My name is Dr. Tracy Marrs. Among other things – I am a researcher, educator, and writer. I received my doctorate in Mythological Studies with an emphasis in Depth Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute in September 2021. My dissertation is titled “Transformation literacy in Education.” I started the mythology program in 2013 and my life transformed.

It took me eight years to get my bachelors’ degree and eight to get my second masters and doctorate. I was born in 1978, live on highway 38, my favorite number is 28, I spent eight years at each of my three significant employers – the Press Enterprise, Noli Indian School, and San Bernardino Valley College, and my husband and I were married on August 8th (8/8). I guess you can say eight has been a significant number in my life. (By the way – I love that my doctorate is done and I can write a rambling sentence if I want to, if you haven’t noticed.)

My family and I live in the mountains and enjoy the small town atmosphere of mountain life. My past work experiences include photo editing at The Press Enterprise, teaching junior high and high school students at Noli Indian School, and at San Bernardino Valley College teaching students how to read at a college level. I’ve also taught education courses at University of Redlands and sub for Fallsvale Elementary. Reading is my passion, but education is my calling. Even when I don’t mean to, I end up sounding like a teacher.

Currently, I do mentorship, tutoring, subbing, remodeling, and hold workshops on myths for every day life. I also research and write, paint, and I really want to try to learn to play guitar again – third times a charm.

The goal for my dissertation was to create a curriculum that teaches college students how to read more meaningfully in order to increase reading comprehension and success in college and life in general. While still focused on literacy skills, I began to see that transformational mythology is applicable across many (or every) field of study, business, and basically human life.

A few years ago, I began a little side project called Storytellers Retreats. In September 2016, I hosted a retreat at Camp de Benneville with my friends, Sally June, Kathy Jaffe, and Julia Sophia Paegle. Since then, I held a couple of day workshops, one with the storytellers group and one solo, but due to dissertation studies and personal life craziness – the Storytellers has mostly fizzled out. It stayed alive through the years through our social media connection and hosted our “come back workshop” five years and one day after our last workshop together. This “come back workshop” made me realize how much I missed this and I began hosting local myth talks to get more interest in mythology. The plan is to continue the talks, build some workshops, and host a retreat again. (It was a major life experience and something I’d like to do even better to reach more people. I believe stories are key to life – stories teach us how to make meaning from experience and connect us to each other, to nature, and to the inner voice that is your own.

It hasn’t always been easy, but I love the life I live and especially the people in it.

You can also find me on facebook – Tracy Marrs and Storytellers Retreats 🙂