Public life these days seems filled with charlatans, grifters, con artists, phonies, bozos, loud mouths and carnival clowns.
They come with all kinds of labels: liberals, conservatives, progressives, originalists, pundits, commentators, incumbents, fascists, independents, libertarians, autocrats, Democrats, Republicans, House speakers, Supreme Court justices, former presidents and chief executive officers, to name a few.
Most of them come and go, except for the few to whom people who just don’t know any better attach themselves to their ultimate downfall, and ours.
The antidote to all this always has been, is now and forever will be an educated, clear-thinking, demanding and skeptical public.
Craig J. Corsini
San Rafael
Ceasefire Plea
The entire world should protest and assert not only that a ceasefire be implemented immediately in the Israel-Gaza War; the 200-plus surviving political prisoners held in Gaza, citizens of multiple nations, must be exchanged for the countless uncharged, untried Palestinians, often held for years in Israeli prisons.
Haaretz reports that 2,000 prisoners in Israel are being transferred, including leader Marwan Bargouti, in order to sever ties. All parties must demand release of all political prisoners. I believe, and so do experts, that this action could be a cornerstone for the beginning of cessations of hostilities.
P.S. I am Jewish, and condemn the apartheid government of Israel and the treatment of non-Jews there.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Our bodies sometimes serve as the symbolic ground where order and disorder fight for supremacy,” writes storyteller Caroline Kettlewell. Here’s good news, Aries: For you, order will triumph over disorder in the coming weeks. In part through your willpower and in part through life’s grace, you will tame the forces of chaos and enjoy a phase when most everything makes sense. I don’t mean you will have zero problems, but I suspect you will have an enhanced power to solve problems. Your mind and heart will coordinate their efforts with exceptional flair.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I recently endured a three-hour root canal. Terrible and unfortunate, right? No! Because it brought profound joy. The endodontist gave me nitrous oxide, and the resulting euphoria unleashed a wild epiphany. For the duration of the surgery, I had vivid visions of all the people in my life who love me. I felt their care. I was overwhelmed with the kindness they felt for me. Never before had I been blessed with such a blissful gift. Now, in accordance with your astrological omens, I invite you to induce a similar experience—no nitrous oxide needed. It’s a perfect time to meditate on how well you are appreciated and needed and cherished.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Unless you are very unusual, you don’t sew your clothes or grow your food. You didn’t build your house, make your furniture or forge your cooking utensils. Like most of us, you know little about how water and electricity arrive for your use. Do you have any notion of what your grandparents were doing when they were your age? Have you said a prayer of gratitude recently for the people who have given you so much? I don’t mean to put you on the spot with my questions, Gemini. I’m merely hoping to inspire you to get into closer connection with everything that nourishes and sustains you. Honor the sources of your energy. Pay homage to your foundations.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega has had a modest but sustained career. With nine albums, she has sold over three million records, but is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She has said, “I always thought that if I were popular, I must be doing something wrong.” I interpret that to mean she has sought to remain faithful to her idiosyncratic creativity and not pay homage to formulaic success. But here’s the good news for you in the coming months, fellow Cancerian: You can be more appreciated than ever before simply by being true to your soul’s inclinations and urges.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Everything in the world has a hidden meaning,” wrote Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis. Did he really mean everything? Your dream last night, your taste in shoes, your favorite TV show, the way you laugh? As a fun experiment, let’s say that yes, everything has a hidden meaning. Let’s also hypothesize that the current astrological omens suggest you now have a special talent for discerning veiled and camouflaged truths. We will further propose that you have an extraordinary power to penetrate beyond surface appearances and home in on previously unknown and invisible realities. Do you have the courage and determination to go deeper than you have ever dared? I believe you do.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): How many glowworms would have to gather in one location to make a light as bright as the sun? Probably over a trillion. And how many ants would be required to carry away a 15-pound basket of food? I’m guessing over 90,000. Luckily for you, the cumulative small efforts you need to perform so as to accomplish big breakthroughs won’t be nearly that high a number. For instance, you may be able to take a quantum leap after just six baby steps.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In the 17th century, John Milton wrote a long narrative poem titled Paradise Lost. I’ve never read it and am conflicted about the prospect of doing so. On one hand, I feel I should engage with a work that has had such a potent influence on Western philosophy and literature. On the other hand, I’m barely interested in Milton’s story, which includes boring conversations between God and Satan and the dreary tale of how God cruelly exiled humans from paradise because the first man, Adam, was mildly rebellious. So what should I do? I’ve decided to read the Cliffs Notes study guide about Paradise Lost, a brief summary of the story. In accordance with astrological omens, I suggest you call on similar shortcuts, Libra. Here’s your motto: If you can’t do the completely right thing, try the partially right thing.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Who would have guessed that elephants can play the drums really well? On a trip to Thailand, Scorpio musician Dave Soldier discovered that if given sticks and drums, some elephants kept a steadier beat than humans. A few were so talented that Soldier recorded their rhythms and played them for a music critic who couldn’t tell they were created by animals. In accordance with astrological omens, I propose that you Scorpios seek out comparable amazements. You now have the potential to make unprecedented discoveries.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian novelist Shirley Jackson wrote, “No live organism can continue for long to exist under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids dream.” Since she wrote that, scientists have gathered evidence that almost all animals dream and that dreaming originated at least 300 million years ago. With that as our inspiration and in accordance with astrological omens, I urge you to enjoy an intense period of tapping into your dreams. To do so will help you escape from absolute reality. It will also improve your physical and mental health and give you unexpected clues about how to solve problems.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn writer Kahlil Gibran believed an essential human longing is to be revealed. We all want the light in us to be taken out of its hiding place and shown. If his idea is true about you, you will experience major cascades of gratification in the coming months. I believe you will be extra expressive. And you will encounter more people than ever before who are interested in knowing what you have to express. To prepare for the probable breakthroughs, investigate whether you harbor any fears or inhibitions about being revealed—and dissolve them.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): November is Build Up Your Confidence Month. In the coming weeks, you are authorized to snag easy victories as you steadily bolster your courage to seek bigger, bolder triumphs. As much as possible, put yourself in the vicinity of people who respect you and like you. If you suspect you have secret admirers, encourage them to be less secretive. Do you have plaques, medals or trophies? Display them prominently. Or visit a trophy store and have new awards made for you to commemorate your unique skills—like thinking wild thoughts, pulling off one-of-a-kind adventures and inspiring your friends to rebel against their habits.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I’m glad we have an abundance of teachers helping us learn how to be here now—to focus on the present moment with gratitude and grace. I love the fact that books on the art of mindfulness are now almost as common as books about cats and cooking. Yay! But I also want to advocate for the importance of letting our minds wander freely. We need to celebrate the value and power of NOT always being narrowly zeroed in on the here and now. We can’t make intelligent decisions unless we ruminate about what has happened in the past and what might occur in the future. Meandering around in fantasyland is key to discovering new insights. Imaginative ruminating is central to the creative process. Now please give your mind the privilege of wandering far and wide in the coming weeks, Pisces.
One afternoon in the French Alps near Grenoble, an 11-year-old boy named Daniel and his dog Snoop discover the dead body of Daniel’s father, Samuel, lying on the ground at the base of the family chalet. Daniel is blind. His cries bring his mother Sandra to the scene, and eventually the police investigate Samuel’s death as a possible homicide. How did the man end up there, with a head wound bleeding into the snow, four stories below an open window in the chalet’s attic?
Anatomy of a Fall (Anatomie d’une chute) turns out to be more than just a murder mystery. In the hands of French director Justine Triet—working from a screenplay she wrote with Arthur Harari—the death of Samuel unleashes a wave of painful memories and conflicted feelings for both Daniel and Sandra. It’s a splendid actors’ vehicle starring artists American audiences are not accustomed to seeing. More than that, it’s one of the year’s best-written screen dramas.
From its first scenes, the family story is established as a stressed-out ordeal. Daniel’s mother, Sandra (Sandra Hüller), is being interviewed at home in the chalet, in connection with her new book—“a mixture of truth and fiction,” as she describes it. But the in-person discussion is interrupted by piercingly loud music from the upper floors—“P.I.M.P.,” by 50 Cent—so much so that the interview has to be postponed. Daniel’s father, Samuel (Samuel Theis), a would-be writer and musician, is evidently up to his familiar attention-grabbing antics.
A few moments later, Daniel (Milo Machado Graner), led by his beloved border collie, is guided to his father’s corpse. The police have questions, particularly about the trauma injury to Samuel’s head. Did it come from the fall, when he landed on the shed in the yard? Or did it occur from a blow to the head before Samuel plunged from the window? And what about that prominent bruise on Sandra’s arm?
The cause of death is ruled inconclusive and, furthermore, the evidence suggests the fall was not accidental. Suddenly Sandra emerges as the defendant. From that point forward Anatomy of a Fall essentially becomes a courtroom drama, suspensefully punctuated by flashbacks illustrating not only Sandra’s role in her troubled relationship with Samuel, but also the pathetic plight of their son.
By all appearances Daniel is a quiet, introspective boy devoted to practicing the piano. “Asturias,” from Isaac Albeniz’ Suite Española, amounts to something of an obsession with him. The sensitive Daniel also enjoys playing duets with his mother. And yet, in courtroom testimony, Sandra admits that the relationship with her son had taken second place to the “intellectual stimulation” she received from her late husband in their early years together. It’s further revealed that Daniel’s blindness was caused by an accident. He was struck by a motorcycle in the street after being picked up late from school—his father’s fault—and the guilt for that tragedy has resonated through the family life.
In the film’s most lacerating scene, a flashback reveals that Samuel was a childish, unstable personality prone to capricious mood swings, who among other things resented his German immigrant wife’s use of English as a useful common language at home. Sandra’s characterization as essentially a stranger in France even surfaces in the courtroom, with suggestive remarks by the judge that seem to present the defendant as the object of subtle chauvinism. Such is the Pandora’s box of evidence and conjecture that come into play as the murder trial proceeds.
Sandra’s attorney, Vincent (Swann Arlaud), emerges as a key figure in the scenario, vigorously defending his client against the slippery innuendo of the prosecutor (Antoine Reinertz), who doggedly tries to fit the calm Sandra into a box. Secrets are revealed. Innermost emotions erupt. But Anatomy of a Fall provides no easy answers. With exquisite timing, filmmakers Triet and Harari paint a narrative portrait as complex and multi-layered as life itself. Chapeau!
Shires aren’t only to be found in J. R. R. Tolkien film adaptations or serving as suffixes appending the names of quaint English villages.
As of early 2022, Marin’s own magical Mt. Tamalpais has a shire of its own: Dharmashire. (Pronounced with a hard “i”.)
Nestled in a historic tract of forest on one of the older trails of Muir Woods—overlooking Mill Valley below and even offering views of the distant Sierra Nevadas on a clear day—a modern and minimalist sanctuary on Mt. Tam awaits those seeking connection, stillness or just relaxation.
A distinctive characteristic of the San Francisco Bay Area, and undeniably of the North Bay, is how the region’s rootedness in nature inspires ever-evolving explorations of human purpose and practice. Put another way, for residents and visitors alike, Mt. Tam is a transcendent experience, utterly unique in the world.
Surrendering
It was when our world was in the 2020 triple-grip of a pandemic, recession and chaotic administration that Dharmashire founder and owner Tom Lamar found himself ungrounded in collisions of loss.
“I was coming up on 55, and my daughter was approaching 23 and leaving home,” Lamar recounts. “Suddenly, I was an empty nester. A long-term relationship had ended. It was COVID, and like all of us, a few good friends passed away, some of whom I couldn’t visit. And, my dear mother passed away.”
Decades before, at just 23 years of age, Lamar lost his 55-year-old father. The weight of this compounded an overall sense of untethering.
“I was just kind of like: Enough, enough, enough,” he says.
Originally from Atlanta, GA, Lamar is a designer and skilled craftsperson, in addition to being the executive director of Inventure Institute and a longtime technology leader.
“There I was, living on a houseboat I rented in Sausalito, and I was paddle-boarding every day,” says Lamar. “Since moving to Marin, I had just rented, and I realized during all of this [the pandemic] just how ungrounded I felt.”
Lamar, like so many North Bay inhabitants, is passionate about the land, a nature lover who had always owned farms, parcels of wilderness and culturally significant properties.
Intentional letting go in that acute pandemic period of loss led Lamar to creating Dharmashire—if the finding of it was (not) entirely unintentional. He had taken a sabbatical to Death Valley, fasting and meditating for five days at a stretch. Back in Marin, he kept paddle-boarding. Then, one day, he ran into a friend and real estate professional, Logan Link, in town who mentioned that he should check out a very unique property on Mt. Tam.
Recalls Lamar, “I had seen it online before, and it was in a part of Muir Woods I didn’t think I was interested in, but I said okay, let’s go look. I had said: I surrender to whatever comes my way.”
The one-acre property had two historic dwellings that, while fundamentally habitable, were in need of restoration. Though it was surrounded by an additional six acres of natural preserve, its condition and a somewhat obscure location (between the Pipeline Trail and the Cypress Trail), a 15-minute walk from the Mountain Home Inn, perhaps explained why no offers had been made in the 40 days it was on the market.
Perhaps.
Discovering
When Lamar visited, he says that yearslong threads of personal seeking and patterns of living with the land suddenly intertwined into a vision, as if passing through (the eye of the) needle.
“We’ve all seen the famous TED Talk where Simon Sinek talks about finding your Why—your purpose,” begins Lamar. “I’m meant to preserve this historical Marin space, help support connection with nature and offer inspiration to those who visit or pass by on the trail down the hill.”
For many years he owned and stewarded another “Shire,” a wooded expanse in the Nantahala National Forest in Highlands, North Carolina, a part of historic Cherokee lands. (As for “shire,” here’s something for the etymology nerds: shire, sheriff and reeve all share old English roots, with the shire part being the wholly positive bit. More protection and solace, less Sheriff of Nottingham and corruption of power.)
Though the Dharmashire plan did not initially include a rental option, the now historically restored property has organically developed into a place for purpose-led community focused visitors. “Place is my purpose,” Lamar says simply. “It’s funny because I set out to find my ‘Why,’ but it was in the process of not pursuing anything that I found it.”
For Lamar, it is the practice of community development grounded in a place. The lessons and rewards have been profound.
There were frequent cancellations in the early months, when Lamar provided the space at no charge, and he realized the community was letting itself down by not taking advantage of the free space. He began charging, though with no small amount of trepidation at the prospect of the kind of laborious management that things like bookings and billing and customer service issues tend to require.
“Hesitantly, I turned it into a fee-based space with a donation of the last week of every month to some local educational, spiritual community driven cause for the first year,” Lamar notes.
To his surprise and delight, the potential hassles he worried about “have not been my experience at all,” he says. “In fact, it has changed my life dramatically.”
Creating
A rustic retreat.
After his modest offer was eagerly accepted, Lamar wasted no time bringing new life to both Dharmashire—a log home—and the historic Mt. Tam hot dog stand above it.
Yes, that’s correct. What was once a working hot dog stand serving hungry turn-of-the-century Pipeline Trail hikers and workers is now Sanghashire, Lamar’s personal residence (though guests are permitted on a special basis). The views from both dwellings are so breathtaking as to be almost otherworldly.
Both structures have been expertly renewed in minimalistic style, with modern amenities applied as functionally and sparingly as possible, to let the beauty and energy of the place transport visitors spiritually and emotionally—or, as the website charmingly assures, to just let one relax.
What began with no seeking at all has quickly taken on a community of life that seems to know its own mission. In our lengthy conversation, Lamar recounts dozens of warm memories and serendipitous connections between himself, guests and the Marin community. Folks come to restore their marriages, heal from trauma, form deeper connections, learn and rest. A cherished leather-bound guest book already has more than 100 entries.
Says Lamar: “As we transition from the analog world to the digital world down and back under the ground, it’s about being rooted in simplicity and the unseen mycelium-like connections between people, rather than what you can see on social media.”
Though he maintains his engagement with the tech world of the Bay Area, the events and group stays Lamar facilitates at Dharmashire—from those in generational transitions to the Modern Elder Academy to Dharma talks with yoginis and yogis—expressly serve to reconnect people with each other and nature in the era of Big Tech. Lamar has been able to acquire a third historic cabin, and now hundreds of guests have enjoyed the transformative experience of Dharmashire.
To learn more about Dharmashire, including visiting and booking a stay or an event, go todharmashire.com. All images and web design courtesy ofAnastasia Kai and Dharmashire.
David Mitchell, the retired editor and publisher of the Point Reyes Light, died in his sleep Wednesday, Oct. 25, a month shy of his 80th birthday.
Born Nov. 23, 1943, Mitchell was among a handful of editors of weekly newspapers to win a Pulitzer Prize, in this case, for an exposé of Synanon Incorporated, a Marshall-based drug-rehabilitation program-turned-cult led by Charles Dederich.
Mitchell’s dogged efforts to reveal the cult’s criminality included revelatory coverage of a bizarre reptile attack on a Los Angeles-based attorney. When Dederich lost a judgment against the cult to the tune of $300,000 on behalf of a married couple, the wife claimed she was held against her will by Synanon, which had also attempted to brainwash her.
The cult leader ordered an attack on the couple’s attorney, Paul Morantz, that involved placing a poisonous rattlesnake in his mailbox. The snake subsequently bit the attorney—he survived—and Dederich and two accomplices eventually pled “no contest” to charges of conspiracy to commit murder.
Mitchell’s wife, Lynn Axelrod Mitchell, who accompanied him to the 2014 International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors conference in Durango, Colorado, when he won the Eugene Cervi Award, recalled that the journalist had “…been very brave this past year. You all know he was dedicated to helping the ‘little guy’ against government overreach. He loved being called a muckraker.”
Mitchell later co-wrote The Light on Synanon: How a Country Weekly Exposed a Corporate Cult, which won the Pulitzer Prize gold medal for “Meritorious Public Service.”
“He personally helped people down on their luck and taught me, through example, about long-term help to strangers, not just for a single time—who then became his friends,” said Axelrod Mitchell.
Black cats are a special kind of companion, a kind that is most famously depicted as being the feline familiar of wizards and witches…which is why Halloween is the perfect time to shed some light on a color of cat that is all too often overshadowed.
Although black cats are adorable, they are also (statistically speaking) the least likely to be adopted into a loving home. And while all the orange, white and otherwise colorful kitties get swooped up, black cats usually have to wait much longer than their colorful counterparts.
“We always have black cats up for adoption because they don’t get adopted out as quickly,” explained Lisa Bloch, Marin Humane’s director of marketing and communications (and the proud owner of a black cat called Magic). “Part of it is because it’s hard to take photos of [black cats], but part of it is just that they get overlooked.”
Unfortunately, being less photogenic and easier to overlook are not the only issues at play when it comes to black cats’ adoptability. Another undeniable factor is the superstitious implication of black cats, painting them as an omen of unlucky things to come—but that superstition is as unfounded as it is fickle.
“Them being unlucky…it’s a superstition based on old myths,” Bloch explained. “For a while though, people were actually afraid to adopt out black cats around Halloween because they thought they’d be adopted for nefarious purposes, but there’s no real backing to that, and we adopt all year.”
Hiss-torically speaking, the reputation of black cats hasn’t always indicated incoming cat-astrophe. In Ancient Egypt, for instance, people revered all colors of cats as descendants of Bastet, aka the goddess cats, and a whole lot of other things, including protection, home and health (especially for women). In essence, black cats were actually considered lucky.
This back and forth of historical luck vs. doom symbolism followed black cats across centuries. While once black cats were considered lucky, soon it was only if the black cat in question was walking toward someone, while walking away was unlucky…then it became bad luck to cross paths with a black cat at all. And once black became associated with the witches of the British Isles only a few centuries ago, this kitty’s superstitious association with the occult and bad luck was set in stone.
But black cats are just as cuddly, playful and cute as any other color of cat, and Marin Humane has a whole host of black kittens and cats ready to light up someone’s life.
“We’re always looking for people to adopt, especially since it is the tail end of kitten season,” Bloch said. “And honestly, all of the black cat kitties I’ve met have been so elegant and sleek and cool—you know how it is; they’re such individuals. I’m a big fan.”
For anyone who wants to adopt a feline companion and give them a forever home starting this fall, pay a visit to Marin Humane, take a gander at the cat adoption webpage at marinhumane.org/adopt/adopt-a-cat-kitten or call ahead to 415.883.4621.
Killers of the Flower Moon is putatively Martin Scorsese’s first Western. As such, it’s a departure from the films that made him famous. There are no car bombs in a Las Vegas parking lot, nor New York mobsters co-opting a temperamental prize fighter. But if the director’s followers are ready to accept Scorsese’s renowned gangster films as an implied critique of the violent ways of doing business, American style, then a story about oil, greed, robber barons and Native Americans in 1920s Oklahoma should fit into Scorsese’s filmography quite nicely.
After all, how is a tale of white businessmen elbowing their way into a big payday they previously overlooked all that different than the grab-a-buck heroics of Goodfellas or Casino—not to mention the frat-boy corporate rapaciousness of The Wolf of Wall Street?
Someone is killing members of the Osage nation in Oklahoma and, by means of insurance, hard-to-prove connivance and official indifference, stealing the petro-rich land from the natives and their descendants. The Osage were given the land by the government with the idea that it was worthless. Subsequent events proved otherwise. Now Osage men, women and children are being stabbed, shot, dynamited or drowned in sludge pools for their inheritance.
A tragic story, but that’s of marginal interest, initially, to Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio), fresh out of World War I. Ernest arrives in the town of Fairfax, in the Osage reservation, at an opportune moment. His benevolent uncle, William “King” Hale (Robert De Niro), the area’s leading—read: white—wheeler-dealer, is the driving force behind the land grab.
With transparently patronizing camaraderie, King offers Ernest a job and convinces his eager but none-too-bright nephew to hook up with an Osage woman named Mollie (Lily Gladstone). The better to get behind the wheel of Mollie’s “full-blood estate” and therefore the “head rights” to her share of the oil fields. In an old-fashioned Hollywood Western a hustler like King would hold court at a saloon poker game, but here he spouts fake-gospel bromides while driving around in his car, checking on his ill-gotten holdings. Seemingly every felonious peckerwood in Osage County is in on it. And so is Ernest, up to a point.
It’s part of Scorsese’s and screenwriter Eric Roth’s grand, sweeping scenario—adapted from author David Grann’s true-crime book—that Ernest’s dilemma grows deeper and darker as the plot progresses. Notwithstanding the racist social parameters of the day, he truly loves the “inscrutable” native woman who gradually becomes completely devoted to him and their children, all the while recognizing, deep in her heart, that the odds are in favor of the white man. Copious amounts of blood and tears are spilled. Even by Scorsese standards, Killers is a very violent entertainment.
As if to compensate for the overly familiar framework, Scorsese decorates the sinister tale with some of the finest production values available. The needle-drop period music playlist is exquisite, as are the film editing and sound engineering. The Osage ceremonies ring with what we can only believe is absolute authenticity. And the performances of DiCaprio, Gladstone and DeNiro, in challenging roles, surpass those of practically every other film on the market in this dry year at the movies.
Gladstone’s saintly Mollie, wrapped in a blanket of anti-clichéd stoicism, is a wonder to behold. De Niro’s King, for his part, is content to sit patiently in his web, waiting for his prey. He’s a chilling echo of De Niro’s Jimmy the Gent Conway, in Goodfellas, trying to lure Karen (Lorraine Bracco) into his swag shop—poised and ready to snuff the mark. Meanwhile, for DiCaprio’s hopeless Ernest it’s a chump’s legacy.
Killers is perfectly satisfying as an earthy story of unhealthy love, but more than that it’s a wrenching account of this country’s late, unlamented Manifest Destiny at work. When an Osage elder complains, “Our blood is getting white,” a viewer can only sadly nod in consent. See it and believe it.
As the International Catholic “Synod on Synodality” convenes this month, topics discussed are how much power the Church will grant women (not much), marriage for priests (as practiced historically) and will queer people be accepted (the Bible says no).
Apparently, the Good Book says birth control is bad, too (considered a “sin”). I wrote an Open Mic article when human population reached 8 billion. Now, I must confess (though I’m not Catholic) my outrage, upon reading that contraception will not even be discussed at the Synod. How can any world institution—which has a nominal membership of hundreds of millions—be against birth control in the 21st century?
The answer: “Marriage and conjugal love are by their nature ordained toward the procreation … of children. So the Church, which is on the side of life, [emphasis added] teaches that it is necessary that each and every marriage act remain ordered per se to the procreation of human life.”—from a “Natural Family Planning” tract.
Natural Family Planning excludes contraception in all forms, including any non-procreative pleasure, and any form of sex other than the “marriage act.” But, “Catholic health institutions may…help couples conceive.”
What? What if married (as well as unmarried, or divorced) couples don’t want children for financial or health reasons? (Is this a plot to produce more Catholics?)
Has the Church ever truly been pro-life? What about the Crusades, which murdered countless Muslims and Jews? The Inquisition, when as many as 9 million “witches” were burned? The superstitious murder of witches’ familiars, cats, which led to the proliferation of rats and the Black Plagues? The centuries of wars that ravaged Europe over the Catholic Church fighting its Protestant rivals? Giordano Bruno’s burning and Galileo’s arrest for professing that the sun is the center of the universe, not the Earth?
Billions and billions of mass-produced humans are the cause of the current destruction of Earth’s four billion-year nurturing habitat for millions of other species. I declare Catholic dogma anti-life. I am not against religion per se. I just have this to say: Karma runs over your dogma.
Barry Barnett is a professional writer and activist in Santa Rosa.
Halloween is almost here, and it seems as though no one in the North Bay is holding back when adding to the community’s shared sense of seasonal excitement.
But fall isn’t only about proudly displaying a carved-up pumpkin on the porch or allowing all those fallen leaves to linger long enough to make the lawn look autumnal.
No, fall is all about slowing down and taking time to indulge every sense, especially in the comfort of one’s home. From the scent of cinnamon brooms and brewing cider to the cozy assortment of blankets, pillows and seats to curl up on, there’s no shortage of small ways to make the home just a little bit homier for the fall holidays.
“Fall is the perfect time to warm up your home with simple decor changes,” said resident home decor expert Craig Miller, who just so happens to own a Sonoma-local home goods store called Harvest Home.
Miller’s advice for easy, festive and effective ways to add some autumn to home decor begins as early as the front door:
“Start with the front of your house,” he advised. “The easiest major change is to add two stacks of pumpkins on each side of your front door [starting with the biggest pumpkin on the bottom and stacking up from large to small]…if you can find some local cornstalks, add those as well.”
Past the front door and into the foyer, Miller suggests warming up the entranceway and giving it an autumn air by incorporating woods and other natural elements, including mini pumpkins, colorful squash and fall floral arrangements.
“This look could easily be duplicated to your mantle, coffee table, kitchen island or [as a] table centerpiece,” said Miller. He added that “an easy living room switch is to add orange or rust throw pillows…and a warm-toned throw for the cooler nights.”
Even the lighting can benefit from a festive fall touch. And though it may be cliche, finding that perfectly cozy candle to keep company through the holiday season is a sublime sensory experience for the nose and the eyes. After all, mood lighting is everything, especially with increasingly long, dark nights ahead that could benefit from a bit of candlelight. For lighting, Miller suggests carving a small hole in the top of mini pumpkins, just large enough to fit a small candle, and setting the pumpkins to float in a bowl or sit on their own.
In decorating for the fall, just be sure to remember that while all the pumpkins and other visual elements are most certainly crucial to adding a festive feel to one’s home, so too is the inclusion of the other senses: touch, smell, sound and, of course, taste.
So, grab a slice of pumpkin or pecan pie and some hot spiced cider or cocoa and cozy up with some candles and a soft, fuzzy blanket by a fire—cause ’tis the season that reminds everyone to enjoy all the little things that add up to that quintessential feeling of fall.
Anyone looking to spruce up their living space to reflect the spirit of all things fall (all the while managing to keep shopping local) can visit the Harvest Home website at harvesthomestores.com, call 707.933.9044 or check out the Harvest Home storefront in person at 20820 Broadway in Sonoma.
Kevin McCarthy—who was ousted as House speaker earlier this month—counseled Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan on strategy for his own speakership bid, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation.
Clearly a case for the blind leading the blind through a minefield. McCarthy distinguished himself as the only speaker in history to be thrown out by his own party, and he advised Jordan on how to vacillate and undercut everyone.
Gary Sciford
Santa Rosa
Media Diet
Distilled spirits and meat products in all forms are poison to the body, mind and soul yet seem to be a main part of everyone’s daily life (including the media). Why?
Stuck in the Middle
Public life these days seems filled with charlatans, grifters, con artists, phonies, bozos, loud mouths and carnival clowns.
They come with all kinds of labels: liberals, conservatives, progressives, originalists, pundits, commentators, incumbents, fascists, independents, libertarians, autocrats, Democrats, Republicans, House speakers, Supreme Court justices, former presidents and chief executive officers, to name a few.
Most of them come and...
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Our bodies sometimes serve as the symbolic ground where order and disorder fight for supremacy,” writes storyteller Caroline Kettlewell. Here’s good news, Aries: For you, order will triumph over disorder in the coming weeks. In part through your willpower and in part through life’s grace, you will tame the forces of chaos and enjoy a...
One afternoon in the French Alps near Grenoble, an 11-year-old boy named Daniel and his dog Snoop discover the dead body of Daniel’s father, Samuel, lying on the ground at the base of the family chalet. Daniel is blind. His cries bring his mother Sandra to the scene, and eventually the police investigate Samuel’s death as a possible homicide....
Shires aren’t only to be found in J. R. R. Tolkien film adaptations or serving as suffixes appending the names of quaint English villages.
As of early 2022, Marin’s own magical Mt. Tamalpais has a shire of its own: Dharmashire. (Pronounced with a hard “i”.)
Nestled in a historic tract of forest on one of the older trails of Muir Woods—overlooking...
David Mitchell, the retired editor and publisher of the Point Reyes Light, died in his sleep Wednesday, Oct. 25, a month shy of his 80th birthday.
Born Nov. 23, 1943, Mitchell was among a handful of editors of weekly newspapers to win a Pulitzer Prize, in this case, for an exposé of Synanon Incorporated, a Marshall-based drug-rehabilitation program-turned-cult led by...
Black cats are a special kind of companion, a kind that is most famously depicted as being the feline familiar of wizards and witches…which is why Halloween is the perfect time to shed some light on a color of cat that is all too often overshadowed.
Although black cats are adorable, they are also (statistically speaking) the least likely to...
Killers of the Flower Moon is putatively Martin Scorsese’s first Western. As such, it’s a departure from the films that made him famous. There are no car bombs in a Las Vegas parking lot, nor New York mobsters co-opting a temperamental prize fighter. But if the director’s followers are ready to accept Scorsese’s renowned gangster films as an implied...
As the International Catholic “Synod on Synodality” convenes this month, topics discussed are how much power the Church will grant women (not much), marriage for priests (as practiced historically) and will queer people be accepted (the Bible says no).
Apparently, the Good Book says birth control is bad, too (considered a “sin”). I wrote an Open Mic article when human...
Halloween is almost here, and it seems as though no one in the North Bay is holding back when adding to the community’s shared sense of seasonal excitement.
But fall isn’t only about proudly displaying a carved-up pumpkin on the porch or allowing all those fallen leaves to linger long enough to make the lawn look autumnal.
No, fall is all...
Speaker Spin
Kevin McCarthy—who was ousted as House speaker earlier this month—counseled Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan on strategy for his own speakership bid, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation.
Clearly a case for the blind leading the blind through a minefield. McCarthy distinguished himself as the only speaker in history to be thrown out by his own party, and...
