Free Will Astrology, Week of Nov. 30

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Journalist Hadley Freeman interviewed Aries actor William Shatner when he was 90. She was surprised to find that the man who played Star Trek’s Captain Kirk looked 30 years younger than his actual age. “How do you account for your robustness?” she asked him. “I ride a lot of horses, and I’m into the bewilderment of the world,” said Shatner. “I open my heart and head into the curiosity of how things work.” I suggest you adopt Shatner’s approach in the coming weeks, Aries. Be intoxicated with the emotional richness of mysteries and perplexities. Feel the joy of how unknowable and unpredictable everything is. Bask in the blessings of the beautiful and bountiful questions that life sends your way.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Of all the objects on Earth, which is most likely to be carelessly cast away and turned into litter? Cigarette butts, of course. That’s why an Indian entrepreneur named Naman Gupta is such a revolutionary. Thus far, he has recycled and transformed over 300 million butts into mosquito repellent, toys, keyrings and compost, which he and his company have sold for over $1 million. I predict that in the coming weeks, you will have a comparable genius for converting debris and scraps into useful, valuable stuff. You will be skilled at recycling dross. Meditate on how you might accomplish this metaphorically and psychologically.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Tips on how to be the best Gemini you can be in the coming weeks: 1. Think laterally or in spirals rather than straight lines. 2. Gleefully solve problems in your daydreams. 3. Try not to hurt anyone accidentally. Maybe go overboard in being sensitive and kind. 4. Cultivate even more variety than usual in the influences with which you surround yourself. 5. Speak the diplomatic truth to people who truly need to hear it. 6. Make creative use of your mostly hidden side. 7. Never let people figure you out completely.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): In my dream, I gathered with my five favorite astrologers to ruminate on your immediate future. After much discussion, we decided the following advice would be helpful for you in December. 1. Make the most useful and inspirational errors you’ve dared in a long time. 2. Try experiments that teach you interesting lessons, even if they aren’t completely successful. 3. Identify and honor the blessings in every mess.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “All possible feelings do not yet exist,” writes Leo novelist Nicole Krauss in her book, The History of Love. “There are still those that lie beyond our capacity and our imagination. From time to time, when a piece of music no one has ever written, or something else impossible to predict, fathom or yet describe takes place, a new feeling enters the world. And then, for the millionth time in the history of feeling, the heart surges and absorbs the impact.” I suspect that some of these novel moods will soon be welling up in you, Leo. I’m confident your heart will absorb the influx with intelligence and fascination.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo author Jeanette Winterson writes, “I have always tried to make a home for myself, but I have not felt at home in myself. I have worked hard at being the hero of my own life, but every time I checked the register of displaced persons, I was still on it. I didn’t know how to belong. Longing? Yes. Belonging? No.” Let’s unpack Winterson’s complex testimony as it relates to you right now. I think you are closer than ever before to feeling at home in yourself—maybe not perfectly so, but more than in the past. I also suspect you have a greater-than-usual capacity for belonging. That’s why I invite you to be clear about what or whom you want to belong to and what your belonging will feel like. One more thing: You now have extraordinary power to learn more about what it means to be the hero of your own life.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): It’s tempting for you to entertain balanced views about every subject. You might prefer to never come to definitive conclusions about anything, because it’s so much fun basking in the pretty glow of prismatic ambiguity. You LOVE there being five sides to every story. I’m not here to scold you about this predilection. As a person with three Libran planets in my chart, I understand the appeal of considering all options. But I will advise you to take a brief break from this tendency. If you avoid making decisions in the coming weeks, they will be made for you by others. I don’t recommend that. Be proactive.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio poet David Whyte makes the surprising statement that “anger is the deepest form of compassion.” What does he mean? As long as it doesn’t result in violence, he says, “anger is the purest form of care. The internal living flame of anger always illuminates what we belong to, what we wish to protect, and what we are willing to hazard ourselves for.” Invoking Whyte’s definition, I will urge you to savor your anger in the coming days. I will invite you to honor and celebrate your anger, and use it to guide your constructive efforts to fix some problem or ease some hurt. (Read more: tinyurl.com/AngerCompassion.)

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian comedian Margaret Cho dealt with floods of ignorant criticism while growing up. She testifies, “Being called ugly and fat and disgusting from the time I could barely understand what the words meant has scarred me so deep inside that I have learned to hunt, stalk, claim, own and defend my own loveliness.” You may not have ever experienced such extreme forms of disapproval, Sagittarius, but—like all of us—you have on some occasions been berated or undervalued simply for being who you are. The good news is that the coming months will be a favorable time to do what Cho has done: hunt, stalk, claim, own and defend your own loveliness. It’s time to intensify your efforts in this noble project.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The bad news: In 1998, Shon Hopwood was sentenced to 12 years in prison for committing bank robberies. The good news: While incarcerated, he studied law and helped a number of his fellow prisoners win their legal cases—including one heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. After his release, he became a full-fledged lawyer, and is now a professor of law at Georgetown University. Your current trouble isn’t anywhere as severe as Hopwood’s was, Capricorn, but I expect your current kerfuffle could motivate you to accomplish a very fine redemption.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “I stopped going to therapy because I knew my therapist was right, and I wanted to keep being wrong,” writes poet Clementine von Radics. “I wanted to keep my bad habits like charms on a bracelet. I did not want to be brave.” Dear Aquarius, I hope you will do the opposite of her in the coming weeks. You are, I suspect, very near to a major healing. You’re on the verge of at least partially fixing a problem that has plagued you for a while. So please keep calling on whatever help you’ve been receiving. Maybe ask for even more support and inspiration from the influences that have been contributing to your slow, steady progress.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): As you have roused your personal power to defeat your fears in the past, what methods and approaches have worked best for you? Are there brave people who have inspired you? Are there stories and symbols that have taught you useful tricks? I urge you to survey all you have learned about the art of summoning extra courage. In the coming weeks, you will be glad you have this information on which to draw. I don’t mean to imply that your challenges will be scarier or more daunting than usual. My point is that you will have unprecedented opportunities to create vigorous new trends in your life if you are as bold and audacious as you can be.

‘Twisted Christmas’ returns with the Gift of Gauche

Twisted Christmas Live! is back, but not here to stay! 

This much-beloved semi-sort-of-annual Christmas event is hitting the stage for the last time this holiday season and is set to stun the audience with irreverent and humorous holiday tales. The performance list is stacked high with notable Bay Area comedic figures, and there will be no shortage of downright funny people to laugh with (and at) at this year’s Twisted Christmas performance.

The first Twisted Christmas was produced in 2003 by Dan Zastrow, Julia Lander and David Templeton and has since amounted to a grand total of 11 shows over the past 15 years. Among the show’s regular performers was comic legend Will Durst, who suffered a stroke in 2019. To help Durst cover the costs of his ongoing treatment, the producers are bringing Twisted Christmas back one more time as a benefit event.

“Will is a legend,” said Templeton, this year’s Twisted Christmas host and Bay Area journalist/award-winning writer/playwright. “In the ’70s, he was a big part of the San Francisco comedy scene. He’s a political satirist, and his stuff always took a political bent, but he’s very classy, very thoughtful, clever and a well-read comedian. People just adore him and have for a long time. He and his wife, Debi, have done a lot to help other standup comedians. He’s the real deal, and he’s just super duper kind.”

This year’s Twisted Christmas Live! show will include a performance by satirical singer-songwriter Roy Zimmerman, a sprinkling of short Christmas-skewering films and the ceremonial tossing of snowballs (the edible kind) into the audience. This fits in line with past years of Twisted Christmases entertainment, which featured hula hoop dance numbers, singing zombies and much, much more.

“Before the first Twisted Christmas, I said maybe it may be fun to make a fundraiser off of Christmas stories, and Will said we should do it, so we did,” exclaimed Templeton. “That first year, all the stories that were read were things that I had written. Then, over the years, we read hundreds of stories. Now, this year, we’re back to stories only I have written (most of them are new too). 

“I’ve said in the past that [Twisted Christmas] wasn’t going to happen again and it’s happened again, then I’ve said it won’t happen again and it’s happened again. So, on that trend, it may happen again—but only if it’s right.”

Act one begins with Santalicious, a short film by John Harden, followed by introductions, explanations and warnings. Then comes “The Night Before Christmas, Interpreted,” performed by Geoff Bolt and Michael O’Brien. This comedic duo is best known as the hosts of their own unscripted and improvised podcast, O’Brien & Bolt

Diane Amos is next to hit the stage with her performance of “Santastic Voyage,” which will be followed by a musical interlude with Roy Zimmerman, an American satirical singer-songwriter and guitarist, and a special recorded message from Durst. Following the musical interlude and Durst’s message, act one will conclude with a performance from Debi Durst, Will Durst’s wife and longtime Twisted Christmas participant, who will read “Grandma’s Christmas Ham,” a tale of dubious Christmas cannibalism.

Intermission is set to feature an amusing slideshow of photographs of items on store shelves that no one wanted to buy during the Christmas holidays of past years, taken a few days after Christmas. The audience can watch this visual treat and get in a few lighthearted laughs before delving into act two of these twisted tales of Christmas.

Act two of Twisted Christmas opens with a video compilation created by Anderson Templeton entitled “Twisted Moments from Holiday Movies.” This video shows short clips of out-of-context scenes from holiday movies, highlighting the absurdity (and possibly disturbing nature) of a fair few Christmas classics. 

Next in the entertainment lineup for act two is “Mistletoe,” performed by esteemed guest Vincent Van Dahl of Creature Features. Van Dahl is a former front person for a ’90s metal band, Prince of Darkness, who retired from music to pursue a quiet life in Bodega Bay just a few years ago. 

This famous horror persona will be followed by an additional musical interlude with Roy Zimmerman. “Crumbs at Midnight” is the last reading of the evening and will be performed by Johnny Steele, who read this in the very first Twisted Christmas show in 2003. After Steele’s reading is finished, wrap-ups, farewells, apologies and goodnights follow.

Templeton explains his thought process behind the creation of his newest story, “Mistletoe.” 

“The new story I just finished a few days ago is called ‘Mistletoe’ and is set in an alternative version of Victorian England where they celebrate a gourd king and mistletoe has taken over the city of London,” explained Templeton. 

“It’s pretty vicious stuff—as the characters become enamored and kiss, the vines come up, entwine them and drain them of their life. So, there are just children left in these mistletoe orphanages, and the story itself is told from the point of view of a policeman who is explaining to the child what happened. It’s fun, cool and very creepy.”

Each of Templeton’s Twisted Christmas tales features unique, dark storylines, which promise to bend the traditional Christmas spirit into a much darker spiel. For those who are tired of the same old, jolly, happy-ending holiday stories featuring talking reindeer, warm fires with predictably stuffed stockings hanging above and, of course, lovable snowmen who just won’t melt, then this is the Christmas event that just can’t be missed.

Twisted Christmas is always tons of fun to do, and I’ve been in all of them,” exclaimed Debi Durst. “All of the stories are written by David—he’s got a wonderfully twisted mind, and this show is going to be fabulous because we’ve all known most of the people in it for 30-something years. I’ve known Diane since she was 19! I’ve known Johnny Steele since he had hair! It’s just too much fun, and I always love reading a story that David wrote because it’s always so twisted!”
David Templeton’s ‘Twisted Christmas Live! No. 12’ takes place at 7pm, Tuesday, Dec. 6 at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center, 1118 Fourth St., San Rafael. Tickets are $20, and all proceeds support Will Durst (other opportunities to contribute will be available at the show). To buy ‘Twisted Christmas’ tickets, visit rafaelfilm.cafilm.org or purchase them at the door while availability lasts.

‘The River Bride’ is a catch

Folks who like their fairy-tale endings in the “and they lived happily ever after” vein may find themselves challenged by Marisela Treviño Orta’s The River Bride

Part Brazilian folklore and part Brothers Grimm at their grimmest, it’s the tale of two sisters and the men in their lives. Santa Rosa’s 6th Street Playhouse has a production running on their Monroe Stage through Nov. 27.

The playhouse’s small black box stage has been turned into an Amazonian fishing village, where Belmira (Bethany Regan) is about to be married to Duarte (Lorenzo Alviso). Duarte was the childhood sweetheart of Belmira’s older sister, Helena (Lauren DePass), but the passive Helena stepped aside once the assertive Belmira set her sights on him. Belmira sees Duarte as a way out of the village.

Duarte and the sisters’ father, Señor Costa (Daniel Villalva), are out casting their nets for the wedding feast when they discover an unconscious man—fully clothed in a Panama suit and with a bandaged head—entangled in their net. They bring him back to the village, where the sisters and their mother (Jannely Calmell) revive him. He identifies himself as Moises (Terrance Smith) and is immediately taken with Helena. 

After a fast courtship, Moises proposes immediate marriage. As a matter of fact, he must be married by sundown. Helena hesitates just long enough for Belmira to move in. Belmira has found a better way out of the village, or so she thinks.

More a rumination on regret than love, director Marty Pistone has gathered a design team and cast that hit all the right notes in the telling of this melancholy tale. Giulio Caesare Perrone’s nicely evocative set, Luca Catanzaro’s lighting, Pamela Johnson’s costuming, Ben Roots’ sound design and Nate Riebli’s original compositions work in harmony with a terrific ensemble of performers to bring a real sense of otherworldliness to the stage.

Life is a series of hard choices, and a leap of faith is often necessary to make those choices, particularly when it comes to love. Taking the leap can lead to a joyous life. Not taking it can lead to a life of regret. Either way, there are no guarantees. That struggle is the heart of the show, and the entire cast brings that heart to life.

Take a leap of faith and see this show.

‘The River Bride’ runs through Nov. 27 on the Monroe Stage at 6th Street Playhouse, 52 W. 6th St., Santa Rosa. Thurs-Sat., 7:30pm; Sat-Sun, 2pm. $22–$44. 707.523.4185. 6thstreeetplayhouse.com

Vikings Lament Not Being Invited to First Thanksgiving

After discovering definitive proof that Vikings reached the shores of North America 1,000 years ago, anthropologists have since learned that the Nordic explorers felt dissed that they weren’t invited to the first Thanksgiving.

Recently translated Viking ship logs indicate that “no one even tried to reach out, despite the fact that we predate the arrival of Columbus, the Virginia settlement and the pilgrims and their stupid hats.”

Other recently resurfaced documents indicate that the pilgrims allege they did invite the Vikings, but the invite was lost in the mail. The Vikings dispute this since the U.S. postal system would not be invented until 1775.

Scholars suggest the pilgrims excluded the Vikings due to their tendency to drunkenly chant, “We have the need, the need for mead!”

After that, it seems the offended Vikings took their boat and went home. Or did they?

Several genealogists have conjectured that descendants of these Nordic North American explorers may live among us today, and that vestiges of Viking culture may persist in modern form. 

“Take, for example, the recent proliferation of beards among cohorts of young, male-identified hipsters,” observes Dr. Indra Mudavarthi of the Freestone Institute’s department of genetics and gerontology. “When we see this kind of atavistic evolutionary trait—long red, braided beards on man-bun and skinny jean-wearing 20-somethings—we could actually be looking at malnourished Vikings.”

Mudavarthi contends that with proper care and feeding, these so-called “vike-lings” could eventually reach their full final form as full-blown berzerkers. “Thanksgiving, it’s the perfect opportunity to fatten them up,” she says.

“Their vegan diets aren’t good for growing Vikings,” says Murdavarthi, who claims to have raised several Vikings in captivity last summer on a diet consisting of organic reindeer jerky and a variety of locally-made microbrews. “They wouldn’t eat anything else once they were weaned off of plant-based ‘burgers’ and oat milk.”

Fearing arguments about politics, religion and whether or not we can “Make Valhalla Great Again,” members of the eastern seaboard-based Mayflower Supper Club Society, who claim to be descendants of the original pilgrims, expressed reluctance when pressed by Mudavarthi to invite her Viking brood to their annual “first Thanksgiving” re-enactment.

“We might have room at the kiddie table, but then, of course, there are concerns about child welfare,” said the dining society’s president and spokesperson, Todd Aswegan, citing unfounded rumors of alleged cannibalism historically amongst Viking sailors.

She added, grumbling, “You eat one oarsman and everyone thinks cannibalism is like your thing.”

Originally published in the ‘Weekly World News.’

Least We Can Do: Doing more at COP27

By Ingrid Newkirk

In the 1960s, there was a TV show called A Man Called Shenandoah. A man with amnesia would ride into a town in the American West, take on a problem, solve it and then leave. 

The townspeople would thank him, and he would say, “It was the least I could do.” I never understood that. If that was the least he could do, shouldn’t he have tried to do more? 

This month, lots of “Shenandoahs” have arrived in Sharm El Sheikh and will likely do the least they can do to address the climate catastrophe before moving on.

At COP27, some of the worlds’ most powerful people will hear that the oceans are dying and that we have harmed life in the oceans in many ways, including with factory farm run-off, chemical pollution, trawler fishing, ship collisions, plastic waste, deep-sea drilling, untreated sewage, ocean dumping and naval bombing exercises. 

They will be told that we must act now if we are to save ourselves. That’s key: People will think about taking some action because saving humanity is considered a noble goal—but it will be the least they can do. 

Saving the oceans and their inhabitants is certainly about human survival, but it’s about more than that. Often when someone mentions how bad the situation is, a listener will say, “Yes, I’ve stopped using plastic straws!” But isn’t that the least a person can do? It would be so much better to stop eating fish. 

It’s because of fishing that billions of fish are suffering in hideous ways as they’re hauled out of their aquatic environment to die in agony on their way into human stomachs. 

We can use whatever strengths, talents, personal power and freedom we possess to go far beyond the least we can do, to figure out the most we can do and do it.  

Ingrid Newkirk is the founder and president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and author of ‘Animalkind.’

Letters: Week of November 23, 2022

Dead Bird

Let Twitter die, quietly. No more “news” stories about the humiliations, carnage and suffering. There are alternatives in the social media world for all the truly desperate to post their angst. Try Mastodon; go back to MySpace, Reddit, etc. Giving those who are considering remaining on Twitter another reason to leave. No publicity, just an empty dark space where advertisers would place their dollars.

Gary Sciford

Santa Rosa

Say ‘Self-destruct’

Based on the recent midterm elections, top level Democratic National Committee officials are developing a top secret strategy to make Republicans sound stupid in the run-up to the 2024 election. 

It’s called Operation: Just Let Them Talk.

Craig J. Corsini

San Rafael

Inspired by Cows

Very impressive environmental investigative reporting (Don’t Look Down!, Nov. 16). During the 1950s and ’60s, I spent my childhood summers endlessly roaming Point Reyes. Darn those cows then, damn those cows now. Those cows were the inspiration for my participation in the removal of grazing cattle from certain public lands in eastern Oregon. With good science and good lawyers, it can be done.

Kathryn

Via Bohemian.com

Think Small: ‘Take Heart, Take Action’ with Daily Acts

For those of us in Northern California, some days it seems the world is going to hell in an organic, fair trade, artisanally-woven handbasket. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be fixed. 

Here’s a thought: Our accumulated, collective actions are meaningful on both a micro and macro scale. This has been the driving premise of Daily Acts, a holistic education nonprofit that helps enable “transformative actions that create connected, equitable and climate resilient communities.”

The driving force behind Daily Acts since its inception over 20 years ago is Trathen Heckman, who recently collected what he has learned shepherding moments into movements in Take Heart, Take Action: The Transformative Power of Small Acts, Groups and Gardens

Heckman is a charismatic and passionate presence with a mind clearly firing on all cylinders. That said, he deliberately keeps his message human scale. He doesn’t present a single path so much as a process that makes any pathway both imaginable and navigable. It’s this ability that has made him a sought after speaker at such conferences as Bioneers and such a beguiling interview for jaded journos.

What follows is a transcript of a recent conversation (edited for length) that we shared in his Petaluma backyard, atop a sculpted cob bench, surrounded by a living symphony of greenery.

Trathen Heckman: Our core focus is helping people reclaim the power of their daily actions, helping people, groups and communities to unleash the power of community and address the climate crisis and sustainability inequities, all these big issues we’re facing. And you know the problem is if you look at the news, you could just get overwhelmed. There’s just bad news everywhere. And it feels like everything’s so big, it’s beyond our power to influence. And so the core message in Daily Acts and in the book is the transformative power of “small.”

Daedalus Howell: And the power of the individual too.

TH: Yeah, when you find the spot where your heart’s inspiration meets the hurt that you’re called to heal and you’re ineffective to try and do it all, and so you focus on the power of your daily actions. You focus on what is in your circle of influence. And when you focus on the things you can influence that are tied with your inspiration, that are tied with issues you care about, that are tied to your values, you increase your power to affect positive change.

DH: You can actually see the influence you’ve made.

TH: Exactly. And it’s self-regenerative. And then when you find other like hearts and like minds, that’s Margaret Mead’s quote, “Never doubt the ability of a small group of people to change the world. That’s all that it’s ever been,” you start to see. So as much as there’s all these big problems and we can’t solve the problems, we’re faced with individual action. It has to be collective action. It has to be policy change; it has to be bigger systemic change. But the only power any one of us has is our small daily actions. You’re one human, and so that’s all the power you have. But when you combine your passions and interests and concerns tied to a bigger cause and you get with other people in small groups, like small groups could have a massively enormous effect.

DH: And that’s the message of Daily Acts. 

Take Heart Take Action

Take Heart Take Action
BOOK ‘Take Heart, Take Action: The Transformative Power of Small Acts, Groups and Gardens.’

TH: We started out focusing on educating people about sustainability and permaculture gardens. Rather than complaining about what’s going on, we said, “Look, this gray water system helped change city, county and state policy. This is an ecological landscape that’s growing a huge amount of food. It’s harvesting rain, it’s creating habitat, it’s sequestering carbon dioxide emissions out of the air while building healthy soil.” We show the practical, tangible examples.

DH: And you also collect the data, and you go back and you’re able to say to policy makers, “Here are some facts to consider where we are able to manifest this; what if you put some rocket fuel into this,” so to speak.

TH: At scale. We have a friend of ours, he has an award-winning, local sustainability landscape business. He ran the carbon sequestration numbers on the Kavanaugh Center garden we did. That’s the first public food forest we installed 12 years ago. At that time, cities were trying to save a lot of water, but they’re doing it by ripping up lawn and it goes to the landfill. And so you’re literally taking out what it took nature 500 to 1,000 years to grow, and then it can’t be compost because it’s so dense. It goes to the landfill and then it adds to all these greenhouse gas emissions. So like, “No, no, no.” Let’s save water, but let’s address rain as well. Harvest the rain in the landscape; let’s grow food, medicine, habitat, beauty; let’s have community come and get educated and involved.

DH: And the data?

TH: So, he ran the carbon numbers on the difference between that and a normal landscape. And it’s really significant. It’s a lot of carbon savings that’s getting sequestered into food, medicine, habitat, beauty. And so you take that one little landscape—a next number we want to do, we’ve been talking with the city about—well what if we transformed all or even half of the median strips and the small public spaces and the gardens; it’s a big number. One inch of rain on our roof is like 600 gallons of water. An inch of rain on this property is 4,000 gallons of water. An inch of rain on the city of Petaluma, 240 million gallons of water.

DH: That’s incredible. How do you galvanize people into action from there?

TH: We started doing education, showing people what’s possible. Then we started teaching people, “Here’s how you build a cob bench. Here’s how you do a gray water system. Here’s how you do a rainwater system.” And then that morphed into going like, “Okay, well we need to start transforming landscapes with community members.” That’s when we did Kavanaugh Center [in Petaluma], and we partnered to transform the Petaluma City Hall. And then that led into doing all of which is captioned in the book, that led into doing action campaigns and going from one garden to 100s of gardens to tens of thousands of actions in projects.

DH: That’s great, but how do we stay sustained?

TH: It’s so difficult out there. There is “activist burnout.” They’re like, “It’s enough to take care of family and try to figure out my job.” And they kind of don’t want to wade in because it seems so overwhelming. That was a bit of the genesis of writing the book, of sharing our story and our work to help other people, groups and communities do it.

DH: And in a way that’s demonstrative, so readers can replicate a model or at least employ the Daily Acts philosophy in their own way.

TH: And that’s really important too, because it’s not as easy to go, “Oh, just go replicate doing 1,000 gardens like Daily Acts did.” It comes down to like, “Well, what’s our culture and what’s our operating system that enables us to solve problems and come up with solutions the way we do?” …You start small and build. Yeah, you start with yourself. You start with your own garden, then a small public garden, then a bigger one, then a bigger one, then lots of bigger ones.


To support the release of ‘Take Heart, Take Action: The Transformative Power of Small Acts, Groups and Gardens,’ visit crowdfundr.com/takehearttakeaction or visit dailyacts.org.

North Marin Community Services weekly pantry open

Thanksgiving is so close you can almost taste it, which means it’s time to start thinking about not only your plate but the plates of your neighbors as well. A community where everyone’s tables are bountifully (and healthily) set for the holiday season is a community with integrity, compassion and kindness.

North Marin Community Services (NMCS) demonstrates this with its weekly food pantry, open to low-income Novato residents every Tuesday afternoon between 1 and 3pm. Healthy foods are provided to food pantry clients, including produce, dairy, canned and dried foods, as well as a protein.

“Food insecurity is something I’ve seen on the rise, especially in the past year,” said NMCS CEO Cheryl Paddack. “We know that access to healthy food is critical in order for people to succeed, live and work. Our purpose is to see that vulnerable people have access to basic needs. We’ve been able to keep up because of our partnerships and our donors, especially our partnership with the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank. We’ve tripled in size over the past 10 years, and our budget is the highest it’s been in our 50-year history.”

NMCS has a team of eight case managers, all bi-lingual and bi-cultural, and is able to serve over 2,000 individuals (569 households). In the past year, they have given over 14,000 bags to families in need. This amounts to 337,000 pounds of food distributed in the past year at the Novato location, the equivalent of $558,000.

“The holidays, pandemic and inflation are a huge part of why families are feeling so stretched, and just being able to have a resource like this to help those families is so valuable,” said Liliana Palu, community support services manager for NMCS.

“The special part of living in Novato is seeing the collaborative efforts of people coming together to serve those in need,” said Paddack. “Lots of people think of Marin as a wealthy county, but the wealth disparity is growing. Addressing food insecurity and ensuring people have a warm meal over the holidays is really critical, and that’s the role that we want to play, to take away some of those stressors so that people can have those things during this time of uncertainty.”

NMCS’s weekly food pantry is located at 1907 Novato Blvd. in Novato. Those who would like to register for the North Marin Community Services Food Pantry are asked to register online or come during client hours to the Novato Blvd. location. For more information, visit the website at northmarincs.org/food-assistance/weekly-food-pantry.

Autumnal Libations

Hosting a holiday happy hour or dinner party? 

These fall inspired cocktails made with local ingredients are sure to tantalize. 

Pumpkin Bourbon Smash Cocktail 

Who needs a pumpkin spice latte when you can have a pumpkin spiced cocktail? This Pumpkin Bourbon Smash has all of the spiced goodness of pumpkin pie with a whiskey kick and is sure to be a hit as a pre-Thanksgiving meal drink or at any fall gathering. 

Ingredients

  • 2 oz Griffo Distillery Stony Point Whiskey
  • 1 oz pumpkin spice syrup (Sonoma Syrup Company makes one)
  • 1/4 oz lemon juice
  • 4 oz soda water
  • Lemon wedges

Directions

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add pumpkin spice syrup, bourbon and lemon juice for the cocktail. Shake well. Fill rimmed rocks glass with ice. Strain the cocktail into the glass.

Top with soda water. Give the cocktail one final stir and serve.

You can either purchase these ingredients separately to make this cocktail at home or simply buy a Pumpkin Bourbon Smash Cocktail kit from Griffo, which includes everything you need to make 12 cocktails.

Pumpkin Spice White Russian

We think this pumpkin spiced version of a White Russian is so delicious, you might never go back to the original. Alternatively, if you’ve never been a fan of White Russians—this one will change your mind.

Ingredients

  • 1 oz Griffo Distillery cold brew coffee liqueur
  • 1 oz Hanson’s vodka
  • ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice 
  • 2 oz heavy cream
  • Ice cubes
  • Cinnamon sticks, optional for garnish

If you don’t have a pre-blended pumpkin pie spice mix, you can easily make some by blending together 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ½ teaspoon ground cloves and ½ teaspoon allspice.

Directions

Add the coffee liqueur, vodka, pumpkin pie spice, heavy cream and ice cubes to a cocktail shaker. Shake together for 10 seconds. Pour into a low ball or rocks glass over ice. Garnish with a dusting of pumpkin pie spice and a cinnamon stick.

Gravenstein Gimlet 

Originally created for the Gravenstein Apple Fair, this apple-icious twist on a classic gimlet from Spirit Works Distillery incorporates apple jelly, grenadine and lime-coriander bitters with gin and lime. 

Ingredients

  • 1.5 oz Spirit Works Distillery Navy Strength Gin
  • .75 oz lime juice (fresh squeezed is best)
  • .5 oz grenadine
  • 1 heaping teaspoon Fourteen Magpies Gravenstein Apple Jelly
  • 3 dashes Bitter Housewife Lime & Coriander Bitters

Directions

Shake everything with ice, then strain into a coupe glass.

Culture Crush: Week of November 23, 2022

Sebastopol

Jewish Film Festival

Jewish Community Center Sonoma County presents its 27th Annual Jewish Film Festival from 1 to 7pm, Tuesdays, Nov. 29 to Dec. 20, at Sebastopol’s Rialto Cinemas, and streaming online. This year’s lineup features films with several strong, fascinating female characters with effervescent performances from the actresses depicting them. Featuring an international lineup of films as yet unseen in Sonoma County, the program includes selections from France, Netherlands/Germany and the United States. Highlights include a career-crowning performance by French screen legend Françoise Fabian and the poignant genre-defying musical-documentary, A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff, in which the disgraced financier is metaphorically, and musically, “disowned.” A Hanukkah candle lighting will precede the Dec. 20 screenings. Tickets are $15, and $18 at the door, and season passes are $60 (pass holders can choose to watch each film either in-person or at home). For tickets, trailers and a film guide, visit jccsoco.org.

Napa

Terracotta Corridor

An exhibition of 21 clay sculptures, “Terracotta Corridor,” opens in the Napa Valley with an artist talk and reception at the Culinary Institute of America, Copia, followed by a bike tour from 1 to 4 pm, Saturday, Dec. 3. Presented by Rail Arts District (RAD) Napa and Mission Clay Products, the free outdoor exhibition features work by 11 ceramic artists from the Mission Clay Products Arts and Industry residency program. A selection of work from some 400 artists who participated in the program will be showcased in the RAD. On Dec. 3, RAD Napa executive director Shelly Willis will moderate a conversation from 1 to 2pm between participating artist John Toki and Bryan Vansell, the founder and director of the Arts and Industry residency program. The conversation will be immediately followed by a reception and bicycle tour guided by Toki and Chuck McMinn, president of RAD Napa. To sign up and secure a bicycle for the tour, email in**@*ad.org. For more information, visit radnapa.org.

Yountville

2nd Annual Latke Throw Down

Presented by Bardessono Hotel & Spa, the 2nd Annual Latke Throw Down takes place from 5 to 7pm, Thursday, Dec. 15 at the Yountville Community Center, 6516 Washington St. For those in need of a refresher, a latke is a type of potato pancake that is traditionally prepared to celebrate Hanukkah. This year’s Latke Throwdown features an array of local luminaries in competition, including Jim Leiken, executive chef of Bardessono; Shane Soldinger of Silver Trident; Paul Brown, the partner/chef/baker of Paulie’s Bagels and Winston’s Café; and Itamar Abramovitch, Blossom Catering Company. The judges include Stacey Bressler of Bressler Vineyards, Rabbi Niles Goldstein of Congregation Beth Shalom of Napa Valley, Loveski Deli’s chef Christopher Kostow and Yountville community member Ada Press. Judd Finkelstein returns to emcee the event. Tickets are $10, with proceeds benefiting Parents CAN, a non-profit organization that provides parenting support. Reservations are encouraged and can be confirmed by emailing ev****@********no.com (reserved tickets are paid for at the door). 

Sausalito

Winter Open Studios
Returning for its 53rd year, the 2022 Winter Open Studios presents the work of over 100 working artists from a variety of disciplines from 11am to 5pm, Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 3 and 4, in Sausalito’s historic ICB Building, which had its start as a World War II shipbuilding warehouse. The artists who work in the building will be on hand to discuss work on offer, which includes sculpture, abstract and figurative paintings, photographs, fiber arts, jewelry, sound installations and more. This event is located at the ICB Building, 480 Gate Five Rd., Sausalito, and is free and open to the public, though guests are asked to register online at bit.ly/icb-art. For more information, visit www.icbartists.com.

Free Will Astrology, Week of Nov. 30

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Journalist Hadley Freeman interviewed Aries actor William Shatner when he was 90. She was surprised to find that the man who played Star Trek's Captain Kirk looked 30 years younger than his actual age. "How do you account for your robustness?" she asked him. "I ride a lot of horses, and I'm into the bewilderment...

‘Twisted Christmas’ returns with the Gift of Gauche

Twisted Christmas Live! is back, but not here to stay!  This much-beloved semi-sort-of-annual Christmas event is hitting the stage for the last time this holiday season and is set to stun the audience with irreverent and humorous holiday tales. The performance list is stacked high with notable Bay Area comedic figures, and there will be no shortage of downright funny...

‘The River Bride’ is a catch

Folks who like their fairy-tale endings in the “and they lived happily ever after” vein may find themselves challenged by Marisela Treviño Orta’s The River Bride.  Part Brazilian folklore and part Brothers Grimm at their grimmest, it’s the tale of two sisters and the men in their lives. Santa Rosa’s 6th Street Playhouse has a production running on their Monroe...

Vikings Lament Not Being Invited to First Thanksgiving

After discovering definitive proof that Vikings reached the shores of North America 1,000 years ago, anthropologists have since learned that the Nordic explorers felt dissed that they weren't invited to the first Thanksgiving. Recently translated Viking ship logs indicate that “no one even tried to reach out, despite the fact that we predate the arrival of Columbus, the Virginia settlement...

Least We Can Do: Doing more at COP27

By Ingrid Newkirk In the 1960s, there was a TV show called A Man Called Shenandoah. A man with amnesia would ride into a town in the American West, take on a problem, solve it and then leave.  The townspeople would thank him, and he would say, “It was the least I could do.” I never understood that. If that was...

Letters: Week of November 23, 2022

Click to read
Dead Bird Let Twitter die, quietly. No more “news” stories about the humiliations, carnage and suffering. There are alternatives in the social media world for all the truly desperate to post their angst. Try Mastodon; go back to MySpace, Reddit, etc. Giving those who are considering remaining on Twitter another reason to leave. No publicity, just an empty dark space...

Think Small: ‘Take Heart, Take Action’ with Daily Acts

Take Heart Take Action
For those of us in Northern California, some days it seems the world is going to hell in an organic, fair trade, artisanally-woven handbasket. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be fixed.  Here’s a thought: Our accumulated, collective actions are meaningful on both a micro and macro scale. This has been the driving premise of Daily Acts, a holistic education...

North Marin Community Services weekly pantry open

Thanksgiving is so close you can almost taste it, which means it’s time to start thinking about not only your plate but the plates of your neighbors as well. A community where everyone’s tables are bountifully (and healthily) set for the holiday season is a community with integrity, compassion and kindness. North Marin Community Services (NMCS) demonstrates this with its...

Autumnal Libations

Hosting a holiday happy hour or dinner party?  These fall inspired cocktails made with local ingredients are sure to tantalize.  Pumpkin Bourbon Smash Cocktail  Who needs a pumpkin spice latte when you can have a pumpkin spiced cocktail? This Pumpkin Bourbon Smash has all of the spiced goodness of pumpkin pie with a whiskey kick and is sure to be a hit...

Culture Crush: Week of November 23, 2022

Sebastopol Jewish Film Festival Jewish Community Center Sonoma County presents its 27th Annual Jewish Film Festival from 1 to 7pm, Tuesdays, Nov. 29 to Dec. 20, at Sebastopol’s Rialto Cinemas, and streaming online. This year’s lineup features films with several strong, fascinating female characters with effervescent performances from the actresses depicting them. Featuring an international lineup of films as yet unseen...
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