Plato’s famous credo ‘The life which is unexamined is not worth living’ speaks directly to Dr. James Birren’s passion over the past 30 years. Birren, a longtime Palisadian, is in the business of guiding other people to write their life stories. He brings to the task a lifetime of distinguished teaching and writing as the former associate director of the UCLA Center on Aging and founding dean of the USC Andrus Center of Gerontology. ‘It’s addictive; there’s such power in hearing people’s life stories,’ says Birren, who has co-authored two books on the subject. He points out that the benefits of autobiography are broader and more far-reaching than simply recording one’s life for family and posterity. ‘Lots of good things come out of it,’ he says. The process often rekindles old interests and sparks optimism about the future, which makes thinking about goals and aspirations a natural conclusion to the experience. And the autobiographical journey is not an isolated affair, with sharing in a group being a basic tenet of the program. ‘Working with others helps to stimulate recall of events, feelings and details of settings that might be overlooked or forgotten by an individual writing alone,’ notes Birren, who has taught his popular course all over the world. Closer to home, Birren will teach two courses this month at UCLA Extension. For the mental health professional, ‘Use of Autobiography in Clinical Practice,’ a new one-day conference, will be offered on Saturday, May 15. The other class, designed for a general audience, is called ‘Guided Autobiography: Organizing Your Life Story’ and meets on six Saturdays beginning May 22. During the sessions, major themes of life’family, money, health, spirituality and values’ are explored through writing assignments and group discussion. ‘We don’t evaluate or give interpretations of another’s life,’ Birren says. ‘We want an individual to come to his or her own conclusions.’ Ultimately, the course comes around to mining the history of one’s hopes and dreams, concluding with the question: What do you want to do right now? The intimacy of the group follows a predictable pattern. ‘There’s an implicit cadence,’ says Birren. ‘People recoil if you share too much too soon. By the third session, though, things are quite open.’ Birren, who is a vital 86, has taught 20- and 90-year-olds in the same group. ‘The energy of the young and experience of the old do very well together,’ he says. Strong bonds often form among class members, with many groups continuing to meet for years. ‘Just as having coffee with a friend can be therapeutic, so can sharing one’s life story,’ says Birren. ‘We’re living in an impersonal age. I think that’s why there’s such a growing interest in this.’ Birren and his wife, Betty, moved to the Palisades in 1965. Internationally recognized for his work in gerontology, Birren has published extensively in the area of aging. To learn more about the UCLA course offerings, call 825-2301 or go online to www.uclaextension.edu.

Eleven years after his death, labor leader and United Farm Workers founder Cesar Chavez still has a long-lasting influence. Palisades High School received a grant this school year to incorporate ideas about Chavez’s values and ideals into the curriculum and organize community service projects, inspired by Chavez’s grassroots activism. The $44,000 grant from the Governor’s Office on Service and Volunteerism (GOSERV), was called ‘From the Mountains to the Sea, Honoring the Legacy of Cesar Chavez.’ Last week, Gretchen Miller, the director of Pali’s community service program, several teachers, Cesar E. Chavez Foundation programs director Shaun Hirschl and LAUSD Service Learning Task Force chairs Bud Jacobs and Tim Johnston met to discuss the success of the program in which 400 PaliHi students participated in five different service projects. Chavez, who experienced the life of a migrant farm worker, characterized by low wages and inadequate health and safety conditions, started the United Farm Workers of America which brought about the 1975 California Agricultural Labor Relations Act to protect farm workers. He was also active in the civil rights movement and the use of nonviolent social change. Math teacher Angelica Pereyra and her students are completing a mural at the Access Center, a drop-in center of the Ocean Park Community Center, where homeless clients can check mail, take a shower or access food, clothing or other services. Students learned about the theories of Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siguerios, which uses a system of graphing and geography with proportions and ratios to create a mural. The students discussed the concept of dignity, one of Chavez’s ideals for all people, Pereyra said, ‘We asked where does it exist, how do you learn it? It can exist everywhere’in the spaces in-between.’ The mural design encompasses lettuce fields, a large tree with a young Cesar Chavez sitting beneath it, and an overlay of the UFW flag design, featuring an Aztec eagle. Quotes from Chavez’s speeches are written in between the lettuce fields. Spanish teacher Sandra Martin, who teaches a class to native Spanish speakers, asked her students to interview family or community members about their life histories and experiences coming to the United States. The students inquired about the significance of keeping heritage alive, to tie into the importance Chavez gave to family legacies. In addition, the students created illustrated children’s books, written in Spanish, about the life of Cesar Chavez and his affect on community members. The children’s books on Chavez will be donated to an elementary school. Shirin Ramzi’s American literature class wrote essays on Chavez, analyzing one of his quotes, focusing on his life and what led him to the United Farm Workers movement. Some students weren’t familiar with Chavez. Others, who had already studied Chavez, wrote about activists he had influenced such as lawyer and writer Oscar Acosta and co-founder of the UFW Dolores Huerta. Ramzi also wanted her students to get a little experience working on a farm. Although it didn’t work out to take them to actual farms in Oxnard, students participated in a short exercise, simulating the experience. They dropped sunflower seeds on the quad and wore heavy backpacks while picking them out of the grass. The exercise inspired a lot of complaints, Ramzi reports especially when she asked them, ‘What if I now brought the extra credit I promised for this exercise from 50 points to 0 points?’ In Libby Butler and Jeannie Saiza’s AVID class, a college preparatory class that provides academic and social enrichment, students went out into the community to help save an underutilized government-funded senior center. Students came into the inner city community where the center was located and talked to people and handed out fliers outlining the services available. Some of the students at first ‘wanted nothing to do with the elderly,’ said Saiza, but later warmed up to the project. Ray Millette took his marine biology students to Ballona Wetlands to help restore the saltwater marshes which are being reopened to the public after being privately owned. Millette believes this project ties into Chavez’s emphasis on access for all people. The students spent the day helping dig up non-native species. In the classroom they spent a month studying wetlands, specifically Ballona. ‘This wouldn’t have happened without Gretchen Miller,’ Millette said. ‘She spearheaded the program and made it a success.’ Miller was assisted with grantwriting by Melodye Kleinman of Wise Senior Services. The PaliHi Booster Club also assisted with funds until the grant money came in. The GOSERV grant will not be available next year due to budget cutbacks, but the PaliHi teachers hope to continue the projects.

Palisadian Roberta Randall has been entertaining audiences with her ‘one-woman theater’ for 20 years. The solo dramatist currently performs in four different shows she created based on the lives and accomplishments of famous women, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Katharine Hepburn, and Marlene Dietrich. Next week, Randall will present ‘A Woman of Independent Means’ by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey at the Woman’s Club on Tuesday, May 11, and ‘Beverly Sills’ at the Assistance League of Santa Monica on Wednesday, May 12. A Chicago native, Randall has dramatic experience that spans theater, television, radio and film, though she says, ‘I like a live audience.’ She especially enjoys playing famous women and developed the idea for her one-woman shows because ‘women are interested in accomplished women.’ Randall’s audiences range from women in their 20s to age 100, and she usually performs for women’s organizations, as well as retirement homes and temples. ‘I can perform for a small group in someone’s living room or in a huge theater,’ says Randall, who works with simple costumes and minimal props. Her first one-woman creation was ‘Beverly Sills,’ about the internationally acclaimed soprano who captured America’s heart with her glorious artistry, engaging personality and salty intelligence. ‘I read her book, ‘Bubbles,’ [an autobiography] and her life seemed fascinating,’ Randall says. ‘There was a lot in her life that was very emotional.’ Because Randall crafts her shows as interpretations of the women and their lives, she researches by reading books and watching videos in order to get to know her subjects. A graduate of Northwestern University, School of Speech, in Evanston, Illinois, Randall studied acting under Uta Hagen in New York before going to France and Italy to act in films such as ‘Reflections in a Golden Eye’ (John Huston), ‘Doctor Faustus’ (Richard Burton) and ‘Woman Times Seven’ (Vittorio De Sica) in the 1960s. When she moved to Los Angeles 30 years ago, her starring role in ‘Electra’ at the Cellar Theatre earned her an agent. A Palisades resident for 18 years, Randall also studied with Jack Garfein in Beverly Hills and taught acting, voice and diction at the Actors and Directors Lab for two years, and as a private coach. She and her husband, Irwin, currently travel every year to such places as China, Russia and England. In the free program of ‘A Woman of Independent Means,’ based on Elizabeth Hailey’s novel, at the Woman’s Club on May 11 at 11:45 a.m., Randall will portray the life of Bess Steed Garner from 1899 to 1977. To reserve a place for lunch ($10) after the program, call Evelyn Morrow at 459-2507 by 12 noon on May 8. The Clubhouse is located at 901 Haverford. The Night Lights Auxiliary of the Assistance League of Santa Monica will host the May 12 performance of ‘Beverly Sills’ as an evening of drama and dessert from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Assistance League Chapter House, 1439 15th St. Dessert and wine will be served following the program; a minimum donation of $10 will be accepted at the door. All proceeds go to providing scholarships for kids to attend camp and outfitting local children for summer camp.

Imagine trying to profile an entire state through photographs. Each one of the 50 manifests its own personality shaped by climate, natural resources and history, and even if you took 1,000 or 10,000 images, the task would remain elusive. Jonathan Charles (J. C.) Leacock, through skill, patience, luck and extraordinary understanding of the West, has accomplished a photographic composite of two Western states, Colorado and South Dakota. More than an Aaron Copland hymn, Leacock’s West is a breathtaking panorama, populated by birds and mammals, but also by men and women. In his visual journey through Colorado (‘Our Colorado’), for example, we meet National Park employee Bob Kisthart, dressed in the buckskins of a deerhunter to recreate life at Bent’s Old Fort, the only trading post along the Santa Fe Trail. We see Crested Butte resident Elizabeth Becker riding her bicycle rigged with a ski rack on her way to the slopes. In ‘South Dakota, Simply Beautiful,’ we observe cowboys herding cattle at the Krogman Ranch in Mellette County and Miss Rodeo 2003 posing with her horse in Wessington Springs. It’s interesting that Leacock, a local boy who grew up in Pacific Palisades, graduated from Palisades High School (1978), then went off to UC Santa Barbara, would fall in love with the mountains and grasslands of the western plateau. Maybe the clue is that he refers to this part of America as cowboy country. His late father, Philip, a director and producer of films and television, had a lot to do with his passion for the American West. ‘He enhanced my interest through his work with the classic Westerns of the day, ‘Gunsmoke’ and ‘Bonanza,” Leacock says. ‘Horses, gunfights and Marshall Dillon not only inspired my imagination but were also, in a sense, real.’ Not only did these memories fuel J.C.’s visual expansiveness, but the lifestyle was seductive. He really is a cowboy, having learned to ride when he was a boy, and here affirms the visual metaphor of cowboy and West over and over in his work. ‘When I was growing up we lived in Australia for three months while my dad was making a movie, ‘Adams Woman’ with Beau Bridges,’ Leacock says. ‘I rode every day.’ These days, he lives on a ranch near Crested Butte in southwest Colorado with his wife Kriste (a high school math teacher), horses and cow dogs. Leacock, 44, was interested in taking pictures from the time he was a little boy. ‘My dad was a great influence, but also my grandmother Enid Slater.’ He used to visit Slater, his maternal grandmother, in London every other summer. ‘She had her own darkroom and gave me my first camera, a Kodak Instamatic.’ His mother, Carol, an inveterate hiker and environmentalist who started the Temescal Canyon Association in the early 1970s, has been a great inspiration to J. C. ‘I used to go on hikes with my parents,’ Leacock says. ‘When I was younger before [developer Earl] Lachman destroyed it all, we hiked in Las Pulgas. I know all the species of plants and all the flowers; it’s where I learned about nature.’ Like an artist who carries a sketch pad wherever he goes, Leacock took his camera wherever he wandered. After graduating from Santa Barbara’with a major in environmental science and geography’and Brooks Institute, he assisted a professor doing soils research on the Channel Islands, and naturally was taking photos the whole time. ‘I scammed every way I could to get out to the islands,’ he says. ‘And then I thought, ‘If I could make this [taking photographs] a living, that would be very cool.’ Things worked out for him: his work is widely published and has appeared in Backpacker, National Geographic Adventure, Sunset and American Cowboy as well as in Sierra Club, Audubon and Western Horseman calendars. ‘I’m a Colorado photographer,’ Leacock says, while admitting that to record the whole state was a tough assignment. ‘My contract for the Colorado book was for three years, but it was hard to put a time line on it. It’s such a diverse state, you have to try and capture that and plan accordingly. ‘To shoot the wildflowers you just have to go the best spot in the mountains in July and wait. It just so happens that because of its elevation and rainfall, Crested Butte is the wildflower capital of the Rockies.’ In fact, Leacock’s signature shot is that of the Colorado columbine, the state’s official flower. In the photo, Leacock photographed the snow-white blossom with the rose-tinted streamers emerging gracefully from the leaves of the false hellebore, in a terrific shot as magical as a watercolor. Leacock has been accused at times of enhancing his photographs with Photoshop to explain the dramatic lighting and rich colors. ‘Some people have looked at my Web site and say the photos are too saturated. I say if you take advantage of the right kind of light and the right kind of film, you get this rich saturation.’ My landscapes to this day, and even the stuff that is published, have never been manipulated by Photoshop.’ To the uninitiated, Leacock’s books seem most comprehensive, but there are inevitably the ‘shots’ that got away. In the Colorado book, he would have loved to include the Denver skyline, the Denver Broncos and the Denver International Airport’which turned into an impossibility following September 11. His most difficult shot, he says, was the skier jumping off a cornice at Monarch Ski Resort in Colorado, a curious statement from a guy who captured a fearless cowgirl competing in a South Dakota goat-tying event at the most dust-swirling moment. ‘I’m not generally a sports photographer, and I never did a guy flying off a cornice; I didn’t know what to do. Luckily, it worked out well.’ Leacock, who uses a 6 x 7 cm Pentax for medium format landscapes and a 35-mm for action and people, takes slide film, explaining that his clientele’mostly magazines and calendar companies’are not ‘quite ready to look at a computer screen.’ He has over 50,000 transparencies in inventory. For ‘Our Colorado’ he sent the publisher over 500 images to choose from, including the extraordinary cover shot of Red Mountain No. 1 reflected in a lake near Red Mountain Pass. This photo was the result of his search for reflections. ‘I saw this body of water as I was driving along and thought, What the heck, there might be a good reflection.’ Like many who make a living as an artist, Leacock says that 90 percent of his time is dedicated to office work. ‘It seems that I am making endless phone calls, submitting images to clients, mounting, labeling, captioning and doing some writing.’ He wrote all the captions for the ‘Our Colorado’ and ‘South Dakota, Simply Beautiful,’ and for the October 2003 issue of Cowboys & Indians contributed an article on cowboys and girls. ‘I love cowgirls. They’re strong and independent and rope and ride. And half of them can do it better than anyone else.’ Leacock’s photographs are registered with four stock agencies, and he is looking forward to his next assignment with the state of Colorado, which has contracted with several photographers to document the entire state. ‘They hired me to document the south-central region, which includes Salida, Canyon City, Pueblo, Del Norte and Monarch Sky.’ For a guy who has a sizable inventory on his adopted state already, Leacock is challenged. ‘This is still a pretty big chunk of the state.’ The hardcover books ($24.95) are available through Village Books on Swarthmore.