Born between the Nazi invasion of Poland in ’39 and Pearl Harbor ’41, Bruce remembers banging a wooden spoon on a kettle, in a street filled with people celebrating the end of the war in the Pacific in ‘45. Spent the summer of ’64 with the Farsimadan tribe in the Zagros Mountains of Iran; graduated from Reed College in 1965.
University of Chicago (M.A. Anthropology); lived with the Alexis Creek Band of the Tsilhqot’in in central British Columbia in ‘67. Active in anti-war efforts in Chicago; volunteered in Sammy Raynor’s 1968 congressional campaign against the Dailey machine candidate (reality-based education).
Taught at Pahlavi University in Iran from ’69-’73, returned in ’76, co-managing a construction project until the revolution got really hot in late ’78.
1980 stagier at Chez Provost in Paris, opened La Cigale restaurant in Redmond OR in ’81. Exited the restaurant biz in ‘89 to work in remote locations (Katmai Coast of Alaska, the Pacha River on the Kola Peninsula in Russia).
Kayaked solo in 1994 around Vancouver Island from Campbell River north to Cape Scott and down the west coast to Tofino. Flat-water kayak racing at the ’98 World Masters Games (2 silver, 2 bronze, thanks to Russian partners).
Bruce founded PlayWrite in 2003 (see TEDx “Notes the seahorse left me”). PlayWrite has served 929 at-risk youth, producing their original plays before more than 13,000 people.