Biography
What Happened to the Teacher That Created The Wave
Where is Ron Jones Now?
Ron Jones lives in the Haight Ashbury of San Francisco with his wife Deanna. They have been married for 44 years and share their everyday life with grandchildren and work. Deanna is the librarian at St Johns school. Ron is retired after working 30 years as a teacher at the San Francisco Recreation Center for the Handicapped. ( now the Janet Pomeroy Center).
Fired from teaching at Cubberley High School and subsequent jobs directing alternative schools at Stanford University and Mt Zion Psychiatric Hospital, Ron found an accepting home at the Janet Pomeroy Center. Teaching the physically and mentally disabled in theater and sports, his programs empowered the disabled to speak for themselves. He provided the disabled with a celebrated place in the community from which they were previously excluded. This work became the subject of books, film and television presentations that taught us all – ‘there are more ways to win than coming in first.’
Today, Ron Jones volunteers teaching poetry for the mentally disabled in San Francisco at Creativity Explored and coaching his granddaughters 5th grade girls basketball team. He performs regularly on local stages as a poet and spoken word artist. Sometimes if you stay in one place long enough your experience some unusual people and unexpected events.
Spoken Word Artist
Recently Ron has taken the stage as a spoken word artist to tell about his life. A life that is unpredictable. Trusting confusion. A life based on a belief in oneself and others. A life that refuses to accept control and an order driven by fear and hatred of others. The life of a playful artist that happens to be a father, teacher, and now a grandparent. A life of quiet adventure.
Labeled the “Poet of Punk” Ron performs regularly in local bars, studios, and theaters. He is often accompanied by disabled dancers and jazz musicians. Working with guitarist Kenny Martha, Grammy winning David Denny and videographer Damon Molloy, Ron has recorded his stage work into a ‘series of storytelling videos’.
Mint Jammin’ B-Ball
The Wave Say Ray
Jitterbuggin' When God Winked
They are highly recommended: If you want to know what it’s like growing up in San Francisco (Jitterbuggin’). The secrets of coachng a Special Olympic Basketball Team that’s never lost a game (B-Ball). Conducting an exorcism in Nuremburg’s Gold Room (The Wave). Doing a true life play with Elvis (Say Ray). Finding God in an unusual heaven (When God Winked). Yes, these DVD’s tell about the unique life of the teacher that created The Wave.
Writer
As a writer Ron has tried to document his life. Most of his books are self published and circulated to friends as an excuse for a party! These books include Airman (about teaching at Cubberley High School, Palo Alto, California during the time of The Wave, anti war protests, and racial integration.) No Substitute for Madness (more stories about teaching at Cubberley and other places). Grandmas Boy (about a murder in the Sunset District of San Francisco). The Christmas Coat (a father’s special gift to his son). Unusual World Records (activity challenges by the physically and mentally disabled). No School on the 6th Floor (a journal about teaching at Mt Zion Psychiatric Hospital). The Vacant Lot (about kids and an atomic bomb). When God Winked and Fellini Grinned as recommended on Oprah Winfrey on her show about autistic behavior. These books are only available by contacting Ron Jones directly.
Commercial publications of Ron Jones writings include:
Bantam/Doubleday/Random House:
- The Acorn People
- Kids Called Crazy
- B-Ball
- Say Ray
- The Wave by Todd Strasser
- (The Acorn People about a summer camp for disabled children is in 23 printing and sold over 750,000 copies)
Danish Publisher: Kaleidoscope
Ron Jones Storyteller
No Substitute
German Publisher: Ravensburger
Die Well (by Todd Strasser)
Die Wirklicite Welt
Books into Television Drama
Three of Ron’s books have been produced as television drama.
The Acorn People
Charles Joffe producer-staring Cloris Leachman, Lavar Burton , Ted Bessell
The Wave
Producer-Norman Lear
One Special Victory
Starring John Laroquette
Awards
Working as a writer to bring awareness and rights to the disabled, Ron’s books have received national recognition. The Acorn People was honored as the Christian Book of the Year, Kids Called Crazy was nominated for a Pulitzer, Say Ray, received the Before Columbus Foundation distinction as American Book of the Year. When God Winked and Fellini Grinned a self published book was recently recommended by Oprah Winfrey on her show about autism.
Plays
Working at the Recreation Center for the Handicapped Ron wrote and helped direct several play s about the life of the physically and mentally disabled for Theater Unlimited, New Conservatory Theater, and the Marsh.
- Say Ray (a true story that preceded Rainman)
- Willard Joins the Army (about the mentally disabled serving in WWII)
- Big Daddy, Mother Earth and the Devil (a play about creation)
- The Boy Who Thought He Was Elvis (a story about aliens and a boy that thinks
- he’s Elvis)
- No School on the 6th Floor (kid’s diagnosed as crazy are asked to attend a hospital school with kids called ‘trouble’)
- The Sandra Jensen Story (the First Down Syndrome woman to fight for and receive a heart transplant)
- Buddha Blues (a monologue about the Buddha in all of us)
- It Came from Outer Space (a musical about flying saucers and wheelchairs)
An Interview with Ron Jones
Ron Jones is often asked to explain The Wave! How did it happen? Is it like the movie? Can you teach me how to do it? He has turned down inquiry from Jim Jones of Peoples Temple, to magazine editors, scholars, students, skin heads and evangelists. He is constantly asked to advise on plays about The Wave being produced around the world and respond to a web site that claims The Wave never took place.
To depict what really happened—to describe his personal feelings and the role of racism/violence in The Wave—Ron chose to perform The Wave only once before a San Francisco audience of students and Holocaust survivors! He recorded this event as a DVD and hoped it would answer all questions. And only once did he respond to a late night phone call to meet Eva Moses, a child at Auschwitz, and join her in the examination of horror. And once, only once did he take Eva Moses story to Hitler’s private chambers in Nuremburg’s Gold Room to perform a requested exorcism.
“I’m not proud of The Wave but I can’t escape it! It is like a calling that just gets louder! For me The Wave is a story of ghosts. What we can be. The allure of good and evil. Choices. I’m sorry, but in the end I can’t answer your questions about The Wave. I am a gym teacher and grandparent. Confused by today’s events. Worried. Feeling unable to affect change. Content to play basketball with a grandchild, listen to the songs in my head. Spitting the poetry of everyday life in quiet reverence.
I suspect, the answers you seek are closer than some distant drum beat. It is the choices you make. The decision to include or exclude people from your life. To walk across the room to meet a stranger. The stranger in you and all of us. To trust yourself and others. To fight for justice and equality in the pulse of your life. To love your children. To be silly. Playful. Organize for a sense of community and better life for all. A life that can’t be given away to any fear or tyrant. A life that can’t be planned or explained, only appreciated.
Yes, there is good and evil in what we do. The good in me yearns for freedom. The evil exists at the edge of road rage or a racial slur waiting to explode into a world of perfection, answers, and order. I am capable of either.”
Ron Jones
1201 Stanyan St.
San Francisco, Ca 94117
415-566-8470
www.ronjoneswriter.com
Contacts
People to contact regarding The Wave or Ron Jones:
- Philip Neel (818) 370-9952 was student in The Wave. He and others from the experiment are creating a documentary to tell their experiences in The Wave
- Mike Fox (510) 527-5127 a student at Cubberley not in The Wave but can describe the anti war and racial climate of the time.
- Helen and Joe Pickering (650-493-7554 parents at Cubberley High School during the time of The Wave and protests against the war/school administrators.
- Judy Cohen (415) 515-1858 director of Theater Unlimited
- Jay Katz (415 )665-4100 director of social services at the Janet Pomeroy Center
- Mia Scott and her guide dog Tesa (415)334-1416 fellow performance artist and Punk Band collaborator.
- Olaf Pyttlik (204) 956-2867 or (204) 779-6223 producer of the musical version of The Wave
- Archives of the Palo Alto Times and Palo Alto Unified School District