Archives: Events

Finding the Actor in You
(two 90 mins workshops, please sign up at the Ranch in the lounge)
Are you thrilled by the acting chops of Meryl Streep? And always excited to watch Bradley Cooper? Come spend an enjoyable hour with Director Sheldon Larry (who discovered Bradley!) in a workshop that will unleash your own acting talents. Are you ready for your closeup? Come find out.

Flying Daggers:  Making Movies in China
Sheldon Larry has spent the last three years making Festival-worthy, award-winning short films in China. He has guided filmmakers there to navigate their way through censorship and self-expression. Come see the intriguing best of the films made on his fascinating journey!

Sheldon Larry has had a distinguished 40-year career in film, television and theatre, directing and/or producing more than fifteen plays, twenty-five films and 500 hours of television. He learned his craft in Britain where he accumulated more than 300 credits with the British Broadcasting Corporation. He won a National Endowment Award and moved to New York City where for the next 10 years, he worked off-Broadway as a theater director and won an Obie for his production of Forty-Deuce, worked with Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy on ManyFaces of Love, and directed Blythe Danner and David Hyde Pierce in Candida. Among his

favorite films are An American Daughter with Christine Lahti (Golden Globe nomination); Split

Images, based on the Elmore Leonard novel; the Bradley Cooper rom-com, I Want to Marry Ryan Banks and The First Circle starring Christopher Plummer. His indie film musical, Leave It on the Floor was selected as best film at more than eighty film festivals. He taught at USC in their School of Cinematic Arts for the last twelve years, has run Masterclasses in directing all over the world. And he teaches at the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute in Los Angeles.  He has loved raising his twin daughters who are now 28, one a doctor, the other an Emergency room nurse. Neither has followed him into the film business.

A thoughtful experience that presents take-away skills to achieve personal equilibrium, overcome inertia, achieve focus and direction

Workshop #1
Understand the personal equilibrium process, the concepts of alignment and integrity of commitment.

Workshop #2
Identify core values and medium-term life vision; developing your Guiding Principles.

Workshop #3
Making goals actionable: Tasking and Time-Adjusting; Strategies and tactics for task accomplishment.

Workshop #4
Deadly sins of task avoidance and powerful antidotes to committing those sins; finding equilibrium and contentment; setting medium-term goals to accomplish.

Brian Peter Brinig, JD, CPA, is a highly-regarded speaker and the author of Mastering Self-Discipline: A Thoughtful Approach Gets Better Results and three other books directed to the legal and accounting professions. He is both a lawyer and CPA, managing director of the San Diego office of a national financial services firm, and an Adjunct Professor at the University Of San Diego School Of Law. His current professional focus is the art of self-discipline, including strategies and tactics designed to address this seemingly difficult challenge. Brian’s insight and techniques can’t make self-equilibrium and self-discipline effortless, but they sure can make it easier. He is a nationally recognized speaker to universities and professional organizations, and he has qualified as an economic expert witness in more than 100 jury trials in federal and state courts across the United States.

Learn how water affects daily life, health and environment. Get the facts on tap, bottled, alkaline and water in food.

Water: More or Less – An Overview of Issues that Affect You
This overview presentation contains reflections about our changing water landscape in stories, art and policy. Water has been in conflict all through American history with books and movies showcasing historic water fights involving the lives of real people. We now face drastic policy choices. Droughts, floods, water quality, climate change and the pandemic cast a harsh light on water use.  Learn how water affects your daily life and how to make healthy lifestyle changes to be part of the solutions.  Should you drink tap, bottled or alkaline water?  How much water does it take to grow and process our food?

Drinking water – Tap versus Bottled Water and what about Alkaline water?
Drinking water is key to good health – the river of nutrients to our cells. Every year Americans choose to drink more water – bottled water – assuming it is safer and purer than tap water. But is it?  What are the regulations that govern tap, bottled and alkaline waters? How often are these waters tested? Who is in charge? What is the carbon footprint to deliver bottled water from as far as Fiji.  And what about the plastic bottle proliferation and pollution?  Which companies are making positive changes so you can choose best products? You may be surprised at the answers.

Water in Food: Your Water Footprint
What is your water footprint?  Americans consume about 2,000 gallons a day, including the water for food, products and clothes. Take a fun quiz to learn how much water is in various foods. Get lifestyle ideas for eating lower on the food chain. Learn about those green irrigation circles seen out your plane window from South Dakota to Texas. This diminishing groundwater is used for extensive farming – mostly growing corn to feed cattle for fast food. Likewise, California’s Central Valley produces half the nation’s fruits, vegetables and wines using vanishing groundwater. How will loss of water affect your food supply?

The Pandemic and the Human Right to Water
Does the virus live in water? The Pandemic exposed serious inequities in society’s ability to deliver clean, fair priced water for all Americans. Tribal communities were hurt due to lack of water. In rural communities, wells can be contaminated by fertilizers and pesticides. Lead water pipes need to be replaced so episodes like Flint, Michigan never happen again. Infrastructure investments in public systems are necessary.  Learn how organizations in border communities like Tecate are working to educate and preserve water resources. Beyond America, there are international problems that impact world peace as water becomes the new oil in this century.

Rita Schmidt Sudman is a respected water journalist concerned about the crisis in Western water and how Americans are affected. She is an advisor to the nonprofit Water Education Foundation where she was executive director for 35 years creating widely distributed publications and television documentaries (three regional Emmys) on California and Colorado River issues. She is co-author of the 2018 book Water: More or Less. A former Radio/TV producer, she has served on numerous boards including the University of California’s President’s Water Commission and the international charity, Water for People. Currently she is a founding member of California Water Forward, a leadership mentoring program. She now lives in San Diego where she covers border (U.S. and Mexico) water issues.

Join foundation and nonprofit strategy consultant Melinda Fine, Ed.D., to explore how to design and engage in gatherings rich in meaning and value.

What Facilitating a Wedding, a Funeral, a Bat Mitzvah, and a Board Meeting Have in Common
We spend much of our lives gathering with others, but too often these experiences make poor use of our time.  Sometimes we meet professionally, with staff, boards, or others in our fields of interest; at other times we meet with family and friends to mark rituals of passage and celebration.  Whatever their setting, crafting gatherings rich in purpose takes intention and skill. Engaging in them fully takes similar intention.  Join foundation and nonprofit strategy consultant Melinda Fine, Ed.D., to explore five ingredients essential to designing and engaging in gatherings that are powerful and meaningful for participants, setting the stage for more fulfilling experiences in the future.
Reflection Work Sheet, Fine Consulting, RLP Sept 2022
Success Ingredients Work Sheet, Fine Consulting, RLP Sept 2022
Resources, What Facilitating a Wedding, a Funeral, a Bat Mitzvah, and a Board Meeting Have in Common (Fine Consulting, Rancho La Puerta, September 2022)
What Facilitating a Wedding, a Funeral, a Bat Mitzvah, and a Board Meeting Have in Common (Fine Consulting, Rancho La Puerta, September 2022)

The Art of Bringing People Together for Shared Purpose
Accessible and useful for those who design, lead, or simply participate in gatherings in a professional or volunteer context, this session will explore how to participate in forums that challenge both the head and the heart. We will cover strategies to foster goal definition, framing work expectations, and collective sense-making. We will also problem-solve common challenges, such as people moving at different paces, holding different perspectives, and gravitating toward challenges rather than assets.  Through individual reflection, group dialogue, and work sheets, participants will identify characteristics that have contributed to successful as well as unsuccessful gathering experiences in the past, and what they might plan to execute in the future.
Hand Out Resource, Fine Consulting, RLP Sept 2022

The Pragmatics of Bringing People Together for Shared Purpose
This session focuses on what lies beneath the surface in gathering design and execution – including the strengths (and potential inhibitions) we bring with us into spaces where we gather.  We will consider planning for submerged dynamics (such as power differentials and hot button issues) and unpack the “choreography” of a meeting’s arc, mindful of the ebb and flow of participants’ energy and the time it takes to build community and foster candor.  Through individual reflection, group dialogue, and work sheets, we will also explore how participants can build on their personal strengths when facilitating or simply joining in collective forums.
Post Session Work Sheet, Fine Consulting, RLP Sept 2022
Post Session Work Sheet, Fine Consulting, RLP Sept 2022

The Dance of Bringing People Together for Shared Purpose
This final session explores what it takes to ensure productive and inclusive engagement among diverse gatherers.  We will problem-solve when events go off the rails, identifying common disrupters — the back seater, the nay sayer, the interrupter, the middle schooler, and more.  To foster skills in building consensus in the conference room (and around the family dinner table), we will name dragons to slay, questions to consider, and tools to tap. Through individual reflection, group dialogue, and work sheets, participants will leave having committed to one concept, approach, or tool they will try out in a future gathering after their time at the Ranch.
Priority-Setting Exercise Hand Out, Fine Consulting, RLP 9-2022
What Facilitating a Wedding, a Funeral, a Bat Mitzvah, and a Board Meeting Have in Common (Fine Consulting, Rancho La Puerta, September 2022)
Resources Hand Out, Fine Consulting, RLP, Sept 2022

Melinda Fine, Ed.D. of FINE Consulting, is a seasoned strategy consultant and coach who has partnered with leaders, nonprofits, and foundations of all shapes and sizes for over three decades. A skilled facilitator known for listening deeply, asking probing questions, and crafting meaningful gatherings that foster collaboration and effectiveness, Melinda’s local, national, and global clients advance progressive social change through grantmaking, community organizing, advocacy, policy, and more.  An avid potter, swimmer, mother, daughter, and friend, Melinda draws on insights gleaned through personal and professional experience, believing that successful collaboration requires embracing different ways of knowing and a hefty dose of emotional smarts.

http://www.fineconsultingllc.org  (includes Resources)

Join Mike Wilken for an Interpretive Nature Walk (1.5 hs) on Saturday.

Where Am I?  The Fascinating Natural and Cultural History of Tecate, Baja California and Mexico
Have you ever been curious to know more about Tecate, Baja California, Mexico? Michael Wilken takes us on a whirlwind journey from ancient times to the present, including the formation of the peninsula of Baja California millions of years ago, the indigenous ancestors who thrived in local landscapes, the prehistoric civilizations of mainland Mexico, the history of European conquest and colonization, struggles for independence and revolution, the wild frontier of Tecate and Baja California, and the emergence of the modern republic of Mexico.

Native Plants and Native Peoples of this Land
For thousands of years, native peoples have made their homes in the coasts, valleys, mountains and deserts of northern Baja California and southern California. Through lifetimes of interactions with native plants in the diverse landscapes of the region, they have continuously refined their botanical knowledge, passing it on from generation to generation. Today, many Kumeyaay Indians in the far-flung ranches of northern Baja California still regularly practice the skills necessary to transform native plants into food, medicine, arts, tools, regalia, construction materials, and ceremonial items, among others. Native Plants and Native Peoples of this Land explores the remarkable interdependence between peoples and plants of the Californias through vivid photographs and lively narratives. Wilken provides in-depth descriptions of many native plants growing around Rancho La Puerta and their uses, along with fascinating archaeological and historical background, descriptions from early explorers, and stories from living Kumeyaay plant specialists. Out of this comprehensive perspective emerges a fascinating portrait of the region’s ancestral peoples, their cultures, and the native plant specialists who have enthusiastically shared their ever-relevant wisdom for future generations.

Anthropologist and author Michael Wilken’s research and advocacy work with Native Baja Californians has explored traditional arts (pottery, basketry, oral narratives and song), ethnobotany, history, languages and cultural landscapes of the indigenous peoples of the northern Baja California region.  He has developed lifelong collaborative relationships with native artists and traditional authorities to foster cultural revitalization and sustainable community development. Wilken’s fascination with native plants and the natural landscapes of the Californias has inspired him to explore the many ways that humans have interacted with their environments, from the ancient past, into the present. His book, Kumeyaay Ethnobotany was published in 2017 and is available at the Mercado.

Got Free Flowing Qi?
Once the umbilical cord is cut, we are responsible to make and maintain our energy and prevent it from stagnating. Let’s chat strategies for optimizing our Qi.

Be a good Sherlock Holmes in the lab of you!
Everything is information/instruction to our body/mind field. And then there is the biofeedback from our body/mind with various symptoms and signs giving us clues that what we are doing is working or asking us to make changes. Let’s make sense of the instructions and the feedback.

Then and Now…wisdom from all the ages.
One size does not fit all. Ancient wisdom traditions knew this and so do modern-day biohackers. Wisdom is everywhere, both old and new, and often they’re saying the same things. Lifestyle tips from Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine and modern medicine.

Erin E. Raskin, DACM, L.Ac. has been involved in various aspects of Ayurveda, yoga, meditation, nutrition, lifestyle and Traditional East Asian Medicine (TEAM) for over 40 years.

Erin’s eco-friendly office is in San Diego where she has been in private practice since 1992. In 1993, she piloted acupuncture for pain management at Kaiser Permanente. She joined the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine faculty in 1995 and was a clinical supervisor at San Diego Hospice and the Institute for Palliative Medicine, Seniors Clinic and Veterans Clinic.

In 2014 Erin joined UCSD’s Center for Integrative Medicine creating inpatient acupuncture and massage for hospitalized patients. She also provided TEAM at UCSD Student Health Services. She recently was part of a national research study providing acupuncture in the Emergency Department.

For decades she has been a health and wellness educator to her patients, students and the public on various topics; a host for the Death Café and during Covid led many online Self Care with Self Massage workshops.

Erin is a lifelong student of ancient Eastern healing arts and modern science, blending wisdom from different healing traditions. Erin cultivates her own Qi with many self-care activities including yoga, meditation, cooking, ceramics, singing, art, reading, solitude, nature, walking, time with hubby, family and friends.

What are the financial and psychological costs that clutter can have on your personal and professional life?  Leave this session with solutions to help you declutter and be motivated to discard unneeded ‘stuff.’  Presentation will include group discussion related to struggles with letting go of items in your home.

Workshop#1
5 Mistakes in Organizing
What are the internal and external impediments to organizing? Learn about the technical errors/mistakes that people face when trying to get or stay organized. Learn strategies to avoid these mistakes in the future.

Workshop #2
Too Much Clutter?  How Do I “Let It Go?”
Feeling overwhelmed, too many clothes, piles of paper, photos, bags, spices, magazines, craft projects, antique furniture? Participants will learn the 5-step method of organizing items in your home and office. You will also learn about Brain Organizing to help you declutter your brain so you can declutter your life.

Amy Carstensen, a San Diego-based Professional Organizer, started her business “Organizing with Amy” in 2013.  Previously, she taught high school Spanish, worked for the International Community Foundation, and was the Founder and Executive Director of Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center. While Amy holds a Master’s degree from UCSD in International Relations, her true passion is helping people declutter their brains and their lives.  When she’s not donating kitchen items to Salvation Army or putting labels on bins, she’s home torturing her husband and two teenage boys reminding them that, “if you can’t find something… just start cleaning up!”