Dr. Shepherd Siegel, a descendant of oil barons and bootleggers, grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the midst of that whole utopian sixties thing. He was a rock and jazz musician, then educator. His first teaching assignment was with youth in lockup in a juvenile detention center, the only un-mellow job in bucolic Santa Cruz, California. He earned his doctorate at UC Berkeley, with studies in anthropology and special education, all the while implementing innovative internship programs for troubled and troubling youth, including those with disabilities. Siegel has over thirty publications in the education field and has been recognized for achievements in education and writing, including but not limited to awards from Foreword Reviews and from the Colorado Independent Publishers Association for both Disruptive Play: The Trickster in Politics and Culture and Tricking Power into Performing Acts of Love.
Somewhere in there, he played with the jazz trio Swingmatism and the power pop band Thin Ice. While more active as a writer, Dr. Siegel loves sharing music with people and together, delving deeper into that particular infinity. I mean, whoa, just listen to this guy in an interview on KUOW, Seattle’s NPR station. Dr Siegel is also reputed to have dubbed the voices for several international editions of The Artist, winner of the 2011 Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director.
From the Midwest Book Review of Tricking Power into Performing Acts of Love: “…a satisfying study in contrasts that covers everything from racist stereotypes and biases to mythology and folklore….invites not just laughter and comic relief, but offers serious contrast to the structures of power…provides a close inspection of fun and confrontations with power structures that are based on trickery and play….a powerful blend of scholarly analysis, mythology study, and social inspection that will appeal to readers of drama, mythology, folklore, and social issues….Tricking Power’s ability to move fluidly through those scenarios makes it an unusual, highly recommended pick, especially for discussion groups.”—D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review… D. Donovan’s Review Here
Better yet, Kirkus Reviews reviews “Tricking Power into Performing Acts of Love.” ….here!
Disruptive Play: The Trickster in Politics and Culture came out in 2018 to spread its message of playfulness and progressive change. The essential follow-up to Disruptive Play is Tricking Power into Performing Acts of Love. It explores the Trickster archetype in African American culture; the female trickster; slapstick, and what vision trickster holds for us today. Shepherd works hard to make you laugh, make you wonder. Dr. Siegel, born in Chicago, has lived the longest in Northern California and Seattle, where he now resides.