DR. ZAITZ is a writer, composer, performer, and artist who was energized by her grief (caused by the current political situation in the US) to use her skills to speak out and fight for the soul of her beloved diverse and unique democratic America. She received her Bachelors degree in Drama in 1992 from the University of California in Irvine where she enjoyed performing in theatre, dance, and music productions, as well as writing and directing her own original plays and musicals.She received her Masters in Consciousness Studies in 1999 from John F. Kennedy University in California with a focus on contemporary philosophy and world religions while playing the piano and singing at the Compass Rose in the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. She received her PhD in Comparative Studies in Fine Arts (Art/Theatre/Music/Dance) from Florida Atlantic University in 2009. Her doctoral focus was on the creation and perpetuation of cultural identity through the arts - particularly in the creation stories as they appeared in the architecture, symbolism, graphic arts, music, and dance of the indigenous Maori of New Zealand. She believes strongly that it is through the arts that we define ourselves and resist the forces that would oppress and silence us. While studying at FAU she presented an original music and dance composition for 90 dancers that included a short prelude for 10 actors. The piece, entitled "Six Butts on a Two-Butt Bench," centered on war, greed, and overpopulation. She made her living for decades playing the piano and singing in the Ritz Carlton in Laguna Niguel; the Four Seasons in Newport Beach; the Ginza Tobu Hotel in Tokyo and the Ana Hotel in Matsuyama, Japan; Bally's in Las Vegas; etc. In her early days in LA she starred as the King of the Zzorgs in "Captain Crash vs. the Zzorg Women" directed by Richmond Shepard. She also played keyboards and sang with many different bands in many different styles (classical, heavy metal, reggae, jazz, and so on), and founded a couple of original bands with truly talented musicians who performed at some of the best LA area venues.She became a teacher in 2003, and has since taught theatre, music, dance, and English Language Arts to students in kindergarten to graduate school. She believes in the power of mindfulness in life and in the classroom and has striven to promote interactive student-directed learning and to utilize positive teaching strategies and methodologies. In 2012 she and her husband moved to China for a year where she taught reading comprehension, critical thinking skills, and American culture to high school students at Beijing Foreign Language School. She also taught "Business Research and Presentation" at Bejing Foreign Studies University. In addition, she mentored the Beihang University Toastmasters Club at the leading engineering university in China. Currently she is creating political satire including: cartoons, music and spoken-word videos, and critical writings about our disastrous 45th president and his greed-obsessed cronies. Her goal is to bring awareness to the absurdity of our corrupt leadership in Washington in order to inspire positive change.She is currently a member of Real Live Theatre and often contributes original music to company productions. She has been a member of Toastmasters since 2009 and is in the process of completing the Distinguished Toastmasters award at this time. She loves laughing, participating in improvisational theatre, reading, being outdoors in nature, and snuggling indoors with her wonderful husband and two delightful cats.Her videos and writings can be found on her website: www.theburningquestions.com
