she worked as a peace and
justice activist in Berkeley. She was a founding member of Kehilla
Community Synagogue, the first synagogue in the Jewish Renewal Movement to
be formally incorporated. She worked as an editorial assistant from the
inception of Tikkun Magazine and later served as managing editor.
She served on the Ukiah Unified School District’s Superintendent’s
Advisory Council on Safe Communities, the Education Advisory Committee for
Congressional Representative Dan Hamburg, and the Mendocino County Child
Abuse Prevention Council. She is not big on joining clubs, but she is a
member of Amnesty International, AAA, Costco, and Mensa.
She
has been married since bubblegum was five cents to Ron Reed, better known
as DJ Reed (as in disc jockey). Ron is a walking encyclopedia of R&B,
Soul, Funk, Gospel, Blues, and Jazz. DJ Reed grew up on the Southside of
Chicago. Because of the extraordinary efforts of his mother, he escaped
the infamous Robert Taylor Projects with his life, traveled around the
world with the U.S. Navy, and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Film
from San Francisco State University. Amy and Ron helped raise Ron’s two
sons from a previous marriage, Mort and Brian; and they raised their own
three children, Yael, Akili, and Sudi, on 40 acres of remote forest
guarded by ancient wise trees in rural northern California. Their children
are smart, talented, beautiful, and way above average—because they heard
so many books read aloud while growing up.
You can see how beautiful Amy and Ron's children are in this picture!
 |
ABOUT RON REED |
|
|
Ronald Reed was
born in Chicago, Illinois. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Film
from San Francisco State University and traveled extensively
throughout the world before settling in California. He comes from a
large family and was raised in the Pentecostal Church. His father left
the family when Ron was quite young and his mother raised him and his
three siblings on her own. Ron learned how to cook for the family
during his adolescence and is an excellent cook to this day. The
family moved into the notorious Robert Taylor Projects when the
projects were brand new. Many of Ron’s contemporaries raised in Robert
Taylor ended up in jail, dead, or addicted to drugs at a very young
age. Because of the sheer determination of his mother, he survived
this environment. To avoid the pressure to join the Blackstone Rangers
Gang, he left high school in his senior year and joined the navy. He
completed his GED while in the service. He traveled around the world
on an aircraft carrier. Although his four-year stint in the military
occurred during the Viet Nam War, he was not sent to Asia. He worked
aboard ship as a machinist and as one of the ship’s disc jockeys.
Upon leaving the
navy, Ron moved to St. Louis where he married and had two sons, Mort
and Brian. He worked various jobs while studying Drama at Florissant
Valley Community College. As he and his wife began to go their own
ways and then separated, he spent more and more time acting in theater
productions through the college and other community organizations. He
met Amy Wachspress in 1978 while acting in a community theater
production of Brecht on Brecht at the Jewish Community Center
in Crevecouer, Missouri. They relocated to California together in the
summer of that year to work at the Solvang Theaterfest.
He worked for a
dozen years as a theater technician in the San Francisco Bay Area. He
worked as a scenic carpenter, scenic artist, stagehand, and theater
technician for the San Francisco Opera Association and many non-union
theaters and scenic shops in the area, including the Berkeley
Repertory Theater, Magic Theater, Eureka Theater, Bare Stage,
Zellerbach Auditorium and the Greek Theatre. During that time he also
acted in many fringe theater productions. To complete his degree in
film, he made a film entitled Of a Kind. He has also worked as
an artist, photographer, cameraman, film production assistant, and
videographer. Following a serious back injury, he was forced to leave
the field of technical theater and subsequently worked for Whole Earth
Access Tools.
After moving
North, Ron worked as a photojournalist for many years for newspapers
in Mendocino and Sonoma Counties. He did a two-year stint as a
computer technician for a computer software firm that catered to
individuals with disabilities, particularly the blind. He
troubleshooted computer problems for blind users by telephone. As a
result, his resumé claims that he has the patience of someone who has
been stuck for many months inside a whale.
He worked as a
physical education teacher and then as a computer lab teacher at the
elementary school level. A self-taught computer geek, he has developed
websites as a webmaster and currently works as the computer specialist
for Ukiah Unified School District. He maintains computer operations at
15 locations and is every teacher’s best friend. He has a local
reputation as an excellent actor for his performances in many
community theater productions (both comedy and drama), including
playing Walter Lee in A Raisin in the Sun. He is well-known as
“DJ Reed,” a local radio personality. His radio shows feature R&B,
Soul, Gospel, Funk, Blues, Jazz, and whatever strikes his mood. To
listen to him on the web via audiostream on your computer, follow
these directions:
Saturdays 8-10 PM PST go to
www.kzyx.org/pages/listen_now.html
Ron has two sons, Mort and Brian, from his earlier marriage in St.
Louis. Mort is a diesel mechanic and Brian is an electrician. Ron and
Amy raised their three children, Yael, Akili, and Sudi, on 40 acres of
remote forest in rural northern California. Their children are smart,
talented, beautiful, and way above average—because they watched so
many classic movies while growing up.
|
|
