One of daunting tasks associated with researching the life of Isaac Bonewits for his biography is the number of people I want to interview. Here’s the list as of 27-Apr-2012. It’s an ever-increasing list; it seems that every time I speak with someone, they say “You know, you should also speak with…”
Folks I’ve already interviewed:
Charles Arnold
Gavin Bone
Michael “Doc” Bonewits
Phaedra Bonewits
Richard Bonewits
Larry Cornett
Ian Corrigan
Skip Ellison
Janet Farrar
Deborah Friedman
Daniel Hansen (formerly Rusty Elliot)
Anodea Judith
Deborah Lipp
Jeff Mach
Bobby Pennell
Paula Sangeleer
Selene Kumin Vega
Carl Weschcke
Ron Wright
Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart
Oberon Zell-Ravenheart
… and short interviews at gatherings
In the case of Phaedra Bonewits and Deborah Lipp, the past tense “interviewed” is a misnomer. They are both under the category of “ongoing resources.” Also, for more than half the people listed above, I’ve come up with additional questions for follow-up interviews. (Each time I thought I’d interviewed Selene Vega for the last time, I discover another question to ask.)
These are the people I plan to interview. For some there are comments in brackets [like this]; these are my notes to remind me why I want to interview them.
Stephen Abbott
John Adelmann – early ADF, first elected Archdruid
Margot Adler
Ruthann Amarteifio [Phaedra]
Simone Arras
Melissa Banbury
Dana Beard
Shenain Bell – early ADF
Janet Berres [Phaedra]
Jeannette Bonewits
Linda von Braskatt-Crowe (Kitty) [OTO]
Betty Carpenter (Elspeth) – early ADF
Philip Carr-Gomm
Jennifer Carroll
Joan Carruth
Grey Cat
Sharon Devlin
Karen Doureghty – early ADF
Arlynde d’Loughlan
Sally Eaton
Selena Fox
Gavin Frost
Yvonne Frost
Constance Godfrey
Jim Graeb [OTO]
Magenta Griffiths
Rosemary Guiley
Bill Heidrick
Jeff Kalmar
Bill Kates
Aidan Kelly
Anna Korn
Orien Laplante
Roberta Lipp
Arthur Lipp-Bonewits
Deborah Lowe
Caryn MacLuan [BBDC, clergy in Cedar Light Grove, Isaac’s final ritual]
Bernadette Montana [Cornwall; Brid’s Closet]
Sharon (Shereen?) Morton
James Odbert (Nybor) – early ADF
Jean Pagano – early ADF
Diana Paxson
Larry Press [OTO]
Edna Probst
Trish Reynolds [Cornwall]
Jeff Rosenbaum [Druid]
Alan Salmi [Phaedra]
Ceisir Serith – early ADF
Chris Sherbak – early ADF
Miriam Simos (Starhawk)
Dan Stachowicz [Isaac consulted him on money]
Tony Taylor (Henge of Keltria)
Kirk Thomas [current Archdruid of ADF; final ritual]
Glenn Turner [Pantheacon; NROOGD]
Joy Williams
Tom Williams
Arlan Wilson [OTO]
Jane Woodcock [Phaedra]
Connie Wymer [Subtle Energies]
Organizations:
Ár nDraíocht Féin
EarthSpirit
Grove of the Other Gods
I’m posting all these names, not only as a benchmark for myself, but also in the hope that some of them will google on their own names and find out I’d like to speak with them.
connecting with interviewees
I see about fifteen people on your to-be-interviewed list who live in Northern California and/or regularly attend PantheaCon in San Jose on Presidents Day weekend. Glenn Turner owns and directs this event. You just missed Pcon 2012, but if you can arrange to come out next year for about a week, you could catch many of these people either at the con or just before or after it.
Rachael Watcher and Greg Harder have done video recorded interviews with a variety of Pagan elders in the back room of the CoG/NROOGD/NWC hospitality suite at PantheaCon. Isaac was a NROOGD initiate; with a little advance notice you could probably make arrangements to record some interviews in the suite. If you don’t need video, you could also arrange to interview people in their hotel rooms or some other quiet spot.
You could also come out to the Bay Area some other time of the year and make the rounds. One of the names on your list isn’t quite right; it’s Linda von Braskatt-Crowe (my spelling of Braskatt may not be correct), not Buskirk Crowe. She usually goes by Kitty Crowe and she would be a good person to contact first to line up interviewees.
My name is Deborah Bender. I knew Isaac when he lived in Berkeley.
I don’t have a profile on Facebook or Google, but you could probably reach me via Linked In, and some of the people you know know me and can give you my email address.
Re: connecting with interviewees
Thanks for information, Deborah. If by some chance you’re seeing this reply, I can be reached at bonewits.research@gmail.com.
I doubt that I’m going to be able to make a trip to the Bay Area for research; I simply can’t afford the time and money. I’m going to have to use electronic tools: phone, e-mail, Skype, and so on. If you can put me in touch with any of the people you’ve mentioned, I would greatly appreciate it.
Re: connecting with interviewees
I simply can’t afford the time and money.
Have you considered a Kickstarter campaign? It’s probably too early in the process to estimate all the travel costs this project would entail, but a little further on, you might look into it. Sabrina’s big into Kickstarter, and knows far more than I do about it. Jeff Mach and his tribes could give you enough signal boost to make a real difference. (Time, of course, is another matter, and the Day Job must claim its due.)
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