Nearly twice as many people are living in vehicles in Marin County since the last count two years ago, county health officials said.
The count found 486 people living in 381 cars and recreational vehicles, an increase of 91% since the 2019 tally, reversing a decrease seen between 2017 and 2019.
The county conducted the count—performed each January in odd-numbered years—a bit differently this year to protect workers conducting the count during the Covid-19 pandemic. This year’s count was of cars, rather than people.
Outreach teams and police patrols conducted a visual, no-contact count on one night using a process that kept vehicles from being counted twice. For vehicles where the number of people inside wasn’t evident, a multiplier based on average vehicle occupancy was used.
County officials do not believe that the vehicle count represents a doubling of the homeless population in Marin County, and note that the rate of housing placements in the county system has increased 46% since the pandemic began.
Last year, the Santa Rosa Symphony–the resident orchestra of the Green Music Center–changed it’s production model in the face of a pandemic with the online presentation of its ‘SRS @ Home’ virtual concert series.
The decision to move performances online and to make the concerts free of charge proved to be a success, as the symphony’s inaugural virtual presentation exceeded expectations and drew nearly 3,000 unique viewers when it premiered in October. Later online concerts averaged more than 5,000 viewers who tuned in from 22 states and three countries.
Now, the Santa Rosa Symphony debuts on television for the first time in its 93-year history. Beginning on April 18, Northern California Public Media will televise three of the ‘SRS @ Home’ virtual concerts on Public Broadcasting Service channel KRCB and non-PBS channel KPJK on select dates through June.
Through the partnership of the symphony and NorCal Public Media, these concerts– entitled Santa Rosa Symphony Presents–will reach 2.8 million households across nine Bay Area counties.
“In a season of firsts that we never would have imagined before the pandemic, the Symphony is, once again, stretching and growing rather than closing its doors, as so many other orchestras have had to do,” Symphony President and CEO Alan Silow says in a statement. “This is the first time, in our 93-year history, that we have televised a concert. The Symphony has enjoyed a long-standing relationship with NorCal Public Media over the years. We are very grateful for their similar commitment to delivering arts to the community, which allows us to expand our reach to the greater Bay Area and also into underserved communities.”
All three upcoming Santa Rosa Symphony Presents concerts are conducted by SRS Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong and all were recorded at the Green Music Center’s Weill Hall on the campus of Sonoma State University. Each concert includes a guest artist performing with the socially-distant orchestra on stage for a work composed by SRS Artistic Partner Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, the first woman to receive a Pulitzer Prize in Music.
The first of the three Santa Rosa Symphony Presents concerts airs on April 18 and 19, and features critically acclaimed, Grammy Award-winning cellist Zuill Bailey performing Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Zwilich’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra. The program also includes Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, Jessie Montgomery’s Starburst for String Orchestra, Charles Ives’ The Unanswered Question for Chamber Orchestra and Johannes Brahms’ Serenade No. 2 in A major for Orchestra.
KRCB broadcasts Santa Rosa Symphony Presents on Sundays at 8pm on April 18, May 30 and June 20. KPJK broadcasts the same concerts on Mondays at 7:30pm on April 19, May 31 and June 21.
KRCB broadcasts over the air in Sonoma, Napa, Marin, San Francisco, Alameda, Solano, Contra Costa and the southern tip of Mendocino and Lake counties. KPJK’s over-the-air coverage reaches the south parts of Sonoma, Napa and Solano; all of Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties.
“We treasure our partnership with the Santa Rosa Symphony,” Darren LaShelle, NorCal Public Media President and CEO says in a statement. “This series on KRCB TV and KPJK TV extends the reach and the impact of the SRS into homes all throughout our region. Having this exciting new series on our air is a perfect fit for our mission as the Bay Area’s trusted, independent and essential public media broadcaster.”
Marin Weed Watch Entrepreneur Barry Cohen is ‘almost never on time.’
By Jonah Raskin
When I think about time, I think of the Chambers Brothers hit, “Time Has Come Today.” It sounded psychedelic in the ’60s. It still does. Now, when I think of time, I also think of my 420Waldos watch that features a marijuana leaf on the face, another leaf on the back and two more leaves on the straps.
The timepieces are named after a legendary group of Marin County stoners who gathered religiously at 4:20pm at a wall outside San Rafael High. Now, April 20 is the day when marijuana users get stoned from San Rafael and Santa Cruz to outer space, which might be in your own head.
My 420Waldos watch provides a cool way to break the ice and start a conversation about marijuana, the Chambers Brothers and Marcel Proust, the French author of In Search of Lost Time.
Barry Cohen, the man behind the Waldos, tells me, “Irony of ironies, after 30-plus years in the watch industry, I’m almost never on time.”
An ex-New Yorker, with an office in Corte Madera, Barry founded Luminox decades ago, and manufactured watches for police departments and the military, including the Navy Seals. Naturally, consumers wanted those same timepieces. Four years ago, Barry sold his company. More recently, he decided to give back to the community and help his favorite causes. “I know how to make watches,” he tells me. “I also believe that marijuana should not be criminalized.”
A percentage of the profits from the sale of the 420Waldos goes to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), an organization truly deserving of support. Barry tells me, “The time is now for the feds to legalize medical cannabis.”
Over the course of the last year, Barry sold about 1,000 cannabis watches. Not as many as he would have liked to sell. “If Seth Rogen or Snoop Dogg said ‘check out these watches,’ I’m sure we’d sell a lot more than we have so far,” he says.
Part of the problem might be that nowadays most of us consult our phones for the time, though the Bohemian editor has a real wristwatch.
Thorstein Veblen, who wrote The Theory of the Leisure Class, might call the 420Waldos an example of “conspicuous consumption.”
My pal Gus Reichbach would say, “If you have it, flaunt it.” A lawyer, a judge and a pothead, he flaunted his boho lifestyle that included Cuban cigars, silk scarves and elegant suits. I remember getting stoned with him in 1967 and listening to the Chambers Brothers “Time Has Come Today.”
An advocate for legal weed, Gus would surely want a 420Waldos, on sale now for under $100. (420waldos.com/shop/) As Judge Reichbach would say, “That’s a steal.”
Jonah Raskin is the author of “Marijuanaland: Dispatches from an American War.”
A series of tragic events culminated in the deployment of Marin County’s version of SWAT, a four-hour standoff, two destroyed boats, a fire and a dead dog earlier this month.
On April 2, the anchor-out community living in Richardson Bay watched helplessly as one of their own, Paul Ray Smith Jr., 53, was bombarded by flash-bangs, bean bag rounds and tear gas before being extricated from a boat and arrested by Marin County Sheriff’s deputies. A few moments later, the boat’s cabin was engulfed in flames.Smith’s dog died as firemen from the Southern Marin Fire Department looked on, a bystander’s video of the event shows.
It all began in the name of confiscating and crushing boats anchored-out in Richardson Bay. The policy is part of the controversial Transition Plan adopted by the Richardson Bay Regional Authority (RBRA) in June 2020, which aims to rid the anchorage of the 97 boats currently anchored offshore.
“It clearly says in the Transition Plan to work the number of liveaboards down to zero,” RBRA Harbormaster Curtis Havel said.
Caught in the middle of the RBRA’s mission, Smith was involved in two recent incidents that resulted in warrants for his arrest. In hindsight, the debacles seem avoidable.
Smith, who believes he’s a high-ranking army officer and the owner of a million-dollar steamship company, lived on his boat in Richardson Bay with Runt, his constant canine companion.
On March 17, Havel seized Smith’s boat, Warlock, and began towing it to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ boatyard in Sausalito, where the confiscated boats are typically crushed.
“Paul wasn’t on his boat at the time, but he saw Curtis towing it,” Michael Ortega, a fellow anchor out, said. “He jumped in his skiff and took off after Curtis to tell him it’s his only boat. Paul shot a flare gun for help.”
The Marin County Sheriff’s Office version is a bit different. Smith fired the flare at Havel, but missed him and his boat, according to Sergeant Brenton Schneider.
Later in the day, Smith, accompanied by activist Robbie Powelson, visited the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers boatyard to ask if he could retrieve his personal property from Warlock. The RBRA denied his request.
“There was no compassion for Paul,” Powelson said. “They destroyed everything he had. Wouldn’t let him get a damn thing off his boat.”
Havel wouldn’t comment about the specific incident, citing an ongoing investigation; however, he said, prior to a seizure, he posts a notice on the boat stating it is slated for disposal in 10 days.
“We leave the boat alone for 10 days,” Havel said. “I usually wait more than 10 days. That’s the time for them to move the boat or remove their possessions.”
After Smith’s boat was seized, he moved onto Ortega’s boat, Projectile, which is also anchored-out on Richardson Bay. On March 23 at about 8am, deputies arrived at the boat to question Smith about the flare gun incident.
“When deputies boarded the vessel in an attempt to interview Smith, he was argumentative and retreated into the cabin of the vessel,” Schneider said. “Smith returned with a pistol in his hand.”
Deputies pulled their guns on Smith and ordered him to drop his weapon. Instead, he went back into the boat’s cabin and allegedly pointed the gun out of a window toward the deputies and their patrol boat.
Again, there is another side of the story. Ortega maintains Smith was attempting to show law enforcement he had a flare gun, not a pistol.
Either way, deputies left the area. They tried to contact Smith for a week to interview him about the March 17 incident, even watching to see if Smith came ashore, Schneider said. He didn’t. Finally, search and arrest warrants were obtained.
On the afternoon of April 2, law enforcement made their move, which many say resulted in an excessive show of force. The Marin County Sheriff’s Special Response Team (SRT) was staged at the Clipper Yacht Harbor parking lot in Sausalito, with numerous deputies, a large communications truck, an SRT equipment trailer and a collection of sheriff’s vehicles. Novato Police Department arrived on the scene with a canine unit. On Richardson Bay, the U.S. Coast Guard, Sausalito Police Department and Southern Marin Fire District assisted the sheriff’s team.
Negotiators contacted Smith by phone and asked him to surrender. He rambled, said he had a bullet proof vest and refused to give up, Schneider said.
Smith remained anchored-out on Projectile with his dog and kept law enforcement at bay for four hours. The SRT used flash-bangs, bean bag rounds and tear gas to distract him, but he held his ground. When deputies boarded the boat, he attempted to stab them with several long, pointed instruments, according to Schneider.
Law enforcement finally towed the boat to a dock at Clipper Yacht Harbor, removed the top of the cabin with a chainsaw and tased Smith. He was then removed from the vessel and arrested.
Shortly after he was taken into custody, the boat caught on fire. Though a fireboat was nearby, the firemen delayed putting out the fire for more than 18 minutes, a bystander’s video shows. When it was finally extinguished, Smith’s dog was found dead on the boat. Schneider said he does not know the cause of the fire.
“Paul didn’t want to go to jail,” Ortega said. “He was afraid of going to jail and not being able to take care of his dog.”
Unfortunately, that’s exactly where he ended up. Smith was booked into the Marin County Jail on 10 charges, including exhibiting a firearm in the presence of a peace officer, committing an assault with a firearm and committing an assault with a deadly weapon or instrument on a peace officer. He is being held on $305,000 bail.
As if the raid wasn’t enough, two other incidents involving law enforcement occurred on the anchorage recently. Both started with the RBRA towing a boat, and both ended with arrests.
Another anchor-out on Richardson Bay, Timothy Logan, heard Smith yelling for help on March 17 when Havel was towing his boat, according to Ortega. Logan, 42, tried to wave down Havel to speak with him. Either Havel didn’t see him or chose not to respond, which prompted Logan to maneuver his skiff in front of the harbormaster’s boat to get his attention. Havel continued straight ahead and the boats collided.
Two different stories emerge from this point.
Logan contacted the Marin County Sheriff’s Office to file a complaint against Havel for pinning his skiff against the much larger RBRA boat, according to Powelson. On March 22, a deputy called him back and lured him to the Marin City substation with the assurance they would take a report and arrest Havel. Logan gave his statement the following day.
That’s not exactly the way it happened, says the Marin County Sheriff’s Office.
“Logan agreed to come to the Marin County Sheriff’s Office Southern Marin Substation to provide his side of the story, as we were already investigating the incident,” Schneider said in an email.
Whatever led to Logan visiting the substation, after speaking with deputies, he was arrested and booked into Marin County Jail on charges, including delaying or obstructing a public officer and using a vessel in a reckless manner. His case is now working its way through the court.
Two days after Logan’s arrest, Powelson, 26, was arrested for trespassing when he refused to leave another boat Havel towed off the anchorage.
Diane Moyer, 75, an artist who lived on a houseboat anchored-out in Richardson Bay, died on March 22. Havel towed her boat to the Army Corps of Engineers two days after her death.
On March 25, the houseboat was found anchored in the water next to the Sausalito homeless encampment located near Dunphy Park. Powelson said whoever moved the boat was likely fearful it would be crushed with Moyer’s paintings and other personal property still on board.
People were on the boat engaged in a service honoring Moyer when the Sausalito Police Department arrived, Powelson said. They ordered everyone off the boat.
Powelson refused to disembark and was arrested for trespassing.
All the incidents are the result of the RBRA’s transition plan, which was implemented to fulfill the mandate of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), a state agency. The BCDC has directed the RBRA to enforce the applicable law stating that vessels in Richardson Bay may idle only for 72 hours, unless granted permission to stay longer.
In other words, the BCDC wants the anchor-outs removed from Richardson Bay, and the RBRA is its enforcer. It points to environmental reasons as one basis for the policy.
To meet the BCDC’s demands, the RBRA is forced to displace people from their only homes. Although social workers assigned to the anchorage try to find alternative housing for the anchor-outs, their work is impeded by Marin’s shortage of affordable housing. Unfortunately, the wait list is long, leaving displaced mariners to live in homeless encampments on shore.
The recent revelations about Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli are the tip of a dirty and wretched iceberg that is long overdue to be destroyed.
Sonoma County has never had its “Me Too” reckoning. Let this finally be the moment. This county has a deep history of sexual assault, rape and torture of womxn, beginning with the widespread enslavement of California native people, and the enslaved Black people forcibly brought here by the Southern slave holders from Missouri and elsewhere who “founded” this county.
While these atrocities are not unique to Sonoma County, the crushing plantation system and “good ol boy” white supremacist power structure has allowed generations of rape to continue without consequence, along with the acquiescence of white women who uphold this patriarchy, oppression and sexual violence.
Members of the Pomo, Black, API and Latinx communities have shared stories of rape and sexual assault by law enforcement, sustained in a cycle of generational trauma by their mothers and grandmothers. There is a complete erasure of information on the rape and sexual assault of Mexican, Mam, Triqui, Mixteco and Central American womxn working in the vineyards.
There are stories shared among womxn in whispers, warning of certain vineyard owners with a penchant for rape. Stories and unsolved mysteries spoken in hushed tones about the activities at the Bohemian Grove, and the complicity of law enforcement and elected officials.
Nasty tidbits about oppressive structures like the Sonoma County Alliance, the Farm Bureau, and the dirty intersection with elected officials, through money, influence and power. Dominic Foppoli’s “defiance” and refusal to step down is a reflection of the entitlement and privilege he enjoys as a white, cisgender, heterosexual, conservative male in Sonoma County.
It is a reflection of the absolute lack of accountability for white men, the bloated hubris of those whose wealth comes from exploited labor, and think nothing of the conquest and destruction of their economic fiefdoms. Sonoma City council member David Cook also refused to step down after he was arrested for the sexual assault of a child, instead letting his term expire. Social media was awash with apologists and business continued as usual with his vineyard management company.
Large numbers of undocumented womxn work in hotels, restaurants, vineyards, as domestic servants, and the men who control their pay and personal safety know they will not report sexual assault for fear of exposure.
I decry the rape and abuse of the womxn who came forward to bravely tell their stories. I also want to state that there are many womxn whose stories have never been heard, and who can not come forward because their survival depends on their silence.
To the white power structure, who made deals, clinked wine glasses and enjoyed political and economic privilege and power with Dominic Foppoli and all the other rapists in Sonoma County yet to be revealed: You are all Guilty. Your pearl-clutching statements of shock and disgust are performative and offensive to survivors.
Let this house of cards fall. Let all the names be revealed. Let all the survivors come forward. Let’s make rapists afraid again.
D’mitra Smith is the former chair of the Sonoma County Commission on Human Rights. To have your topical essay considered for publication, write to us at op*****@********un.com.
Yesterday I witnessed an act of compassion that lifted my heart and renewed my soul. A young couple pulled over to the curb in front of the local San Anselmo Coffee Roastery, jumped out and rushed over to help a senior lady whom they had just seen fall on the sidewalk.
Helping her to a seat in front of the Coffee Roastery, they brought her napkins to dab the blood from her mild shin wound.
The Coffee Roastery Manager, Janet, dropped everything and rushed out with an ice bag, gauze pads and her first aid kit to assist.
The young man, Thomas Kenton of Fairfax, whose mom is the Director of the San Anselmo Public Library, and his companion, Maryann Weber of San Rafael, and another young man, didn’t know her, yet did not hesitate to rush to her assistance.
Someone ran to the nearby Ross Valley Fire Department Firehouse to summon Battalion Chief Gavin Illingworth. He offered to get her to the hospital, yet said the Coffee Roastery Manager’s first aid was exactly what the others would do for her.
This kind act on the part of several strangers who pulled together out of their own lives and schedules to help a stranger in need, while safely wearing their masks, brings tears of gratitude to my eyes, knowing that during this time of “avoid, keep social distance, and stay separate”, the humane part of our humanity has not been entirely lost.
To find compassion, connection and community is necessary in order to feel really alive as we continue to heal the constant stress of living under the imminent threat of extinction—of our hopes and dreams, as well as our very lives.
I hope we are able to continue to find the compassion necessary to share quality of life.
Joy Appleby, West Marin
The Future of Local Climate Empowerment
There is a lot of well-intended talk about the Climate Crisis and with this comes pressure on City Halls everywhere to reduce GreenHouse Gas emissions. The new Federal administration is increasing its focus on policy activity nationwide. An encouraging alignment lies in the announcement from General Motors that they intend to stop making gas powered cars altogether in the near future. However, the real and immediate power to affect change is in the hands of local folks and one of the most effective actions we can take is to adopt clean energy technologies such as solar power.
It’s so easy to demand change from others but now is the time for personal action. We must embrace and undertake to make the switch to new clean energy technologies. Solar can be free to install and significantly helps reduce dependency on out of state oil and gas sources, which many people don’t realize that these are hidden in their PGE service.
There are approximately 20,000 residential roofs in Petaluma. Assuming that only half these homes have adequate sun exposure, this means there are 10,000 opportunities to make a dramatic difference in reducing our Petaluma greenhouse gases. City permitting numbers indicate that only about 2000 homes have solar. This means there are 8000 opportunities to adopt clean energy.
Let’s make 2021 the year Petaluma goes solar!
It has never been easier to adopt clean energy. Getting solar for your home has never been so affordable and there are so many options – from buying outright to leasing the equipment to simply paying for the energy that your solar system produces (with zero out of pocket). Truly, going solar can save you money while helping reduce greenhouse gases And for those who are able to pay for the solar system outright, electric bills will be gone – only a memory and no more worries about rate hikes.
And what about Federal tax credits? While these significantly reduce the cost of home solar projects, the credits will be decreasing every year. Another reason to make 2021 the year that Petaluma goes solar!
Take control of your power! PG&E power can and will continue to shut off power at random, sometimes without any notice. For peace of mind, installing energy storage technology is becoming standard practice thus further decreasing dependency on PG&E.
People are stepping up! Electric car owners are using their cars as battery backups for their homes. Also, tenants are telling their landlords they would like to have cleaner energy.
We can do this for our community, for our children and for the future of our planet and save money! Whether you do it yourself, hire a contractor or call a solar sales consultant – get on board and help create a Petaluma powered by the sun!
Kevin McDonnell, Petaluma City Council Member John Crowley, Community Organizer and Solar Consultant
Marin Open Studios has connected art lovers with local art makers each spring for nearly 30 years with self-guided tours of artist’s studios throughout the county.
Last year, the tours stopped in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, though Marin Open Studios continued supporting local artists with virtual shows and events online.
This spring, the tours are back on, as Marin Open Studios welcomes visitors to a special limited-run gallery, featuring work by many participating MOS artists, at 325 Town Center in Corte Madera from April 20 to May 11. Artists will then open their studios to the public over two weekends, May 1–2 and 8–9.
“It’s been like riding a bucking bronco since last March,” says Marin Open Studios co-founder and Sausalito-based artist Kay Carlson. “The community really rallied to help us. An absolutely essential ingredient to our success is our Philanthropist Angel, Peggy Haas. She began supporting Marin Open Studios as a founder 28 years ago, and Peggy continues to be our major supporter today.”
Carlson adds that other keys to the MOS longevity include the volunteer artists who take on the roles of Board members. This year, exhibiting artists Laura Culver, Jennifer Fearon, Joe Grenn and Shiva Pakdel brought their expertise to assist other Board members and help steer Marin Open Studios through the pandemic.
“We worked all-year-round to keep artists in front of the public as much as possible,” Carlson says.
Marin Open Studios also continued to support emerging and diverse artists, as it has through partnerships like the one with Canal Alliance mural artists, as well as with the new MC Arts Gallery in Marin City, directed by Oshalla Marcus, that helps bring scholarships and attention to their artists.
Marin Open Studios also partnered with renowned online auction platform Bidsquare for the first time this year to give the public a chance to bid on artwork from afar. That online auction features more than 150 works of art and is online now through April 24.
With the good news that restrictions are lifting in Marin County as Covid cases diminish and vaccines abound, Marin Open Studios is able to move forward with in-person events this year, beginning with the Town Center gallery show opening for socially distant visitors on April 20.
At the gallery, art enthusiasts will find the free, full-color Marin Open Studios Tour Guide, which is also available online and in selected stores and offices throughout Marin. The guide will highlight the 180 Marin County artists participating in this year’s open studios tours, including artists who are open only by appointment.
“The way that artists lead their lives is with creativity, and so planning their business ventures this year had to involve high creativity,” Carlson says. “Also, there are artists who have done a body of work in response to Covid, so it may be an interesting year to see art.”
Marin Open Studios presents a gallery at 325 Town Center in Corte Madera from April 20 to May 11. The self-guided Marin Open Studio tours take place Saturday and Sunday, May 1–2 and May 8–9, from 11am to 6pm each day. The artwork will also be available to view online at marinopenstudios.org.
At least one grey whale died this week in the San Francisco Bay Area after being struck by a boat, the Sausalito-based Marine Mammal Center said Friday.
The nonprofit, which focuses on the protection and rehabilitation of marine mammals, determined that one of two grey whales found dead Thursday near Marin County had been killed by blunt trauma due to being struck by a ship.
The whales were found separately at Angel Island State Park and Muir Beach, according to the Marine Mammal Center. A necropsy, or animal autopsy, on the whale found at Muir Beach determined it had bruising and hemorrhaging to muscles around the animal’s jaw and neck that are consistent with the blunt force trauma of a ship strike.
A necropsy of the whale found at Angel Island did not find any initial evidence of similar trauma, but the Marine Mammal Center intends to reexamine the whale in the future to fully confirm that the whale did not die due to human interaction.
According to the Marine Mammal Center, four grey whales have been found dead in the Bay Area since last Wednesday. The cause of death has been confirmed for only the whale found at Muir Beach.
“Our team hasn’t responded to this number of dead gray whales in such a short span since 2019 when we performed a startling 13 necropsies in the San Francisco Bay Area,” said Dr. Padraig Duignan, the Marine Mammal Center’s director of pathology.
“Gray whales are ocean sentinels due to their adaptability and foraging habits, meaning they have a lot to tell us about the health of the ocean, so to see the species continue to suffer with the added threats of human interaction is a major cause for concern,” Duignan said.
Since 2019, marine biologists in the Bay Area have noticed several grey whales with physical abnormalities during their annual migration to cool Arctic waters.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared an Unusual Mortality Event for grey whales in 2019.
Since the NOAA’s last grey whale population assessment in 2015 and 2016, the agency has determined that nearly one quarter of grey whales migrating up the West Coast have died.
But that mortality rate could be even higher, according to the NOAA and Marine Mammal Center, because of observation limitations during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It’s alarming to respond to four dead gray whales in just over a week because it really puts into perspective the current challenges faced by this species,” Duignan said.
Like every other writer I know, I’m the voice of my generation. Apparently, my voice just isn’t loud enough to overcome our collective screams of desperation. That said, I feel obligated to continue trying, partly because I have the rare privilege of being a writer with a day job, which is being a writer—but with some deadline panic to keep it interesting.
I’m a cockroach—less in the Gregor Samsa sense and more in the “I’ll outlive you in the nuclear holocaust” sense because, like most writers, I’m a survivor. I have an uncanny Gump-like facility for falling up. I attribute this to the millions of words I’ve piled to cushion my fall. If only my per-word rate was higher. There have been days when my motto could have been “Cogito ergo sum pauper sum scribere” which, if Google Translate is to be trusted, means roughly “I write therefore I’m broke.”
Now, I’ve reached that milestone in my career where, if I’m broke, I can always just write more. It’s Grammarly-aided-alchemy. My wheels, for example, were acquired through the transacting of words, ditto my clothes dryer and the clothes that go in it. This never ceases to amaze me, or bore the kids, when I point this out to them as if I’m sharing some lesson about work ethics when in fact I’m just bragging.
It wasn’t always like this. After my inner-child prodigy drowned in its own tears, I enjoyed a meteoric rise in the local media market—read: not falling on my ass during a protracted bout of newsroom attrition. But the white spaces in my writing resume are spackled with weird gigs like writing porn reviews in the naughty aughties—I quit before I even started, because I couldn’t commit to a pen name. I wrote stories under the pseudonym “Sophie Dover” for an L.A. weekly at the insistence of my editor for reasons she took to her grave; I was a food critic who faked food allergies to avoid eating exotic flora and fauna; I’ve written so much SEO web copy that a search bot once sent me a Valentine.
Throughout, I’ve been both championed and chewed by critics and cranks, though I’m convinced none could inflate or eviscerate my own ego as well as I can. Because I know where the lede is buried—it’s right here: If we don’t tell our stories, some other cockroach will.
More than 95 businesses and employment recruiters will be on hand for the North Bay Regional Job Fair, which gathers virtually for the first time this year. This virtual format is different from a traditional on-site job fair, where a lot of time is spent waiting in lines. Instead, the interactive platform has been designed so job seekers can network efficiently, entering one booth while maintaining ongoing conversations with others. Attendees are encouraged to dress for success and be prepared for interviews during the virtual fair on Thursday, April 8, from noon to 4pm. Free. Careerpointnorthbay.org/virtual-job-fair.
Virtual Fundraiser
It Takes Two
Beloved Bay Area vocalists Daniela (Dani) Innocenti Beem and Julie Ekoue-Totou have sung together for almost 30 years in various musical theater and concert performances. This month, the two performers pair up for a fundraising night of music to support the Novato Theater Company. “Dynamic Duet,” the company’s second virtual fundraiser of the year, will be a cabaret-style show featuring Beem and Ekoue-Totou singing their favorite songs with musical accompaniment by San Francisco-based actor and musical director Jake Gale. A surprise guest will appear on the show; you’ll have to watch to find out who on Saturday, April 10, at 7pm. Novatotheatercompany.org.
Distanced Exhibit
Standing Out
The ArtStanding Popup Gallery is a new series of outdoor events that came about last year in response to Covid-19, when social gatherings were suddenly off limits. The popup series utilizes the North Bay’s outdoor spots to host socially distant art shows. This month, the next ArtStanding open-air art exhibit sets up within the picturesque setting of Gundlach Bundschu Winery in Sonoma to feature work from over 30 Bay Area artists. Come for the art, stay for the wine and celebrate local Bay Area artists in a live setting. Sunday, April 11, 11am to 4:30pm. Reservations and masks required. Artstandingpopupgallery.com.
Virtual Event
Considering Muses
As part of a packed spring season of online events, the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts is igniting creative curiosity with ‘The Muse Hour.’ The series of insightful conversations features well-known journalists, musicians, comedians and others who sit down to talk about their process and perspectives on many topics. This week, the LBC welcomes Audie Cornish, co-host of NPR’s ‘All Things Considered,’ for a moderated talk about the current political climate and the latest social justice movements on Sunday, April 11, at 3pm. $10; free for LBC members. Lutherburbankcenter.org.
Virtual Classes
Life of Learning
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Sonoma State University celebrates 20 years of providing a wide range of educational offerings for adults who are 50 years old or older. This spring, the institute hosts a virtual schedule of classes in the arts, contemporary issues, food and wine, natural sciences, and social and political history. Older adults can choose between six-week, three-week and single-course offerings in subjects ranging from racial justice to rock-and-roll history, beginning Monday, April 12, and running through June 4, 2021. For information on classes and registration, go to olli.sonoma.edu or call 707.664.2691.
The count found 486 people living in 381 cars and recreational vehicles, an increase of 91% since the 2019 tally, reversing a decrease seen between 2017 and 2019.
Last year, the Santa Rosa Symphony–the resident orchestra of the Green Music Center–changed it’s production model in the face of a pandemic with the online presentation of its ‘SRS @ Home’ virtual concert series.
The decision to move performances online and to make the concerts free of charge proved to be a success, as the symphony's inaugural virtual presentation exceeded expectations and...
Marin Weed Watch Entrepreneur Barry Cohen is ‘almost never on time.’
By Jonah Raskin
When I think about time, I think of the Chambers Brothers hit, “Time Has Come Today.” It sounded psychedelic in the ’60s. It still does. Now, when I think of time, I also think of my 420Waldos watch that features a marijuana leaf on the face, another...
A series of tragic events culminated in the deployment of Marin County’s version of SWAT, a four-hour standoff, two destroyed boats, a fire and a dead dog earlier this month.
Kindness During Covid
Yesterday I witnessed an act of compassion that lifted my heart and renewed my soul. A young couple pulled over to the curb in front of the local San Anselmo Coffee Roastery, jumped out and rushed over to help a senior lady whom they had just seen fall on the sidewalk.
Helping her to a seat in front...
Marin Open Studios has connected art lovers with local art makers each spring for nearly 30 years with self-guided tours of artist’s studios throughout the county.
Last year, the tours stopped in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, though Marin Open Studios continued supporting local artists with virtual shows and events online.
This spring, the tours are back on, as Marin...
Voice of a degeneration
Like every other writer I know, I’m the voice of my generation. Apparently, my voice just isn’t loud enough to overcome our collective screams of desperation. That said, I feel obligated to continue trying, partly because I have the rare privilege of being a writer with a day job, which is being a writer—but with some deadline...
Virtual Event
Get a Job
More than 95 businesses and employment recruiters will be on hand for the North Bay Regional Job Fair, which gathers virtually for the first time this year. This virtual format is different from a traditional on-site job fair, where a lot of time is spent waiting in lines. Instead, the interactive platform has been designed so...
