Cedars and Branson School Team Up for Heroic Exhibit

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Cedars and Branson School Team Up for Heroic Exhibit

In 1919, Marin County nonprofit organization Cedars became the first residential school in the Western United States for people with developmental disabilities.

This year, the 101-year-old organization marks a new milestone—its first collaborative art exhibition with high school art students at The Branson School in Ross. This month, the two groups unveil “Heroes and Heroines,” which opens on March 4 online and at Artist Within – A Cedars Gallery, located in downtown San Anselmo.

“If you’re familiar with Cedars, you know that we support almost 200 individuals with developmental disabilities,” says Jeanne Lipson, director of development at Cedars. “One hundred of them live in our residences, and another hundred come to our day programs.”

The Cedars Fine Art Studios is a day program in which participants create portfolios of work—including paintings, jewelry and more—that sells in the San Anselmo gallery. The Cedars Textile Arts Collaborative program also lets individuals show and sell in the gallery. Half of the proceeds from art sales go directly to the Cedars artist who created the piece.

The Branson School—which opened in Ross in 1916—and Cedars have been neighbors for more than 100 years and are connected through a “Best Buddies” program that brings together Cedars residents and Branson School students through activities including karaoke nights and basketball games.

“It’s such a rich partnership,” Lipson says. “We’re so grateful to Branson for how they’ve embraced working with us.”

For the upcoming “Heroes and Heroines” exhibit, individuals from Cedars art programs and students from the Branson School’s art department matched up over Zoom—due to the pandemic—to discuss their heroes, who ranged from Ruth Bader Ginsburg and healthcare workers to the Greek goddess Artemis and Spider-Man. From there, artists from both groups created paintings or drawings based on those discussions.

“Inner Face,” by Cedars resident Milton Miskel, displays as part of the upcoming ‘Heroes and Heroines’ exhibit in downtown San Anselmo. Image courtesy Cedars.

Beginning March 4, the complete “Heroes and Heroines” exhibit will show online, and curators from Cedars will also select pieces from both Cedars artists and Branson School students to be hung at Artist Within – A Cedars Gallery.

“My art students have been able to make those important connections with the Cedars artists, as well as learn from people who are as passionate about art as they are,” Allyson Seal, art teacher at the Branson School, says in a statement. “It’s been interesting to see how both sides have approached the project; some very differently and others in a similar way.”

“Everything we do [at Cedars] is about creating inclusion and income opportunities for our artists,” Lipson says. “But, really, the larger part of our mission is about destigmatizing differences and recognizing that every person has dignity and value and has something to add. This [exhibit] is going a long way to breaking down those barriers and showing how we all have heroes and heroines.”

“Heroes and Heroines” opens on Thursday, March 4, online and at Artist Within ­– A Cedars Gallery, 603 San Anselmo Ave., San Anselmo. 415.454.2568. Cedarslife.org/Facebook.com/AWSanAnselmo.

Letters to the Editor: Considering the Cost of the Death Penalty

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Letters to the Editor: Considering the Cost of the Death Penalty

I generally agree with David Dozier’s comments about the death penalty (Open Mic, Feb. 10). However, like everything else in life it is mostly, but not entirely, a black-and-white issue.

Consider the case of Timothy McVeigh, who blew up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. Or of Jeffrey Dahmer, who murdered 17 young men and then dismembered and cannibalized their bodies. McVeigh was executed. Dahmer was sentenced to 17 consecutive terms of life imprisonment, and was murdered by a fellow prisoner.

Was it wrong to execute McVeigh? Was it right to spare Dahmer the death penalty? For that matter, is life imprisonment cruel and unusual punishment? Unless you’re opposed to one person killing another under any circumstances—even an armed intruder in your home or a soldier on the battlefield—you should acknowledge that the punishment for some murders needs to be assessed on an individual basis.

Stanton Klose, San Rafael

Represent Us

Our democracy grants outsized power to a minority of its people by giving sparsely populated states the same Senate representation as heavily populated states like California. Republicans have been exploiting this inequity for decades and state legislatures in places like Georgia, Texas and Arizona are even now are pushing through voter suppression laws in to create obstacles to voting, mostly affecting people of color and those with little means.

It’s time to fix this and Congress can do so by passing S.1, the For the People Act. S.1 addresses corruption, buying elections, election security, expanding voting rights and more. It’s time to redistribute power throughout this great Country by giving everyone a voice, regardless of who they are, where they live and what their means. The House has already passed its version of this act, now the Senate must pass S.1, the For the People Act, to make things right for our democracy and our Country.

Susan Stanger, Mill Valley

Open Mic: Finding Wings Within Uncertainty

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Open Mic: Finding Wings Within Uncertainty

By Marcia Singer, MSW

There’s so much to feel insecure about in my 75th year. I’m no stranger to mishap. But I can either stay rooted in fear about what’s coming, dwell on past conditioning—or let go and surrender into the unknown with all the faith I can muster.

For sure, living in fear, trying to control, manipulate or hang on to whatever one has—for dear life—is very understandable. It’s built right into our basic survival instinct. But it’s reactionary. It stifles creativity and adaptive choices. It makes our angels have to work harder, getting around a sucky feeling of dread. On the other hand? Casting the burden, letting go of what I can’t control with an intention to be well delivers evidence of a reliable, invisible support system: How liberating!

Mystics, quantum physicists, metaphysicians and body-mind scientists alike advise that to the degree we relax identifying with egoic habits, magic happens instead. Our needs seem to be met each day, a day at a time. It feels miraculous to me. The more present I am, living in this moment fully, I feel so alive-healthy. There’s freedom to enjoy states of peace and calm or youthful, robust play. The more I find things to appreciate, the more experiences happen that feel really good.

Of course, the opposite is true, too. Anxiety, worry, doubt and fear bring more experiences that feel like that “reality.” The survival system kicks into fight, flee or freeze. We may become hypervigilant in trying to ward off more danger. If there IS actual present danger, that reflexive system might save my butt; I need it! But that’s different from imagining it, unconsciously keeping myself down.

The late philosopher/author Alan Watts told us there was a “wisdom of insecurity,” just as Dr. Deepak Chopra today speaks about a “wisdom of uncertainty.” Rather than allowing fears to press down on my soul wings, I am letting life be my meditation, allowing love to give me flight. Wisdom whispers, “Fully engage, be here now with an open heart and mind. Marvel in the mystery and grace of being alive.”

Marcia Singer, MSW, is a counselor, healer, mindfulness meditation teacher and director of the Love Arts Foundation in Santa Rosa. To have your topical essay considered for publication, write to us at op*****@********un.com.

State Grant Awarded for Stinson Beach Project Sea Rise Adaptation

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State Grant Awarded for Stinson Beach Project Sea Rise Adaptation

Marin County will get some help from the state in its effort to protect Stinson Beach from rising ocean levels, which county officials said could rise up to 10 feet by 2100.

The Marin County Community Development Agency announced Monday it will receive a grant of nearly $400,000 from the state to create a plan to combat storm floods and erosion. The funding is part of $8 million in Proposition 68 funds recently announced. 

The project is the start of a long-term plan to address critical infrastructure, natural resources and risks, county officials said.

The nearly $700,000 project will begin in May and continue through June 2024. County officials anticipate an additional grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to fully fund the project.

State Officials Announce $6.6B Deal to Reopen Schools Statewide

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State Officials Announce $6.6B Deal to Reopen Schools Statewide

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state officials announced a deal on a $6.6 billion legislative package Monday that would support the statewide reopening of grades K-6 by the end of the month and grades 7-12 in early April. 

The package includes $2 billion in grants to support safety measures for students and educators returning to in-person classes, including personal protection equipment, improvements to classroom ventilation and regular coronavirus testing.

The remaining $4.6 billion would fund voluntary learning expansions, including extending the school year into the summer, tutoring to make up for learning lost amid the pandemic and mental health services for students. 

State legislators are expected to vote on the deal by the end of the week, according to Newsom. 

“So many of our kids and caregivers are celebrating this day because we all are united around coming back safely into the schools and helping with the socio-emotional supports that our kids so desperately need,” Newsom said. 

The reopening plan comes after months of haggling between officials in the Newsom administration, state legislators and teachers’ unions over details like required vaccinations and a reopening timeline that all sides agree is safe.

While the package does not require the vaccination of teachers before a school can reopen, Newsom underscored the state’s vaccine prioritization for teachers that began Monday, reserving 10 percent of the weekly vaccine shipments coming into the state for K-12 educators and child care workers.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have yet to deem the three vaccines currently available as safe for children under the age of 16, although modified versions of the vaccines may be available for children later this year.

However, Newsom was noncommittal about adding the vaccine to the list of those required for public school students when it becomes available, noting that any such decision will be guided by the state’s vaccine safety advisory group when the time comes. 

The deal also stops short of mandating that all grades return to in-person classes across the state, instead tying those reopenings to state funding as an incentive. 

The deal requires in-person instruction at public schools to resume for K-2 students and all “high-needs” students in grades K-12—including English language learners, students in the foster care system and unhoused students—by the end of March.

Schools that do not comply would lose 1 percent of their funding per day if they are not open by then. 

Once a county is in the red tier of the state’s pandemic reopening system, schools would risk the same penalty if they do not offer in-person instruction to all elementary grade students and students in at least one middle or high school grade level.

Similar to the process through which the state allowed schools to reopen during last summer and fall’s swoon in cases, schools will also be required to submit detailed reopening plans to state officials and report their reopening status via the state’s https://schools.covid19.ca.gov website.

Schools in 35 of the state’s 58 counties have already resumed in-person classes in some form, according to the state. The plan announced Monday would incentivize in-person education in some form regardless of a county’s tier level.

“We’re not waiting to get out of this purple tier in order to get our kids safely back into in-person instruction,” Newsom said. “That’s what’s so meaningful to me, that we’re not slowing down, we’re now accelerating the pace of reopening.”

California Teachers Association president E. Toby Boyd praised the deal for including the safety measures and vaccine prioritization educators have asked for during negotiations and said the plan gets the state one step closer to schools finally reopening statewide. 

“This pandemic has been difficult and wearing on all of us, and it is going to continue to take all of us to make opening our schools for in-person instruction safe, stable and successful,” Boyd said.

Bay Area officials similarly praised the plan for reopening schools over the next six weeks.

“Our kids need to safely return to the classroom,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said in a Twitter post. “We’re reviewing this plan’s details but I want to thank (Newsom) on moving this forward.”

Breed and other San Francisco officials have butted heads with the San Francisco Unified School District in recent weeks for the district’s failure to begin reopening schools.

While the district released its latest proposal last week to reopen elementary schools, Superintendent Vincent Matthews said in a statement Monday that the state’s package will not change its reopening plans, which still do not include a tentative date to reopen.

“Though I wish it could, the governor’s announcement does not change our timeline because there are still many steps we need to take to get there and many of those aren’t able to be expedited, even with financial incentives,” Matthews said. “Make no mistake, we share the urgency to offer in-person instruction to as many students as soon as possible and more resources will help.”

The Education Trust-West, an Oakland-based nonprofit education advocacy group, framed the plan as the means to an end, arguing that simply returning the state’s education system to its pre-pandemic state will not be good enough for underprivileged students.

A poll that the group released last week of 600 parents across the state found that nearly 75 percent of parents with children age 5 and younger are concerned about their child’s education and development due to the pandemic.

The poll also found that low-income parents and parents of color were particularly affected by the pandemic-induced losses of child care and in-person classes.

“Parents are increasingly worried about the academic, social, and emotional development their students are missing through distance learning–and with good reason. … (S)chools will need to work with parents and community partners like never before to generate creative, engaging, fun learning experiences while tending to students’ social, emotional and mental health needs,” Education Trust-West executive director Dr. Elisha Smith Arrillaga said in a statement. 

State legislators representing the Bay Area were optimistic about the plan and the safe reopening of the region’s schools in the coming weeks. 

“I am hopeful that this plan will address the learning loss that students have experienced without in-person instruction, while ensuring that our educators, students, and families are as protected as possible,” said state Sen. Dave Cortese, D-San Jose.

Judge Rules in Favor of Sausalito Homeless Encampment Residents

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Judge Rules in Favor of Sausalito Homeless Encampment Residents

In a blow to the City of Sausalito and local NIMBYs, a federal court judge issued a preliminary injunction on Monday preventing the city from clearing the homeless encampment near Dunphy Park. In addition, the city must allow daytime camping.

U.S. District Court Judge Edward Chen granted the preliminary injunction to the Sausalito/Marin County Chapter of the Homeless Union after hearing arguments from both parties last week. In his ruling, Chen wrote that without the injunction the campers are “likely to suffer irreparable injury” during the Covid-19 crisis, but the daytime camping ban will need to be revisited as the pandemic recedes.

The Homeless Union filed for the injunction last month, days after the city voted 4-1 on a resolution to relocate the homeless encampment to Marinship Park and ban daytime camping.  

The city responded to the legal filing by retaining outside counsel Arthur Friedman, a partner in the international law firm Sheppard Mullin, to represent them in the matter.

Anthony Prince, the attorney representing the local Homeless Union on a pro bono basis, focused the campers’ legal arguments on Covid-19 and frequently cited the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines for homeless encampments during the pandemic.

The judge also referenced the guidelines in his ruling about the city’s ban on daytime camping, which required campers to break down their tents each morning and pitch them again in the evening.

The daytime camping ban could cause the campers to disperse into the community. Dispersal increases the risk of disease spread, according to the CDC.

The campers also claimed the city-mandated move to Marinship Park would be detrimental. The grassy field designated for the campers is directly adjacent to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers boat-crushing facility, which the Homeless Union’s attorney said would expose them to “clouds of lead-based paint, dust and fiberglass.”

Though the judge wrote the Homeless Union’s evidence was “concededly thin,” he noted the city did not present evidence “demonstrating the environmental safety of the area.” The injunctive relief on the move to Marinship Park could be modified or dissolved if the city demonstrates there are no toxic risks at the site and the move can be accomplished safely, Chen wrote.

Chen visited Marinship Park and Dunphy Park prior to his ruling, which gave him the opportunity to verify assertions made by the Homeless Union and the city during the hearing. The city did not fare well.

Prince continually maintained the boat-crushing facility is located just feet away from the field designated for the campers’ tents. Friedman, the city’s attorney, said it was a hundred, or hundreds, of yards away. The city’s “assertion appears to be erroneous,” Chen wrote.

“Based on the Court’s own site visit, it is clear that the yard is directly on the opposite side of the chain-link fence at the end of the grassy field,” Chen wrote.

Another source of contention was the city’s stated concern over the lack of showers for the campers at Dunphy Park, while mobile showers visit Marinship Park twice a week. The Homeless Union said the mobile showers could be set up at Dunphy Park; however, the city claimed they could not be, because there isn’t any water or parking at the Dunphy site.

Chen found a hose bib at Dunphy Park, as well as parking spots for the mobile showers truck and trailer.

In addition to pointing out the city’s blunders, the judge also had sharp words for their intentions with the daytime camping ban.

“Defendants have not explained why they have chosen to take action that flies in the face of CDC guidance. The facts, as presented thus far, strongly suggest that Defendants, in enacting this ban, have done so in spite of, not in furtherance of, public health. There is a strong argument that Defendants have acted in reckless disregard for the campers’ health and safety,” Chen wrote.

Regarding the move to Marinship Park, the judge wrote that the Homeless Union’s arguments were not as strong as their opposition to the daytime camping ban; however, there is still a serious question as to whether the city acted in reckless disregard for the safety of the campers.

“It appears Defendants took no concrete steps to ensure the environment around the proposed site is safe from the boat crushing operation,” Chen wrote.

In an email, Sausalito Mayor Jill Hoffman declined to comment on the ruling or the city’s next steps.

Prince is pleased with the court’s decisions, although he acknowledges the injunction is temporary unless the local Homeless Union wins at a full-blown trial, or the city permanently acquiesces.

“My hope would be the city would realize they’re going in the wrong direction here,” Prince said. “They need to stop using the taxpayers’ money to fight homeless people and they need to stop going against the CDC guidelines.”

The city has indeed spent taxpayer dollars on their legal defense. Despite repeated attempts to obtain the amount spent to date, Hoffman refuses to disclose their legal costs.

“I am unable at this time to provide specific or breakout costs related to the Dunphy Park encampment,” Hoffman said in an email. “The city is tracking costs related to this issue and will provide that figure at a future date.”

The city’s law firm, Sheppard Mullin, ranks among the Global 100, the world’s 100 largest law firms by total revenue.

Ironically, Sheppard Mullin has won prestigious awards for its pro bono work on behalf of the homeless. The reason Friedman chose to represent a client with antithetical views on homelessness is unclear. He did not respond to requests for comment.

“I’m very disappointed in Sheppard Mullin,” Prince said. “It’s not unusual to represent a landlord and then represent a tenant; however, if you’re going to hold yourself out as a friend of the homeless, yet you go to bat for a municipality working against the homeless, that is an issue of integrity.”

Prince is not a corporate attorney. He is general counsel for the California Homeless Union, an organization of homeless people, which gives independent voice to its members. 

In Sausalito, Prince represents the Sausalito/Marin County Chapter of the Homeless Union and several of the individual campers. He said the mood at the encampment is positive after the court’s ruling.

“You can feel a big weight has been lifted off people’s shoulders right now,” said Robbie Powelson, an activist and resident of the Sausalito encampment. “At least until the next hearing.”

Lawsuit Reveals New Allegations Against PG&E Contractor Accused of Fraud

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Lawsuit Reveals New Allegations Against PG&E Contractor Accused of Fraud

Utility giant Pacific Gas & Electric accused two of its former employees of accepting bribes to funnel business to a waste-hauling company after the Camp Fire, the deadliest wildfire in California history.

One supervisor for PG&E allegedly had his driveway paved on the power company’s dime. A subordinate is accused of having received a bribe in an unorthodox property transfer of a multimillion-dollar house in a wealthy suburb of San Francisco.

PG&E alleges that in exchange for these kickbacks, the employees provided lucrative clean-up jobs to Hayward-based Bay Area Concrete Recycling.

The allegations track closely with the results of an investigation last year by ProPublica and the Bay City News Foundation, which found that PG&E had overlooked numerous warning signs when it hired Bay Area Concrete.

The company is owned and managed by the husband-wife team Yadwinder “Kevin” Singh and Preet Johal, according to local and state documents. The firm was tied to illegal dumping on federally protected wetlands and had engaged in a long conflict with regulators in the city of Hayward, where Bay Area Concrete operates a dump. Later, the news agencies revealed a suspicious real estate transaction that connected Singh and one of the PG&E employees. Singh did not respond to requests for comment.

PG&E’s filing is in response to a breach of contract lawsuit filed against the utility in October by Bay Area Concrete. Dawn Sweatt, an attorney for Bay Area Concrete, said her clients “vehemently deny” the allegations by PG&E. “The allegations are patently false and not supported by the evidence,” she said. “The litigation process will make this clear in time.”

The accused PG&E employees, Ronald Huggins Jr. and Ryan Kooistra, did not respond to requests for comment. Huggins retired, and Kooistra sold his home and moved out of state after being confronted by PG&E investigators, the counterclaim by PG&E said.

In a statement, PG&E spokesperson James Noonan called the alleged actions of Bay Area Concrete “completely unacceptable.”

“We will pursue every available action to remedy the situation and do right by those that we have the privilege to serve,” Noonan said. “As we have stated previously, PG&E will continue to hold ourselves and those that do work on our behalf to the highest ethical standards.”

The new court filings show that PG&E had a longer business relationship with Bay Area Concrete than previously known. PG&E first started disposing of waste in the company’s Hayward yard in 2016, and the business expanded to include the cleanup of PG&E yards throughout Northern California.

That business grew substantially in November 2018, when a PG&E transmission line sparked a wildfire in Butte County that destroyed more than 18,000 structures and killed 85 people. PG&E hired Bay Area Concrete to dispose of waste from hydrovac trucks — special vacuum trucks that use pressurized water for precise excavation. Bay Area Concrete opened a dump in Paradise to take the waste from the cleanup.

In its suit, Bay Area Concrete alleged that it had saved PG&E millions of dollars by doing disposal work in Paradise more cheaply than a competitor. Bay Area Concrete also said that it continued to work for PG&E as other companies fled when the utility declared bankruptcy in January 2019. At the time, PG&E owed Bay Area Concrete nearly $4 million, according to bankruptcy filings. Bay Area Concrete stuck around and opened a new dump on PG&E property in Petaluma. According to the disposal company, it racked up $14 million in unpaid invoices. Bay Area Concrete has said that PG&E’s accusations of fraud are false and the bankrupt utility was just trying to get out of paying its bills.

PG&E’s counterclaim, filed earlier this month, names Bay Area Concrete, both former PG&E employees, Singh, Johal, several of their other companies and Bay Area Concrete CEO Kevin Olivero as defendants.

PG&E alleges that Kooistra and Huggins steered PG&E contracts to Bay Area Concrete and other companies controlled by Singh and Johal. As a result, the value of Bay Area Concrete’s contracts with PG&E increased “exponentially” over a period of four years, the lawsuit said. Meanwhile, competing companies lost work with PG&E.

PG&E did not say how much the utility believes it was overcharged by Bay Area Concrete as it continues to investigate. Public records show that the company’s income increased substantially, from $16.5 million to $43.5 million, after receiving a contract to dispose of waste in connection with the Paradise fire.

Here’s how the scheme worked, according to PG&E’s allegations in court filings. Bay Area Concrete overcharged for travel time while hauling and billed PG&E for work that was never done or was unnecessary. The complaint alleges that Huggins and Kooistra approved the overbilled work in exchange for kickbacks. The pair were careful to keep Bay Area Concrete’s purchase orders low enough that Huggins would not have to seek approval from his supervisors.

To pay the bribes, Singh used a series of real estate transactions involving a 5,600-square-foot home in Saratoga to transfer money to Kooistra, PG&E alleges. The Bay City News Foundation and ProPublica first reported the exchange, which one expert described as possible money laundering.

PG&E’s court filing alleges that Regal Rose LLC, a shell company established by Singh, was also in possession of a property in Arizona when it was transferred to Kooistra.

Another shell company, CCI Management, was owned by Kooistra and acted as a subcontractor for Bay Area Concrete in Paradise. According to PG&E’s complaint, CCI did hauling work for Bay Area Concrete, which would submit invoices directly to PG&E. PG&E paid CCI $150,000 over five weeks without knowing that the company was owned by Kooistra, a violation of PG&E employment and supplier policies. PG&E alleges that Huggins was aware of Kooista’s actions and did not disclose them.

In late 2019, PG&E learned of the alleged fraud and launched an investigation. Kooistra was interviewed in January 2020 by PG&E investigators, who confronted him with evidence of his interest in companies connected to Bay Area Concrete. According to the countercomplaint, Kooistra denied any wrongdoing or having an interest in the companies, despite the interest being disclosed in public records. PG&E asked Kooistra to turn over his company-issued phone, which he did, but he refused to provide his passcode so investigators could access text messages and other data. Two days later, Kooistra quit his job, according to the complaint. He sold his home in Rocklin and moved to Arizona.

PG&E alleges that Huggins approved false invoices and concealed fraudulent charges throughout PG&E’s contract with Bay Area Concrete. In exchange, the lawsuit alleges, a company linked to Johal and Singh repaved Huggins’ driveway while they were supposed to be working on a PG&E job. When confronted by PG&E investigators, Huggins told the investigators he had paid the $16,750 bill in cash, which he happened to have on hand in his house. Four days later, he retired.

In February 2020, PG&E canceled Bay Area Concrete’s contracts and publicly announced its belief that the waste company had committed fraud.

Butte County District Attorney Michael Ramsey said last year that PG&E alerted his office to the allegations against Bay Area Concrete. Ramsey said in an email that he received no further information from PG&E but had determined that his office did not have jurisdiction in the case.

Culture Crush: February 2021 Closes Out with Virtual Events

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Culture Crush: February 2021 Closes Out with Virtual Events

Virtual Event

Throughout February, the Marin County Free Library has hosted a slew of virtual events and other programming pertaining to Black History Month. This week, the library presents several more events, including “Food for the Soul: Black Experience in Marin,” which invites the public to hear a cross-generational panel discussion about living while Black in Marin. The online event brings together County of Marin African American Employee Association leader Meloni Page, youth activist Sophia Martin, Tam Wellness coordinator Amber Allen-Pierson, PLAY Marin Executive Director Paul Austin and others on Thursday, Feb. 25, at 7pm. Free. Marinlibrary.org.

Virtual Reading

Longtime educator Lauren Coodley is the author of three books on Napa history, as well as a textbook of California history and a biography of Upton Sinclair. On March 1, Coodley will release her latest book, Lost Napa Valley; and this week she participates in an online reading and discussion with the Napa County Historical Society as part of the society’s “Who Tells Our Story” event series. Lost Napa Valley takes a deeper look into once-beloved Wine Country landmarks, like the Kay Von Drive-In and the Bel Aire Bowl, that now live on only in memory. Coodley launches the book on Thursday, Feb. 25, at 7pm. Free. Napahistory.org.

Virtual Event

Later this year, the Museum of Sonoma County will exhibit “Collective Arising: A Positionality of Insistence from Black Bay Area Artists,” which tells the story of how Black artists in the Bay Area turned to artists’ collectives to help amplify their voices. This week, exhibit co-curators Ashara Ekundayo and Lucia Olubunmi Momoh will discuss the history of artists’ collectives and their philosophical and political foundations. The two will also preview the forthcoming exhibit, which will feature varied works made by contemporary Black artists living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Join the discussion on Thursday, Feb. 25, at 7pm. Free. Museumsc.org.

Virtual Variety Show

Last year, Occidental Center for the Arts took to the internet to present streaming entertainment in the wake of Covid, and the center wraps up February with its fifth virtual variety show, titled “Winter Classic.” The show will emphasize early 20th century classics and standards, and features pianist Mary Watkins (pictured) and members of the Santa Rosa Symphony. Other stellar musical acts to be included are Dirty Cello Band, Meredith Axelrod and Craig Ventresco, Eric Wiley, Black Brothers Band, Jazz Messengers, Black Sheep Brass Band and a dramatic performance by Steve Fowler and Andrea Van Dyke from Richard Sheridan’s comedy of manners, “The Rivals” (1775). The “Winter Classic” is presented on Saturday, Feb. 27, at 8pm. Free; Donations appreciated. Occidentalcenterforthearts.org.

Virtual Concert

One of the first orchestras to make virtual orchestral concerts a reality, the Santa Rosa Symphony returns to the digital stage this weekend for another stirring presentation as part of its “SRS @ Home” series. Music director Francesco Lecce-Chong conducts the orchestra in a performance of Antonín Dvořák’s “Czech Suite,” Richard Wagner’s “Siegfried Idyll” and works by prolific African-American composer William Grant Still and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. The online presentation is preceded by a live, pre-concert talk and followed by a live, post-concert Q & A with Lecce-Chong—all on YouTube on Sunday, Feb. 28. Talk, 2pm; concert, 3pm. Free. Srsymphony.org.

MarinMOCA Looks Back at M. Louise Stanley’s Life on Canvas

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MarinMOCA Looks Back at M. Louise Stanley’s Life on Canvas

Artist and educator M. Louise Stanley—“Lulu” to her friends—captures the imagination and confronts social issues through a humorous storytelling style of art that has made her a Bay Area legend for half a century.

Now, MarinMOCA in Novato is celebrating Stanley’s impressive body of work in a new retrospective exhibition, “M. Louise Stanley: No Regrets.”

Drawing from 50 years of Stanley’s art—and highlighting her socially conscious subject matter—the exhibit opens for by-appointment viewing on Saturday Feb. 27 and runs through April 18.

“When you begin, you don’t know where you’re going, and you don’t know where you’ll end up,” Stanley says.  A granddaughter of missionaries, Stanley says she knew at a young age that “art was going to be my religion.”

Already a technically proficient artist when she came to the Bay Area in 1965 from Southern California to attend the California College of Arts and Crafts—now called the California College of the Arts—she wanted to be more than proficient.

“In those years, you had to have an authentic mark,” Stanley says. “You had to develop your own style that you could put your name to. That was my big quest.”

In graduate school, Stanley and her friends started a practice of making “bad art” that would allow them to break all the rules of “serious art.”

From there, she became involved in artist movements like the feminist movement of the 1970s. Yet, Stanley often stands alone in the art world for the boldness and deft commentary found in her richly colored paintings, which can simultaneously evoke the power of ancient Gods or the milieu of modern banality.

Stanley’s most famous works feature exaggerated characterizations of subjects that range from 1940s housewives to ancient Roman deities. These subjects often appear in juxtaposing, post-modern scenarios that find angelic muses hunched over computers or Venus applying lipstick while surrounded by beer cans.

“You don’t draw what you see, you draw how you feel about it,” Stanley says. “The reason I was distorting the figures, I was trying to get at the idea of a person, not necessarily what they looked like, but how I felt about them.”

At times, Stanley enhances her neoclassical scenes by painting classical faux-frames on the edges of her canvas or creating works that resemble altarpieces called “predellas.”

“I paint Italian paintings with an American accent,” Stanley says.

After exhibiting in five solo shows in 2019, Stanley went into retrospective mode at the onset of Covid, though she still draws in her sketchbooks and makes artistic protest signs.

“I like to paint with my friends and have a dialogue over the paint,” she says. “I don’t know when it’s going to get back to that, but you have to live day to day and do what you’re going to do. I can’t wait to finish framing (for this show) so I can get back to painting!”

“M. Louise Stanley: No Regrets” opens for by-appointment viewing on Saturday, Feb. 27, at MarinMOCA, 500 Palm Dr., Novato. Marinmoca.org/visit.

Letters to the Editor: No More Filibusters

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Letters to the Editor: No More Filibusters

In his first few months as Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell has given us a preview of how Republicans will behave for the next four years. They will use every tool at their disposal, like the filibuster, to cling to power and stop progress. They used it to block civil rights legislation in the ’60s. They used it to block background checks for gun sales in 2013. And they’ll use it to block EVERYTHING Democrats want to do in 2021.

Republicans have changed the rules to entrench their power, and we need to fight fire with fire. The only reason Mitch McConnell hasn’t already gotten rid of the filibuster is because he hasn’t needed to. He has changed the rules in order to pack federal courts with judges who will overturn Roe v. Wade, declare the ACA unconstitutional and go after our civil rights, at a minimum.

Democrats won the majority, and they should act like it. They promised Americans bold relief and they shouldn’t let Republicans use procedural hurdles like the filibuster to block their agenda. The best chance of keeping Republicans from permanently controlling the levers of power is by passing big, bold democracy reforms—and the only way we do that is by eliminating the filibuster. Mitch McConnell is too eager to use it.

Alissa Friedman, Marin County

Cedars and Branson School Team Up for Heroic Exhibit

In 1919, Marin County nonprofit organization Cedars became the first residential school in the Western United States for people with developmental disabilities. This year, the 101-year-old organization marks a new milestone—its first collaborative art exhibition with high school art students at The Branson School in Ross. This month, the two groups unveil “Heroes and Heroines,” which opens on March 4...
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Letters to the Editor: Considering the Cost of the Death Penalty

I generally agree with David Dozier’s comments about the death penalty (Open Mic, Feb. 10). However, like everything else in life it is mostly, but not entirely, a black-and-white issue. Consider the case of Timothy McVeigh, who blew up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. Or of Jeffrey Dahmer, who murdered 17 young men and then dismembered...
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Open Mic: Finding Wings Within Uncertainty

By Marcia Singer, MSW There’s so much to feel insecure about in my 75th year. I’m no stranger to mishap. But I can either stay rooted in fear about what’s coming, dwell on past conditioning—or let go and surrender into the unknown with all the faith I can muster. For sure, living in fear, trying to control, manipulate or hang on...
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State Grant Awarded for Stinson Beach Project Sea Rise Adaptation

Marin County announced Monday it will receive a grant of nearly $400,000 from the state to create a plan to combat storm floods and erosion.
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State Officials Announce $6.6B Deal to Reopen Schools Statewide

School desks Unsplash
The package includes $2 billion in grants to support safety measures for students and educators returning to in-person classes.
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Judge Rules in Favor of Sausalito Homeless Encampment Residents

Dunphy Park, Marin County
A federal court judge issued a preliminary injunction on Monday preventing Sausalito from clearing a homeless encampment near Dunphy Park.
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Lawsuit Reveals New Allegations Against PG&E Contractor Accused of Fraud

Bay Area Concrete Recycling
PG&E has accused two of its former employees of accepting bribes to funnel business to a waste-hauling company after the Camp Fire.
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Culture Crush: February 2021 Closes Out with Virtual Events

Virtual Event Throughout February, the Marin County Free Library has hosted a slew of virtual events and other programming pertaining to Black History Month. This week, the library presents several more events, including “Food for the Soul: Black Experience in Marin,” which invites the public to hear a cross-generational panel discussion about living while Black in Marin. The online event...
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MarinMOCA Looks Back at M. Louise Stanley’s Life on Canvas

Artist and educator M. Louise Stanley—“Lulu” to her friends—captures the imagination and confronts social issues through a humorous storytelling style of art that has made her a Bay Area legend for half a century. Now, MarinMOCA in Novato is celebrating Stanley’s impressive body of work in a new retrospective exhibition, “M. Louise Stanley: No Regrets.” Drawing from 50 years of Stanley’s...
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Letters to the Editor: No More Filibusters

typewriter opinion newspaper
In his first few months as Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell has given us a preview of how Republicans will behave for the next four years. They will use every tool at their disposal, like the filibuster, to cling to power and stop progress. They used it to block civil rights legislation in the ’60s. They used it to...
Read more
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