Ruth Weiss, the Beat Goddess Documentary

Elisabeth P. Montgomery, Ph.D., Fielding Alum – Class of 2006

Greetings, Fielding friends and alumni! I want to share the gratifying success of producing a documentary about my friend, poet ruth weiss. I met ruth in 2008 at a fundraiser for the Beat Museum in San Francisco’s North Beach community, across the street from Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s famous City Lights Bookstore a hub of the Free Speech Movement of the 1960s. It turned out we both grew up in Chicago! The fundraiser, called Take a Poet to Lunch, allowed me to meet ruth and other Beat Generation poets and publishers. Over the years, my friendship with ruth grew as I attended her jazz poetry readings around California whenever I could.

Later, I introduced my goddaughter and fantastic filmmaker Melody C. Miller to ruth, and the cameras started rolling! As ruth neared the end of her life in 2020, Melody and I started the ruth weiss Foundation, a nonprofit 501 (c ) 3 in her honor as she evokes the spirit we love most in the world: the Avante-Garde, those who dare to be authentic. I learned from this process of film production to trust not force but the power of magnetizing. Our film, ruth weiss: The Beat Goddess, premiered at the Aslo, Italy Film and Arts Festival in 2019 and has won over twenty awards, including the San Jose Cinequest Film Festival – Maverick Spirit Award for ruth in March 2020. She passed on August 31, 2020.

The ruth weiss Foundation just completed its first year. We awarded poetry grants to two poets and premiered our awards at the legendary WritersCon – Tulsa, Oaklahoma on 9/4/2021! Thank you for reviewing these links to ruth’s incredible story – and the ruth weiss Foundation to further her legacy. Our outstanding Poetry Contest Committee includes Kim Shuck (7^th San Francisco Poet Laureate) and Bill Cozzini, Publisher. Watch the poetry grant winners read their works!

ruth weiss the beat goddess – THE FILM (ruthweissfilm.com)

THE FILMMAKERS – ruth weiss the beat goddess (ruthweissfilm.com)

https://www.ruthweissfoundation.org/articles/the-2021-ruth-weiss-foundation-grant-award-ceremony-at-writerscon

Author BIO

Elisabeth P. Montgomery, Ph.D., is a social entrepreneur and co-founder of InterLangua LLC and subsidiaries where she serves as President and CEO, USA-China-Guatemala (www.InterLangua.com). Dr. Montgomery also serves as Shenzhen Nanshan District Education Bureau Senior Advisor on Internationalization. This high-level government position requires serving as the Deputy Vice-Principal of South China University of Science and Technology (SUSTECH) Education Group by serving Experimental Schools grades 1 – 9. A lead experimenter in China’s high school Gaokao testing reforms, in 2012 she founded Shenzhen Yucai High International Department (YCID) with Shenzhen City College. As a specialist in English Language Learning programs, Montgomery trained thousands of English teachers and implemented critical thinking programs district-wide. Dr. Montgomery was the first to develop K-12 Career Education curricula K-12 in China. Montgomery integrated Green STEAM using United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Montgomery serves on the Board of the Asia Pacific Career Development Association (APCDA) 2018 and serves as South China Regional Representative.

Dr. Montgomery holds a Ph.D. from Fielding Graduate University in Human Organizational Systems and an MA in Human Organizational Development. She also earned an MA in Interdisciplinary Business & Human Services from De Paul University and a BA from Kent State University in American Studies and Spanish.