FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Myth Lab Monterey Bay Invites Community to Reimagine Its Relationship with the Ocean
SEASIDE, Calif. – Myth Lab Monterey Bay invites residents to explore the Central Coast’s changing relationship with the ocean through a participatory storytelling workshop on November 18, 2026, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Monterey Peace and Justice Center, 1364 Fremont Blvd., Seaside. Admission is $5.
November 18 workshop in Seaside combines collaborative storytelling, ecological reflection, and practical community action.
Participants become both the authors and the heroes of a new myth, exploring how shared imagination can help a community respond to change.
“We go together. We return together. We are transformed together.”
Created by William George Paul, the workshop brings participants together to build a new community myth – a story in which the community itself becomes the hero. No writing or environmental experience is required. Participants are welcome to bring a memory, a question, a concern, or simply curiosity about the ocean they love.
Through conversation, symbols, artifacts, and shared storytelling, participants will explore resilience, sustainability, and the permaculture ethics of Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share. Together, they will develop a story that connects ecological imagination with practical local action.
Drawing on the Hero’s Journey tradition associated with Joseph Campbell, Myth Lab shifts the focus from an individual hero to a community that faces a crisis, discovers its collective strengths, and emerges transformed. The workshop follows a four-part structure: Adventure – Crisis – Transformation – Action!
An offshore drilling rig will serve as the workshop’s central symbol. A fictional opening scenario introduces two surfers who discover oil pollution in Monterey Bay and investigate its source. As they learn of a drilling threat, they seek answers and support, raising questions about the coast’s future and the community’s role in protecting it. Participants will shape what happens next, incorporating local symbols—such as sea lions and beach sand—as potential guides within the story.
The workshop will ask: What does transformation look like for the surfers, their neighbors, and the wider community? What actions could carry their story into the world? And how might a shared myth inspire care for the coast?
Participants will leave with a collaboratively created myth, meaningful local symbols and concepts, and ideas for community actions they can take.
Myth Lab Monterey Bay is sponsored by Resilient Communities Network and Monterey Peninsula Friends Meeting.
Event Details
Myth Lab Monterey Bay Flyer: https://willipaulstudio.com/pdf/Myth_Lab_Monterey_Bay_Flyer.pdf
Date: November 18, 2026
Time: 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Location: Monterey Peace and Justice Center, 1364 Fremont Blvd., Seaside, CA
Admission: $5
Experience required: None
Creator: William George Paul – willipaulstudio.com and planetshifter.com
Information and media inquiries: 831.224.7633