James
Bishop, Jr., a fifteen year resident of Greater Sedona, is an author,
free lance writer, editor and creative writing instructor who is also
committed to grass roots organizing, arts advocacy and environmental
sanity. Since leaving the nation's capital for the West two decades
ago, he has served as a consultant to government agencies and non-profit
organizations ranging from The RAND Corporation to the Grand Canyon
Trust, The Aspen Institute at Wye Plantation to American Rivers and
the Coconino National Forest, Sedona Ranger District and the Sedona
Creative Life Center. His writing has appeared in newspapers and magazines
from Seattle to Denver, Prescott, Arizona to Washington D.C. His book,
"Epitaph for a Desert Anarchist – The Life and Legacy
of Edward Abbey" is now in paperback.
Before moving west from D.C. and New York
City in the early '80s, Bishop was a senior member of the White
House
Energy Policy and Planning staff responsible in 1977 for creating
the nation's first comprehensive energy plan focused on the
nation's
renewable energy potential. A year later, he became Director of Communications
for the Federal Energy Administration, Chief Spokesman for Energy
Secretary James Rodney Schlesinger and Deputy Assistant Secretary
for Intergovernmental and Institutional Relations. In 1980,
Bishop
received the Secretary's Medal for Outstanding Service that included
an innovative energy conservation education program.
Nowadays,
Bishop, the descendant of Nantucket whalers and the Delaware Indian
Nation and the son and grandson of distinguished artists, is far from
retirement in Sedona, creating screenplays, two novels and also advancing
the cause of Sedona Recycles, Keep Sedona Beautiful, public art and
Vision Sedona, the nonpartisan citizens group. His creative writing
classes are ongoing at various Elderhostel locations, Northern Arizona
University, Yavapai College and the Canyon Moon Theatre in the Old
Marketplace in West Sedona.
During his years here, he has produced renewable
energy documentaries and contributed articles on a broad range
of
subjects including: Arizona Highways, the Los Angeles Times, Phoenix
Magazine, California Academy of Science, Plateau Journal, Sedona
Magazine
and The Sedona Excentric. He has served as Chair of Sedona's Arts
and Cultural Commission and is currently on the executive board
of
Keep Sedona Beautiful.
In 1993, Jim Bishop won the William Allen
White Gold Medal presented by the University of Kansas for the best
story in any city or regional magazine. The topic was the Glen Canyon
Dam. The Arizona Press Club presented a similar award to him. Last
year, the National Council on Problem Gambling presented Jim with
first prize for his series of essays on the growing problems of compulsive
gambling in Phoenix Magazine.
His books include "The Consumer
Revolution
– Let the Seller Beware," "Creating Abundance,
A Different Energy Future," and the first biography of
Cactus Ed Abbey. He also contributed to several books on the history
of the Verde Valley. At present, he is at work on two novels and
expecting
to move into production with an original screenplay, "The
Secret Warrior."
Down through the years Bishop has addressed
such diverse groups as the American Petroleum Institute and the Sierra
Club, The Friends of the Earth, the Phoenix Futures Forum and the
National Coal Association.
Jim's career began with Newsweek Magazine
in New York City in 1958 where he covered Wall Street. Later
he became
the magazine's West Coast correspondent with a focus on films, aerospace
and politics and another special issue on the SST. From 1958
to 1977,
he was Newsweek's Deputy Bureau Chief in the nation's capital. he
covered Watergate, and wrote the first national cover stories
on the
looming energy and environmental dilemmas.
During his career, Bishop has profiled such
diverse personages as Robert Kennedy and Howard Hughes, Hedy Lamar
and Robert McNamara, Walt Disney and Ralph Nader.
Bishop was educated in New England and New
York City, and has three grown children who are involved in public
health, web development and design, and cyberspace.
He continues to believe in impossible things.
