SONOMA COUNTY GAZETTE -- Anthony and I have a standing date on Monday afternoons, walking a few blocks to visit Gerry and Jan Haslam. These Penngrove stalwarts built a home 34 years ago when Gerry was a professor at Sonoma State University. He loves to tell good stories and we are eager to hear them.
Gerry was born in Bakersfield and was raised in Oildale. He played football and ran track in school. He always wanted to be a writer and started covering his high school sports for the LA Examiner, through a special program offered to teens. He soon became a stringer for sports coverage for the Fresno Bee and the Bakersfield Californian.
He earned his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in language arts from San Francisco State University, and a Ph.D. in American Studies from Union Graduate School. He has published 21 books and edited nine books as Gerald W. Haslam. His novel “Grace Period” won the Eric Hoffer Legacy Fiction Award, 2016. “Straight White Male” won the 2001 Western States Book Award; “arguably his … greatest book,” Jonathan Kirsch, Los Angeles Times.