JOHN WISDOM DANCER, 1941-2005.
John Wisdom Dancer was my father and best friend. While I did not grow up with him in the same household, I spent a great deal of time with him, especially when I moved back to Los Angeles in 1996. He was a kind soul, provocative for sure, but was never interested in being malicious nor cruel. Like all of us, he went through a lot of things in his life; from the suffocation of French Canadian Roman Catholic guilt as a child ("John, if you masturbate one more time, you're going to Hell!" One Priest told my dad when he was about 12 years old after having masturbated for the first time. My dad knew it was a sin and so also knew he had to confess of this sin.); to a Catholic Franciscan Seminary during his teen years; to quitting the seminary but not his faith shortly before he would have completed his studies to become a priest; to the culture shock of being an innocent, idealistic, naive Catholic at the University of Santa Barbara in the turbulent 60's; to losing his faith while serving two years in mental institutions (he was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War); to getting involved in the Consciousness Expansion Movement in the late 60's by selling synthetic mescaline; to serving three years prison time for getting caught selling synthetic mescaline; to being released after almost losing his life several times while in jail; to much more, my dad was till his last days a cheerful, good-hearted, and genuine human being.
During his time at UCSB, he was passionately involved in the playwriting and theater programs. He and a few others from around the country were selected to attend a playwriting conference by Edward Albee in New York. A number of things halted his playwriting career, and his interests went elsewhere, although throughout the years now and then he would write pieces here and there. A few years after I was born, he came up with the idea for a series of multi-layered, multi-story children's books which he called "The Planet of Iffin." He worked with a number of artists on the project but eventually his record selling business and taking care of his ailing mother was too demanding and he had to put the project on the back burner. After she passed away in April of 2005, he was able to work more heavily on a play, "Waiting for Amanda." This three act comedy was to be the first piece in "The Planet of Iffin" series. Unfortunately and unexpectedly, he was to pass away only one week after finishing "Waiting for Amanda" from a brain hemorrhage. In addition to working on the play, from 2003 to 2005, he was passionately dedicated to writing letters to the editor to newspapers across the country, many of which were published. After being missing for 20 years, his letters have been found and for the first time collected in book. Go to the book's page here on this site to find out more.
John Wisdom Dancer was my father and best friend. While I did not grow up with him in the same household, I spent a great deal of time with him, especially when I moved back to Los Angeles in 1996. He was a kind soul, provocative for sure, but was never interested in being malicious nor cruel. Like all of us, he went through a lot of things in his life; from the suffocation of French Canadian Roman Catholic guilt as a child ("John, if you masturbate one more time, you're going to Hell!" One Priest told my dad when he was about 12 years old after having masturbated for the first time. My dad knew it was a sin and so also knew he had to confess of this sin.); to a Catholic Franciscan Seminary during his teen years; to quitting the seminary but not his faith shortly before he would have completed his studies to become a priest; to the culture shock of being an innocent, idealistic, naive Catholic at the University of Santa Barbara in the turbulent 60's; to losing his faith while serving two years in mental institutions (he was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War); to getting involved in the Consciousness Expansion Movement in the late 60's by selling synthetic mescaline; to serving three years prison time for getting caught selling synthetic mescaline; to being released after almost losing his life several times while in jail; to much more, my dad was till his last days a cheerful, good-hearted, and genuine human being.
During his time at UCSB, he was passionately involved in the playwriting and theater programs. He and a few others from around the country were selected to attend a playwriting conference by Edward Albee in New York. A number of things halted his playwriting career, and his interests went elsewhere, although throughout the years now and then he would write pieces here and there. A few years after I was born, he came up with the idea for a series of multi-layered, multi-story children's books which he called "The Planet of Iffin." He worked with a number of artists on the project but eventually his record selling business and taking care of his ailing mother was too demanding and he had to put the project on the back burner. After she passed away in April of 2005, he was able to work more heavily on a play, "Waiting for Amanda." This three act comedy was to be the first piece in "The Planet of Iffin" series. Unfortunately and unexpectedly, he was to pass away only one week after finishing "Waiting for Amanda" from a brain hemorrhage. In addition to working on the play, from 2003 to 2005, he was passionately dedicated to writing letters to the editor to newspapers across the country, many of which were published. After being missing for 20 years, his letters have been found and for the first time collected in book. Go to the book's page here on this site to find out more.