Floyd Salas, Writer, Teacher and Mentor, Turns 90!

Photo Credit: Geoff Leobbert.
With Claire and Floyd after their reading at the Bird and Beckett Bookstore in the Glen Park area of San Francisco on Sunday, April 13, 2014

Last month my long-time writer friend and mentor, Floyd Salas, celebrated his 90th birthday. And he's still alive and well in Berkeley, California! Floyd and Claire have become two of my dearest friends whom I miss so much since this crazy pandemic began. They're more like family to me now than friends. I've attended countless parties, gatherings, writing events, even music-related events. You name it. I remember attending a play in Berkeley which Claire wrote and one year, September 28th was proclaimed "Floyd Salas Day" in Berkeley. His influence in the literary world as a writer and a teacher has been monumental. I attended a reading event in San Francisco at the iconic Beat Museum in North Beach where Floyd Salas read just a couple of years ago. I sang "When I'm 84" to him at his 84th birthday, and at his 85th, Floyd proclaimed, "I'm 85 and still alive!" I regret missing his birthday gathering last year because I couldn't get to California soon enough, and then the pandemic hit. I was, however, at his previous 88th birthday bash in Berkeley.

I met Floyd Salas in 1998 when I took a Creative Writing class at Foothill College. Back then, you could take the same class on three different levels, then continue taking it. And Floyd taught both short story and fiction writing. A bunch of us took his classes for several years in one form or another. We always figured out how to be there because Floyd, though he was prone to yell at people in class like, "Don't forget about the five-point plot plan!" or "You need more conflict! Make them suffer!" My young daughter Megan used to come to class with me and hang out with their dog Rocky while class was going on. She was around seven years old then, maybe younger. Floyd would put her to work passing out papers to people in the class.

After each class, a group of us would get together at a pizza place called The Boardwalk not far from the college. That's where Floyd would ask us, "What's the worst thing you've ever done?" This reminded me of another thing he'd say in class, "We want to read what you don't want to write about!" He had a way of teaching so that everyone got it. And even if you took his class over and over again, you'd hear some of the same points, but always from a different angle, and always new stories to go along with some of the familiar ones. Floyd Salas is one of a kind, an unsung genius. He's published several books, including "Tattoo the Wicked Cross," "Buffalo Nickel," "What Now My Love" and several others, and he writes both fiction and poetry. He even worked on a TV show script with a group for one year.

Floyd's book reading of "Love Bites, Poetry of Celebration of Dogs and Cats," is the reason I adopted my cat Guinness in December 2006. Almost fifteen years later, Guinness the Cat is still with me. His love for animals shined through in everything he wrote. He'd include his beloved pets in his writings so that their spirits never died. Claire did the same in her writing.

There's so much more that I could say about Floyd Salas. Like how my whole family knew Floyd, especially Megan, who felt like they were "Aunt and Uncle" to her, and still does to this day. Quite a few of our "end of entire class parties" were held at various places where I lived -- a duplex in Sunnyvale, an apartment in Mountain View. Floyd and Claire aren't just friends of mine. They're family. And I love both of them dearly. I can hardly wait to visit them again in Berkeley.

I found a previous blog entry I wrote about them in 2014, which includes a reading in San Francisco along with an interview I did with Floyd Salas in 2014 as well, complete with photographs. I have more recent photos, of course, and I am sure there are other blog entries about them from over the years. Today, I give you this which includes a photo of our dear, long-time friend Geoffrey Luebbert who passed away in 2020 and attended all the gatherings and parties. We also lost Floyd's younger sister Annabelle is 2020 who I also knew from all the gatherings and parties over the years. RIP Geoffrey and Annabelle.

(Photo Credit: Mary Lane Cryns) Floyd and Claire with Geoff

(Photo Credit:  Mary Lane Cryns) Before Floyd reads his compelling poem (from the point of view of a killer), he says, "Find the plots in  your own life!" It's exactly what he always told us...even after all these years and after all the time that goes by, Floyd never ceases to amaze me. As Claire says, "He's not boring!" HA!

(Photo Credit:  Mary Lane Cryns) Claire read an incredible prose piece called The Blue Dress...

After the readings, we walked around the corner with Geoff and found a lovely place to eat right next to a bar... So I got to hang out with Floyd, Claire and Geoff again. We all got to celebrate Floyd's 83rd birthday together this year at the end of January as well...and Floyd doesn't mind if people know. In fact, he's proud of how old he is and all the things he's experienced in his life, and he's still going strong too! 

A while back, I actually interviewed Floyd for an interview essay I had to write. In honor of Floyd and how much he means to so many of us, here it is again...Thanks Floyd and Claire, for reminding me why it's so important for me to keep writing, no matter what... 

I traveled to Berkeley to Floyd Salas’ home in Berkeley on Sunday, February 19^th, stopping at the Oakland Public Library for a California Writer’s Club meeting with the Berkeley Branch. It was good to be surrounded by like-minded writers and the author who spoke, Fred Setterberg, was thrilled to sign a copy of his latest book, “Lunch Box Paradise” to Floyd Salas and his lovely wife Claire Ortalda – he thought it was an honor because he’d heard Floyd Salas speak and do readings at various locations.

Floyd Salas went out of his way to make time to speak with me. I’ve known him for many years because he taught creative writing classes at Foothill College part-time and I’d always take his classes when they were available. I even went into the “special studies” segment as did many other students who were enthralled by Floyd’s unique ability to draw us all in as writers. He valued our stories, each and everyone, and told us how we could improve them. He shared his own stories and from the time I began his classes, I actually felt like a writer. Floyd Salas is the inspiration I needed to go for my master’s degree in English at Notre Dame de Namur in Belmont.

I became friends with Floyd and his lovely companion, now wife Claire Ortalda, who is a wonderful writer and teacher in her own right. I’d been to their house quite a few times, but this would be my very first time to visit when Claire was not at home – just Floyd. He welcomed me into his home. Loud classical music blared from his bedroom. Floyd has trouble hearing and wears hearing aids, but he still runs two miles a day and writes every day – even at the age of 81! He’s published several books over the years – poetry and fiction books and even a memoir, and he’s even working on a new novel right now called Boogie Nights. His first book, Tattoo the Wicked Cross, was published back in 1967. Floyd has taught at UC Berkeley, Foothill College and at many writers’ conferences over the years, and he used earnings from his book to buy his house in Berkeley back in the 1970’s – a house in the back with two flats and a studio apartment in front. Now one of the front flats is used as Claire’s office and for parties and get-togethers, and Floyd’s 60-year-old son Greg lives in the studio apartment.

  

(Photo Credit: Mary Lane Cryns) Floyd Salas’ living room, filled with sculptures, colorful pictures, portraits, and memories. The portrait is of Floyd himself when he was young and family photos adorn the table.

One of the first things Floyd said to me when I arrived, after asking if I wanted something to drink, wine or something cold, was what he taught us the first time I took his class:

If you believe in ideals, then live the ideals (Floyd Salas quote). It was something I always took to heart and never forgot, always remembering that everything around us is a series of adventures to be written down.

(Photo Credit: Claire Ortalda) Claire took this photo of Floyd Salas (age 81) and me when she
returned home after we’d hung out for a couple of hours and talked

Floyd lives the life of a successful writer – he was a young, beginning writer in his early 20’s. He decided he wanted to be a writer at the age of 19 when he found his older brother Eddy dead at the pharmacy where he worked. Floyd looked up to Eddy who was 11 years older than him, even worked for him. He suffered grief, just as he had at the age of 11 when his mother died.

Floyd felt a driven need to express emotions – emotions that were tender and wounded by suffering and tragedy.

He began writing poetry to address the grief and loss he felt – and to keep the spirits of the people he lost alive. That’s when he decided he would LIVE the life of a writer despite all obstacles.

(Photo Credit: Mary Lane Cryns) Just a week ago, Floyd Salas was on the front page of the Santa Cruz Sentinel. He attended and read from his works at a poetry festival

(Photo Credit: Mary Lane Cryns) Portrait of Eddy who either committed suicide or was murdered
at the age of 30, Floyd Salas’ older brother – in 1950

Floyd encountered many obstacles. At the age of 18, he got his childhood sweetheart Velva pregnant and married her – he had to work to support her and the baby, and he went to college as well. He also got in a bit of trouble with the law and had a probation officer. He began in Art College as he said he wasn’t sure if he was “smart” enough for college as an English/writing major which is what he really wanted to do. He found out through an IQ test administered by the Probation Department that he was smart and that he could succeed in college with nothing less than A’s.

Floyd also grew up in a household full of books – which also his desire to become a writer. I fondly remember how my house was also filled with books, stories, magic, and possibilities. To this day, I still feel a slight pang when I think of the stories that would pop into my head and how I’d visit my books, my old friends, many of which I lug around me to this day despite the e-reader’s recent popularity.

So I fully understood where Floyd was coming from.

Floyd’s father was an avid reader of history and current events. He also read crime magazines. There was no TV back then, so reading was entertainment. His older sister Dorothy read novels, and Floyd said he read those too. His older brother Eddy was highly educated and a big reader – so Floyd grew up surrounded by books and stories.

He also had a huge stack of comic books – 12 feet high on top of books and read biographies of great men. He particularly remembers a book called “Yankee Basha” which takes place in the 18^th century and is the story of a beautiful girlfriend kidnapped by Moorish pirates.

 

(Photo Credit: Mary Lane Cryns

Photos of Floyd's house and basement

Floyd and I talked about the writing life, about his stories and the stories that I’ve been working on, some of which he has read. 

Visiting with Floyd Salas rekindled a light that has been buried deep down inside me – I’ve always known it was there.

I am a writer. And there is nothing else.

Thank you Floyd Salas for keeping the dream alive.

Floyd and I at one of their awesome parties in Berkeley. I don't remember which year this was or who took this photo (It's on my phone). I just know I played ukulele at this party and we had loads of fun.