Who we are (Dissenters)

.....The DISSENT crew is a colony, almost, nestled deep in the Santa Ana Mountains, which daily cast a shadow over two and a half colleges: Irvine Valley College, Saddleback College, and something called ATEP.
.....Nobody's sure what ATEP is. I heard a guy say it was a park.


Chunk Wheeler

.....Philosopher & creative sort. Raised—until the age of 5—by a family of electrical wolf artists in the mountains of British Columbia. A conservative radical Eagle Scout, he owns an expensive Taylor 6-string. He used to mountain-bike every day, but he broke some ribs and now he rides a treadmill. (Trabuco Canyon/Lambrose Canyon) (For some family history, see Chunk's mom.)

(See The Unabauer Manifesto, OC Weekly, 4/8/99)

Rebel Girl

.....Writer and radical and mother. Raised by wolves of an entirely different sort, in the sun, by the harbor, just north of here. Now, during the summer, she runs a successful writing conference in Northern California. Jacques Derrida once borrowed her snorkel. He seemed nice. He’s dead. (Modjeska Canyon)

Red Emma

.....Writer and union organizer and father. Raised by wolves from a place across the ocean. He edits a well-regarded journal and, when not kayaking, writes funnily and caustically about rat bastards who, naturally, do not like him. He owns a house in the mountains, but he is proud of his yurt. (Modjeska Canyon)

Sometime Red's just a blur.

There is a persistent rumor that C. Wheeler and Reb are actually Philosophy instructor Roy Bauer and English instructor Lisa Alvarez.

Many years ago, Chunk hiked all over the Santa Ana Mountains with Billy the Wonder Dog. Billy loved to play in Trabuco Creek.

Mountain Ray loved the Santa Anas. Had a green thumb, they say. He and his crop are now gone.

Looking north, toward Santiago Peak, from Chunk's canyon abode.

Chunk's house.

In the Santa Ana Mountains, circa 1900. I'm the guy at the top.

The garage near Red's place

What remains of an old house, across the road from Reb's place

Reb's mountain home

Reb's "Hearst" entrance

Just down the road, in the canyon, across from the Radleys

Sister Annie, somewhere in Northern Cal, c. 1973

Mid-70s: what was to become Rancho Santa Margarita

The magnificent Atilla, atop Santiago Peak, mid-70s

Li'l Sarah, "Iguanodon"

Chunk's family, c. 1958