johnfraim@mac.com
Sunflower / Milt Jackson (Written by Freddie Hubbard)
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“Wee spend our mid-day sweat, or mid-night oyle;
Wee tyre the night in thought; the day in toyle.”
Emblemes, Francis Quarles (1635)
John grew up in Los Angeles and has a BA from UCLA and JD from Loyola Law School. He has had a career as a marketing executive and entrepreneur and has been involved in a number of business ventures via GreatHouse and Midnight Oil Studios. See his LinkedIn profile for additional info.
He is former Board Member and Marketing Director for the Palm Springs Writers Guild and founder of the Desert Screenwriters Group which evolved into the Desert Screenwriters Guild associated with the Palm Springs Film Alliance. John is the author of four books and many published essays, articles and short stories. His book Battle of Symbols was published by Daimon Verlag (Zurich) and his book Spirit Catcher: The Life & Art of John Coltrane, published by his publishing company The GreatHouse Company, received the Best Biography Award from the Small Press Association. The book Point Zero Bliss: A Prisoner’s Quest for Freedom (Review in Publisher’s Weekly) – also also published by GreatHouse – is the memoir of a prisoner in a maximum security prison. John’s most recent book is Londonderry Farewell co-authored with retired Navy Captain Tom McKeown.
He has had a long-term interest in symbolism and is considered a leading authority in this area. His major writings on symbolism are published on Symbolism.Org site. He was a consultant on symbolism for the film DaVinci Code and wrote a popular column titled Script Symbology for Script Magazine, the world’s leading screenplay magazine. John was one in the winners of the national 2019 Writers Digest Writing Competition in the Screenplay area for the screenplay Lost Mission. See the screenplay on our Screenplay Page.
In addition, he has written much about media and is a board member of New Explorations: Studies in Culture and Communication, a journal founded by Marshall McLuhan in 1953. His views have also appeared in ETC, the journal of the Media Ecology Association. He is also a member of The Institute of General Semantics and a board member of LettuceWork, an organization that provides work for adults with autism. John is also member of the National Association of Scholars.
One of his latest projects is the creation of dioramas using concepts and ideas from media, symbolism and screenwriting. He is a member of the IPMS (International Plastic Modelers Association). His dioramas are featured on the famous Box Dioramas site celebrating the work of Shepard Paine and other legendary Box Dioramists. Photos of his dioramas have appeared in Fine Scale Modeler and the IPMS Journal. Visit his Diorama Page on this Midnight Oil Studios site.
He has been awarded top social influencer awards by NextDoor Holdings in their categories of Communications and Visual Arts. As of April of 2024, the Midnight Oil Studios site has 670 posts since its beginning in 2016. The posts reflect the wide-ranging interests of John in media, symbolism, music, film, literature, photography, social criticism, screenwriting, dioramas and art. Among other things.
John is an avid hiker and bike rider and a member of Rails to Trails Conservatory.
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Thanks to my wife Stephanie for her support, love and advice
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