PIPS SPEAK: Essays by Previously Important People is a collection of stand-on-their-own creative nonfiction essays ranging from 500 to 750 words from a group of writers over the age of 60. The essays cover the gamut from reactions to current events to thoughts on family, aging, children and dying, very much in the spirit of Montaigne. Readers see into the world of the writer -- and recognize similarities in their own lives. The prose varies from lyrical to poignant, quizzical to comic, incensed to at peace, reflecting the gamut of emotions being human evokes. The essayists contributing to this collection have lived full professional lives. Rejecting the common societal view of "seniors" as background rather than players in a vibrant community, our writers represent the accumulation of thoughts and reflections obtained through the need to take on creative challenges throughout life. 

The book will appeal to those over sixty or anyone who wants to find their own voice or seek community in isolating times. Rather than one-way communication, essayists invite the reader into conversations on different aspects of life - love, children, challenges, spirituality, rites of passage - from birth to death. Finally, the short format makes writing a challenge and an opportunity, rather than an overwhelming onus, accessible to anybody who dreams of writing. Our thirteen writers have been meeting monthly since 2018, either in person, or via Zoom. We read our essays aloud to the group. During Covid's isolation times our group provided comfort and support to each other. We have developed a deep sense of community and connection thorough our writing and sharing.

The three presenters are:

Jack Williamson retired as a Chaplain in the U. S. Air Force after 24 years of service. He co-authored the book, Divorce: Six Ways to Get Through the Bad Times... for Good. He, along with Sarah Massey-Warren, piloted the first Intergenerational Writing Course at the University of Colorado. He is the grateful grandfather of two remarkable grandsons, both college students.

Beth Shaw is retired and lives in Boulder, Colorado. She taught literature at the college level, including assignments in China and Togo, West Africa. She was an international student advisor for twenty years and has done writing for international education publications.

Susan Josephs is an educator, consultant, curriculum developer, and mother, grandmother, and pet lover. A native New Yorker, she and her husband live in Boulder, Colorado. Her teacher and parent guides are available at Hoopoe Books, www.hoopoebooks.com Her essay "More Choices For Wade" appears in From Dubs to Marbles.

After decades as a long-haul trucker, Finn Murphy left the road and settled in Boulder County, Colorado. Before long he noticed that many of his neighbors were captivated by the prospect of vast riches in “the Hemp Space.” When hemp was legalized, after eighty years in federal exile, Colorado became the center of a hemp growing and processing boom. Figuring he’d harvest some of that easy money, Murphy bought a thirty-six-acre farm. What could go wrong? Well, pretty much everything…

Rocky Mountain High is the comic chronicle of a wild year as Murphy follows his Great American Dream, gradually losing his shirt but not his spirit. Pivoting away from growing hemp himself, he decides to make himself a middleman. He builds drying sheds the size of football fields. He battles with freezing temperatures and even colder bankers. And he assembles an eclectic crew of workers, including the wry and vastly talented Manuel, the business savvy Pierce, and a scruffy army of “trimmigrants”—specialized farm laborers who roam the country pursuing (or not) their own American Dreams. Pretty soon, Murphy is pitting his dwindling cash against the mercurial buyers who inhabit the Wild West of the hemp market.

Told with Murphy’s trademark wit, keen eye for character, and sharp insights into the hardscrabble society around him, Rocky Mountain High is an inside look at the alluring world of the hemp boom and a masterful tale of one entrepreneur’s misadventures.

lessons, James was an actor, a sales manager for a ski Company, president of a national advertising agency, a cowboy and wilderness outfitter, an educator, and co-founder of an NGO aiding women in Afghanistan. James is working on two new books, and otherwise occupies his time going to concerts, playing music, tennis, cycling, and riding and driving horses. He lives in The country north of Denver, Colorado, with his wife, some zebra finches, an old cat, and a
few equines. He is immensely proud of his two grown offspring and has one very young grandson.