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Treatment:
Long Way Home The Cliff Vaughs Story
This Treatment details the life story of Cliff Vaughs, civil rights activist, writer, photographer, filmmaker, Easy Rider bike builder, seafarer and adventurer who died July 2, 2016. It contains private links to two short trailers and a longer video.The First Trailer features excerpts of Vaughs’ 2016 Interview in which he describes working for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) as a writer, photographer and filmmaker. It also details his role in designing and building the Captain America and Billy bikes for the movie Easy Rider. The Second Trailer features a “Cook’s tour” of other significant or defining aspects of Cliff’s life.
The Treatment also includes a longer more personal video that seeks to explain why Vaughs left the country he loved to spend decades as an expatriate, and what we as a country lose when black people feel they have to leave their homeland in order to breathe free.
Email Daniella@daniellasapriel.com for more information and to request copy of Treatment.
Treatment: Where Has My Easy Rider Gone
“Where Has My Easy Rider Gone,” proposes a buddy movie inspired by and drawing on Cliff Vaughs’ life story and experiences, set in present day America, where rising currents of White Supremacy and autocracy again threaten American democracy. It blends past and present, historical facts and fictional guesses to create two characters, “Cap” (based on Vaughs) and “Turk” (based on Vaughs’ best friends), who embark on a journey to find the “remains” of the original Captain America bike that disappeared after the 1969 movie Easy Rider finished filming, or at least to solve the mystery of its disappearance. The search for the mystical lost “Captain America Bike” becomes a Quest, with The Bike as Grail and our “questers” the Captain America and Bucky of today.
“Where Has My Easy Rider Gone” is not a sequel or a prequel to the 1969 movie. The plot, which involves the search to find the lost bike, is a blend of historical fact and fiction. Because the story and its characters draw heavily on Cliff Vaughs’ life and experiences, we include only a brief desciption of the full Treatment. Exposition of the plot and in depth character backstories are available and will be provided once the issue of Vaughs' Life Rights is resolved.
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Email Daniella@daniellasapriel.com for more information and to request copy of Treatment.
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Daniella lives on a sailboat in SoCal. She is working on several book and film projects.
Ending the War Between Mars and Venus
Reframing the Myth of Either/Or
Based on my experiences growing up in a patriarchal household. Applies quantum holistic theory to gender politics and concludes that gender war is another aspect of the mind/body split. Wholeness for both men and women is achieved by rejecting either/or divisions and embracing the dance of opposites within. Conflict is understood as having an inner component that has been projected on the other. Drawing on the ancient wisdom of the Song of Solomon as well as Tantric traditions that teach that the blending of feminine (yin) and masculine (yang) forces in each individual mirrors the creative principle of the universe, this work encourages both men and women to go beyond either/or thinking and embrace Unity Consciousness.
Coming Soon
A Quantum/Holistic View
... Changes Everything
Expanding on the theme explored in "Ending the War between Mars and Venus -- Reframing the Myth of Either/Or," which dealt primarily with gender politics, this book applies a similar holistic viewpoint to EVERYTHING, from racial discrimination to whether the universe is expanding or contracting.
Moving beyond the prevailing Newtonian paradigm that everything (and everyone) must be "either" this "or" that, a universe of infinite possibilties and paradoxical fundamental truths emerges.Life, when viewed from this point of view, changes from being a seemingly meaningless and random series of disconnected and discrete events to a breathtakingly artistic creation of a genius so marvelous as to invoke awe for the Creator, who is, paradoxically, both greater than us and at the same time sparks within us. The LARGE within the Small — which is the hallmark of a fractal universe.
Daniella Sapriel has been exploring the issue of shifting from an atomistic Newtonian paradigm to a quantum/holistic paradigm for over thirty years. Embracing a new paradigm requires reframing "either/or" thinking and remembering that we were born whole, each of us both light and dark. We are, like light, both particle and wave --both individual (atomistic, particle) and wave (connected). Embracing this paradox allows us to better understand ourselves and our universe.
Work in Progress
Song for My Mother ⎯ Backwards and in High Heels
Our family's oral history credited my father for leaving postwar Egypt at age 41 with a wife and two small children to start a new life in America. Too often overlooked and unmentioned was that my equally courageous and accomplished mother - who spoke seven languages to his five - had done everthing he'd done only - like Ginger Rogers - "Backwards and in High Heels".
This book is a long overdue tribute to my mother, whom I never fully appreciated until shortly before her death. Using stories of our travels taken from my father's (unpublished) memoirs, I add my own memories of those times, including my memories of my mother's part in our family's adventures. The older I am, the more grateful I am for her wisdom and intuition, especially her interests in health and healing through food and her passion for cooking the traditional Mediterranean dishes we all enjoyed.
Work in Progress
From Cairo to California
A FAMILY COOKBOOK
This cookbook began in 2007 as a collaboration between my sister Lolita and me, as a tribute to our mother Vicky Sapriel — a gifted cook — and as a way to pass her Sephardic and Mediterranean recipes on to my daughter Nicole. The recipes include Middle Eastern, Greek, Italian and other influences, as the pre-war Colonial Egypt our parents grew up in was a multicultural, multilingual hodgepodge of tastes, flavors, spices and scents.
After we started our project, the book expanded to include recipes from other family members and friends. Many of the recipes are either vegetarian or can be adapted to vegetarian cooking. The cookbook weaves together the various strands of our family into a single tapestry. We included the personal stories, narratives and photographs of the family members connected to the recipes as integral to the memories they evoke for us. I have continued that tradition here, describing the family or friend associated with a given recipe.
When our family first arrived in California in the early Fifties, there were few specialty markets, no Trader Joe’s, and American palettes were not as familiar with the Mediterranean cuisine that was our everyday family fare. Now of course Mediterranean cuisine is all the rage and many of these delicacies are routinely available frozen or ready made at Trader Joe’s and other specialty stores, but that was not the case when my sister and I were growing up.
- Daniella, Nicole and Lolita in the garden of Lolita's Malibu home, circa 2016. We gathered here for Thanksgiving and
- Christmas for many years.
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The original cookbook was gifted to Nicole in 2007, and remains safe in her care. My impetus for reworking the original into a publishable work was the destruction of my sister Lolita's copy in the 2025 Malibu fire that took her home and all her possessions. She was distraught at the thought of losing such precious family memorabilia. My hope is to surprise her with a gift of the published book as a present for her when she settles into her new home.
The spirit of our mother, Vicky, is present throughout the cookbook. She would be happy and so proud to know that her gifts are acknowledged and appreciated by her daughters and granddaughter
SAMPLE RECIPE
VICKY’S FILLO AND FETA PIE
INGREDIENTS:1 lb. filo dough 1 lb. feta cheese5 or 6 eggs2 Cups of Milk1/2 pound of sweet butter….meltedPREPARATION:Crumble the feta into a bowl.Separately: Beat the eggs and the milk together.Add this to the Feta and melted butter.Keep the fillo dough covered with a cloth so it won’t dry out put aside 2 sheets and cover them.
Line a loaf pan with the first 2 sheets of Fillo dough.Crumple individual sheets of fillo dough and dip them into the mixture and place in the pan to cover the bottom. When all the crumpled fillo dough is used up, cover the top with the last two remaining sheets of dough and cover well.Cook in 400 degree oven for 30 minute
Work in Progress--Hope to Publish in 2025!
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This book describes my healing journey. It does not give medical advice. Anyone facing cancer is encouraged to find a team of professionals to support their cancer journey. Finding an integrative oncologist is incredibly helpful and important. Each person's healing journey is unique. Good luck on yours!
Cancer's Gift - The Wake Up Call
Diagnosed with breast cancer on Valentine's Day 2019, shortly before my 74th birthday, I was shocked yet not surprised. I had ignored several warnings that three years of grief, trauma and exhaustion had taken their toll. From the beginning — except in the shocked moments immediately after the diagnosis — I didn't “feel” like I had a “disease” called "CANCER” and wondered whether I was just in denial or not paying attention. No question I had a large inflamed lump in my breast that tested positive for cancer. I could FEEL the inflammation and feel it growing larger by the day. It was scary.
"Cancer is the Symptom -- Your Life is the Dis-Ease"
As I struggled to regain my balance and decide how best to treat this life threatening situation, I heard an inner voice say "CANCER isn’t the DIS- EASE. CANCER IS THE SYMPTOM. The Dis-ease is your underlying LIFE — poor diet, too much stres, the exhaustion, the grief, the trauma." That clear intuitive guidance changed everything. It became the guiding principle on my healing journey. Instead of looking at how to "kill the cancer," I turned my focus on what I needed to do to regain my health, to heal my life, regardless of whether I had one day left or years ahead of me. I thought of all the things I had hoped to do but not yet done -- writing a book; gathering materials for a film project on the life of the man I loved, whose death had left me bereft; seeing my daughter blossom into adulthood. "Cancer's Gift -- the Wake Up Call " describes my healing journey, which continues today. Almost six years into this journey, my life -- despite (or because of) the fear that cancer brings -- is also filled with joy, gratitude and a deep appreciation for life and for my body, which is capable of miracles if given a chance.
Work in Progress
My Three Shepherds
I loved my father's stories of "Telio," the shepherd he had in his youth. When I moved out of my family home at 18, I got my first shepherd, "Misty" . She was my constant companion for 14 and a half years, accompanying me as an undergrduate at UCLA, attending USC Law School with me, and traveling to Washington D.C. when I got my first job as a lawyer at the Department of Justice. My second shepherd "Bear" came to me during the difficult years following my divorce, and was my and my daughter's protector and partner in adventures for 15 and a half years. My third shepherd, "T-Bear," was my soul's companion. He was extraordinarily beautiful and charismatic, drawing people to him with his depth of soul and gentlenes. He crossed the Rainbow Bridge on March 8, 2021. I have a wonderful pack waiting for me on the other side.
Work in Progress, possibly as a children's book
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Inside the Rivers of Time
a Memoir
Memories and Reflectons
Work in Progress