Joel D EisI was born in Washington D.C. and grew up in Fresno, California. Beginning life as "red diaper" baby in a pro-labor Jewish household. My parents refused to cross picket lines. At age eight, I played in my communist uncle's back yard with Carl Bernsten. From my college days on, I seemed to be in the right place at the right time to be on the front lines of some of the major events of the 1960's. Student strikes, draft resistance, the Grape strike in California. I even helped get Eldridge Cleaver out of the country away from the FBI. I worked in important radical theatre companies for progressive change. This put me in front of the crowd but it also increased the surveillance on my activities. I was not afraid to be one of the people our parents warned us against. I was followed and informed on. My phone was tapped. I was shot at and I did some time in jail. The last time I saw my FBI file it was as thick as a small city phone book. After a career as a professional theatre designer and professor, my wife Toni and I own and run a small bookstore north of San Francisco. We use the space for workshops and public events. I talk politics with my customers all day. Visit my website at http: //JoelEis.com Read More Read Less