Give Local—Marin’s holiday offerings

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The holiday season has officially arrived, bringing with it a sense of festive cheer that is impossible to deny. 

The days are growing shorter, the nights colder and the community is abuzz with anticipation for the celebrations which fill the last months of the year. 

With the holidays just around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about the gifts you’ll give your loved ones to celebrate the season. And, with holiday shopping on everyone’s minds, now is as good a time as any to call out the capitalistic elephant in the room when it comes to winter holiday spending. Consider spending your hard-earned money within the community and support local artists, makers and business owners in the process by shopping locally for the holidays.

Also keep in mind Small Business Saturday, a relatively new holiday situated conveniently between Black Friday and Cyber Monday which celebrates holiday shopping on a local scale. This national event was first celebrated in 2010 and has since become a large counter-movement to commercial consumerism. Instead of funneling your holiday funds into Amazon, Small Business Saturday encourages people to support the backbone of America: small businesses and the people who run them. 

From bookshops to boutiques to restaurants, Marin is full of unique shopping options for Small Business Saturday. But where are the best places to shop local?

Open Air Artisan Faire and Makers Market 

The Open Air Artisan Faire and Makers Market at the Mill Valley Lumber Yard is held every second Saturday of the month and is set to take place from 11am to 5pm, Nov. 12 and Dec. 10. This open-air craft fair features work from both local and American artisans. Visitors are encouraged to grab a coffee, tea or festive beverage before shopping the day away at the 10-plus makers’ booths and unique retail shops, specially designed to encourage local serving, entrepreneurial and artistic businesses. This market also offers eateries, live music and a safe space to bring children and pets along for local holiday shopping. 

The Open Air Artisan Faire and Makers Market is located at the Mill Valley Lumber Yard at 129 Miller Ave. For more information, call 415-326-5111 or visit their website at millvalleylumberyard.com.

Outdoor Antique French Market

The Outdoor Antique French Market of Marin takes place every second Sunday in San Rafael and will be open from 9am to 3pm, Nov. 13 and Dec. 11. This market allows locals to experience the atmosphere of a French street market without the hassle of traveling all the way to Europe. At the Outdoor Antique Market, attendees can take a festive Sunday stroll through aisles of antiques, collectibles, books, vintage furniture, jewelry, retro décor, vintage shabby chic and much more. Guests can expect to listen to live French music, grab a crêpe and come home with a treasure or two to gift to loved ones this holiday season. 

This market will take place at the Veteran’s Auditorium Parking lot on Civic Center Drive in San Rafael. Admission and parking are free. For more information, visit the website at thefrenchmarketmarin.com.

Downtown San Rafael’s Parade of Lights & Winterwonderland

The Annual Parade of Lights and Winterwonderland on Shop Small Saturday is set to take place in San Rafael from 1 to 5pm, Nov. 26, with a lighted classic car parade at 5:30pm. This one-block event will host a makers’ marketplace, winter costume characters, carolers, food trucks and entertainment for all ages. And, throughout downtown San Rafael, Shop Small Saturday will be celebrated with merchant treats and discounts, a window decorating contest and an elf hunt. 

For more information about the Parade of Lights & Winterwonderland, visit the website at downtownsanrafael.org.

Margaret Todd Holiday Crafts Faire

Novato’s Margaret Todd Holiday Crafts Faire will span across Dec. 2 and 3 in Novato, Friday from 6-9pm and Saturday from 10am-4pm, offering locals a chance to browse over 55 booths with a wide range of holiday crafts and other gift ideas, including jewelry, ceramics, wreaths, ornaments, bath and body products, specialty foods and more. Attendees can pick from the plethora of unique gifts and support local artists at the same time. 

The Holiday Crafts Faire takes place at the Margaret Todd Senior Center. Entertainment and food will be available throughout the event, and Santa is expected to make an appearance on Saturday, giving families and friends a chance for a holiday photo-op. 

The Margaret Todd Senior Center is located at 1560 Hill Rd. in Novato.

Artisan Craft Fair & Holiday Market

After a two-year hiatus, the Artisan Craft Fair & Holiday Market is returning to the Point Reyes Station from Dec. 2-4 with festive offerings to celebrate the fair’s 50th anniversary.

Those who attend this event can expect to find fine arts and crafts from favorite local artisans. Festivities will kick off on Dec. 2 with a hearty fare of Straus Organic Eggnog and baked goods by Papermill Creek Children’s Corner. On Dec. 3, the fair will feature Japanese food by a local vendor, Kinoko. 

The Artisan Craft Fair & Holiday Market takes place at The Dance Palace Community Center at 503 B St., Point Reyes Station and will feature handcrafted treasures from local West Marin makers. Email in**@*********ce.org for more information.

If none of these festive holiday markets and faires has the perfect gifts for your loved ones this holiday season, you can always visit locally-owned businesses and buy your gifts from them as well. Marin County is full of local food products such as wines, cheeses, chocolates and more. 

The same can be said for beauty products and luxury bath and body items. And don’t forget local bookstores and cinemas too. The gift of giving is a wonderful thing and, when you shop local and buy your holiday gifts from a business in the community, the impact is much wider than anyone could expect. 

When you shop locally, the money you spend stays within your community, and the carbon footprint of your gift buying is reduced by cutting out the shipping middle-person (plus your gifts are guaranteed to arrive on time if you buy them outright instead of relying on unreliable holiday shipping). Not only are you giving a unique, local gift to a loved one; you are also giving a gift to the local shop—the gift of patronage, support and community.

Shrub Love: Tart and Smart

When I say that shrubs are my new obsession, I’m not talking about the garden variety shrub…

A shrub (of the drinking variety) is a concentrated syrup of sugar, fruit and vinegar that is most often based on apple cider vinegar. These delicious tart little syrups add brightness, sweetness and acidity to cocktails (traditional or non alcoholic) and therefore have become increasingly popular with bartenders. 

In Sonoma County and the North Bay in particular, shrubs have been embraced as a must-have behind the best bars—partially due to the prevalence of apples here. However, there are also a handful of small farms and businesses that make their own apple juice based products and have started crafting their own lines of flavored shrubs. 

Little Apple Treats, for example, a business started by local Sebastopol apple farmers, makes a line of insanely delicious naturally flavored apple cider shrubs with flavors ranging from Blood Orange-Meyer Lemon and Ginger-Hibiscus to Blackberry-Lemonade. Gold Ridge Farms also makes a yummy Gravenstein-Fuji apple cider vinegar shrub, made from their organically farmed apples. 

Griffo Distillery in Petaluma uses flavored apple cider vinegar shrubs from Little Apple Treats in some of their signature cocktails. The distillery also sells a selection of Little Apple Treats shrubs in their shop. Ellen Cavalli at Tilted Shed Cider makes her own shrubs with apple cider vinegar made from apples grown on her farm and serves low alcohol cider shrub spritzers at the cidery’s Windsor tasting room. 

The Fern Bar in Sebastopol makes their own flavored shrubs from local apple cider vinegars and keeps these behind the bar to use in cocktails. While over at The Barlow in Sebastopol, Golden State Cider serves up cider-apple brandy spritzers made with Little Apple Treats shrubs at their taproom, and Spiritworks serves shrub cocktails as well as includes Little Apple Treats shrubs in the cocktail kit that they sell there. 

Try a shrub spritzer or cocktail (though the beverages won’t typically be called shrub spritzers or cocktails on the menu—these spots use shrubs in some of their drinks) at local taprooms or bars including Fern Bar (Sebastopol), Griffo Distillery (Petaluma), Tilted Shed Cider (Windsor), and places that serve nonalcoholic or low ABV cocktails, including cider taprooms and tasting rooms such as Golden State Cider (which serves an apple brandy and shrub cocktail) and Tilted Shed Cider.

Or, mix up a refreshing shrub-ade at home, with this Shrub Refresher recipe from Little Apple Treats.

Shrub Refresher Recipe 

Ingredients:

3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (6-8 lemons)

1/2 cup Little Apple Treats shrub of your choice (I personally LOVE the Ginger Limeade and Hibiscus )

4 cups water

Simple syrup (above)

Extra slices of lemon for the pitcher

Mix the simple syrup, lemon juice, shrub, optional vodka and water together. Stir and taste, adding more lemon juice or shrub if it’s not tart enough for you. Add ice and sliced lemons. Stir one more time and serve.

Culture Crush—Marin Arts & Craft Fair, Emilia Clarke, and More

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Santa Rosa

Holiday Food Drive 

This holiday season, give back to the community with Operation End Hunger. Local veterans, in partnership with the Redwood Empire Food Bank and City Councilmember Natalie Rogers, are hosting this event, in which civilians and veterans alike are invited to collect food donations and bring them to Bridge Church to be distributed to those experiencing food insecurity. “Food drive food is the best quality food we receive because it is hand-picked by our community members for those in need,” said Erika Carstensen, supply chain manager at the Redwood Empire Food Bank. “When food is being donated from your pantry, at one point in time, that food was chosen to feed your family and is now being given to a family in need.” Each military branch will have their own donation bin, to see who collects the most donations. Operation End Hunger is accepting food donations Friday, Nov. 11 from 9am-12pm at Bridge Church, 301 Fulton Rd., Santa Rosa. Visit www.refb.org for a list of most needed foods. 

San Rafael

Marin Arts & Crafts Show 

It’s back! The annual Marin Arts & Crafts Show, inspired by the Arts & Crafts movement of the late 19th century, focuses on handcraft in all forms and is a one-stop-shop for holiday season gifts. It features over 200 artisan exhibits showcasing handcrafted wares, fine art, jewelry, ceramics, woodworks and antiquities, as well as specialty food and chocolate sampling, wine tasting and live music. There’s nothing dull about this gift-purchasing experience. Or, rather than buying something already made, take part in a series of interactive workshops such as plein air painting, decorative painting and mixed media, to bring home a one-of-a-kind gift. This craft show seeks to capture the romance of a bygone era and to showcase the brilliance of our local makers. Attend the Marin Arts & Craft Show Friday, Nov. 4-Sunday, Nov. 6 at the Marin Center Exhibit Hall, 10 Ave. of the Flags, San Rafael. 10am-6pm Friday and Saturday, 10am-5pm on Sunday. Free. www.MarinArtsAndCraftsShow.com 

Sonoma

Raymond Saunders Conversation 

Join Sonoma Valley Museum of Art (SVMA) for Raymond Saunders in Context: A Conversation about Black Artists and Art in America. This lively discussion on their current exhibition of the work of African American artist Raymond Saunders will be led by Cheryl Finley, Ph.D. inaugural director, Atlanta University Center for Art History and Curatorial Studies Collective, and distinguished visiting professor, Spelman College, also in Atlanta. Finley will be joined by Leigh Raiford, Ph.D., professor, African American studies department, University of California, Berkeley; Jacqueline Frances, Ph.D., chair, graduate visual and critical studies program, California College of the Arts, San Francisco; and Bay Area artist Demetri Broxton, senior director of education at Museum of the African Diaspora (MOAD), San Francisco. “Raymond Saunders in Context: A Conversation about Black Artists and Art in America” is Sunday, Nov. 6 at SVMA, 551 Broadway, Sonoma. 2pm. $10 for students, $20 members, $25 non-members. www.svma.org 

Larkspur

The Seagull

Join the Lark Theater for two theatrical cinema presentations of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, 

starring Game of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke, in her West End London debut! The Seagull, written in 1985 by Russian dramatist Chekhov, has been adapted to a modern version by Anya Reiss and is produced by the Jamie Lloyd Company. It follows four characters: the famous middlebrow story writer Boris Trigorin, the ingenue Nina (played by Clarke), the fading actress Irina Arkadina, and her son, the symbolist playwright Konstantin Treplev, through their relationships with romantic and artistic conflict. The show is part of The Lark’s National Theatre Live 2022-2023 season. See The Seagull Thursday, Nov. 10 and Sunday, Nov. 12 at the Lark Theater, 549 Magnolia Ave, Larkspur. Thursday 7pm, Sunday 1pm. Tickets $12-30. www.larktheater.net 

—Jane Vick 

Free Will Astrology

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ARIES (March 21-April 19): In the coming weeks, I encourage you to work as hard as you have ever worked. Work smart, too. Work with flair and aplomb and relish. You now have a surprisingly fertile opportunity to reinvent how you do your work and how you feel about your work. To take maximum advantage of this potential breakthrough, you should inspire yourself to give more of your heart and soul to your work than you have previously imagined possible. (PS: By “work,” I mean your job and any crucial activity that is both challenging and rewarding.)

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Here’s my weird suggestion, Taurus. Just for now, only for a week or two, experiment with dreaming about what you want but can’t have. And just for now, only for a week or two, go in pursuit of what you want but can’t have. I predict that these exercises in quixotic futility will generate an unexpected benefit. They will motivate you to dream true and strong and deep about what you do want and can have. They will intensify and focus you to pursue what you do want and can have. 

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Your most successful times in life usually come when all your various selves are involved. During these interludes, none of them is neglected or shunted to the outskirts. In my astrological opinion, you will be wise to ensure this scenario is in full play during the coming weeks. In fact, I recommend you throw a big Unity Party and invite all your various sub-personalities to come as they are. Have outrageous fun acting out the festivities. Set out a placemat and nametag on a table for each participant. Move around from seat to seat and speak from the heart on behalf of each one. Later, discuss a project you could all participate in creating.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): A Cancerian reader named Joost Joring explained to me how he cultivates the art of being the best Cancerian he can be. He said, “I shape my psyche into a fortress, and I make people feel privileged when they are allowed inside. If I must sometimes instruct my allies to stay outside for a while, to camp out by the drawbridge as I work out my problems, I make sure they know they can still love me—and that I still love them.” I appreciate Joost’s perspective. As a Cancerian myself, I can attest to its value. But I will also note that in the coming weeks, you will reap some nice benefits from having less of a fortress mentality. In my astrological opinion, it’s PARTY TIME!

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Leo poet Antonio Machado wrote, “I thought my fire was out, and I stirred the ashes. I burnt my fingers.” I’m telling you this so you won’t make the same mistake, Leo. Your energy may be a bit less radiant and fervent than usual right now, but that’s only because you’re in a recharging phase. Your deep reserves of fertility and power are regenerating. That’s a good thing! Don’t make the error of thinking it’s a sign of reduced vitality. Don’t overreact with a flurry of worry.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo author Siegfried Sassoon became renowned for the poetry he wrote about being a soldier in World War I. Having witnessed carnage firsthand, he became adept at focusing on what was truly important. “As long as I can go on living a rich inner life,” he wrote, “I have no cause for complaint, and I welcome anything which helps me to simplify my life, which seems to be more and more a process of eliminating inessentials!” I suggest we make Sassoon your inspirational role model for the next three weeks. What inessentials can you eliminate? What could you do to enhance your appreciation for all the everyday miracles that life offers you?

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): You Libras have a talent that I consider a superpower: You can remove yourself from the heart of the chaos and deliver astute insights about how to tame the chaos. I like that about you. I have personally benefited from it on numerous occasions. But for the next few weeks, I will ask you to try something different. I’ll encourage you to put an emphasis on practical action, however imperfect it might be, more than on in-depth analysis. This moment in the history of your universe requires a commitment to getting things done, even if they’re untidy and incomplete. Here’s your motto: “I improvise compromises in the midst of the interesting mess.”

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “Fear is the raw material from which courage is manufactured,” said author Martha Beck. “Without it, we wouldn’t even know what it means to be brave.” I love that quote—and I especially love it as a guiding meditation for you Scorpios right now. We usually think of fear as an unambiguously bad thing, a drain of our precious life force. But I suspect that for you, it will turn out to be useful in the coming days. You’re going to find a way to transmute fear into boldness, bravery and even badassery.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): For decades, the Canadian city of Sudbury hosted a robust mining industry. Deposits of nickel sulfide ore spawned a booming business. But these riches also brought terrible pollution. Sudbury’s native vegetation was devastated. The land was stained with foul air produced by the smelting process. An effort to re-green the area began in the 1970s. Today, the air is among the cleanest in the province of Ontario. In the spirit of this transformation, I invite you to embark on a personal reclamation project. Now is a favorable time to detoxify and purify any parts of your life that have been spoiled or sullied.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The literal meaning of the ancient Greek word aigílips is “devoid of goats.” It refers to a place on the Earth that is so high and steep that not even sure-footed goats can climb it. There aren’t many of those places. Similarly, there are very few metaphorical peaks that a determined Capricorn can’t reach. One of your specialties is the power to master seemingly improbable and impassable heights. But here’s an unexpected twist in your destiny: In the coming months, your forte will be a talent for going very far down and in. Your agility at ascending, for a change, will be useful in descending—for exploring the depths. Now is a good time to get started!

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Evolved Aquarians are often blessed with unprecedented friendships and free-spirited intimacy and innovative alliances. People who align themselves with you may enjoy experimental collaborations they never imagined before engaging with you. They might be surprised at the creative potentials unleashed in them because of their synergy with you. In the coming weeks and months, you will have even more power than usual to generate such liaisons and connections. You might want to make a copy of this horoscope and use it as your calling card or business card.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I surveyed the history of literature to identify authors I consider highly intuitive. Pisces-born Anais Nin was my top choice. She used language with fluidity and lyricism. She lived a colorful, unpredictable life. No one better deserves the title of Intuition Champion. And yet she also had a discerning view of this faculty. She wrote, “I began to understand that there were times when I must question my intuition and separate it from my anxieties or fears. I must think, observe, question, seek facts and not trust blindly to my intuition.” I admire her caution. And I suspect it was one reason her intuition was so potent. Your assignment, Pisces, is to apply her approach to your relationship with your intuition. The coming months will be a time when you can supercharge this key aspect of your intelligence and make it work for you better than it ever has before.

This Week’s Cover: Funk Art

Funk Art has a moment at College of Marin where a 50-year retrospective of the work of artist Pierre Flandreau is underway. Meanwhile, Golden Gate Village residents seek independence from the Marin Housing Authority; editor Daedalus Howell visits The Caprice in Tiburon; and San Rafael educator Bruce Burtch is honored.

Bruce Burtch honored for conceiving unique college

San Rafael resident Bruce Burtch recently returned from a trip to Ohio University in Athens, OH, where he was a special guest at the 50th Anniversary of the Honors Tutorial College.

The Honors Tutorial College (HTC) opened in the fall of 1973 and is the only degree-granting college in the United States based on England’s Oxford/Cambridge tutorial system.

In 1970, Burtch, then an Ohio University undergraduate and member of the Honors College, received an academic scholarship to attend Trinity College, Oxford. Upon his return, Burtch suggested to Dr. Ellery Golos, dean of the Honors College, that the renowned tutorial system at Oxford might work within the academic structure of Ohio University. Golos arranged for Burtch to receive an Ohio University Fellowship Grant, and he returned to England in the fall of 1971 to research the Oxford/Cambridge tutorial system. 

Upon his return to the university, Burtch worked with Golos on introducing the concept of the tutorial system to faculty and administration members. On Dec. 15, 1971, Golos submitted “A proposal for a Tutorial System” to the university’s president. In this proposal, Golos stated, “We are indebted to Bruce Burtch, an Honors College student, for clarifying the structure and workings of the Tutorial System. He has thoroughly investigated the system at Oxford and Cambridge and has suggested adaptations for our use here.” The proposal was accepted, and the college was founded, welcoming its first 32 students in the fall of 1973. 

Today the Honors Tutorial College provides 35 programs of study, has a 1:1 student-to-faculty ratio in a tutorial, and provides an approximately $51,000 four-year scholarship value to each student accepted into the college. With a 94% graduation rate, over 2,000 students have graduated from this college. 

“The Honors Tutorial College started with a simple idea,” Burtch told the Pacific Sun. “Create a one-on-one relationship between a student and a teacher who specializes in the area of interest of that student. Both the student and the teacher receive great benefit from such a committed educational relationship.”

During the anniversary celebration, Donal Skinner, Ph.D., dean of the Honors Tutorial College (HTC), praised Burtch as the “foundational rock upon which this college was founded.” 

Skinner continued, “There is something truly poetic about the power of a student project having an unimaginable impact on the lives of others. Had Bruce not written that project, Ohio University would undoubtedly still have an Honors College, but it would be a rather common garden variety and not this model of education that is the best I have ever seen.” 

“To see HTC 50 years later, I feel so deeply honored to know that I played a role in that,” said Burtch. He retired in 2015, following a career focused on creating cause marketing and cross-sector partnerships for regional and national for-profit and nonprofit organizations. 

Burtch is the author of ‘Win-Win for the Greater Good,’ a guidebook on creating cross-sector partnerships. Currently, Burtch is executive director, pro bono, of San Rafael-based Social Impact Productions.

Funk Art: Artist Pierre Flandreau 50-year retrospective

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Familiar with Funk Art? No? Don’t feel bad. There’s plenty of opportunity to get hip later this month at under-the-radar artist Pierre Flandreau’s retrospective show, at College of Marin. 

For those curious about the movement beforehand, read on. 

Although not what first comes to mind when thinking of UC Davis, a school known for its award-winning wine-making and agricultural programs, on that very same campus in the late ’50s to early ’60s, an art movement was born. Its name? Funk Art. Its nucleus? The Quonset hut, known as Temporary Building 9, or TB 9, which, in 2016 was nationally recognized for its importance in art history by being included on the National Register of Historic Places and the California Register of Historical Resources. 

Key elements of Funk Art are the use and featuring of found and everyday objects;  autobiographical subjects; humor, which is often inappropriate; audience engagement; and the rise of ceramics. 

According to an article by Shelley Esaak on ThoughtCo, “In terms of humor and subject matter, Funk Art’s lineage goes straight back to Dada, while its aspects of collage and assemblage hearken to Pablo Picasso’s and Georges Braque’s Synthetic Cubism.”

Funk’s Davis birth began with the establishing of Davis’ department of art in 1958, with Richard L. Nelson named chair. In 1960, California-based artist Wayne Thiebaud, known for his brightly-colored depictions of everyday items like lipstick tubes, ice cream and paint cans, taught painting classes. Then in ’61, Tio Giambruni, an abstract bronze sculptor, joined the department, and more sculpture and bronze classes were added to the curriculum. 

In 1962, an MFA in art practice was created, and Ruth Horsting moved from the department of home economics to teach a class titled, “The Human Figure in Sculpture.” In the fall of the same year, William T. Wiley, who won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2004 and whose work spanned a range from film to painting to sculpture, began teaching. 

The following year, Tio Giambruni completed the design and construction of a bronze foundry in TB 9, and found object and wood artist John Baxter joined the faculty. The funky stars were aligning. Pieces started being produced that clearly existed within their own genre, including artist Robert Arneson’s first life-size bust, titled Self Portrait of the Artist Losing His Marbles, and artist Bruce Nauman, then a graduate student, inserting himself physically into his work. By 1967, Funk was officially born, and the artists to come out of this time are known as Funk artists. 

Funk, in other words, is a big funking deal, impacting the art world in and around Davis, including faculty at the Marin College art department in general, and teaching artists Pierre Flandreau and Chester Arnold in particular, whose work has a lot of Funk in both its overtones and undertones. 

The artists met in a drawing class in 1970, and became lasting friends, both working San Francisco Chronicle paper routes in order to make time to paint. 

“They created this very real Funk culture through their assiduous teaching of art students at Marin College,” said Gretchen Giles, a former journalist and publicist for Flandreau’s upcoming show. 

Though Arnold has received national representation and recognition, for most of his career Flandreau has been largely uninterested in gallery representation and the business side of the art world. But he’s under the radar no longer. 

Flandreau’s 50 year retrospective, “Time After Time,” tracks the evolution of Flandreau’s style, medium and content, featuring works in bronze sculpture, painting and on paper. Much of this work is brought forth from private and personal collections, tracking his unique experience of life through art. Flandreau’s portraits and still lifes shift into a series of works observing the environmental and material crises of our time, and are full of that Funk-like, satirical tone, which creates just enough humor to make the miserable truths palatable. So another funk artist emerges, and the Marin County pantheon gets ever more interesting. 

‘Time After Time’ opens Nov. 7 at Fine Arts Gallery, College of Marin, 835 College Ave., Kentfield, and runs through Dec. 9. Opening reception Thursday, Nov. 10, 5-7pm. Artist talk with Chester Arnold, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 5pm. Visit www.marin.edu.

Life Is Short(er): Thank Conservatives

By Lawrence S. Wittner 

Although, in recent decades, American conservatives have embraced what they call the “Right to Life,” they have certainly done a poor job of sustaining life in the United States. 

That’s the conclusion that can be drawn from a just-published scientific study, “U.S. state policy contexts and mortality of working-age adults.”

Funded by a grant from the U.S. National Institute on Aging and prepared by a group of U.S. and Canadian researchers, the study found a close relationship, in the period from 1999 to 2019, between the mortality rates of Americans between 20 and 64 years of age and the conservative or liberal control of their state governments. 

Specifically, the study concluded that a state’s liberal policies promoting gun safety, environmental protections, labor rights (e.g., minimum wage and paid leave), progressive taxation and tobacco control lowered mortality rates. By contrast, a state’s conservative policies in these areas increased a state’s death rate. Thus, in 2019, life expectancy in conservative Mississippi stood at 74.4 years; in liberal Hawaii, at 80.9 years. 

The authors estimated that if all states had had a maximum liberal orientation in the public policy areas studied, 171,030 working-age lives would have been saved in 2019 alone. On the other hand, if all states had had a maximum conservative orientation that year, an additional 217,635 working-age deaths would have occurred.

Especially strong associations were found between the absence of gun safety and suicide mortality among men, between the absence of labor rights and alcohol-induced mortality, and between the absence of tobacco taxes and economic taxes and cardiovascular mortality.

The association between conservative governance and rising death rates might also explain why, with the growth of rightwing Republican control of many states, the U.S. mortality rate, long on the wane, has been rising dramatically since 2009.

The result, as the authors of the recent scientific study observe, is that in 2019, Americans―who then had a life expectancy of 78.8 years―died 5.7 years earlier than the Japanese, 3.3 years earlier than Canadians and 2.5 years earlier than the British. In 2020, U.S. life expectancy dropped to 77.0 years. In 2021, it dropped to 76.1 years.

As Americans cast their votes this November, they might want to consider whether these kinds of conservative public policies have served them well in the past and will do so in the future.

Dr. Lawrence Wittner is professor of history emeritus at SUNY/Albany.

‘Sweeney Todd’ is a Cut Above

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Within the last year, we’ve lost Angela Lansbury and Stephen Sondheim, and each passing brought to mind their most successful collaboration—Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Following years of pandemic-induced delays, Napa’s Lucky Penny Productions finally takes a stab at it—through Nov. 6.

After years in exile, Benjamin Barker (Ian Elliot) returns to London, having adopted the moniker of Sweeney Todd. Todd seeks revenge on the villainous Judge Turpin (David Murphy) and his enforcer Beadle Bamford (Sean O’Brien) for the loss of his wife and daughter. He enters into a pact with pie-shop owner Nellie Lovett (Taylor Bartolucci) to facilitate his revenge and provide the pie shop with a steady supply of fresh meat.

Director Staci Arriaga had her hands full with making a very large-scale musical work in the small Lucky Penny space. Priority was given to vocal talent and the show really scores there. The score was flawlessly delivered by musical director Craig Burdette (piano) with Wendy Seres (clarinet), Jay Benson (bassoon), Ruth Wilson (horn) and Ellen Blakey (cello).

Elliot’s strong stage presence matched his fine vocals as the tortured Todd. Lovett is a good role for Bartolucci, but her uneven Cockney accent made some of Sondheim’s lyrics indecipherable. Great supporting work is done by Jeremy Kreamer as rival barber Pirelli and Tuolumne Bunter as his assistant, Tobias. Romantic duties were well-handled both vocally and performance-wise by Ethan Thomas as Anthony and Kirstin Pieschke as Johanna.

While they delivered strong vocal work, there was a decided lack of malevolence in both Murphy’s Turpin and O’Brien’s Bamford. These characters are truly loathsome and need to be played exponentially and less-superficially darker.

While the tonsorial parlor customers’ “exits” were well handled, the placement of actors on audience-area platforms and in aisles led to some awkward sightlines and blocked views. Cast members occasionally towered over audience members. Spreading the musicians across the stage and on multiple levels was an interesting idea.

An ambitious production for this company, its successful elements make this Sweeney Todd a cut above your regular community theater fare.

‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ runs through Nov. 6 at the Lucky Penny Community Arts Center. 1758 Industrial Way, Napa. Thurs, 7pm; Fri–Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. $32–$43. 707.266.6305. luckypennynapa.com

Coming Out Together: Collection of short memoirs on the LGBTQ+ experience

Open Air Press Publishing Company is a publishing company with a purpose. Its mission? To amplify marginalized voices in society with the goal to illuminate, release, transform and progress. 

The company is set to release its first book, Coming Out Together: A Collection of Short Memoirs on the LGBTQ+ Experience, in February or March of 2023. Open Air Press founder Shanon Ronan lives in the Bay Area with her wife and is no stranger to running a local business.

“My wife and I live in San Rafael, so we’re locals,” said Ronan. “We’ve been here for the past 15 years. Prior to starting Open Air Publishing, we actually started a jerky company, Two Chicks Jerky, in this area about nine years ago. It’s LGBTQ+ and woman-owned, and we were happy to bring that dynamic to a more masculine-dominated market.

“Plus, we take part in a giving-back initiative and donate a part of our proceeds to The Looking Out Foundation, which Brandi Carlile and her wife started. Brandi is a big part of the motivation for Coming Out Together, since the idea for the book came from a community of her fans, the people I originally talked to and shared coming-out stories with.”

The idea for Coming Out Together came to Ronan as she was driving out to Red Rocks, CO for a Carlile concert. As Ronan passed through Laramie, WY, her thoughts turned to Matthew Shepard, a well-known figure in the LGBTQ+ community. Shepard, who was once a student at the University of Wyoming, was the victim of an appalling anti-gay hate crime in 1998 in which he was beaten, tortured and left to die.

Upon visiting Shepard’s memorial, Ronan made a silent promise to herself to make his death not in vain and decided to utilize the emotional gravity of his death as a driving purpose to give something back to the LGBTQ+ community. 

“Back to the Brandi Carlile concert,” continued Ronan. “The people I met through Brandi’s fanbase are an incredibly supportive and inclusive tribe. During COVID, we came together as a fanbase we affectionately called the ‘Bramly.’ Everyone in the group had their own coming out stories and, as I was driving back from the Colorado concert, I decided to collect these stories to help other people. Then I realized it would make the most sense to form a publishing company, the point of which would be to help those coming out now, to reassure them and let them know there’s a community waiting on the other side.”

Ronan returned from her trip with a mission: to start her own publishing company and share the coming-out stories of the LGBTQ+ community. Luckily, she also found a local publishing mentor in Lawrence Tjernell, owner of Longship Press.

“I originally set out to teach myself everything I could about publishing,” said Ronan. “In the beginning phases, when I was just back from the concert, I went to a local bookstore and bought a bunch of how-to books about starting a publishing company and, by happy chance, was given the contact info for a mentor who taught me how to run a publishing business.”

Ronan states that the goal of her book is to help make those who have gone through the experience of coming out, or are currently going through it, know that they are not alone—that it can get better or that it might just not be all that bad. Some coming-out stories are hard, some ugly and some good, but all are important. In addition, with every book Open Air Press publishes, they will contribute a percentage of proceeds to the Looking Out Foundation, as well as other relevant non-profits, including the Matthew Shepard Foundation, to help further their important work. 

The Matthew Shepard Foundation’s mission is to amplify the story of Shepard to inspire individuals, organizations and communities to embrace the dignity and equality of all people. Through local, regional and national outreach, they seek to empower individuals to find their voice to create change, and challenge communities to identify and address hate that lives within schools, neighborhoods and homes.

“Right now, we’re in production and have compiled all of these uniquely beautiful stories that people were willing to share with me,” explained Ronan.

Coming Out Together is currently in its final stages of creation. The memoirs are already written and submitted, and the cover art for the book, painted by Ronan’s wife, Breelyn MacDonald, is the finalized design. Ronan is now working on public relations, sending out copies to drive interest and gathering quotes from prominent public figures to gain traction before the book’s release date.

“I had an amazing event happen this weekend,” said Ronan. “Since I’m in the stage where I’m trying to collect quotes, I reached out to Sara Bareilles to use her song, ‘Brave,’ which she wrote as a love letter for a friend who was struggling to come out. I somehow managed to get front-row tickets to her concert, so we made a poster asking Sara in person if we could please use the lyrics in ‘Brave’ in our book of coming-out stories—she saw the poster right as she was about to start singing ‘Brave,’ read it out loud, said yes and let us record her approval. It was mind-blowing.”

Open Air Press believes that there is immense healing and empowerment in its collection of coming-out stories, both for those brave enough to share their own and to those who read them. By shining the light onto these experiences, Open Air Press hopes to contribute to the positive ripple effects of progress. 

“I honestly really hope the book helps heal people,” said Ronan. “From writing out the story and the catharsis that gives to readers gaining first-hand experience by putting themselves in someone else’s shoes to gain empathy. And to let those people going through the experience of coming out now know that they’re not alone and it can get better. I’d be remiss to not acknowledge the people who have been willing to share their stories, and I’m so proud of the bravery people have shown. But also, it’s a personal journey, and it’s okay if you’re not ready yet.”


‘Coming Out Together. A Collection of Short Memoirs on the LGBTQ+ Experience’ is set to hit the shelves early in 2023, just in time for readers to cozy up and read away the last of the cold season. The book features the compelling coming-out stories of 21 contributors. For more information or to pre-order a copy, visit the Open Air Press website at openairpress.com.

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