Penney's Beach

By R.J. Meyer

Penney’s Beach is a unique coming of age story—about a young girl born and raised in a California beach town, in 1977. Her hippie mother acquires a bar with an eclectic clientele—several becoming Penney's mentors as she evolves from childhood to womanhood. What sets Penney’s Beach apart is both its honesty and humanness, and its truths and insights into many aspects of life—and the complex world in which we must navigate. It aims to be a gift to generations past, present, and future. With determination and love, the author shines a light on the world at large, and celebrates the mysteries of life. Many who have read Penney's Beach believe it should be made into a television series similar to CHEERS.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Feb 15, 2023
• ISBN: 9798765231586

R.J. Meyer

R.J. Meyer was the inspiration and co-author for the 2011 anthology, BEYOND FORGIVENESS; REFLECTIONS ON ATONEMENT, with Phil Cousineau—host and co-writer of Global Spirit which aired on PBS; it was published by Jossey Bass and selected as the ‘Common Theme Book of the Year’ for 2013–2015 at Indiana University. Meyer hails from Hinsdale, Illinois, and earned his BSEE from the University of Illinois in 1965. His talents cover many disciplines—high-tech engineering during the Space Race, financial planning, and a wide range of real estate projects—residential, commercial, and agricultural. He co-founded two political organizations, and won the primary election for U.S. Congress in 2004. He now directs his creativity to a lighthearted novel that explores an array of subjects including history, politics, religion/spirituality, metaphysics, intimacy/sexuality. His forty-year commitment to community service includes chairing six not- for-profit organizations, ministering in his church, and the twelve step recovery philosophy.

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ENDORSEMENTS

"The thing that impresses me most about Penney’s Beach is how Meyer weaves profound spiritual philosophy into the fabric of everyday thoughts and acts that viscerally mortal humans like us can relate to."

-Dr. Barbara E. Fields Executive Director, Association for Global New Thought

R.J. Meyer’s Penney’s Beach is a novel that brings together politics, sex and religion in an original way to teach us how to think ethically about all three.

-Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of the 2006 New York Times Bestseller The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right Editor, Tikkun Magazine, Berkeley, CA

What a brilliant idea to have this inquisitive girl interface with a cast of characters to expose truth and relevance of our society’s honest topics.

-David Bishop, Huntington Beach, CA, Founder and President of Pathways to Independence (Mentors for Young Women in Need), retired School Principal and Assistant Superintendent, Los Alamitos Unified School District

"Rich Meyer is a good friend, a generous philanthropist, an evolved spiritual person and a wise humanitarian who has experienced much in his life. He is one of my favorite people in the world to brainstorm complex issues of the world around us including the issues surrounding sex, religion and politics– subjects we were conditioned to be taboo.

How many young teenage women would love and benefit from this importance guidance as they navigate through a tough world of materialism, power, sex, politics and religion? I believe this book is invaluable to the mothers and single fathers who are rearing teenage girls and gives them some tools to discuss these issues with an honest, open and a caring attitude void of judgement and taboos.

It is my guess that the lessons Penney learns from the Niners will help her be a better more informed adult. It will help her choose a career that will impact many more teenagers, help the world to make healthier choices, and thus create a better society–like Oprah Winfrey, a Marianne Williamson, Maya Angelou, Marian Wright Edelman. Go Penney and change the world!"

-Azim Khamisa Author of Azim’s Bardo-From Murder To Forgiveness – A Father’s Journey; From Forgiveness to Fulfillment; From Fulfillment to Peace; hosted by President Clinton, Pope John Paul and His Holiness Dalai Lama; featured in Oprah Magazine; inspirational Speaker to over 1,000,000 kids.

I very much enjoyed all of the history in this book. I love your Grammy’s insight into manners. It was a delight to take a trip in my mind back to Newport Beach–so eloquently written about in your book. I thought the way you created the characters and the setting was brilliant, as well as your ability to weave in so many topics in high impact chapters. I also really enjoyed the concise history of various religions and loved the information-packed history lesson of taxation told in a fun and interesting mini-story. Harvey was a great storyteller!

-Janet Larson, MS, Author of My Diary Unlocked; Stories Of Teenage Girls Heal The Inner Adolescent Of Our Soul

Penney’s

BEACH

R. J. MEYER

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Copyright © 2023 R. J. Meyer.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by

any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system

without the written permission of the author except in the case of

brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Balboa Press

A Division of Hay House

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.balboapress.com

844-682-1282

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or

links contained in this book may have changed since publication and

may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those

of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher,

and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use

of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical

problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The

intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help

you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use

any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional

right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are

models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 979-8-7652-3159-3 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-7652-3160-9 (hc)

ISBN: 979-8-7652-3158-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022913217

Balboa Press rev. date: 02/13/2023

This book is

dedicated to my favorite AVATARS

Lynne Twist

Bill Twist

Azim Khamisa

CONTENTS

Ode To Millennials-Gen Z

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Preface

Meet Elaine

Chapter 1: Florence and Little Penney

Chapter 2: Homecoming

Chapter 3: Penney’s Early Years

Chapter 4: On Location

Chapter 5: Baseball and Honoring Our Teachers

Chapter 6: Penney’s School Play

Chapter 7: X-Ray

Chapter 8: Worshipping the Sun

Chapter 9: Mandy

Chapter 10: Florence

Chapter 11: The Fifties

Chapter 12: Reverend Theresa

Chapter 13: The Fifties’ Encore

Chapter 14: Professor H

Chapter 15: Ms. Penney Goes to Washington … Kinda

Chapter 16: The Last Free Lunch

Chapter 17: Carly

Chapter 18: The Fifties Again … and Sex

Chapter 19: Sex Is Love in Action

Chapter 20: Women Warriors of Watergate

Chapter 21: Thanksgiving with Gus

Chapter 22: Dress Rehearsal

Chapter 23: Penney Comes of Age

Chapter 24: A Spiritual Checkup

Chapter 25: A Lesson before Learning

Chapter 26: Professor H and His Puzzles

Chapter 27: Sam and the Ladies

Chapter 28: A Stormy Night

Chapter 29: Advice from a Friend

Chapter 30: Florence and Penney

Chapter 31: X-Ray Bon Voyage

Chapter 32: Liftoff

About the Author

About Janet Dowin

ODE TO MILLENNIALS-GEN Z

This generation has a rendezvous with destiny, said President Franklin Roosevelt, referring to the generation that evolved from the Great Depression of the 1930s into World War II; and which Tom Brokaw referred to as The Greatest Generation."

The Millennials-Gen Z also have a rendezvous with destiny. They will inherit a bankrupt country along with a bankrupt world. Will they become The Greatest Generation 2.0?

Our children are our elders in universe time, said Buckminster Fuller, and it can be difficult for my generation to accept this.

The older generation typically wishes that the newer generation would do it their way. When I was young, parents would ask that we kids write to them while we kids preferred to use the telephone. Today, my generation can’t understand why Millennials-Gen Zs can’t pick up the phone.

Yet, there are so many similarities between the Greatest Generation and the Millennials-Gen Z. In the 30s incomes were very low, and unemployment was 25 percent. For Millennials-Gen Z, incomes are very low and underemployment, by some accounts, approaches 25 percent. The Greatest Generation faced a world at war; and, survival of our society was in question. They accepted their rendezvous with a genuine sense of duty. They accepted many burdens gracefully.

The Millennials-Gen Z now face a world at war of a different setting. They accept an economy that is on a course of bankruptcy, not only in the United States but worldwide. They accept the sickness of school loans that were designed to perpetuate poverty. They accept a medical insurance system that charges young people much higher rates to the benefit of the older generation. They accept the call of duty created by global warming along with a sickened tax structure that perpetuates Greed, with a capital G.

Yet so many of our youth are excited to be a part of life! Do they know something that we older folks missed?

I often hear, You’re the generation that created this mess, now you’re going to tell us how we should fix it? Then I have heard, Don’t worry, we’ll deal with it, politely telling us to get out of the way. They are a polite and kind generation, at times maybe too kind and polite. Yet, they are absent of resentment while the mature portion of our society resents almost everything.

So, they do hear the call of duty—their rendezvous with destiny. My bet is that they will become The Greatest Generation 2.0!

R. J. Meyer

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am very grateful to friends and associates who have taken the time

and effort to review all or portions of this novel. Their comments,

suggestions, and encouragement has been uplifting and very helpful.

They are listed alphabetically by first name:

Angel Lax

Angelini Hsu

Ash Rinae

Autumn

Azim Khamisa

Dr. Barbara E. Fields

Bill Twist

Bob Reordan

Dr. Brooks Morgan

Daniel Ellsberg

Dave & Georgina Takemoto

David Bishop

Diane Cirstea, MFC

Don Long

Elaine Tedesco

Dr. Elizabeth Miller

Farzad Shokrollahi

Janet Dowin

Janet Larson, MS

Jennifer Smith

Juliana Lembeck

Kent Trollen

Leilani Reyes

Lynne Twist

Maureen Belden

Rabbi Michael Lerner

Michael Nagler

Patricia Clark

Patricia Ellsberg

Phil Cousineau

Robin Miller

Tiffany Ballard

Tiffany O’Neil

Victoria Kimber

My best wishes to all...

FOREWORD

by Azim Khamisa

(a 70-Time Award-Winning Author)

Rich Meyer is a good friend, a generous philanthropist, an evolved spiritual person and a wise humanitarian who has experienced much in his life. He is one of my favorite people in the world to brainstorm complex issues of the world around us including the issues surrounding sex, politics, and religion– subjects we were conditioned to be taboo.

It might do us well to research this word as it appears in many forms and many languages including Eastern languages. More recently as per Google, The word has somewhat expanded in the social sciences to strong prohibitions relating to any area of human activity or custom that is sacred or forbidden based on moral judgement and religious beliefs. ‘Breaking a taboo’ is usually considered objectionable by society in general, not merely a subset of a culture.

Rich is a kind and considerate person and cares deeply about the society we live in and in which our children and teenagers are being raised. Yet he has exactly defied the taboo and written a brilliant treatise on these forbidden subjects. Naturally, when he asked me to write this forward, I asked him, Rich, why did you write this book?

His response was that these subjects directly impact our youth and especially teenage girls. It is important that the issues surrounding these important subjects are confronted on a daily basis, must be talked about, and shared so that our teenagers grow up with healthy mindsets around these issues to make better choices that enhances inclusiveness, tolerance, respect and in the creation of a better and a more compassionate society, rather than the one that is angry, overly judgmental and violent. Having received over 100,000 letters from our youth as a result of my commitment to the next generation, I know the importance of these topics. In other words, his end goal was to bring these issues into the open so they can be candidly discussed and debated by the young along with the responsible elders in their individual lives.

So as you read this book please do that with an open mind. Because of our conditioning you may find some content challenging–this was true for me! However, one of my mentors Brian Klemmer (who has since passed on and may the good Lord rest his soul in eternal peace) taught me that if you view the world with pink sun glasses everything seems rosy. He in fact had students in workshops wear large different color sun glasses to get this point across. So the point is the world is NOT as you see it through these lenses or your biases based on your conditioning. So before you delve into this book, remove the lenses you customarily use to experience and judge the world. I have read this book again a couple of times without judgement and found it to be profound in its wisdom especially for young teenage girls.

Penney is lucky to have several members of the Niners who are fatherly figures in her life that give her pertinent and valuable sage advice on these taboo subjects. They do this in an open and realistic way so that she may have the tools to navigate life and make the choices all our teenagers do but then don’t know about the outcomes of these choices sometimes before taking action (hopefully); or learning from a negative choice after making the choice and reflecting back to the wisdom garnered from her Niners elders who deeply care about her. Either way these are valuable lessons.

How many young teenage women would love and benefit from this important guidance as they navigate through a tough world of materialism, power, sex, politics and religion? I believe this book is invaluable to the mothers and single fathers who are rearing teenage girls and gives them some tools to discuss these issues with an honest, open and caring attitude void of judgement and taboos.

Undoubtedly we will see how these values and beliefs shape Penney in book two and book three as she becomes an adult. While I have no idea what my friend Rich has in mind for book two and three, it is my guess that the lessons Penney learned from the Niners will help her be a better more informed adult. It will help her choose a career that will impact many more teenagers, help the world to make healthier choices, and thus create a better society–like Oprah Winfrey, a Marianne Williamson, Maya Angelou, Marian Wright Edelman.

So great job Rich in taking these issues on and please know I admire your courage and your will to do so with the end goal of creating a better, more compassionate society–something that we both are committed to do for our youth! Go Penney and change the world!

-Azim Khamisa

PREFACE

by R. J. Meyer

I am reminded of ‘me old Irish friend’ who would say, Never let truth get in the way of a good story. Horseplay mixed with horse sense. The time period for this story is 1977 to 1995 during which the main character, Penney, becomes exposed to the topics that young people often don’t learn to have honest conversations about–sex, politics, religion.

Could the subjects of sex, politics, and religion be delivered in a fun, lighthearted way, that also brings their layers more to light, so we can look more clearly at what matters to us? If so, would the best method be fiction? I think so. Then a social media consultant pressed the issue, saying that there was no connection, no common thread.

But, there is a common thread; and, I was able to quote a portion of this book: In theory, sex is love in action on an individual level, religion is love in action toward spiritual evolution, and politics is love in action on a service plane. So in essence, love in action is the common thread. Offering insights into these concepts, it is my intent that Penney’s Beach serve as a stabilizing force for Millennials-Gen Z—providing a window into the past, encouraging analysis of today, being perhaps useful as a tool for the future...in the further evolvement of society.

It started in 2010, while I was having regular meetings with my friend and renowned author Phil Cousineau, who is co-owner of our book, Beyond Forgiveness, an anthology of which I was the chief proponent and a contributor. Phil, who encourages most everyone to ‘write’, said that I should write. I tried to wiggle out of it, but he continued on a regular basis. Then, after I started this book, he said, Don’t write unless you HAVE TO write it. And, I had to!

Previously, another friend suggested that I write a book about politics; then later, another encouraged me to write a book about religion and metaphysics.

I enjoy reading and studying biographies, politics, and consciousness—often deep topics. In 2010,