#COMING BACK TO LIFE JOANNA MACY UPDATE#
#COMING BACK TO LIFE JOANNA MACY PC#

I was comfortable with that, because I was still learning the Work through writing about it. Still, it was Joanna’s work we were writing about, and even though I had some experience leading workshops, Joanna had the final word about what we included and how we expressed it. We experienced “group intelligence” frequently in our writing process together. We experienced “group intelligence” frequently in our writing process together, contributing to a rich and enjoyable experience of collaborative creativity. This nearly always cleared the way for one or the other of us to find just the right words-and the other would immediately say, “That’s it!”. Joanna was a hoot to work with! Often, when trying to find the right words to express a concept or nuance, we would get really silly and suggest all sorts of nonsensical phrases to one another. Then we’d get together in person and read aloud the results to one another, for further fine-tuning. One of us would take on the writing of a particular section and then share it with the other-who would send feedback back to the author.

#COMING BACK TO LIFE JOANNA MACY PC#

Joanna worked on a pre-Windows PC with green lit-up letters on a dark background (remember?). We didn’t have Google docs to work with and had to send Word files back and forth to one another. Keep in mind this was in the relatively early days of the Internet and computer programming. In the year that followed, the first edition of Coming Back to Life came into being. As she completed the memoir, and I worked on the update, it became clear to both of us that a whole new book was asking to be written. I was thrilled when she asked me to help her with these writing projects.įor over a year, I made frequent trips to Berkeley from Petaluma (where I lived at the time) to help Joanna organize and conceptualize Widening Circles, and to begin revising Despair and Personal Power for a new edition. In the process, we had become colleagues and good friends. I then studied with her at Starr King School for the Ministry, and served as a teaching assistant in two courses she taught at California Institute of Integral Studies.

I had been a part of the Nuclear Guardianship Project after attending a Nuclear Guardianship workshop with Joanna in 1990.

#COMING BACK TO LIFE JOANNA MACY UPDATE#

She needed someone to read through and update the material in Despair and Personal Power while she focused on her memoir. She was working on Widening Circles (her memoir) and she also wanted to revise Despair and Personal Power in the Nuclear Age, at the request of New Society Publishers. In the summer of 1996, Joanna Macy requested my help with two writing projects.

Coming back to life joanna macy