Hero Zero

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Heroes

Hundreds of students from Venetia Valley Elementary School delivered cards, drawings and flowers to the Rodef Sholom campus in San Rafael last week. The gifts, shared in the aftermath of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre, carried comfort to the campus. The notes contained the sentiments “We Are with You” and “Kindness Is Everything.” Rodef Sholom said the visit from the Venetia Valley students was a true act of neighborliness and brought hope for their shared future.

The annual Homeless Outreach event, hosted by the Sausalito Police Department, provides the anchor-out and homeless communities with a variety of free services and supplies, including medical and dental care, lunch and clothing. Marin Mobile Care, a nonprofit operation, offers the use of a mobile shower trailer at the event. The police say the relaxed atmosphere helps foster communication between officers and attendees. Homeless Outreach takes place on Tuesday, Nov. 13, from 1:00pm to 3:30pm, at Marinship Park in Sausalito.

Zero

Erika Bodo submitted a zero about “people who sit in their cars with the engine running, burning fossil fuels and condemning us all to an earlier death.” While sitting in the parking lot outside Starbucks in Marin City last weekend, we watched a truck idle for 25 minutes. We wanted to call out the driver, but chickened out. But Erika did knock on the window of a guy sleeping in his car with his motor running, and asked why he was emitting CO2 without the benefit of motion. He said he was keeping the temperature inside the car at a comfortable level. It was 62 degrees outside. “I’m afraid there are people out there who don’t have enough of a science education to know that running a car is contributing to global warming,” says Erika. That’s optimistic. We’re afraid people just don’t care.

Got a Hero or a Zero? Please send submissions to ni***************@ya***.com. Toss roses, hurl stones with more Heroes and Zeroes at pacificsun.com.

Debt or Alive

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Debt or Alive

Conversations about debt and loan repayment are an all-too-familiar discussion when it comes to college—and especially for those who attend four-year universities these days. I graduated from the UC Santa Barbara this year, and now I’m living at home. My recently graduated friends have a game we play where we compare our ages when we’ll be debt-free.

With a little bit of luck, I will be 33 when I finish paying off my college loans, in 10 years. This is a rough estimate: I added two years to account for interest, and I calculated the pay-off in hopes I can continue to make payments above the minimum required—and this is on the condition I never defer a payment. Using my peers as a comparison, I will be the first to pay off my loans. It’s cold comfort.

A new analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that college graduates borrow, on average, $34,000 by the time they get out of school. The report also found that the total amount of student loans has risen from $300 billion to $1.1 trillion in the past decade. Students accept the debt because it comes with the promise of higher paying jobs and increased quality of life after graduating.

This promise is an empty shell of what was true for older generations.

Tuition rises and the cost of housing rises, but entry-level positions are still compensated with measly wages, and there are few resources to help graduates pay back debt.

The loans I’d taken out during my first years of school began to materialize this year in the form of $20,000 in debt. That’s why, in the months leading up to my graduation, I felt an imperative to make a career move. I considered my options. I wanted to go to graduate school, but taking a break from college to chisel away at my debt seemed more responsible than heaping another $30,000 a year onto it.

So I did what college graduates do: I scoured the internet for jobs, attended job fairs and spoke with advisors. Despite my internships and experience, I found no entry-level jobs that paid more than $15 an hour.

I expanded the search to include any and all jobs I was equipped to work, from public relations to accounting. Even when my experience made me a qualified candidate, the compensation was never enough to live on while also repaying my loans. The pressure to decide what to do with my future—and quickly!—felt like a suction cup slowly narrowing and collapsing in on itself.

Decisions about where and how to live plague me and my friends. Some are lucky enough to have parents who can supplement their incomes, and are able to pursue jobs within their desired field, despite the low wages (or, in some cases, nonexistent wages—looking at you, unpaid internships). Most of my friends take customer-service jobs in order to make the rent, and a handful have moved home.

I took a hit to my pride and decided the most financially sensible decision was to move home, and dutifully assumed my status as the broke college graduate.

I work as a waitress in Sebastopol, where I make three times what I make writing for my internship. Despite (because of?) a degree in political science, my previous experience writing for the local newspaper in Santa Barbara and my position as editor at my school magazine, finding a career that paid enough to sustain myself turned out to be an impossible assignment.

Perhaps this speaks to the particular field I would like to go into—writing—but the phenomenon is relevant to nearly all graduates outside of engineering and computer-science majors. I cite close friends as evidence. They have degrees ranging from accounting to environmental science to sociology. None has a job in their chosen field.

I’m not complaining. But I am trying to understand the value of higher education, and I’m trying to reconcile my definition of its value with society’s definition. Apparently, they’re not the same.

I love learning. I thrive on discussions that stretch my perspectives. I collect facts as a hobby. Education, to me, has intrinsic value. Yet society puts a value on that education at $34,000 a year—with the implied promise of a high-paying job in the future.

This is totally at odds with my experience job hunting. I’ve found that many employers use a college degree as a prerequisite for any job, often regard degrees as insufficient, and then pay the bare minimum. The dynamic is compounded regionally by the lack of affordable housing and those looming loan repayments that come due just as graduates are entering a very tight job market.

It’s unsustainable. More people have college degrees now than at any time in history, but the crippling reality increasingly lends credence to the idea that education as a means to achieve financial stability is a fool’s errand.

Aiyana Moya is a paid intern at the ‘Pacific Sun.’

Horoscope

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Horoscope

ARIES (March 21–April 19) In 1994, Aries pop diva Mariah Carey collaborated with an associate to write the song “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” It took them 15 minutes to finish it. Since then it has generated $60 million in royalties. I wish I could unconditionally predict that you, too, will efficiently spawn a valuable creation sometime soon. Current planetary alignments do indeed suggest that such a development is more possible than usual. But because I tend to be conservative in my prophecies, I won’t guarantee anything close to the $60 million figure. In fact, your reward may be more spiritual in nature than financial.

TAURUS (April 20–May 20) An interactive post at Reddit.com asked readers to write about “the most underrated feeling of all time.” One person said, “When you change the sheets on your bed.” Another extolled “the feeling that comes when you pay all your bills and you’ve still got money in the bank.” Others said, “dancing under the rain,” “physical contact like a pat on the back when you’re really touch-starved” and “listening to a song for the first time and it’s so good you just can’t stop smiling.” I bring this to your attention, Taurus, because I suspect that the next two weeks will bring you a flood of these pleasurable underrated feelings.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) “Beer makes you feel the way you ought to feel without beer,” wrote Gemini author Henry Lawson. Do you have any methods for making yourself feel like you’ve drunk a few beers that don’t involve drinking a few beers? If not, I highly recommend that you find at least one. It will be especially important in the coming weeks for you to have a way to alter, expand or purify your consciousness without relying on literal intoxicants or drugs. The goal: to leave your groove before it devolves into a rut.

CANCER (June 21–July 22) Study the following five failed predictions. 1. “There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom.”—Robert Miliham, Nobel laureate in physics, 1923. 2. “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.”—Western Union internal memo, 1876. 3. “Rail travel at high speeds is not possible because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia.”—Dionysius Lardner, scientist, 1830. 4. “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”—Ken Olson, president of Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977. 5. “Most Cancerians will never overcome their tendencies toward hypersensitivity, procrastination and fear of success.”—Lanira Kentsler, astrologer, 2018. (P.S.: What you do in the next 12 months could go a long way toward permanently refuting the last prediction.)

LEO (July 23–August 22) German scientists have created cochlear implants for gerbils that have been genetically modified, enabling the creatures to “listen” to light. The researchers’ work is ultimately dedicated to finding ways to improve the lives of people with hearing impairments. What might be the equivalent of you gaining the power to “hear light”? I understand that you might resist thinking this way. “That makes no sense,” you may protest, or “There’s no practical value in fantasizing about such an impossibility.” But I hope you’ll make the effort anyway. In my view, stretching your imagination past its limits is the healing you need most right now. I also think that doing so will turn out to be unexpectedly practical.

VIRGO (August 23–September 22) Here’s useful wisdom from the poet Rumi. “Our defects are the ways that glory gets manifested,” he said. “Keep looking at the bandaged place. That’s where the light enters you.” Playwright Harrison David Rivers interprets Rumi’s words to mean, “Don’t look away from your pain, don’t disengage from it, because that pain is the source of your power.” I think these perspectives are just what you need to meditate on, Virgo. To promote even more healing in you, I’ll add a further clue from poet Anna Kamienska: “Where your pain is, there your heart lies also.” (Rumi is translated by Coleman Barks; Kamienska by Clare Cavanagh.)

LIBRA (September 23–October 22) Artist David Hockney is proud of how undemanding he is toward his friends and associates. “People tell me they open my e-mails first,” he says, “because they aren’t demands and you don’t need to reply. They’re simply for pleasure.” He also enjoys giving regular small gifts. “I draw flowers every day and send them to my friends so they get fresh blooms.” Hockney seems to share the perspective expressed by author Gail Godwin, who writes, “How easy it was to make people happy, when you didn’t want or need anything from them.” In accordance with astrological omens, Libra, I suggest you have fun employing these approaches in the coming weeks.

SCORPIO (October 23–November 21) I am not currently a wanderer or voyager or entrepreneur or swashbuckler. But at other times in my life, I have had extensive experience with those roles. So I know secrets about how and why to be a wanderer and voyager and entrepreneur and swashbuckler. And it’s clear to me that in the coming weeks you could benefit in unforeseen ways from researching and embodying the roles of curious wanderer and brave voyager and savvy entrepreneur and prudent swashbuckler.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22–December 21) “The best thing one can do when it is raining is let it rain.” That brilliant formulation came from poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Does it seem so obvious as to not need mentioning? Bear with me while I draw further meaning from it, and suggest you use it as an inspiring metaphor in the coming weeks. When it rains, Sagittarius, let it rain; don’t waste time and emotional energy complaining about the rain. Don’t indulge in fruitless fantasizing about how you might stop the rain and how you’d love to stop the rain. In fact, please refrain from defining the rain as a negative event, because after all, it is perfectly natural, and is in fact crucial for making the crops grow and replenishing our water supply. (P.S.: Your metaphorical “rain” will be equally useful.)

CAPRICORN (December 22–January 19) “Every true love and friendship is a story of unexpected transformation,” writes activist and author Elif Shafak. “If we are the same person before and after we loved, that means we haven’t loved enough.” I bring this to your attention because you’re in a phase when your close alliances should be activating healing changes in your life. If for some reason your alliances are not yet awash in the exciting emotions of redemption and reinvention, get started on instigating experimental acts of intimacy.

AQUARIUS (January 20–February 18) I suspect you will be an especially arousing influence in the coming weeks. You may also be inspiring and disorienting, with unpredictable results. How many transformations will you unleash? How many expectations will you dismantle? How many creative disruptions will you induce in the midst of the daily grind? I hesitate to underestimate the messy beauty you’ll stir up or the rambunctious gossip you’ll provoke. In any case, I plan to be richly amused by your exploits, and I hope everyone else will be, as well. For best results, I will pray to the Goddess of Productive Fun, begging Her to ensure that the commotions and uproars you catalyze will be in service to love and kindness.

PISCES (February 19–March 20) Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson wasn’t always a wild and crazy writer. Early in his career he made an effort to compose respectable, measured prose. When he finally gave up on that project and decided he could “get away with” a more uninhibited style, he described it as being “like falling down an elevator shaft and landing in a pool full of mermaids.” I foresee a metaphorically comparable development in your future, Pisces.

Lights, Camera, Napa!

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Two movements have dominated discussions in 2018: gender equality and action over outrage, topics that reign at the Napa Valley Film Festival, running Nov. 7–11.

The NVFF, now in its eighth year, takes a stand with the #ArtInspiringAction initiative, where provocative, issue-based films amp up theatergoers to take action in support of themes explored in the films. One such documentary, This Changes Everything, features an army of A-list actresses who speak out on gender disparity in the entertainment industry. Actor, activist and producer Geena Davis (the main subject of the film), will be presented with the Visionary Award on Friday, following the screening. Davis will be honored for her work to further women’s rights and gender equality; as special envoy for the U.N.’s International Telecommunications Union, and through her nonprofit, the Geena Davis Institute.

On Saturday, a panel, Women in Film: Shattering the Glass Lens, will further extend the conversation around equality with a lineup of female filmmakers who will discuss their careers and ways we can band together to effect change in the industry.

Other #ArtInspiringAction programming includes Afghan Cycles, about a tribe of Afghan women who, despite cultural barriers, oppression and death threats, rally against the patriarchal hold of the Taliban for the freedom to ride a bicycle. Soufra follows the journey of Mariam al-Shaar, a generational refugee, who spent her whole life in a refugee camp in Lebanon. Over the course of the film, Shaar changes her fate when she builds a catering company and food truck with the help of fellow refugee women.

Ask for Jane tells the story of a group of college women who developed an underground abortion network to help over 11,000 women get illegal abortions in Chicago between 1969 and 1973. The film is based on the real-life activist group, the Janes, who operated a spy network to assist with abortions before they were arrested in 1972.

A bevy of Bay Area films hit the screen, including Uncrushable, directed by celebrity chef Tyler Florence. The film documents last year’s wildfires through the eyes of some of those most affected, including victims who lost homes or businesses, first responders, chefs and winemakers. Tails are sure to wag at the #ArtInspiringAction screening of Pick of the Litter, as theatergoers see a litter of puppies scrap it out on a quest to become guide dogs for the blind. The movie is directed by Bay Area filmmakers Don Hardy and Dana Nachman, and also screens in Stinson Beach this week.

With all the drama on and off screen, festival-goers can laugh it off at a sneak peek of the National Geographic miniseries Valley of the Boom (premiering January 2019). The two-episode screening explores the detonation and disruption of the tech boom and browser wars of the ’90s, weaving scripted dialogue and real-life segments. Bradley Whitford and Steve Zahn star.

Funny bones are sure to be flexed at Friday’s special tribute honoring the legendary Groundlings theater group, which launched comedic wunderkinds like Will Ferrell, Lisa Kudrow and Melissa McCarthy. Ferrell said this about his experience at last year’s fest, “I was just happy to be a part of the festival and do a little Q&A but to be honored as well,” Ferrell said about last year’s festival. “It’s great because in the comedy world, we don’t get a lot of awards. It’s nice to have your work recognized.” One of Groundlings’ founding members, Laraine Newman, is expected to attend alongside alums Cheri Oteri, Taran Killam, Stephanie Courtney and Julia Sweeney.

At Thursday’s Celebrity Tribute, actor, producer and director Laurence Fishburne will receive the Legendary Actor award, alongside Maverick Award recipient Billy Bob Thornton. Saturday’s Rising Star Showcase will honor up-and-coming talents, including Camila Mendes (Riverdale), Billy Magnussen (Game Night), Rosa Salazar (American Horror Story), Alexandra Shipp (X-Men: Apocalypse), Tye Sheridan (Tree of Life) and Taissa Farmiga (The Nun; What They Had).

Two new venues make their debut at this year’s NVFF. In Calistoga, theatergoers can get rolling at the drive-in theater at the Calistoga Fairgrounds, which will screen a daily double feature and sport 50 parking spots for cars and bleacher seating for 100, with enough throwback snacks to cure even the meanest case of the munchies.

The new Feast It Forward studio in Napa will host the Wednesday-night kick-off party and serve as the down valley hub, with a diverse programing and party scene that includes culinary demos, film inspired wine and food pairings, a filmmaker lounge and live music, all set within a happening indoor-outdoor space.—Christina Julian

Visit nvff.org for the full lineup.

Old School

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Old School

Orson Welles’ Other Side of the Wind is likely the most famous unfinished film ever, blighted with feuding producers and heirs, and shoots that continued over the course of some seven years. After paying off the participants (including the Shah of Iran’s brother) and satisfying all the parties who had a piece of it, and with money raised from everyone from producer Frank Marshall to a $1 million crowdfunding campaign, The Other Side of the Wind is now available from Netflix, in what the streaming service deems “an attempt to honor and complete [Welles’] vision.”

Director Jake Hannaford (John Huston as Welles’ alter ego) is found dead in a car crash the night after his wild birthday party in a desert mansion—a party crowded with old-time filmmakers, film-school poindexters and young flat-voiced groupies.

Hannaford was making a film within a film, which the studio was ready to pull the plug on. When we visit the set, with its bevy of topless hippie chicks, the shoot looks like crassness itself. But in the screenings, velvety images form, suffused with L.A. beachfront smog. Welles’ mistress (and co-writer), the dark, impassive Oja Kodar, reflects zero emotion as she strides around nude in this blue gloaming.

Welles being Welles, he gets into the spirit of the then-modish stuff he was satirizing in a bravura psychedelic orgy scene, all wet silk and ice cubes and violent carnival lights. Here’s what an Orson Welles soft-core porn film would have looked like—better than Radley Metzger or Russ Meyer.

Welles’ terminal vision of the studio era was contemporary with titles like The Last Picture Show and The Last Movie, whose directors, Peter Bogdanovich and Dennis Hopper, show up here for Hannaford’s last party.

The twilight of the Hollywood gods is embodied by Kodar, solitary, striped with shadows from the laths of ruined, wobbling backlot movie sets. In this evocative satirical drama, Welles demonstrates a last magic act. He was still ahead of his time even at the end of his career.

‘The Other Side of the Wind’ is now streaming on Netflix.

Ennui the People

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Ennui the People

I don’t know anyone who attends theater to reinforce a belief that life is simply a series of travails to be endured until the sweet release of death, but if you’re out there, have I got show for you. Birdbath Theatres is presenting Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya in a new adaptation by Jesse Brownstein, directed by David Abrams.

Vanya (Rob Garcia) and his niece, Sonya (Winona Wagner), manage the small estate of his late sister where they live with the family matriarch, Mariya (Molly Noble), an old family nurse (Shirley Nilsen Hall) and a guitar-playing family friend (Andrew Byars). The estate’s meager proceeds have gone to support his late sister’s husband Professor Serebryakov (Ray Martin) and his new trophy wife, Yelena (Claire Champommier).

A perpetually infirmed Serebryakov, after spending the summer at the estate, has come to a decision: he wishes to sell the estate to come up with enough money to purchase a nice retirement cottage in Finland for himself and his wife. What of the others who live there? Well, those details can be worked out later.

This infuriates Vanya, who’s already ticked off because Yelena, for whom he secretly pines, has shown affection for country doctor Astrov (Jesse Lumb), who has also caught the eye of the perpetually sad Sonya, who bemoans her looks. After two and a half hours, no one ends up with anyone, nothing is sold, and life drones on.

Abrams takes a minimalist approach to Chekhov’s look at the miserable lives of a turn-of-the-20th-century Russian family. There’s no set to speak of, and the action (I use that term loosely) often takes place at opposites sides of the small space, leaving many in the audience watching the play is if it were a tennis match.

It’s a well-acted production, however, with Garcia’s Vanya a cauldron of self-loathing who, after finally boiling over, returns to a state of eternal simmering. Lumb’s Dr. Astrov is the least dreary of the lot who, while filled with remorse about his life decisions, provides a welcome spark to the often-lethargic proceedings.

The play’s bleak tone is reinforced with some fine cello accompaniment by Diego Martínez Mendiola. Is there any sadder sound produced than that of the bowed chordophone?

Regret is the overriding theme of Uncle Vanya—the regret that comes when revisiting the decisions that define a life. I don’t regret the time I spent with the dispiriting Voinitsky family, but I don’t see the need to revisit them anytime soon.

 

‘Uncle Vanya’ runs Friday–Saturdays through Nov. 18 at the Belrose, 1415 Fifth Ave., San Rafael. Friday–Saturday, 7:30pm; Sunday, 2pm. $20–$28. 415.426.0269. birdbaththeatres.com.

Roster of Abuse

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Roster of Abuse

The law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates released a report last week that identified 26 Catholic clergymen in Marin, Napa and Sonoma counties with sexual-abuse histories.

The firm’s findings come as the California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has pledged to investigate childhood sexual-abuse charges in the Bay Area and the alleged cover-up by the Catholic Church.

A review of the firm’s thumbnail sketches of the 200-plus accused clergymen from the Bay Area may give insight into what the Boston Globe and the film Spotlight highlighted—that for decades, the Catholic Church dealt with its pedophilia problems by apparently shuffling sex-abusing clergy from one diocese to another. And it indicates that numerous California Catholic clergy sex abusers may have gotten away with their crimes because of a 2003 Supreme Court ruling that rejected a California attempt to retroactively eliminate statutes of limitations for certain sex crimes, including those perpetrated against minors.

Here are the clergy members of the Roman Catholic church who at one time or another were assigned to schools and churches in Marin or Sonoma counties, and who are alleged to have committed sexual assault against children, according to Anderson & Associates:

Marin County

• Msgr. Peter Gomez Armstrong, according to the law firm’s report, has been accused of sexually abusing at least one child. He worked at St. Vincent’s School for Boys in San Rafael between 1975 and 1979, and died in 2009.

• Fr. James W. Aylward was subject to a civil suit alleging sexual abuse against a minor, which the law firm reports was settled by the Archdiocese of San Francisco. After assignments to San Francisco, Millbrae, San Mateo, Washington, D.C., and Pacifica, Aylward arrived at St. Sylvester’s in San Rafael in 1990 and stayed on for five years. He was then sent to Burlingame for a few years and then to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Mill Valley from 1998 to 2000. His whereabouts are currently unknown, says the law firm report.

• Fr. Arthur Manuel Cunha was assigned to Our Lady of Loretto in Novato and served there between 1984 and 1986. He was absent on sick leave in 1986–87. From 1987 to 1989, his whereabouts were unknown, according to the law firm. He was absent on leave again from 1989 to 1991, and his whereabouts have been unknown since then. The law firm reports that Cunha was “arrested in 1986, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to 60 days in jail and four months of counseling in connection with sexually abusing two boys.” He’s been named in multiple civil lawsuits.

• Fr. Sidney J. Custodio was assigned to St. Raphael’s Church in San Rafael in 1955; sex-crime allegations against him were lodged while he worked at St. Gregory in San Mateo County. According to the law firm, his whereabouts have been unknown since 1975.

• Fr. Pearse P. Donovan was assigned to Marin Catholic High School in San Rafael from 1953 to 1955, and allegations of sexual abuse against him were levied when he later worked at St. Clement in Hayward. He’s been named in at least one civil lawsuit, reports Anderson & Associates. He died in 1986.

• Msgr. Charles J. Durkin is reported to have retired in 2002, “a month after the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office requested 75 years worth of church records related to abuse allegations,” reports Anderson. He worked at St. Sebastian’s in San Rafael in 1962, and lived at the Nazareth House in San Rafael after he retired in 2003. He died in 2006 and was the subject of an accusation of sexual assault that occurred while he was at the Star of the Sea in San Francisco, where he served from 1956 to 1961, and again from 1996 to 2003.

• Fr. Arthur Harrison was charged with criminally abusing a 10-year-old when he was assigned to Our Lady of Loretto in Novato, in 1960. The case was dismissed because of the statute of limitation, but the Diocese of San Jose lists Harrison as a clergy-member “with credible allegations of sexual abuse of children,” according to the law firm report. He died in 2006.

• Msgr. John. P. Heaney served from 1971 to 1974 at Marin Catholic High School in Kentfield, and again at St. Rita’s in Fairfax from 1974 1979, according to the firm. Allegations against Heaney arose while he was the SFPD chaplain between 1976 and 2002, and he was criminally charged, in 2002, with multiple felony counts of child abuse that were dropped because the statute of limitations had run out. He died in 2010.

• The Rev. Gregory G. Ingels got his start as a clergyman at Marin Catholic High School in Kentfield in 1970 and was also assigned to St. Isabella’s church in San Rafael in 1982. “Multiple survivors have come forward alleging sexual abuse” by Ingels from 1972 to 1977, reports the Anderson law firm, while he was at the Kentfied school. He too was criminally charged with child sexual abuse, but the charges were dropped owing to the 2003 Supreme Court ruling. His whereabouts since 2011 are unknown, says the law firm.

• Fr. Daniel T. Keohane was assigned to St. Anthony of Padua, in Novato, from 2006 to 2009; a sexual-abuse allegation was made against him for activities he allegedly committed while he was at the Church of the in San Francisco in the 1970s. The San Francisco diocese deemed the allegations credible, as it recommended further investigation. He took a leave of absence in 2015 and his whereabouts since then are unknown, reports the law firm.

• Fr. Jerome Leach served at St. Patrick’s Church in Larkspur from 1980 to 1983 and the Anderson report notes that he was alleged to have committed sex crimes there and at All Souls in San Francisco. In 2002, he was arrested and charged with child sexual abuse, but again, the statute of limitations had run out.

• Fr. Guy Anthony Mrunig spent his career as a clergyman at St. Sebastian’s in Kenfield-Greenbrae from 1971 to 1973; at Marin Catholic High School in Kentfield from 1972 to 1978; and at the Serra Club of Marin County from 1973 to 1977. The report says that multiple survivors have come forward alleging sexual abuse while he was at Marin Catholic in Kentfield. He reportedly left the priesthood to marry a former student from the high school and his whereabouts since 1979 are unknown, says the law firm.

• Msgr. John O’Connor was placed on leave by the Archdiocese of San Francisco in 2002 “after it received an allegation of improper contact with a boy occurring more than thirty years ago,” the law firm reports. During his career, he was mostly assigned to churches in San Francisco, but was at St. Isabella’s in San Rafael between 1964 and 1971. He was “absent on leave” between 2005 and his death in 2013.

• Fr. Miles O’Brien Riley was assigned to St Raphael’s in San Rafael from 1964 to 1968 and also worked as a chaplain at San Quentin State Prison during that time. He was accused of sexually abusing a girl when she was 16, and the Anderson & Associates document notes that the Archdiocese of San Francisco permitted Riley to retire quietly in 2003.

• Fr. John Schwartz was ordained in 1981 and, after assignments in Oregon, wound up at St. Anselm’s in Ross in 2004–06. No further information is provided by the Anderson report on allegations against Schwartz, whose whereabouts since 2012 are unknown, says the law firm.

• Fr. Kevin F. Tripp was ordained in 1968 and spent much of his career in Massachusetts, where, in 2002 the district attorney in Fall River released a list of priests under investigation for sexual abuse, and Tripp was on the list, according to the law firm. The Massachusetts district attorney’s finding alleged that there were two persons who had been victimized by Tripp. The law firm determined that as of 2003, and according to a San Francisco Faith newsletter, Tripp was the executive director of the Marin Interfaith Council in San Rafael.

• Fr. Milton T. Walsh’s first clergy assignment was at Our Lady of Loretto in Novato before heading to Rome to get his doctorate in 1982. He reportedly returned to Novato on a break from his studies, “where he allegedly sexually abused a boy whose family he had grown close with during his time working at Our Lady of Loretto,” reads the law firm report; he was at Loretto between 1978 and 1980. Walsh was arrested for the sexual assault in 2002 after being caught in a Novato police-department telephone sting where he admitted to the sexual abuse of a minor—but the charges were dropped. Yes, the statute of limitations case, again. His whereabouts since 2015? Unknown, says the law firm.

Sonoma County

• Br./Fr. Donald W. Eagleson’s abuse charges stem from a 1971 incident while he was a Brother of the Holy Cross and allegedly sexually abused a youth. He was assigned to St. Vincent de Paul in Petaluma between 1986 and 1987. In 2002, he was assigned to Sacred Heart Church in Eureka, where another abuse allegation arose regarding his 1971 activities. He was at Nazareth House in San Rafael in 2004 when, the law firm reports, he died.

• Fr. J. Patrick Foley was identified last month, by the San Diego diocese he served in for decades, as a likely candidate to have committed sexual abuse against minors. After a 1991 leave of absence from the San Diego diocese, he arrived at Christian Brothers High School in Sacramento for a few years before landing in the Santa Rosa diocese, according to the law firm. He was suspended in 2010 and his whereabouts since 2015 have been unknown, reports the law firm.

• Br. Joseph (Jesse) Gutierrez-Cervantes was hired as a contract psychologist at Hanna Boys Center in Sonoma in 1984 and was fired two years later “after sexual misconduct allegations surfaced” that Gutierrez had sexually abused boys during therapy sessions. According to the Anderson report, his current whereabouts, clerical status and whether he has access to children are unknown.

• Fr. Austin Peter Keegan “has been accused of sexually abusing at least 80 children and has been named in at least one civil lawsuit. Keegan’s abuses are alleged to have started in the 1960s when he worked for the Archdiocese of San Francisco and the Diocese of Santa Rosa, where he served from 1977 to 1979. He was at St. Eugene’s Cathedral in Santa Rosa from 1980 to 1981, but the law firm reports his whereabouts have been unknown since then.

Advise Goddess

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Q: A man asked me for my number at an event, saying he wanted to take me to dinner. I told him I’d just ended a relationship and wasn’t ready to date. Of course, he then said it’d be a business dinner, and I consented and wrote my number down. I feel that I had bad boundaries and wish (a) he hadn’t been so forward and (b) I hadn’t given my number. How could I handle this better in the future? I’m a pretty assertive woman, so my collapsing under pressure was disturbing.—Jell-O

A: This is like your telling somebody who wants you to dog-sit, “Sorry, I’m allergic to dogs” and having her come back with “Actually, he identifies as a parrot.”

There are five major domains of personality that drive how a person acts, and they tend to be fairly stable across time and situations. These include conscientiousness—which reflects a person’s level of self-control and sense of responsibility to others. Another is extroversion—reflecting where a person falls on a spectrum from outgoingness to seeing social events as a form of torture. Researchers find that women across cultures consistently come out higher than men in one of these personality domains: “agreeableness.” This is a “nice girl/nice guy” personality trait that plays out in kindness, generosity warmth and a strong motivation to have positive interactions with others. Psychologist Joyce Benenson, who researches sex differences from infancy on, believes that women’s tendency to default to polite acquiescence in the face of conflict is an evolved tactic to reduce their chances of being physically harmed.

It’s likely that, as a woman, you’re a high scorer in the agreeableness department. However, as anthropologist Jerome Barkow points out, “biology is destiny only if we ignore it.” Recognizing your propensity to be “nice” allows you to preplan and have prepared answers for creative pursuers like this guy. For example: 1. You’re not ready to date. 2. You’re happy to take a phone call to see whether there might be a business opportunity. This should help you separate potentially lucrative business propositions from tarted-up versions of “There’s a very important meeting you simply must attend—in my pants.”

Q: I lost a bunch of weight after a horrible breakup. I’m eating healthful food now—yay. But I’m very aware that I’m one of those flabby skinny people. I used to go to the gym regularly, but I stopped, and now it’s been two years. How can I motivate myself?—Stick Figure

A: There is an unorthodox but excuse-proof way to get yourself back to the gym: Hire a psychopath to chase you there with an axe. If, however, the psychopaths in your area are busy servicing their regular clients, you might try rethinking the power you give your feelings over your behavior. The fact that you have a feeling—“Waah . . . I don’t wanna go to the gym”—is no reason to listen to it and obey it as if you were its feudal serf.

Consider that unless there’s a national disaster or a wizard turns you into a decorative porch owl, you are physically capable of getting to the gym. Make a pledge to yourself that no matter how unmotivated you are to go there, you will just go. Giving yourself no choice in the matter, is important, because according to studies by psychologist Phillippa Lally, and others, repetition leads to habit acquisition—behaviors you repeat become automatic.

To kick off the campaign for the new gym-going you, do this robo-gym-going thing every day for two weeks, and then you can pull back to whatever your normal gym schedule would be. Give yourself a sense of accomplishment by monitoring your behavior. Check off days you go work out on a goal attainment app, or just color them in on a calendar. Giving yourself visual evidence of your progress should help you stay motivated during that time period before the physical results start to show. Kind of a bummer when you tell people you’ve been going to the gym and their response is, “And doing 20 sets of I’m not getting out of this car?”

Awakened in Art

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Awakened in Art

Like surrealism, the political-art movement opposing totalitarianism in the aftermath of the horrors of WWI, the power of art and dreaming in these turbulent times holds the possibility for social change.

Last week, less than a month before the 2018 midterm elections, a cadre of Northern California artists shared their art and held a dialogue to raise awareness about U.S. domestic and foreign policies in the month-long mixed-media exhibition “Wake-Up! The Political Power of Art and Dreams,” held at the Claudia Chapline Gallery in Stinson Beach on Oct. 28, that now continues online.

Works in that show included Flag of Death, created by artist and gallery owner Claudia Chapline, which graphically depicts the reality of U.S. foreign policy. Chapline says the piece came from a dream she had on March 11, 2006, the third anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

“I was standing on a ladder painting a large [American] flag,” says Chapline of the dream. “The stars resembled exploding bombs; the stripes, missiles. A skeleton’s head emerged from the war machinery. When I awoke the next day, I sketched the flag in my journal, and then I made a small painting from the drawing/dream.

“For me, the flag painting symbolizes the discrepancy between American ideals and manifest American policy,” says Chapline.

Santa Rosa artist Marsha Connell’s “Dream Vessels” collage works, featuring landscapes spiked with light, were inspired by dreams Connell had a month after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. She dreamt that women writers, artists and poets were brought to observe preparations for the first Persian Gulf War when a voice boomed out, “The women soldiers will go first!”

“I felt a distress so profound there were no words for it,” Connell says.

A friend suggested the dream meant the artist was to bear witness, and the collages became her way to communicate and begin a healing process that ultimately brought her peace.

She calls the collages “Dream Vessels,” because each dreamlike picture contains a vessel. “The vessel offers the possibility of transformation, hope and reconciliation of opposites,” she says.

In “They Never Stood a Chance,” a seven-foot-tall installation inspired by a dream, artist Jennifer Lugris envisions a metaphor for the North Korean government’s treatment of its people.

“When I was a child, I watched my parents stack receipts on a paper spike at their dry cleaning business,” remembers Lugris, a first-generation American. “In mid-2017, I started having a recurring dream about life-sized paper spikes, except instead of paper, clothing was spiked through and stacked tall, towering over me,” says Lugris.

“As I walk through and around the installation, I am reminded of the lives of my North Korean family, and I continue dreaming of the day the border will open and we will reunite.”

Joyce Lynn is founder and editor-in-chief of Plum Dreams Media. See works from ‘Wake-Up! The Political Power of Art and Dreams’ at plumdreamsmedia.com.

 

Horoscope

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ARIES (March 21–April 19) You have officially arrived at the heart of the most therapeutic phase of your cycle. Congratulations! It’s an excellent time to fix what’s wrong, hurt or distorted. You will attract more help than you can imagine if you summon an aggressive approach toward finding antidotes and cures. A good way to set the tone for your aggressive determination to feel better is to heed this advice from poet Maya Angelou: “Take a day to heal from the lies you’ve told yourself and the ones that have been told to you.”

TAURUS (April 20–May 20) U2’s singer Bono, born under the sign of Taurus, says that all of us suffer from the sense that something’s missing from our lives. We imagine that we lack an essential quality or experience, and its absence makes us feel sad and insufficient. French philosopher Blaise Pascal referred to this emptiness as “a God-shaped hole.” Bono adds that “you can never completely fill that hole,” but you may find partial fixes through love and sex, creative expression, family, meaningful work, parenting, activism and spiritual devotion. I bring this to your attention, Taurus, because I have a strong suspicion that in the coming weeks you will have more power to fill your God-shaped hole than you’ve had in a long time.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) “Most of our desires are clichés, right? Ready to wear, one size fits all. I doubt if it’s even possible to have an original desire anymore.” So says a character in Gemini author Tobias Wolff’s short story “Sanity.” Your assignment in the coming weeks, Gemini, is to refute and rebel against this notion. The cosmic rhythms will work in your favor to the degree that you cultivate innovative yearnings and unique urges. I hope you’ll make it your goal to have the experiences necessary to stir up an outbreak of original desires.

CANCER (June 21–July 22) If you’re a typical member of the Cancerian tribe, you’re skilled at responding constructively when things go wrong. Your intelligence rises up hot and strong when you get sick or rejected or burned. But if you’re a classic Crab, you have less savvy in dealing with triumphs. You may sputter when faced with splashy joy, smart praise or lucky breaks. But everything I just said is meant to be a challenge, not a curse. One of the best reasons to study astrology is to be aware of the potential shortcomings of your sign so you can outwit and overcome them. That’s why I think that eventually you’ll evolve to the point where you won’t be a bit flustered when blessings arrive. And the immediate future will bring you excellent opportunities to upgrade your response to good fortune.

LEO (July 23–August 22) “Each of us needs something of an island in his life,” said author John C. Keats. “If not an actual island, at least some place, or space in time, in which to be herself, free to cultivate his differences from others.” According to my reading of the astrological omens, Leo, you’ll be wise to spend extra time on your own island in the next two weeks. Solitude is unlikely to breed unpleasant loneliness, but will instead inspire creative power and evoke inner strength. If you don’t have an island yet, go in search!

VIRGO (August 23–September 22) I’m rooting for you to engage in experimental intimacy, Virgo. I hope you’ll have an affinity for sweet blends and incandescent mixtures and arousing juxtapositions. To get in the right mood for this playful work, you could read love poetry and listen to uplifting songs that potentize your urge to merge. Here are a few lyrical passages to get you warmed up. (1) “Your flesh quivers against mine like moonlight on the sea.”—Julio Cortázar. (2) “When she smiles like that she is as beautiful as all my secrets.”—Anne Carson. (3) “My soul is alight with your infinitude of stars . . . The flowers of your garden blossom in my body.”—Rabindranath Tagore. (4) “I can only find you by looking deeper, that’s how love leads us into the world.”—Anne Michaels.

LIBRA (September 23–October 22) Of course I want you to have more money. I’d love for you to buy experiences that expand your mind, deepen your emotional intelligence and foster your ability to create inspiring forms of togetherness. My soul would celebrate if you got access to new wealth that enabled you to go in quest of spiritual fun and educational adventures. On the other hand, I wouldn’t be thrilled about you spending extra cash on trivial desires or fancy junk you don’t really need. Here’s why I feel this way: to the extent that you seek more money to pursue your most righteous cravings, you’re likely to get more money.

SCORPIO (October 23–November 21) “Penetralia” is a word that means the innermost or most private parts, the most secret and mysterious places. It’s derived from the same Latin term that evolved into the word “penetrate.” You Scorpios are of course the zodiac’s masters of penetralia. More than any other sign, you’re likely to know where the penetralia are, as well as how to get to them and what to do when you get to them. I suspect that this tricky skill will come in extra handy during the coming weeks. I bet your intimate adeptness with penetralia will bring you power, fun and knowledge.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22–December 21) Sagittarian poet Rainer Maria Rilke suggested that we cultivate an alertness for the ever-present possibility of germination and gestation. On a regular basis, he advised, we should send probes down into the darkness, into our unconscious minds, to explore for early signs of awakening. And when we discover the forces of renewal stirring there in the depths, we should be humble and reverent toward them, understanding that they are as-yet beyond the reach of our ability to understand. We shouldn’t seek to explain and define them at first, but simply devote ourselves to nurturing them. Everything I just said is your top assignment in the coming weeks.

CAPRICORN (December 22–January 19) You’re in a phase of your cycle when your influence is at a peak. People are more receptive than usual to your ideas and more likely to want the same things you do. Given these conditions, I think the best information I can offer you is the following meditation by Capricorn activist Martin Luther King Jr. “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.”

AQUARIUS (January 20–February 18) Aquarian environmentalist Edward Abbey spent much of his life rambling around in the great outdoors. He was an emancipated spirit who regarded the natural world as the only church he needed. In an eruption of ecstatic appreciation, he once testified that “life is a joyous dance through daffodils beneath cerulean blue skies and then, then what? I forget what happens next.” And yet the truth is, Abbey was more than a wild-hearted Dionysian explorer in the wilderness. He found the discipline and diligence to write 23 books! I mention this, Aquarius, because now is a perfect time for you to be like the disciplined and diligent and productive version of Abbey.

PISCES (February 19–March 20) For renowned Piscean visual artist Anne Truitt (1921–2004), creating her work was high adventure. She testified that artists like her had “to catapult themselves wholly, without holding back one bit, into a course of action without having any idea where they will end up. They are like riders who gallop into the night, eagerly leaning on their horse’s neck, peering into a blinding rain.” Whether or not you’re an artist, Pisces, I suspect your life in the coming weeks may feel like the process she described. And that’s a good thing! A fun thing! Enjoy your ride.

Hero Zero

Heroes Hundreds of students from Venetia Valley Elementary School delivered cards, drawings and flowers to the Rodef Sholom campus in San Rafael last week. The gifts, shared in the aftermath of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre, carried comfort to the campus. The notes contained the sentiments “We Are with You” and “Kindness Is Everything.” Rodef Sholom said the visit from the...
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Debt or Alive

Conversations about debt and loan repayment are an all-too-familiar discussion when it comes to college—and especially for those who attend four-year universities these days. I graduated from the UC Santa Barbara this year, and now I’m living at home. My recently graduated friends have a game we play where we compare our ages when we’ll be debt-free. With a little...
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Horoscope

ARIES (March 21–April 19) In 1994, Aries pop diva Mariah Carey collaborated with an associate to write the song “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” It took them 15 minutes to finish it. Since then it has generated $60 million in royalties. I wish I could unconditionally predict that you, too, will efficiently spawn a valuable creation sometime...
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Lights, Camera, Napa!

Two movements have dominated discussions in 2018: gender equality and action over outrage, topics that reign at the Napa Valley Film Festival, running Nov. 7–11. The NVFF, now in its eighth year, takes a stand with the #ArtInspiringAction initiative, where provocative, issue-based films amp up theatergoers to take action in support of themes explored in the films. One such documentary,...
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Old School

Orson Welles’ Other Side of the Wind is likely the most famous unfinished film ever, blighted with feuding producers and heirs, and shoots that continued over the course of some seven years. After paying off the participants (including the Shah of Iran’s brother) and satisfying all the parties who had a piece of it, and with money raised from...
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Ennui the People

I don’t know anyone who attends theater to reinforce a belief that life is simply a series of travails to be endured until the sweet release of death, but if you’re out there, have I got show for you. Birdbath Theatres is presenting Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya in a new adaptation by Jesse Brownstein, directed by David Abrams. Vanya (Rob...
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Roster of Abuse

The law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates released a report last week that identified 26 Catholic clergymen in Marin, Napa and Sonoma counties with sexual-abuse histories. The firm’s findings come as the California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has pledged to investigate childhood sexual-abuse charges in the Bay Area and the alleged cover-up by the Catholic Church. A review of the firm’s...
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Advise Goddess

Q: A man asked me for my number at an event, saying he wanted to take me to dinner. I told him I’d just ended a relationship and wasn’t ready to date. Of course, he then said it’d be a business dinner, and I consented and wrote my number down. I feel that I had bad boundaries and wish...
Read more

Awakened in Art

Like surrealism, the political-art movement opposing totalitarianism in the aftermath of the horrors of WWI, the power of art and dreaming in these turbulent times holds the possibility for social change. Last week, less than a month before the 2018 midterm elections, a cadre of Northern California artists shared their art and held a dialogue to raise awareness about U.S....
Read more

Horoscope

ARIES (March 21–April 19) You have officially arrived at the heart of the most therapeutic phase of your cycle. Congratulations! It’s an excellent time to fix what’s wrong, hurt or distorted. You will attract more help than you can imagine if you summon an aggressive approach toward finding antidotes and cures. A good way to set the tone for...
Read more
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