The quests of many fantasy novels lead to a specific destination. If you’re under four feet tall and travel barefoot, say, chances are you’re going to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Mordor to unload some troublesome jewelry.
Readers of the genre of all sizes (but preferably with shoes) will be happy to know that a new destination awaits: Word Horde Emporium of the Weird & Fantastic, just past Rivendell in the shire known as Petaluma. Proprietor Ross Lockhart, a veteran bookseller and publisher, specializes in weird, horrific, fantastic and speculative fiction for all ages (including a “spooky kids zone”).
The store quickly became a favorite of my 12.5-year-old son, an avid fantasy reader, who recently interviewed Lockhart for a school project. And since I’m not above cribbing notes from my own kid, I’ve poached from his interview for this annual Spring Lit edition.
“I have worked in a lot of bookstores over the years… I had in the back of my mind that I wanted to have my own bookstore,” says Lockhart, who had previously worked for a small press that met its untimely demise in San Francisco, which spurred him into his own publishing venture, under the Word Horde imprint, in 2013. “I was out of a job, so I said, ‘I’m going to publish books.’ And then this past year, just because with the pandemic going on and everything, we decided we were going to take that step and open up a bookstore.”
Suffice it to say, it takes a particular kind of stoutheartedness to open a new business during a pandemic and with specialty products like horror and fantasy books and role-playing games. But the roll of the 20-sided die is paying off as fans, friends and families have embraced the store. Moreover, Lockhart relishes that he gets to “talk about books with people all day.”
On the horizon is a quest for a new space.
“Ideally, I want to find a bigger place,” says Lockhart, who’s on the hunt for more permanent digs (the sands of local real estate tend to shift under the feet of scrappier ventures). His ambition is to create “a good community hub.”
“They call it the third place,” says Lockhart citing the work of urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg. “It’s not your home, it’s not where you go to work, but it’s a place where you can gather and talk and create community.”
The new poetry book from Sixteen Rivers Press, Plagios (Plagiarisms) Volume Two by Mexican poet Ulalume González de León, couldn’t have come at a better time.
During National Poetry Month, emerging from the pandemic, and grappling with war in Ukraine, González de León’s poems are more timely than ever. They discuss the relationship between the living and dead, in addition to her reworked texts, which she called “plagiarisms.”
This volume is the second in a three-volume set of the works of González de León in Spanish and English. The dual language book, wonderful for Spanish and English speakers, is the only English translation of this poet’s body of work.
González de León, born in Uruguay in 1928, studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and the University of Mexico and became a Mexican citizen in 1948. She was part of a movement of women writers whose work experimented with personal identity and language itself.
This second volume, like the first, was translated from Spanish into English by local trio Terry Ehret, Nancy Morales and John Johnson. The first volume in both languages of her work came at the beginning of the pandemic, and this second one comes as we begin to emerge. Notably, the translation process for volume two was almost entirely on Zoom.
Ehret, poet laureate of Sonoma County from 2004 to 2006, says, “Our usual process of bringing our individual translations to a group meeting to hash out a version we could all agree to benefitted from the give and take of an in-person conversation—not to mention good food and glass of wine.”
Fortunately, when the pandemic began, they could meet online.
“Zoom allowed us the opportunity to continue to translate. Still, we experienced the obstacles of working from home within a new medium,” explains Morales. “Defining a work rhythm and how to inform our translation with so many competing factors became real. This project felt simultaneously bright and grim. Bright because we were making art, and grim because it was so charged and uncertain.”
Entirely new worlds emerge when we read writers that communicate in other languages besides English. And the world of González de León is worth the immersion.
Volume two contains work that Diego Alcázar Díaz says, “holds an essential part of Ulalume González de León’s literary project: reworking of texts and themes that at first do not seem poetic, but become so as they are masterfully crafted by that duende which Rosario Castellanos said characterizes Ulalume’s work.”
Duende is a Spanish term meaning a heightened state of emotion manifesting into authentic actions. Ehret describes the challenge and pleasure of translating the work with regard to duende.
“One of the best ways to read these poems is with the original text she was borrowing in hand, just to see the playfulness and duende at work,” says Ehret.
Johnson agrees, “Ulalume’s poetry reminds us over and over that we live in a world of others, among the words of others, and that we are all participants in the act of meaning-making, which is above all a pleasure.”
Purchase the book at Amazon or sixteenrivers.org. An online reading is at 7pm, Tuesday, April 12 (RSVP required at bit.ly/read-plagios) featuring the poetry of González de León read by translators Ehret and Morales, with guest poet-translator William O’Daly.
I call it my grimoire. Bound in navy leather with a silver fleur-de-lis, I didn’t know what I’d use the notebook for when I bought it. But gradually, as if by magic, it began filling itself with crude sketches and metaphysical speculations, as if I were merely the stenographer of a soul seeking to understand itself. And each time I’d arm myself with a sharp pencil and turn to a blank page, I’d get that goosebumpy feeling you get when you’re doing something you’re meant to do.
A grimoire is a book of magic, and I created mine without even realizing it. It was just an empty journal until I jokingly called it a grimoire. Four years later, it actually is one, thereby demonstrating, by way of a paradoxical causality loop, that the only possible origin of a book of magic is magic itself.
From Vegas showmen to Harry Potter, magic continues to cast its spell over a public jaded with the democratized sorcery of technology. But to the ancients, magic was no mere superstition, and instead a very real force in the world, whose chief qualifications were the focused will and evocative imagination of the practitioner. As a spiritual path, magic is not about making objects suddenly materialize, but creating states of mind that go on to manifest changes in material reality. We all exercised this power as children. Our parents told us it was called “make-believe,” and, if we were lucky, they encouraged it. With just a toy or two and a stack of sofa cushions, children can construct a mighty fortress of the imagination, capable of defending itself against the gremlins of boredom.
The troubles that plague us in adulthood are more debilitating, but there’s no reason we can’t employ the same tactic. In fact, creativity—or creative activity—might be the best defense we have against that trio of foes—fear, anger and sadness—that seek to ambush us and inject their spider-venom of anxiety and depression. New data from Gallup’s Life Evaluation Index shows that, in certain key areas, the number of people experiencing stress and worry since the pandemic is four times higher than during the Great Recession of 2008.
When you land in the pit of despondency and it feels like no light can reach you, you need to create your own, kindle an inner fire that can light your way out. Language paints the picture: you need to become enlightened, illuminated and radiant, and you can do this by creating something. Anything. A pot of soup. A fresh state of mind can be brought on by shadow boxing your inner demons, then dancing on their graves to your favorite teenage rock song. Go outside and run wind sprints until you’re out of breath, then see how you feel when you get it back. In other words, you need to throw out all your old assumptions of normalcy and start going a little bit crazy if you want to keep from really going crazy in a world that’s definitely gone crazy.
Peeling away the accumulated layers of your carefully guarded persona, fragile ego and fear of what others think, and getting down to where the raw energies lie, you’ll find a flint of magic built inside you, a gift from the greatest magician of them all. We were created to be creators, to mimic the very act that gave us life. Creation is the first and the highest of acts in the universe, and sets the example for all fruitful endeavors. Creative activity is where all art springs from, is what is really meant by the term magic, and is at the heart of the notion that we create our own reality.
* * *
INSPIRED Creativity—or creative activity—might be the best defense we have against that trio of foes—fear, anger and sadness—that seek to ambush us and inject their spider-venom of anxiety and depression. Photo by Christian Chensvold.
With his wiseman’s beard, flowing robes and adopted title of “sar,” a Hebrew term for prince, Josephin Peladan was one of the more colorful figures in fin-de-siecle France, a milieu already overflowing with flamboyant personalities. A prolific novelist, champion of avant-garde painting and self-styled spiritual guru, Peladan encouraged artists to see themselves as magicians, to not only create works of art, but to re-mould the clay of their own selves according to an ideal.
In the world of letters, fame often comes posthumously, and Peladan’s 1892 non-fiction work “How To Become A Mage,” was recently given its first English translation. “Man has the duty and the ability to create himself a second time,” Peladan declares, writing in the masculine mode typical of his time. In fact, refusing to create ourselves is akin to quitting before the game of life is over, forfeiting our divine gift and surrendering our imagination to the machines that seek to stamp it out.
Every fleeting fancy, recurring dream, supreme ambition and burning desire inside us is a key capable of unlocking its own realization, transforming us and shaping reality in the process. “You must become incapable of pleasure that does not include imagination,” Peladan admonishes. In other words, play like children and magical things will happen. Embarking on this path means renouncing the conventions of the age and foregoing everything that has a deleterious influence. “Are you a someone or are you a social unit?” he asks the reader rhetorically. Society, he says, “is an anonymous corporation providing a life of diminished emotions.” Creating yourself anew “requires that you renounce the collective in order to be born into your personality.”
Drop an iconoclast like Peladan into the 20th century and arm him with laser beams and you’d practically have a Bond villain. In fact, save for the world domination angle, Bond villains provide inspiring examples of defiant creativity when faced with civilization and its discontents.
In 1977’s “The Spy Who Loved Me,” with Roger Moore as 007, villain Karl Stromberg has created a frog-shaped submarine that serves as his mobile lair, with a control room decorated in the high baroque, complete with tapestries that retract to reveal the creatures of the sea. In his meeting with 007, who is posing as a marine biologist, Stromberg confesses to being a recluse who has chosen to live far from society in surroundings suitable to him. When asked if he misses the world, Stromberg replies, “This is the world.” Remove the revenge-on-humanity angle and this eccentric outcast stands for the kind of artist whose medium is life itself. Stromberg has created a world that suits the needs of his soul, and isn’t that what writers do? Writers awaken characters from the bogs of their imagination and give them life, and we become co-conspirators every time we suspend our disbelief and consent to enter their imaginary worlds.
* * *
Since the millennium, many have come to imagine the universe as computer code consisting entirely of ones and zeros.
The ancients conceived the cosmic programming language as language itself, and the world’s creation myths are often based on speech or writing, with gods of language also gods of magic. Thoth (from whom we likely derive the word “thought”) was the scribe of the gods in ancient Egypt, corresponding to Mercury in Greek mythology, the planet that astrologically rules over communication. In the Norse tradition, Wotan, for whom Wednesday is named (Mercredi in French), taught man the language of the runes, used in Viking magic. The ancient text known as the Corpus Hermeticum attributes the creation of the world to the Word, and The Book of John states that “In the beginning was the Word,” further showing how our concepts of language, creation and magic are deeply entwined. But it is Kabbalah that quite literally spells out the formula for bringing anything to fruition in the form of the tetragrammaton, a fancy way of saying “a word with four letters.” The Hebrew letters Yod Heh Vau Heh stand for:
1) an active, masculine principle
2) a receptive, feminine principle
3) the union of the two
4) the fruit of this union
How does it work in practice? We start with you, whose human intelligence represents the active principle. Now find a plot of fertile soil to serve as the receptive principle, and plant seeds. Wait a few months, and you’ve got food. Now let’s apply it to literature. Say you’ve always wanted to be a writer, and have a poem, story or screenplay stashed away in your desk. You dust it off and search for a magazine, writing contest or movie studio receptive to original creations. By way of step three, you take action and submit your work, and in step four, you find they like it and are going to pay you for it. A whole new horizon has just opened up in your life. Yes, the mystery of life is really that simple, which is why it’s so easy to forget. And it’s entirely based on creative activity.
* * *
You’re not just the hapless anti-hero of your own meandering life story. You’re also the author constantly scripting pages on the fly, adapting to changing circumstances favorable and unfavorable, all the while trying to steer yourself to some vague destination you consider happiness. What it will actually look like if you get there, you’re not exactly sure, because if you’ve learned one thing, it’s to always expect the unexpected. Which is precisely how this story came about.
“In the dark night of the soul,” someone clever once said, “it’s always 3am.” Staring at the ceiling in the middle of the night recently, weighed down by the vexations of everyday life, a voice inside told me to go out and confront the darkness, to work through the black thoughts by walking through the moonless night. And as I strolled through the stillness of the neighborhood, sure enough, a little bulb of an idea, hardly bigger than a Christmas-tree light, began to shine on my consciousness.
By the time I came back through the front door, a gestalt shift had occurred. Suddenly everything in my worry-filled home struck me as the result of a conscious creative choice, from the pictures on the wall and piles of books to the thrift-store furniture I’d painted and transformed from shabby to chic. And so a restless night of brooding over matters beyond my control revealed just how much actually was under my control.
We’re always engaged in creative activity; we simply forget it and fail to summon our magic in the trying moments when we need it the most. But this perfect power, if we can understand it and learn to bend it to our will, is a force impervious to all anger, fear and sadness, coming from a higher, purer realm that knows not those tempting demons of negativity.
I opened my grimoire and jotted down my thoughts, realizing that these little insights on the power of creativity might make for an interesting story about a fretful night that finally ended with the rising of the sun, as once again the forces of light and inspiration won victory over darkness.
A homeless man representing himself in federal court scored a hat trick against the city of Sausalito and its highest-ranking officials during three hearings in March.
Phil Deschamps, 35, resides in a tent with his two cats at the city-sanctioned homeless encampment on the Marinship tennis courts. On Feb. 15, Deschamps filed for a temporary restraining order to prevent Sausalito from acting upon their threats to remove his tent and a small structure for his kitties that he set up between the tent and tennis court fence.
Judge Edward Chen ruled repeatedly for Deschamps and his felines over the course of the three hearings, although the city was represented by four different attorneys, including a partner from the international law firm Sheppard Mullin.
The court granted Deschamps permission to use the tent he purchased, rather than a smaller city-issued tent. The city must provide a charging station for the encampment. Deschamps’ possessions, which Sausalito police officers confiscated, must be returned upon his request.
In addition, Chen ordered the city to purchase two large cages of Deschamps’ choice to allow the sibling kitties to have an outdoor space behind the tent. Cat and Early can climb around the tall towers with perches; however, they do not have to live in the cages. The concession for Deschamps is that the structure behind his tent will be three feet high, rather than the six feet he preferred.
It remains a mystery as to why Sausalito fought Deschamps on these issues, especially when Chen sent the parties to mediation twice over the last month. The city, it seems, will soon have many opportunities to determine whether to persist with this uncompromising approach to lawsuits.
Homeless people, representing themselves, have recently filed seven lawsuits in federal court against Sausalito and city officials, according to court records reviewed by the Pacific Sun. And more may follow.
“There are a lot of people with grievances that they want to bring to the court’s attention,” Robbie Powelson, president of the Marin Homeless Union, said in an interview. “If the city wants to be petty, we’ll take it before a judge.”
The judges presiding over these cases in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California seem to find compelling arguments in the lawsuits filed by the homeless people. To date, the court has dismissed only one lawsuit.
The claimants follow templates available from reputable organizations, such as the Justice & Diversity Center of the Bar Association of San Francisco. Without access to computers or printers, some of the lawsuits are submitted handwritten. Others visit the library to type their claims and responses.
The remaining six cases allege a variety of civil rights violations, from the city refusing an injured homeless man access to a bathroom to the city wantonly evicting homeless people from the encampment. Powelson, too, has filed a federal lawsuit against Sausalito.
Haley Allen, who has been homeless since she was 13 years old, filed a lawsuit against Sausalito after her car was impounded and her belongings seized while she was in a local rehabilitation center for unhealthy alcohol use. In addition, the city refused to allow Allen to resume living in the encampment when she returned from rehab.
Judge William Orrick ordered that Allen be given access to the belongings in her vehicle within 24 hours. The other issues raised in the lawsuit are under consideration.
It is not just Sausalito facing the federal court’s scrutiny. Two homeless people in San Rafael have filed civil rights lawsuits against the city and its officials.
“We don’t want to keep fighting,” Powelson said. “People want to live at peace. Everyone is looking for a solution, except the cities.”
It’s difficult to classify Vicki Larson’s new book, “Not Too Old for That,” although the subtitle, “How Women are Changing the Story of Aging,” certainly gives a nudge in the right direction.
Amazon listed the book, just out this week, in three categories: gerontology, women’s sexual health, and customs and traditions. I think the behemoth online book seller got it wrong.
Part memoir, part reference and part self-help, “Not Too Old for That” provides a fact-filled guide to help all women prepare for their golden years. You’re never too young to start, according to Larson.
In the world Larson yearns for, women will learn about finances early in life, beauty won’t be defined by Hollywood and advertising and women of a certain age will remain relevant in society.
Larson, 65, is well-known locally. For more than 17 years, she has worked as a journalist, columnist and lifestyles editor at the Marin Independent Journal. “Not Too Old for That” is Larson’s second book. She co-authored a book on modern marriages, which came out in 2014.
When writing “Not Too Old for That,” Larson says she went down the research rabbit hole. In fact, the book’s bibliography is 32 pages long.
“The more I read and researched, the angrier I got,” Larson said. “Angry about the narratives.”
More specifically, Larson became angered by the false narratives about women and aging, and the lack of studies on older women. When women base decisions on bogus information, it can cause serious harm.
Take sex for instance. Postmenopausal women still enjoy sex, despite the stereotypical story that they become asexual. Larson shares an account in the book of a woman who experienced her first orgasm at age 91.
The newly orgasmic woman isn’t an outlier either. As Larson points out, sexually transmitted infections have significantly increased at retirement homes in recent years. Yet, many doctors fail to ask their senior patients about their sexual activity.
Accepting the aging process is another concern addressed in the book. Women shouldn’t peg their self-worth on physical beauty, which is fleeting. There’s a beauty lesson to be learned from the pandemic, when many women dressed in comfy clothes, let the gray hair take over and chose not to apply makeup.
“Were we unf–kable?” Larson said. “No.”
Perhaps the biggest issue facing aging women, and men, is the turning point the United States will soon reach. In the year 2030, when all the baby boomers will be aged 65 and older, retired people will outnumber children for the first time in history.
Most of the seniors will be women, who tend to live longer than men. And many of those women will be living alone, according to Larson.
Living alone doesn’t scare Larson because her ideal relationship is “living alone together,” a lifestyle which is gaining popularity. Larson, who has been twice married and divorced, has little interest in marrying again, at least not without a prenuptial agreement. Still, she wants to be in a relationship, provided he lives in his home while she lives in hers.
“I’m not against marriage,” Larson said. “There’s a lot of pressure for ‘the ring.’ And there’s more than 1,100 perks from the federal government for married couples.”
Married or single, youngster or senior, Larson hopes her book helps empower women to go out into the world with confidence. Questions at the end of each of the eight chapters encourage women to think about the false narratives they’ve internalized and how they feel about themselves.
“The decisions you’re making right now are going to impact what you’re becoming,” Larson said. “We’re always becoming a different version of our self. I want women to be kind to their future selves. That’s what you’re becoming.”
After a nine-year battle, the revitalization plan developed by the Golden Gate Village Resident Council, and its group of experts, finally received the green light.
The Marin Housing Authority’s seven commissioners voted unanimously at a meeting on March 22 to pursue the resident council’s plan of renovation only for the neglected 61-year-old public housing complex in Marin City.
It is a huge victory for Golden Gate Village residents, who adamantly opposed the Marin Housing Authority’s plan to demolish some of the existing buildings on the 32-acre property and replace them with two new high-rise towers. The housing authority severed ties last year with the private developer that came up with that ill-conceived plan, which would have jeopardized Golden Gate Village’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
There are a few reasons the commissioners, which include all five members of the Marin County Board of Supervisors and two people living in public housing or holding a section 8 voucher, changed course and accepted the resident council’s plan, according to Barbara Bogard, a Golden Gate Village volunteer. As a member of the strategy team that helped shepherd the 175-page plan across the finish line, Bogard has watched the process from the front row for the last five years.
“This never would have happened under Lewis Jordan,” Bogard said, referring to the former Marin Housing Authority director who was a proponent of new construction. Jordan resigned in December.
The resident council plan also largely satisfies the requirements of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which threatened in August to take over or defund the Marin Housing Authority due to repeated “failing or near failing physical scores” at Golden Gate Village.
At HUD’s direction, the housing authority submitted a corrective action plan, which included a timeline for the revitalization. Based on the timeline, the housing authority had until March 31 to choose a preferred plan to remedy the deferred maintenance issues at Golden Gate Village.
Much of the credit for the unanimous vote goes to Marin County Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters, who represents Southern Marin. Moulton-Peters joined the Marin Housing Authority Commission in November and quickly got up to speed on Golden Gate Village residents’ needs and wants for the revitalization project. It was Moulton-Peters’ recommendation of the resident council plan that led other commissioners to also accept it, Bogard said.
“I am proud that we have reached this milestone; there are more [milestones] to go, but centering the residents of Golden Gate Village is the right place to start,” Moulton-Peters wrote in an email to supporters of the resident council plan.
Under the now-endorsed plan, all 300 units at Golden Gate Village will be renovated, with no new construction. The preservation of the historic buildings, grounds and landscaping is another key component. The plan also provides a path for residents to build equity in their homes and receive job training opportunities during the revitalization.
There is still work ahead to implement the plan, but five to six members of the resident council and its strategy team will finally have seats at the table, along with an equal number of representatives from the Marin Housing Authority. This newly-formed committee will oversee further development of the resident council’s plan.
Current obstacles include financing, where residents will stay during the renovations and “overhousing,” the HUD term referring to people who live in units where the number of bedrooms exceeds the size of the family.
“We have plans for all of those hurdles and are happy to bring in our experts,” Bogard said.
The president of the resident council, Royce McLemore, has lived in Golden Gate Village for more than 45 years. McLemore said in an interview that she’s been working on the revitalization plan since 2007. It started as a vision, but as McLemore recruited volunteers, including an architect, attorney, real estate developer, certified public accountant and activists, the resident council’s idea was fleshed out in a viable plan.
“We just kept going through the process, sticking with our plan and repeating it,” McLemore said. “It’s a long time coming, but a real change is on the horizon for Golden Gate Village.”
The score at the end of round two of Kitty Corner v. City of Sausalito: 2-0.
A homeless man, acting as his own attorney in federal court, triumphed again last week when a judge continued the temporary restraining order preventing the City of Sausalito and its highest-ranking officials from forcing the man’s two cats to live in a cage.
The feline fight began more than six weeks ago when Phil Deschamps, 35, built a small structure for the pets behind his tent at the city-sanctioned homeless encampment located on the Marinship tennis courts. The structure extends the tent, providing kittens Cat and Early with more room and a place for a litter box.
After the Sausalito police allegedly threatened to tear down his tent and structure, Deschamps filed for a temporary restraining order. The City of Sausalito, demonstrating a win-at-any-cost attitude, decided to send in the cat’s meow to fight the kitties: international law firm Sheppard Mullin, a 94-year-old legal heavyweight that commanded more than $867 billion in revenue last year.
The first hearing, held via Zoom on March 11, resulted in Judge Edward Chen granting the temporary restraining order, which instructed the City of Sausalito, et al., to keep their paws off Deschamps’ belongings.
The judge also directed the parties to attend mediation. Unfortunately, no agreement was reached during the session, and everyone returned to court on March 24.
During last week’s hearing, Alex Merritt, a partner in Sheppard Mullin, argued that Deschamps’ tent extension is a fire hazard, referring to a declaration by the Southern Marin fire marshal that there must be eight feet between the tennis court fence and all tent platforms.
Chen, swayed by the safety argument, ruled in favor of Sausalito, withdrawing the temporary restraining order.
Deschamps, in a last-ditch effort, ran around the tennis court, showing Chen via mobile phone video that most of the other tent platforms were less than eight feet from the fence.
Merritt accused the campers of moving their wood platforms closer to the fence, though he gave no reason why they would. Deschamps denied it and showed that the entire wheelchair ramp leading to a tent actually abuts the fence.
With his impromptu video demonstrations, Deschamps pulled a victory from the jaws of defeat. Chen reversed his decision and kept the temporary restraining order in effect. The parties were again instructed to attend mediation. If that fails, the next hearing takes place on March 31.
Stay tuned for the outcome of this cat and mouse game, where underdog Deschamps currently has the City of Sausalito and its prestigious law firm chasing their tails.
Good morning, my aesthetic-lovelies! How was everyone’s weekend? Thoughts on the Will Smith Oscar interaction? Never a quiet moment anymore, is there?
I’m back from my stint on the East Coast, and though I miss Brooklyn already, I’m thrilled to report that I have moved into a new apartment in Oakland! The fashion outlets are endless here, and I cannot wait to hunt for new fits. Just walking down the street is enough to start the creative gears turning.
To that end, this week’s Look is exceptionally city-inspired, as I spent a good portion of my trip in the city shopping. But, don’t fear, I neither broke the bank nor compromised my style—I thrifted.
We went to Beacon, Buffalo Exchange, L Train — I found Filas, Dickies and Everlane for reasonable prices and I’m thrilled to say I left with two entirely new outfits for under $40. Good with me.
The thing about thrifting I so love, aside from the clear financial benefit, is the guilt-free feeling when purchasing clothing for the sake of fashion. As an aesthetically-oriented person who feels clothing is an artform, and the ultimate mode of personal expression, it’s challenging to buy from big stores, knowing how much waste comes from fast fashion trends. Thrifting is a way to both dress playfully and feel ethically in tune. Thanks for getting me back on track New York.
Now that I’m back in the Bay, I want to keep the thrift energy alive! Here’s a comprehensive list for my Marin and Sonoma County readers. Get into it!
Sonoma County
Salvation Army
Brookwood, Santa Rosa
So many finds! Dresses and bags are especially good here.
Goodwill
4th St, Santa Rosa
Once bought a denim vest here for $4; wore it for almost a decade.
Welfare League Thrift Shop
Railroad Square, Santa Rosa
Amazing vintage selection and the sweetest staff.
Goodwill
Highway 12, Sebastopol
Great finds and right next to The Barlow! Thrift + dinner.
Marin County
Bloom Marin
4th St, San Rafael
Amazingly curated and body positive. Bloom is blooming!
Salvation Army
4th St, San Rafael
Amazing selection of brand name pieces in great condition.
Alphabet Soup Thrift Stores
Western Ave., Petaluma
Great jewelry and accessory selection. A must visit!
Thrift for the planet and the budget. As Macklemore once said, “This is f**cking awesome.”
Looking phenomenal, everyone.
Love,
Jane
Jane Vick is an artist and writer currently based in Oakland, California. She splits her time between Europe, New York and New Mexico. View her work and contact her at janevick.com.
Welcome to Almost, Maine. You won’t find it on a map, as its citizens were never organized enough to get it declared an official town. The almost-town has a mill, a bar, a snowmobiling club and a couple of dozen residents whose main activity is falling in (or out) of love.
That’s the premise behind John Cariani’s Almost, Maine. It’s a series of short two-handers on the subject of love that run from the whimsical to the bittersweet. Rohnert Park’s Spreckels Performing Arts Center has a production directed by Anderson Templeton running now through April 10.
Each member of an ensemble cast of six (John Browning, Skylar Evans, Serena Elize Flores, Molly Larsen-Shine, Allie Nordby, Brandon Wilson) takes on multiple roles as we meet the various denizens of the frigid burg.
Pete (Evans) and Ginnette (Nordby) attempt to redefine what closeness means to a relationship. Glory (Flores) is camped out on the property of East (Wilson) with the hopes of witnessing the Northern Lights and perhaps mending her broken heart, which she carries in a paper sack. Randy (Browning) and Chad (Wilson) are surprised to find themselves literally falling for each other. Hope (Nordby) arrives at the house of an old beau seeking to rekindle the relationship, but finds a stranger (Evans) living there now. Dave (Wilson) has gifted Rhonda (Larsen-Shine) with a piece of artwork with a hidden meaning. Will she see it?
Cariani doesn’t avoid the painful part of love, but doesn’t lean heavily into it. The play’s best gag comes at the conclusion of the darkest vignette.
Templeton’s cast members have good chemistry and are given ample opportunities to display their versatility. Wilson in particular demonstrates why he is one of the area’s best comedic character actors.
Andrew Patton’s set design (a snow bank, a bench, two door frames) is beautiful in its simplicity. Chris Schloemp’s projections bring the Northern Lights to the North Bay.
Almost, Maine is the theatrical equivalent of comfort food. It’s nothing fancy, but you’ll feel better after a good helping.
‘Almost, Maine’ runs through April 10 at Spreckels Performing Arts Center, 5409 Snyder Lane, Rohnert Park. Thursday–Saturday, 7:30 pm; Sunday, 2 pm; $12–$26. 707.588.3400. Proof of vaccination is not required to attend. Masking is optional. Spreckelsonline.com
The North Bay Sinfonietta takes the stage April 8 at the Santa Rosa Junior College’s Newman Auditorium. This chamber orchestra, which was founded by conductor Cynthia Weichel in 2014, features over 30 amateur, professional and student musicians from Sonoma County. At the upcoming concert, the orchestra’s string section will play pieces including Edward Elgar’s 1909 Elegy, Op. 59, described as wonderful in its unheroic devotional expression of grief; John Rutter’s 1973 Suite for String Orchestra, with each of the four movements named after popular English folk songs; and Giacomo Puccini’s I Crisantemi, written in a single night on Feb. 6, 1890 and dedicated to the memory of Prince Amadeo di Savoia, Duca d’Aosta and the King of Spain. The Sinfonietta plays Friday, April 8, in the Newman Auditorium on the Santa Rosa Junior College campus, 1501 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa. 7:30pm. Suggested donation $10. Classicalsonoma.org/calendar.
Petaluma
Jazz Trio
This Friday, April 1, the Joel Kruzic Trio will bring its brand of smooth and jammable jazz to The Big Easy, the underground nightclub and restaurant in Petaluma’s historic American Alley. The venue offers an inclusive and eclectic vibe, where all are welcome to enjoy music five nights a week, and a full restaurant menu for the dancing-induced hunger. Joel Kruzic is a Sonoma County local who grew up in a musical household. He began playing the guitar at the age of eight, by 14 had started playing the upright bass, and later decided to pursue music as a career, attending the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City. After five years in New York, he relocated to the Bay Area with his inimitable sound. Kruzic’s prodigious, East Coast-influenced tones come through in his technique and rhythm. Friday, April 1, at The Big Easy, 128 American Alley, Petaluma. 7pm. Free. Bigeasypetaluma.com
Calistoga
Napa Valley Beauty
Sofie Contemporary Arts Gallery in Calistoga is pleased to announce the opening of ThePersistence of Beauty, the gallery’s first show of 2022. Curated by gallery director Jan Sofie, the show features a diverse representation of Bay Area artists and is inspired by the sustaining power of grace and simple beauty throughout tumultuous and unpredictable times. Through myriad different mediums and styles, each artist represents resilience and joy through the courageous channel of art. Artists include Will Ashford, Don Bishop, Beka Brayer, Monica Bryant, Arminee Chahbazian, Terry Holleman, Anne Pentland, Todd Pickering, Susan Proehl, Inez Storer, Susan Stover and Jonah Ward. The Persistence of Beauty is on view now through June 12. Sofie Contemporary Arts Gallery, 1407 Lincoln Ave., Calistoga. Open Wednesday through Sunday, from noon to 6pm. Gallery. sofiegallery.com
Novato
MOCA Meltdown
In his latest show, Marin-based artist Bill Russell uses icebergs as a metaphor for global warming’s unfolding effects. Running at Marin MOCA from April 2 through June 5, Russel’s Ice Show is based on his research into climate science and a recent trip to Iceland. The artist intends, through his depiction of melting icebergs in relationship to cultural icons like Noah’s Ark and the Titanic, to create an accessible and informative show on one of the most pressing issues facing humanity. On April 22, Marin MOCA will host a conversation between Russell and art therapist Ariella Cook-Shonkoff, MFT, ATR on the role of art in understanding the climate crisis and the therapeutic benefits of art-making when dealing with climate anxiety. Marin MOCA, 500 Palm Drive, Novato. General admission is free to the public. Marinmoca.org.
The quests of many fantasy novels lead to a specific destination. If you’re under four feet tall and travel barefoot, say, chances are you’re going to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Mordor to unload some troublesome jewelry.
Readers of the genre of all sizes (but preferably with shoes) will be happy to know that a new destination awaits: Word Horde Emporium of the...
The new poetry book from Sixteen Rivers Press, Plagios (Plagiarisms) Volume Two by Mexican poet Ulalume González de León, couldn’t have come at a better time.
During National Poetry Month, emerging from the pandemic, and grappling with war in Ukraine, González de León’s poems are more timely than ever. They discuss the relationship between the living and dead, in addition to her...
I call it my grimoire. Bound in navy leather with a silver fleur-de-lis, I didn’t know what I’d use the notebook for when I bought it. But gradually, as if by magic, it began filling itself with crude sketches and metaphysical speculations, as if I were merely the stenographer of a soul seeking to understand itself. And each time...
A homeless man representing himself in federal court scored a hat trick against the city of Sausalito and its highest-ranking officials during three hearings in March.
Phil Deschamps, 35, resides in a tent with his two cats at the city-sanctioned homeless encampment on the Marinship tennis courts. On Feb. 15, Deschamps filed for a temporary restraining order to prevent Sausalito...
It’s difficult to classify Vicki Larson’s new book, “Not Too Old for That,” although the subtitle, “How Women are Changing the Story of Aging,” certainly gives a nudge in the right direction.
Amazon listed the book, just out this week, in three categories: gerontology, women’s sexual health, and customs and traditions. I think the behemoth online book seller got it...
After a nine-year battle, the revitalization plan developed by the Golden Gate Village Resident Council, and its group of experts, finally received the green light.
The Marin Housing Authority’s seven commissioners voted unanimously at a meeting on March 22 to pursue the resident council’s plan of renovation only for the neglected 61-year-old public housing complex in Marin City.
It is a...
The score at the end of round two of Kitty Corner v. City of Sausalito: 2-0.
A homeless man, acting as his own attorney in federal court, triumphed again last week when a judge continued the temporary restraining order preventing the City of Sausalito and its highest-ranking officials from forcing the man’s two cats to live in a cage.
The feline...
Good morning, my aesthetic-lovelies! How was everyone’s weekend? Thoughts on the Will Smith Oscar interaction? Never a quiet moment anymore, is there?
I’m back from my stint on the East Coast, and though I miss Brooklyn already, I’m thrilled to report that I have moved into a new apartment in Oakland! The fashion outlets are endless here, and I cannot...
Welcome to Almost, Maine. You won’t find it on a map, as its citizens were never organized enough to get it declared an official town. The almost-town has a mill, a bar, a snowmobiling club and a couple of dozen residents whose main activity is falling in (or out) of love.
That’s the premise behind John Cariani’s Almost, Maine. It’s...
Santa Rosa
Sinfonietta Strings
The North Bay Sinfonietta takes the stage April 8 at the Santa Rosa Junior College’s Newman Auditorium. This chamber orchestra, which was founded by conductor Cynthia Weichel in 2014, features over 30 amateur, professional and student musicians from Sonoma County. At the upcoming concert, the orchestra’s string section will play pieces including Edward Elgar’s 1909 Elegy, Op....
