Authors

(Also See Poets)

• Cedar Barstow
• Don Berg
• Reynold Ruslan Feldman
• Elizabeth Flanders
• Benedict Herrman
• Nirel Jackson
• Muhammad Isman Kanafsky
• David McCormack
• Ilene Pevec
• Hadrian Pollard
• Heather Starsong
• Latifah Taormina
• Rahima Warren

Cedar Barstow

Author’s website: rightuseofpower.org

Bio: Cedar Barstow is the Founder and Director of Right Use of Power Institute and the author of Right Use of Power.

Don Berg

Author’s website: holisticequity.org

Bio: Don Berg is an author, education researcher, alternative education practitioner, and leader. The peer-reviewed journals Other Education and The Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior have published his research. He has over 20 years experience leading children in self-directed educational settings. He has taught psychology at The Village Free School in Portland, Oregon. As the Executive Director of Deeper Learning Advocates he is on a mission to embed the psychology of learning in policy so that policy stops undermining learning. He has presented his work in education at conferences in the USA, Canada, Chile, the Netherlands, and in China. As an entrepreneur he runs Attitutor Media and currently lives at the Joyful Llama Ranch in West Linn, Oregon.

SICA-USA Articles

• Subud Couples Who Support Each Other in Their Cultural Flow
• The Story of School 

Reynold Ruslan Feldman

Authors website: reynoldruslan.com

Bio: An author of 12 books, half on wisdom for living, he is donating for the SICA fundraiser a signed copy of his memoir, published for his 70th birthday in 2009. That book, STORIES I REMEMBER, includes stories from his first 49 years in Subud, including his experiences with Bapak, Ibu Siti Sumari, Ibu Rahayu, the Granddaughters, Sudarto, Brodjo, Prio, Iksan, and Varindra.

Elizabeth Flanders

Authors website: https://silverlightdragon.com/index.html

Bio: After my bachelor’s degree, I traveled internationally teaching English as a foreign language. Afterwards, I went to graduate school earning a master’s in early childhood and special education. My professional life spanned 40 years, serving in public and private settings, often with children and families made vulnerable to poverty.  

During covid I spent time on zoom with my 10-year-old grandson, who declared very young that he came here to help Mother Earth. Soon after I spontaneously started writing a children’s story, a love letter to Mother Earth and after a series of miraculous occurrences, the book was published. It is written for the middle grades, is a powerful read aloud for younger children and many adults love it as well.

Artist’s comments on how the Latihan influences their cultural flow: The grace of the latihan has guided all my professional choices and created many miracles in my work with children. Most recently its grace gifted me a story. I spontaneously began writing a story out of love for my 10-year-old grandson, a young environmentalist. Anything I needed to publish it just came, the money, the editor, the illustrator, and the book design company. All I had to do was ask for what was needed through prayer and it appeared, often from an unlikely source. I was quite ill during this process, so this little book is a latihan miracle indeed.

Benedict Herrman

Too Far from Home: is the first of a trilogy. Second book is titled, “Seeking Home” and the third is “Coming Home.” All three are in the spiritual science fiction genre, and sizeable, page-turner reads.

SICA-USA Articles

• Subud Couples Who Support Each Other in Their Cultural Flow

Nirel (Ma’Rel) Jackson

Since early on, Nirel has been passionate about education as well as nature . Combining the two, Nirel has a dream to educate children and youth – about nature, sustainability and the cycles of life – in an interactive, engaging, and fun way. Nirel has been an amateur and professional writer and designer for more than four decades.

About Otter and the Ecotone: interactions between a boy called Otter, his grandmother and local wildlife offer learning on cycles of seasons and Nature. Otter lives in an urban suburb at the edge of a forest; the overlap of ecological boundaries is called the ecotone. Otter explores this rich environment; learning to listen to nature and analyze and plan ahead across four seasons.This story was originally written as a TV show with an interactive component. For now we have created this little children’s book. You may see the narrated version on YouTube at the following link: https://youtu.be/45ngKg1sX1c

Muhammad Isman Kanafsky

David McCormack

Bio: David is a long time, second generation, Subud member, who writes, teaches and likes history, especially Subud history.

I have been writing seriously for 10 years. In my latihan I asked who was I was suppose to write for and I received clearly not for the general public but “for those who wish to worship”. So I have written fiction, poems and prayers, and nonfiction of experiences etc. Some of the short fiction stories will be out shortly in a hardback illustrated book called The Majestic World of Gracious Gifts Bestowed, Illustrated by Anna Schroeder. I am working on a small booklet of prayers, sayings, and poems and a nonfiction book of experiences and musings. (It is written but needs assembly.)
Happy trails until we meet again.

—David McCormack

• Jacob and the Mouse (También en español)
• Selections from Answering the Blues with Rhyme Whimsy and Muse
• Notes on the Origin and History of the Chicago Group
• The Majestic World of Gracious Gifts Bestowed

Ilene Pevec

Bio: I was opened in Aspen, CO in 1970. In the first wave of talent testing in about 1980 I received I had a talent to promote culture. For quite a few years I worked in multicultural education for children in Canada and Portugal using myths, legends, art and theater. I went to graduate school for my MA in education to provide more opportunities for under privileged children. I investigated the impact on adolescents when they engage in school and community garden programs and interviewed 102 youth ages 14 to 19 across the US (the South Bronx, East Harlem, Boulder, CO, Carbondale, CO, Glenwood Springs, CO, Taos, NM, Albuquerque, NM, Chamisal, NM, and three programs in Oakland, CA). These youth from many cultural backgrounds learned to grow food, feed themselves and their communities healthfully and practiced business skills when they sold to restaurants and at Farmers’ Markets. Their young, honest voices make up the bulk of the book I wrote, Growing A Life: Teen Gardeners Harvest Food, Health and Joy.

SICA-USA Articles

• A Childs Garden of Peace, the beginnings Pt. I

Hadrian Pollard

Author’s Website: hadrian-pollard.com

Author’s Youtube Channel: Hadrian Pollard

SICA-USA Articles

• Hadrian Pollard’s New Book The Water Dancer
• Suncatcher Players SICA-USA
• Suncatcher Players
• Subud Education Association Needs Volunteers
• “Everyone’s Home” Album Recording (Support Subud Youth Culture)

Heather Starsong

Author’s Website: HeatherStarsong.com

Bio: Heather Starsong has loved and told stories all her life. As a child, she used to gather with younger children in the neighborhood under a big forsythia bush and tell stories, making them up as she went along. As a teen-ager she was the storyteller and song leader in the local Girl Scout Day Camp, going from unit to unit and creating stories for the different age groups. As a mother and grandmother, she had lots of fun telling stories to her children and grandchildren, often about the mischievous adventures of their stuffed animals. She also created story packs for her grandchildren, the covers from greeting cards in a cloth bag from which the child could draw a card and Heather would tell a story about it. In 2007 Heather began to write her stories. Leaves in Her Hair- 2009, Never Again – 2015, The Purest Gold – 2017, Song of Eliria – 2019, Leaf Shadows and Sunshine – 2022.

SICA-USA Article:

• Subud Rocky Mountain Region Creatives (Heather Starsong by Lawrence Pevec)

Latifah Taormina

SICA-USA Articles

• A Review of Latifah Taormina’s Terrific New Memoir, By Reynold Ruslan Feldman

Rahima Warren

After beginning my career as a psychotherapist,I was opened in SUBUD in 1984. Slowly, I found myself drawn in unexpected directions. I had never thought of myself as a writer or artist, but in 1994, I sought out training in Expressive Arts Therapy and incorporated it into my work with clients, as well as in my own life. (see my artistic website)

After receiving to fast from excessive words one Ramadan, I began doing creative writing for fun. Now I am a published author of a trilogy, The Star Seer’s Prophecy, a powerful and compelling story of suffering, healing, surrender, and transformation.