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billzarchy

Writer • Photographer • Storyteller
My debut novel —
FINDING GEORGE WASHINGTON:
A Time Travel Tale

🔴What's Your Story? ➡️ Storytelling at The Monkey

🔴What's Your Story?
➡️ Storytelling at The Monkey House ⬅️
❤️THEME: LOVE AND ROMANCE💕
🟣SUNDAY, JULY 26, 2026🟣
Show at 2:00 PM • Doors open at 1:30 PM
1638 University Avenue, Berkeley
(between California & Jefferson)
🔷CRAIG BYRNE
Enjoys telling at the Moth, the Marsh, Pretty Good Stories, and Larkspur Theatre. Performs puppet shows in the community and works as a nurse.
🔷JEANNE NOLLMAN
Storyteller and intersex advocate. A former probation officer, she witnessed how truth shifts depending on who tells it. Her work challenges what we see & what we miss.
🔷AMY BEE
Socially anxious misfit over-thinker learning to be brave anyway. Cofounder: In a Nutshell Storytelling, WILDCARD Story Swap & The Nutshell True Story Hour. Frenemies with failure.
🔷LORRAINE GONZALEZ
Sacramento storyteller who shares funny, heartfelt stories about love, loss, adventure, and finding joy in unexpected places.
🔶CHECK OUT OUR NEW WEBSITE
➡️www.whatsyourstory.live ⬅️
🔺Tickets: sliding scale donation $10 to $40
🔻Reserve your seat: Email iramarlowe@gmail.com
No credit cards • BYOB • www.themonkeyhouse.org
OPEN MIC at the end of the show
🔵Produced by Ben Tucker, Claire Castell, Bill Zarchy, Albertina Zarazúa Padilla and Ginger Parnes

Breakfast with Bob Reich in Berkeley last week.

Breakfast with Bob Reich in Berkeley last week.

Koi pond just off our deck in the Rosebud Suite, C

Koi pond just off our deck in the Rosebud Suite, Cowslip’s Belle, Ashland, OR

After having her face erased, Bella barks at the b

After having her face erased, Bella barks at the bay

Sending love and healing vibes to my dear sister S

Sending love and healing vibes to my dear sister Sue Zarchy Prouty @conslrgal (shown here years ago with our folks), who has successfully undergone back surgery today. Hoping this will eliminate the debilitating pain you've been enduring for so long. Much love to you and Craig, Sis! ❤️

(More info at https://billzarchy.com/blog/capturin

(More info at https://billzarchy.com/blog/capturing-the-torahs/)
A Torah scroll is the most sacred ritual object in Judaism. It consists of the Five Books of Moses — Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy — hand lettered in Hebrew on parchment made from the skin of a kosher animal, often a calf.

The parchment panels are sewn together to make a long scroll. The Five Books, also known as the Pentateuch, constitute the beginning of the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament.

It takes over a year for a sofer, a skilled scribe, to produce a Torah. The text — 304,805 characters — is always lettered in black ink, without vowels, punctuation, or musical tropes.

Reading or chanting from the Torah is a central part of services on Shabbat and holidays.

When the Nazis swept through Europe in their relentless efforts to exterminate the Jewish people before and during World War II, they made a point of capturing many Torahs, with an eye to eventually holding them for ransom. At the end of the war, over 1500 of these Holocaust Torahs were obtained from the Czech government by the Memorial Scrolls Trust, an independent charity in London. Many of these are now on permanent loan to congregations around the world.

Our synagogue, Congregation Beth El in Berkeley, has two of them. Recently it was my honor to recapture them — photographically — in their entirety. The photos are intended to serve two purposes.

First, they provide a record, panel by panel, of the physical condition of the Torahs, helping to determine which parts might need repair.

Second, they can be used as a guide for clergy and lay people to study and rehearse for chanting from the Torah at upcoming services.

There is now a standard layout for Torahs, a designated number of characters per line, lines per column, columns per panel. But the Holocaust Torahs at our synagogue are each over 200 years old, and they don’t follow the standard pattern (continued below).

Another Storytelling Show coming soon at THE MONKE

Another Storytelling Show coming soon at THE MONKEY HOUSE in Berkeley on May 17th. I'm on the program this time! Come out and hear some great stories, plus an Open Mic at the end of the show!

A symphony? Wow, way cool!

A symphony? Wow, way cool!

Your moment of Zen for today. Sea Ranch, Californi

Your moment of Zen for today. Sea Ranch, California

We've been in Sea Ranch for about a week now, plag

We've been in Sea Ranch for about a week now, plagued by bad colds in this idyllic setting. Finally starting to feel vaguely human again. --with @zarchysusan

“A Chance Encounter” — Video of my story at Tell i

“A Chance Encounter” — Video of my story at Tell it on Tuesday at The Marsh Berkeley earlier this week.

It’s not always obvious when it happens, but sometimes being in the right place at the right time can have life-changing consequences.

billzarchy.com/blog/video-telling-a-chance-encounter/

With a great audience that laughed and reacted in all the right places, and then some ...

We are super proud of our son Daniel Zarchy, the l

We are super proud of our son Daniel Zarchy, the lawyer, who has now hung out his own shingle and gone into private practice.
https://www.zarchylaw.com
His announcement:
Friends, I have some exciting news to start off 2026: I’ve opened my own law office!
I’ll continue focusing on real estate litigation and business litigation, with a bit more flexibility to take on matters that genuinely interest me and where I can add the most value.
If you’d ever like to connect, collaborate, or simply catch up, I’d love to hear from you.
Here’s to an exciting 2026 and what’s ahead!

Subtle skyline sunset, cropped but #unfiltered

Subtle skyline sunset, cropped but #unfiltered

Subtle skyline sunset #unfiltered

Subtle skyline sunset #unfiltered

Skyline. Looking west from Point Isabel.

Skyline. Looking west from Point Isabel.

I will be performing a new story called “A Chance

I will be performing a new story called “A Chance Encounter” at Tell It On Tuesday!
• 7 pm, Tuesday, February 24, 2026 at The Marsh, 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley
The show will also be livestreamed, accessible in real time over the Internet.
• To purchase tickets or learn more about the performers and stories, go to: tellitontuesday.org
Also on the same program:
• Julie Feinstein performing “Dating Expert”
• Barbara Brady performing “My Dead Uncle’s Porn Collection”

Dog 4.0 — Ciao, Bella! Meet Bella, the latest in o

Dog 4.0 — Ciao, Bella!
Meet Bella, the latest in our Pantheon of Precious Pooches. Bella moved into our home about ten days ago. Susan and I got her from an elderly family member who had her for about half a year, but recently fell, broke a hip, and was no longer able to care for her.

So far, I'd say our bonding is going fantastically well. She's okay with being left alone for a while and is tremendously excited when we return. She's energetic, attentive, and sweet, but not underfoot or too clingy. And when we head for the couch to watch TV, she flies across the room to join us and cuddle. A real snuggle bug.

Before the last six months or so, Bella's history is a mystery. Her last vet estimated that she's 3-5 years old and guessed that she's a collie-terrier mix. We'll be doing her DNA to find out more of her genealogy.

She's about 40 lbs, our smallest dog to date, compared to her predecessors Sophie Dophie (85 lbs), Montana Banana (50 lbs), and Molly Wolly (aka Molly Wobbles, 60 lbs). Molly passed away last July, and we weren't sure we were ready to give our hearts to another furry friend until this opportunity presented itself.

Best of all, Bella'a a mature dog with a known personality — sweet and loving, energetic, housebroken (yes!!), and not a chewer or yapper. We've been down the puppy road with our precious dogs in previous decades, and we're delighted not to have to go through that again.

Also, as you can plainly see, she's cute as a button! I mean, look at those ears! At first she seemed pretty wild, but as she's settled down in the past week or so, we can see that she's definitely had some training.

Nevertheless, we've enrolled her in the Basic Skills class at Berkeley Humane Society starting next week, to reinforce her responsiveness to sit, stay, come, etc. Most of all, her on-leash skills need some brushing up.

Welcome, Bella!

More scenes from Danny and Alana's wedding: The Of

More scenes from Danny and Alana's wedding: The Ofrenda commemorating the happy couple's ancestors (the wedding took place on November 1st, the Day of the Dead), me with sons Danny and Razi (best man).
Also, bride and groom posing with cousins Betsy and Steve, D and A lifted by sturdy friends during the dancing of the hora, and my poor dress shoes, which gave out partway through the dancing. What a lovely time we had! We are so happy for them both!

Scenes from Alana and Danny's wonderful wedding we

Scenes from Alana and Danny's wonderful wedding weekend earlier this month in San Diego:
Susan and me at the welcome party on Halloween (dressed as Martha and George Washington), Danny and Alana as Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, the wedding party posing for photos, Susan getting her makeup done, Leah (bridesmaid) getting her hair done, Susan and me walking Danny down the aisle.

Here are two more shots from our wedding in 1978,

Here are two more shots from our wedding in 1978, 47 years ago tomorrow!
We didn't have a wedding photographer. We opted instead to hand out a half dozen disposable film cameras to friends and urge them to cover the event as best they could.
After the wedding, we glanced at the photos and put them aside ... until the pandemic, when we had the time to go through them and digitize our faves.
The color has deteriorated, but our spirit and love still come through.
—with @susanzarchy

Tomorrow is our 47th wedding anniversary! 47 year

Tomorrow is our 47th wedding anniversary!
47 years since Susan and I formally sanctified our relationship, after a whirlwind seven-year courtship that nearly lasted long enough for a common law marriage.
When we told our friends we were planning to get married, most asked "Why?" But when we told our families, they were over the moon, delighted to have us (finally) tie the knot.
In the first photo here, you can see our parents and uncles and aunts.
One more thing: At our first anniversary, there were huge headlines proclaiming that day to be the "anniversary of a major disaster." It turned out we had gotten married on the 49th anniversary of the stock market crash of 1929, the start of the Great Depression!
But we've managed to keep the romance going and we're still going strong!
—with @susanzarchy

Remembering our sweet pooch Molly after scattering

Remembering our sweet pooch Molly after scattering her ashes at Pt. Isabel, her favorite place. She left us on July 30th.

The Bay Bridge, as seen from the Larkspur ferry, j

The Bay Bridge, as seen from the Larkspur ferry, just after leaving Oracle Park last Saturday night.

Happy about Patrick Bailey’s home run!

Happy about Patrick Bailey’s home run!

The view from our seats at tonight‘s game at Oracl

The view from our seats at tonight‘s game at Oracle Park. The Giants scored three runs in the first inning,before they made their first out.

We're putting on another Storytelling Show on Sund

We're putting on another Storytelling Show on Sunday, September 21st at The Monkey House in Berkeley. I am one of the featured tellers. Come out and see some great stories. Big fun!

Suddenly … our sweet pooch Molly is gone. She see

Suddenly …
our sweet pooch Molly is gone.

She seemed fine last Saturday, but on Sunday she stopped eating and began to look extremely uncomfortable. We took her to the hospital on Monday. They discovered that her chest was full of fluid, pressing on her heart and lungs.

They drained the fluid, ran some tests, and discovered, to our horror, that (besides some heart problems we were aware of) she had a lethal form of cancer that would soon take her life. We brought her home for hospice on Tuesday, and she passed away on Wednesday.

Molly was a gentle, loving pet who came to us through the Milo Foundation, a pet rescue organization near us here in the East Bay. They specialize in rescuing captured dogs and cats from the “high-kill” animal shelters, especially in the Central Valley.

The first time Susan and I saw Molly at Milo, she was strutting her stuff, full of good cheer and enthusiasm. We loved her honey brown and white coat and enjoyed the fact that she had some white on her muzzle, which was also not as pushed in as in many Boxers. We knew immediately we were destined to have her and give her a good home, surrounded by love.

We adopted Molly in late October 2015. The good folks at Milo estimated, at that point, that she was eight months old. That meant she was born around the time of my 68th birthday in February, the same week I retired. So I’ve always been able to track Molly’s age. She lived with us for nearly ten years.

And yet she wasn’t housebroken when we got her. Years later, we tested her DNA and determined that she was 100 per cent Boxer. We’ve always wondered how and why a beautiful, purebred dog like her was running around in the feral streets of someplace like Fresno.

Known to us as Molly Wolly (or sometimes Molly Wobbles), she was predeceased years before by Sophie Dophie and Montana Banana, as well as her BFF Lillie Rose, a white Golden Doodle she adored. She is survived by our granddogs Kyle and Indigo (aka Gogo).

But ultimately, she had the same design flaw as all dogs: their lifespans are so much shorter than ours that loving them can break your heart multiple times. For Susan and me, this was the third time. Molly was a good dog.

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