Manzanita News

We moved!

Manzanita Writers Press Location and Contact:

VISIT OUR LOCAL AUTHORS  BOOKSTORE ONLINE!

325 Lewis Avenue, San Andreas, CA 95249 Volunteer Center Building – by appt

Mailing address: PO Box 215, San Andreas, CA 95249 Phone messages: 209-728-6117

Contact Director: 209-754-0577 – Director Email: manzanitawp@gmail.com

Find us on Facebook and Instagram!

Web: manzapress.com and manzanitaartsemporium.com

VOICES OF WISDOM

Voices of Wisdom free writing classes for seniors have continued via Zoom. Join the VOW writing community if you live in the Mother Lode, tri-county region of Calaveras, Tuolumne, and Amador counties. Contact us if you’d like to participate in not only the weekly Zoom sessions every Friday morning at 10 am, but the Writers Ning online community.

Contact:  manzanitawp@gmail.com

PURCHASE ALL THREE ANTHOLOGIES ONLINE HERE

WE MISS EVERYONE IN DOWNTOWN ANGELS CAMP AND ALL THE FUN WE USED TO HAVE — FREE LECTURES ON FASCINATING TOPICS, CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS ON WRITING, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIAL MEDIA, ART RECEPTIONS FOR OUR OVER 25 ARTISTS, AUTHOR BOOK LAUNCHES, STORYTELLING, SONG POSSE AND MUSICIANS PERFORMING, AND SO MUCH MORE! THANK YOU TO OUR WONDERFUL LOCALS AND TOURISTS WHO GRACED OUR ARTS CENTER WITH THEIR PRESENCE!

Contact:  manzanitawp@gmail.com

Manzanita Morning Writers and Writers Unlimited evening writers have Zoom sessions 1st and 3rd Mondays from 6:30 pm to 9 pm.

We workshop 5 pages of prose or poetry, any genre, as time allows.

Email Monika at manzanitawp@gmail.com if you would like to participate. Again, the Mother Lode region of the tri-county area of Calaveras, Tuolumne, and Amador. We do have a couple of San Joaquin writers and those who have lived in Sacramento and El Dorado counties, but our service area is the Mother Lode region and Sierra foothills.

VISIT THE  MANZANITA WRITERS PRESS  BOOKSTORE  AND SUPPORT  MOTHER  LODE LOCAL  AUTHORS!

New Book by Tom White!  Soldier By Chance: Memories of Vietnam

Published by MWP

 Purchase Here

In 1966, Thomas White was a nineteen-year-old surfer living an idyllic life in Marin County, CA. His sheltered world was shattered when he was drafted into the U.S. Army. At the moment the Vietnam War was ramping up, he found himself on the front lines.

Tom arrived in Da Nang with the 8th Battalion, 4th Artillery, to begin a fourteen-month tour of duty. The journey took him to the DMZ, the border separating North and South Vietnam, and the scene of some of the heaviest fighting in the war.

In addition to searing and insightful memories, Tom returned from Vietnam with a portfolio of candid photographs that bear witness to his life-changing experience.

 In this memorable first book, Tom shares insights about relationships formed, experiences encountered, and the horror of war during this brief moment in a historic time. His words and pictures illuminate a fascinating tale and the transformation of a soldier by chance.

About the Author:

THOMAS WHITE

Thomas White was born in 1946 and grew up in Marin County, just north of San Francisco. After two years of college, he was drafted in 1966

and sent to Vietnam. Somewhat disillusioned after returning home from the war, he let go of his dream of becoming an art teacher and built houses as a carpenter.

After working in the Bay Area for six years, Tom bought two hundred acres of remote and undeveloped land in the rugged foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Over the next forty years, Lightning Ridge Ranch slowly became a real one, with a house, barns, horses, and goats. His handcrafted home on the high ridge offered commanding views of rolling hills, perennial creeks, and distant mountains. His Gold Country landscape was wrapped in lush stands of pine and oak. While working the Ranch, he also established himself as an artist, actor, and woodworker.

In 1993, the Old Gulch Fire burned for five days and reached the edge of Tom’s property. In 2015, the Butte Fire roared onto the Ranch taking more than 150 acres. His herd of goats had kept the brush down and saved his house and barns. In 2016, he sold the land he loved and moved to the Gold Rush town of Murphys, California.

Tom’s Lightning Ridge Ranch had been reduced to a charred wasteland, bringing back haunting memories of Vietnam.

Some memories never fade.

New Book by Cate Culver!

The Untold History of Sonora Pass and Its People:  1860-1960

Purchase Here!

Sonora Pass, located north of the famous Tioga Pass that leads to Yosemite, is not well known. Extremely steep, and carved into granite like much of the Sierra, the pass is a hidden jewel.  Who were the people who built the roads, established resorts, grazed cattle, constructed dams, made movies, and built cabins on Sonora Pass? A community unto itself, Sonora Pass has a rich history, and Cate Culver has unearthed and recorded the stories and information that would have been lost to time.

In 1944 Cate Culver’s family purchased a cabin near Eagle Creek east of Dardanelle. From her earliest childhood, Cate spent summers at breakfast tables and around campfires, listening to the stories and learning the history of Sonora Pass. Getting out old black-and-white photographs often started the conversation. Cate realized that the history and the photographs needed to be recorded and saved. She began several years of research, including interviews with family members and friends of the original Sonora Pass pioneers. Over ninety of the old-timers were interviewed in person and many are brought to life in this remarkable history of the men and women who pioneered Sonora Pass.

About the Author

Cate Culver makes her home in California’s Sierra foothills. After her twenty-five -year career in Oakland and Sacramento as a graphic artist in advertising, she and her husband Jerry relocated to Mountain Ranch where she pursued her passion for painting, capturing the natural grace and power of the California region. They now reside in Tuolumne County.

The family summer cabin of Cate’s childhood located at Dardanelle on Sonora Pass inspired her to write her first book. The Untold History of Sonora Pass and Its People: 1860 to 1960 chronicles the fascinating hundred years of development along Sonora Pass and the unforgettable people who put their stamp on the land.

Cate served as Calaveras County’s historian for eleven years, developing her skills for meticulous research. As a graphic artist, Cate designed every page in the book and included a sprinkling of her art. Combined with her natural curiosity and primary source interviews, she brings life to the towering beauty of the Sonora Pass and the intrepid spirit of its people.

Words from Cate:

I have always been a bit of a rock hound. So when we joined the Calaveras Gem and Mineral Society, with my husband Jerry, a gold prospector, I thought I would enjoy learning about rocks. But it bored me, even the field trips when we brought rocks home. What to do with them? Many members made jewelry. They taught me how to cut rocks into jewelry shapes and then use the polishing wheels. But that bored me, too. Jewelry made from rock I’d seen before.

Wasn’t there something else I could do? In a stream I found some thin pieces of slate with a beautiful, rich, gray color. I picked up a few and brought them home. I thought about what was gray in a spectrum of colors. Well, I could make a silhouette of a crow. So I did. Well, then, how would I mount the rock? By using another similar rock–that would be best. So I did and liked the effect.

Manzanita Writers Press PO Box 215

San Andreas, California 95249