It was an interesting, observable irony: As the North Bay fires burned, tree trimmers under contract with PG&E were noticeably active around the region.
In late October, trucks from the Davey Tree Expert Company (Davey) were spotted hard at work around West Marin and in places like far-flung and fire-sensitive Bolinas, cutting branches away from power lines, while smoke from Sonoma County still lingered in Hicks Valley.
The flurry of tree-trimming activity late in fire season was undertaken while firefighters from as far away as Australia battled the blazes, while no firefighters drove north from Bolinas to pitch in, given what one firefighter described recently (before the rains arrived) as “the tinderbox conditions” locally. So, shouldn’t the trees be trimmed before fire season, and not while fires are actually burning?
State law requires that PG&E, an investor-owned company and the largest utility company in the state, maintain a buffer zone of 18 inches to 8 feet between tree branches and its power lines (the buffer space depends on the voltage of the power lines). The company does this through its Vegetation Management Program. Yet it appeared that the company had some catching up to do on that front in late October, at least in West Marin. Davey provides tree-trimming services in Marin, Sonoma and Napa counties under its contract with PG&E.
Davey, an employee-owned company based in Kent, Ohio, with business throughout the United States, says the regional tree-trimming work is on schedule under the terms of its four-year contract with PG&E, which runs through December 2019.
“Routine work schedules for 2017 are proceeding as planned with the assigned local crews,” says Davey spokeswoman Jennifer Lennox in response to an inquiry about the apparent recent uptick in tree-trimming activities in West Marin. “Davey has provided additional resources from outside of the Marin/Sonoma/Napa operations,” she adds, “to assist in power restoration in the fire areas.”
If, as Joe Biden likes to say, the past is indeed prologue, then tree-trimming activities in the North Bay will likely come into sharper focus in coming months as questions about accountability are sorted out by Cal Fire investigators, plaintiff’s lawyers and civil juries.
PG&E-contracted tree trimmers, including Davey, have been roped in on previous lawsuits centered on wildfires and power lines as recently as 2015.
A lawsuit filed on behalf of victims of the 2015 Butte fire in Amador County against PG&E and Trees Inc. claims the utility and its contractor were negligent in tree-trimming activities, and that the fire started when power lines came into contact with a tree.
Davey has been caught up in at least one fire-related lawsuit brought against the utility. The U.S. Forest Service sued PG&E and Davey for their role in the 2008 Whiskey fire in Mendocino National Forest, when branches from a gray pine tree that were 2 feet from power lines ignited and burned some 5,000 acres at a cost of $5 million, according to Forest Service documents.
PG&E, Davey and a second contractor, ACRT Inc., were ordered to pay $5.5 million, split among the parties, all of whom denied any liability for the fire even as they agreed to the settlement.
As for the recent fires, which dwarf the Whiskey and Butte fires in their scale and damage, PG&E has already been sued in state superior court by dozens of burned-out residents for its alleged role in the fires. But Davey is so far not a part of the public chain of accountability stemming from the North Bay fires—even as local radio stations are heavy with advertising from plaintiff’s law firms who say inadequate attention to tree trimming played a role in the historic October fires.
Lennox confirms that the company “does provide vegetation services in the Marin, Sonoma and Napa areas and has supported PG&E with maintaining tree clearances in accordance with California law and [California Public Utility Commission] regulations.”
Is it possible that the brutal and drought-busting winter of 2016–17 had any impact on Davey’s tree-trimming activities this summer and fall? “Any impacts to the routine schedule were minimal as a result of the 2017 storms,” says Lennox, “and did not impact tree-trimming activities.”
As the fires raged, PG&E immediately emerged as the leading contender in the blame game, driven by deeply reported articles on the utility giant from the Los Angeles Times and the Bay Area News Group. The sum of the reporting is that high winds combined with inadequate, under-regulated PG&E infrastructure and a California Public Utilities Commission stacked with Gov. Jerry Brown appointees eager to bend to the will of the utility when it comes to costly fire-hazard regulations and designations, led to the fire.
If—as those leading California news organizations have been strongly implying for a month—PG&E is found liable in any way for the fires, what would that mean for its regional go-to tree trimmer? That remains to be seen, but for the time being, Lennox stresses that “Davey has received no claims to date, and we understand Cal Fire is investigating the origins and causes of the fires.”
PG&E has pushed back against any claim of responsibility for the fires and, as has been widely reported, filed a motion in San Francisco Superior Court last week which claimed that third-party, private power lines were the culprit behind the Tubbs fire. The Tubbs inferno was the most destructive in the series of fires that broke out on Oct. 8 and killed 42.
In the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) report filed Oct. 13, the company noted that “since October 8, 2017, several catastrophic wildfires have started and remain active in Northern California. The causes of these fires are being investigated by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), including the possible role of power lines and other facilities of Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (the ‘Utility’), a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation. It currently is unknown whether the Utility would have any liability associated with these fires.”
The total of North Bay fire damage is estimated in the $5 billion to $6 billion range. It’s the most costly wildfire in state history. PG&E maintains about $800 million in liability insurance, according to an SEC report it filed in mid-October. That’s a potential $4.2 to $5.2 billion gap in its insurance protection against lawsuits.
“If the amount of insurance is insufficient to cover the Utility’s liability or if insurance is otherwise unavailable, PG&E Corporation’s and the Utility’s financial condition or results of operations could be materially affected,” the company notes in its SEC filing. Whether any of that potential liability bleeds down to Davey remains to be seen. In the meantime, Davey is halfway through its latest, four-year tree-services contract with PG&E, which was implemented in 2016 and runs through December 2019. Davey workers themselves have separate labor agreements throughout the state with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1245. Those agreements set the working conditions and wages for Davey workers, says J. V. Mancour, business representative for IBEW 1245 in Sonoma County.
“We try to get the best wages and working conditions for our working folks, and provide the best professional workforce,” Mancour says.
Beyond that, it’s up to Davey to deploy the workers at the bequest of PG&E. Lennox says the company is in negotiations over a new contract with IBEW 1245 which will “amend the terms effective January 1, 2018.”
The contracts don’t cover the number of hours the Davey crews work, or where the work is undertaken. That’s the purview of PG&E through its contract with Davey. “Unfortunately, we don’t control how much work they get,” says Mancour. “That’s done by the employer.”
PG&E did not respond to the Pacific Sun’s inquiries for comment by press time.
Stephen J. Pyne is a regents professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University, and one of America’s foremost experts on fire and fire history. He is the author of more than 30 books, including Between Two Fires: A Fire History of Contemporary America and Fire in America: A Cultural History of Wildland and Rural Fire, which won the Forest History Society’s Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Book Award. He has twice been awarded National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships, twice been a fellow at the National Humanities Center and received a MacArthur fellowship. Before his academic career, Pyne worked for the forest fire crew on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon for 15 seasons.
I spoke to him on October 27 about the lessons of Northern California’s fires and the opportunities that lie ahead. We have to act quickly, he says.
“There is a political ecology to fires, and it’s the same as slash-and-burn agriculture,” he told me. “That is to say, you can plant successfully in the ash, but if you wait a year, you probably can’t. And if you wait two years, the weeds have taken over and you have to start it again. You have essentially six to 12 months, or the opportunity is gone.”
Stett Holbrook: What struck you most about Northern California’s fires?
Stephen J. Pyne: There were three things that really caught my interest. One, of course, is the scale of damage. This is double the housing loss from the Oakland fire [of 1991], which most people had considered the upper limit of what was possible. And the loss of life—we haven’t seen this scale of loss of life for more than a century.
The second thing is what we might call the collateral damage of fire: Smoke. Smoke has been of growing interest internationally for many years. And for the last couple of years, it’s really gotten around in the fire community that smoke is more than just an inevitable side effect; it’s a public health issue. It’s more than just a seasonal nuisance. It’s not something that just affects rural or semi-rural communities. It really is a major issue.
The third is the likely cause, which seems to be power lines. When I first heard of this whole bust of fires, I thought, “This is the signature of an electrical storm. This is what you have with lightning storms.” It’s not confirmed, but it’s looking like this was an electrical storm—but one of our own making, with power lines. Power line fires are becoming a major threat. They have been an issue in Southern California for a long time and in other places. We are starting to see power lines failing, sparking, trees falling on them. It’s really insidious because the fires start under the absolute worst conditions: High, dry winds. The liability issues are just going to go through the roof here.
Have we entered a new era of fire in California?
I don’t think we’ve entered a new era. In some ways it’s the same era. The “California style” of fire escalated after the World War II housing boom. This is more of the same. What we’re seeing is a ratcheting up of the damages. Climate change is probably contributing here, but we can’t just lay all of this on climate change. That’s just a way of evading all the social decisions we’ve made about how we live and where we build. Fire integrates all these things. It’s good news, bad news. It’s good news that it’s not something new. The bad news is we’ve seen this over and over again. It’s getting worse. It’s intensifying.
What are the lessons from the Oakland fire?
That was a real stunner. The United States had not had an urban conflagration since it happened across the bay in 1906. These things don’t happen anymore, and so why was it happening here? A lot of the attention went to Oakland as a kind of troubled municipality. In many ways, that was just a manifestation of its various pathologies, and it doesn’t really generalize [to other fires]. This was not the advent of something new. It’s just a peculiar thing. It was a horrific event. Startling. But for most people, it did not generalize.
But I think with what we’re seeing now maybe with Santa Rosa, I think it will [generalize], particularly if you pair it with Gatlinburg, Tennessee, or the big fires in Texas in 2011 and others.
These fires were for a long time a California quirk, something only happening on the Left Coast. And it really didn’t have anything to do with the rest of the county. And that’s not true now. It’s becoming a national narrative. It’s all over the West. I think what we’re seeing now is the fires are going where the houses are. At that point, it’s a national story.
How did the Oakland fire change fire policy—or not?
There were some lessons from not just Oakland but the growing number of these fires in Southern California and elsewhere. The state had moved to map high-risk areas and put in some general zoning and coding requirements, but clearly they were inadequate. The problem is people really hate to be told what they can and can’t do on their property or with their house. They want to build what they want to build the way they want to build it. But fire is a contagion phenomenon. Your neighbor’s house is a threat to you. Fire is not libertarian; it’s communal. It integrates its surroundings. We can’t all go off on our own.
I don’t know if many changes were made, and even if they were, they only apply to new construction. What about 40 or 50 years of bad construction? You’re talking about a trillion-dollar retrofit. That’s not going to happen. It’s a social problem, but at some point, you may just have to crack the whip. Not doing these things is like not vaccinating anymore.
How has Cal Fire’s role changed in California?
Cal Fire was originally a board of forestry. And then it was a department of forestry. And then it was a division of forestry and fire protection. And now it’s just Cal Fire. It’s a suppression organization, it’s an urban firefighting service in the woods. They’re really good at doing that. But the way you controlled fires historically in cities was not just by having more hydrants and fire engines; it was building codes and by zoning and building fire protection into the cityscape.
And when you convert what are basically land-management agencies or fire agencies that had responsibility for managing that larger land, when you turn them into only a firefighting system, you lose control over the countryside. And that’s where fire derives its power. The power of fire comes from the power to spread. And the power to spread resides in the countryside. The way you control is to take away some of the power so it doesn’t blow up on you.
So every time we have one of these big fires, the natural response is we’ve got to protect our people, and we’ve got to protect these houses from being burnt. And we do, absolutely. But that tends to come at the expense of everything else. What about the other sides of this?
What is the best defense against fire in a place like Santa Rosa?
There has been a national effort mandated by an act of Congress in 2009 called the FLAME Act that aimed to fix fire funding at the federal level. It didn’t work because Congress never put in the money the act required. It did require fire agencies to create something called [the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy]. There’s no money behind this, but they came up with a three-part strategy and it’s pretty sound.
You need to adapt it locally, but one part was to build “fire-adapted communities.” Many, many of our communities outside of New England are in fire-prone areas and can burn, and we need to accept that fact and build our cities and build our suburbs with that expectation in mind. This is a chance to rethink what fire means in those communities and to accept that urban conflagrations are now back. It’s like measles or polio coming back. We thought we’d fixed that. But they’re back, and we’ve got to start to do the things that took the plague out of these places in the past. We need to harden our cities and redesign them.
The second part was “fire-resilient landscapes” and to think about ways of putting these landscapes into forms that can burn without doing the kinds of damage that we see, and to burn in ways where we have a possibility of containing them and allowing these ecosystems to survive fire, because they are getting fires that are outside their evolutionary experience.
The third part is to build your capability. That’s your workforce, your equipment and all the stuff you need to apply it. That’s what generally gets the attention. “We’ll get more engines. We make more air tankers. We want to see those helicopters up there.” If you don’t do the other stuff, you’re in fire’s cycle. You’re just playing whack-a-mole. It’s just coming back at you.
What eco-friendly measure can be undertaken to prevent fire in wildlands?
There are a whole lot of things we can do in wildlands, short of paving it or clear-cutting or just nuking the place. We don’t have to. You can let it burn. You don’t have to keep fire out. You just don’t want fires of the sort that are really going to be beyond our control and a threat. Places that used to have surface fires are now overgrown with woody shrubs and young trees, and fires are responding and behaving differently. We can thin those out. It’s a kind of woody weeding. It’s not logging. Logging is not a surrogate for fire. When you log, you take the big stuff and leave the little. Fire burns the little stuff and leaves the big.
There may be a place for some prescribed grazing, say, after really heavy rains when you’ve got extra grass, maybe you bring in some grazing animals and let them knock that down. Mowing is an option. Greenbelts would be a great option as a way of stepping down from a wildland setting. And burning, prescribed fire. You can substitute your fires for wildfires. You have fires of choice rather than fires of chance. There are lots of things to do. It really varies by site, but you don’t have to strip it raw or pave it over.
What kind of political will is necessary to undertake this kind of nuanced approach?
The problem will be defined as a matter of public safety—it is a matter of public safety. A lot of lives were lost, property burned up. Lives were disrupted. I imagine you’ve got an internal refugee problem. Where are these people going to go? What do they do? That is going to dominate the discussion, as it should up front.
But we should have this second discussion that goes back and echoes the National Cohesive Strategy and do the fundamentals and recognize cities can burn in ways we had not imagined. Have that discussion, and now you’re getting something, now the different pieces are interacting in a positive way. Otherwise you just build up the suppression and you’re going to have another blowup like this.
Even if your firefighting force had been doubled, would that have made a difference in those first few hours? No. You’d have to have the fire equivalent of a police state. That can’t solve it.
What opportunities do the fires present?
California is specially placed to make a difference. The National Cohesive Strategy is worth taking as a frame and then operating within it. The state of Utah enacted that into law. I would have never predicted Utah of all places to do that. They have accepted we need to do all of it. If California were to do that in a serious way, it doesn’t necessarily mean tons of money; it means modifying the state fire plan so everything is not stripped to fight a fire in Southern California when they need to be doing burning in Northern California. It means reassessing what you can realistically do and getting a better balance between them. If California were to do that, it would affect the whole country. California is a huge presence nationwide in fire. That would be the hope.
There really is an opportunity to step back and not overturn the system, but move the parts and give better balance so that we can really turn this into a virtuous cycle. Right now, we’re in a vicious cycle. We build up more suppression and the fires get worse, the damages increase.
Nothing is going to change that if we keep doing the same stuff.
This week in the Pacific Sun, our cover story, ‘Holiday Arts 2017,’ is a handy guide to the best North Bay events, shopping opportunities, performances and more this holiday season. On top of that, we’ve got a story about James Lee Witt, the Bill Clinton–era Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director, being tapped to lead the fire-recovery nonprofit Rebuild NorthBay, a recipe for bone soup and a piece on the Rafael’s tribute to the work of Lawrence Jordan. We’ve also launched our annual Heroes of Marin, so from now until November 29, you can nominate the people you admire. On December 20, we’ll publish an issue dedicated to the heroes, chosen by a committee from your nominations. All that and more on stands and online today!
Hero: Calling all heroes. Volunteers are needed to advocate for assisted living and nursing home residents. By giving your time to the Marin County Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, you’ll help ensure quality of life and quality of care for vulnerable members of our community. It’s an important job, and volunteers will receive training on resident rights, complaint investigation and resolution and other topics related to the elderly. An informational presentation takes place on Tuesday, November 14, 10am to noon, at the Marin County Department of Health and Human Services in San Rafael. It’s an opportunity to learn more about the role of an ombudsman and the difference you’ll make in the lives of our elderly citizens. To RSVP, call 415/473-7446. Go on. Do a mitzvah.
Zero: Bad driver or jerk? We try to give the benefit of the doubt when a car takes up two spaces in the mall parking lot. Sometimes, however, there’s no uncertainty. Sam Arnold, a Tiburon resident, spotted this offender at the Town Center in Corte Madera. With several
This week’s Zero takes up two parking spots.
full-size spaces just steps away, the BMW driver deliberately straddled two spots, rather than walk the extra 20 feet. “Never ceases to amaze when I see this unthinking privilege exercised,” Arnold said. Yep. This Zero really missed the spot.
Q: I’m a 32-year-old woman with a really intense job that I love. I work long hours every week, and I often work weekends, too—by choice. I don’t want kids, but I’d love to have a relationship. I just worry that guys will want more of me timewise and energywise than I can give—which is basically some nights (into mornings) during the week and on weekends—and will feel neglected and resentful.—Work First
A: Understandably, not everyone is into the sort of relationship where a sleepover entails setting up a yurt inside their partner’s office.
Like you, I’m pretty fiercely “work first.” Because of that, I don’t cook; I heat. I’m annoyed by my body’s demands for sleep. Every night! And my home seems less like a home than … well, as my boyfriend said—stepping over the endocrinology research papers and corresponding Post-its laid out all over my bathroom floor: “It looks like an academic crime scene.”
You and I are actually somewhat unusual as women who see a “healthy career-life balance” as a threatening crimp in the work that means so much to us. In fact, it turns out that there are some pretty strong sex differences in ambition. This isn’t to say that women aren’t ambitious. Plenty of women are; it’s just that women, in general, more often want “normal” lives—with, say, a job they enjoy but go home from before the owls start pouring each other nightcaps.
There’s a great deal of research that reflects this. In a 2015 study, economists Ghazala Azmat and Rosa Ferrer surveyed young lawyers on their level of ambition: “When asked to rate, on a scale from 1 to 10, their aspirations to become an equity partner in their firm, 60 percent of male lawyers answered with 8 or more, compared to only 32 percent of female lawyers.”
However, there’s an assumption that women should want to join the cutthroat race to the corner office. Psychologist Susan Pinker criticizes this as the “male standard” being forced on women. In her 2008 book, The Sexual Paradox, Pinker points to countless studies that find that women tend to be more motivated by “intrinsic rewards”—wanting to be happy more than they want to be on top. As an example, she profiles “Donna,” who quit her prestigious job as a tenured professor in a computer science department for a lower-status job that allowed her more one-on-one engagement with people. Pinker explains, “Donna decided to opt for what was meaningful for her over status and money.”
Like you, I don’t want kids. However, Pinker notes that there’s “plenty of evidence that many more women than men”—including women at the top of their game—put family before career advancement. She tracked down “Elaine,” the author of an op-ed titled “My glass ceiling is self-imposed,” about why she’d declined a promotion that would have put her third from the top in a large, international company.
The president of the company was dumbfounded. But Elaine wrote that she was happily married, with children (and grandparents nearby). The promotion would have required relocating, and that would have destabilized her family. She concluded her piece with the observation that “many companies … would like nothing more than to have more senior female executives, but not all females are willing to give up what it might take to get there.”
These sex differences in ambition make evolutionary sense. Because women evolved to prioritize finding high-status “providers,” mate-seeking men evolved to duke it out to occupy the spot of Ye Olde Big Man On Campus. Sure, these days, mover-and-shaker men typically seek women on a par with them in intellect and education. However, men are still vastly more likely than women to date the hot barista—probably because, over evolutionary history, men evolved to prioritize signs of health and fertility in women.
Getting back to you, though guys are likely to be surprised that a woman would be so job-obsessed, there are those who’ll be good with the limited amount of girlfriendhood you have to provide. Zeroing in on them just takes disclosure—on your online dating profile and when you go on dates. Giving clear forewarning is the right thing to do for anyone with any unusual or obsessive pursuit—whether it’s a sex fetish, spending all of one’s time and disposable income tracking Sasquatch or building a nuclear reactor in the basement. As for you, sure, you doeventuallysee yourself leaving the office—but probably in a vintage Japanese cloisonne urn.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Adriana Martinez and Octavio Guillen got engaged to be married when they were both 15 years old. But they kept delaying a more complete unification for 67 years. At last, when they were 82, they celebrated their wedding and pledged their vows to each other. Are there comparable situations in your life, Aries? The coming months will be a favorable time to make deeper commitments. At least some of your reasons for harboring ambivalence will become irrelevant. You’ll grow in your ability to thrive on the creative challenges that come from intriguing collaborations and highly focused togetherness.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I had pimples when I was a teenager. They’re gone now, although I still have a few pockmarks on my face as souvenirs. In retrospect, I feel gratitude for them. They ensured that in my early years of dating and seeking romance, I would never be able to attract women solely on the basis of my physical appearance. I was compelled to cultivate a wide variety of masculine wiles. I swear that at least half of my motivation to get smarter and become a good listener came from my desire for love. Do you have comparable stories to tell, Taurus? Now is an excellent time to give thanks for what once may have seemed to be a liability or problem.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The next two weeks will be one of the best times ever to ask provocative, probing questions. In fact, I invite you to be as curious and receptive as you’ve been since you were 4 years old. When you talk with people, express curiosity more often than you make assertions. Be focused on finding out what you’ve been missing and what you’ve been numb to. When you wake up each morning, use a felt-tip marker to draw a question mark on your forearm. To get you in the mood for this fun project, here are sample queries from poet Pablo Neruda’s TheBook of Questions: “Who ordered me to tear down the doors of my own pride? Did I finally find myself in the place where they lost me? Whom can I ask what I came to make happen in this world? Is it true our desires must be watered with dew? What did the rubies say standing before the juice of the pomegranates?”
CANCER (June 21-July 22): “Things to say when in love,” according to Zimbabwe poet Tapiwa Mugabe: “I will put the galaxy in your hair. Your kisses are a mouthful of firewater. I have never seen a more beautiful horizon than when you close your eyes. I have never seen a more beautiful dawn than when you open your eyes.” I hope these words inspire you to improvise further outpourings of adoration. You’re in a phase when expressing your sweet reverence and tender respect for the people you care about will boost your physical health, your emotional wealth and your spiritual resilience.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Are you working on solving the right problem? Or are you being distracted by a lesser dilemma, perhaps consumed in dealing with an issue that’s mostly irrelevant to your long-term goals? I honestly don’t know the answers to those questions, but I am quite sure it’s important that you meditate on them. Everything good that can unfold for you in 2018 will require you to focus on what matters most—and not get sidetracked by peripheral issues or vague wishes. Now is an excellent time to set your unshakable intentions.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Every one of us experiences loneliness. We all go through periods when we feel isolated, misunderstood and unappreciated. That’s the bad news, Virgo. The good news is that the coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to make loneliness less of a problem. I urge you to brainstorm and meditate about how to do that. Here are some crazy ideas to get you started: 1. Nurture ongoing connections with the spirits of beloved people who have died. 2. Imagine having conversations with your guardian angel or spirit guide. 3. Make a deal with a “partner in loneliness:” A person you pray or sing with whenever either of you feels bereft. 4. Write messages to your Future Self or Past Self. 5. Communicate with animals.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The drive for absolute perfection could undermine your ability to create what’s very good and just right. Please don’t make that mistake in the coming weeks. Likewise, refrain from demanding utter purity, pristine precision or immaculate virtue. To learn the lessons you need to know and launch the trends you can capitalize on in 2018, all that’s necessary is to give your best. You don’t have to hit the bull’s eye with every arrow you shoot—or even any arrow you shoot. Simply hitting the target will be fine in the early going.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Remember the time, all those years ago, when the angels appeared to you on the playground and showed you how and why to kiss the sky? I predict that a comparable visitation will arrive soon. And do you recall the dreamy sequence in adolescence when you first plumbed the sublime mysteries of sex? You’re as ripe as you were then, primed to unlock more of nature’s wild secrets. Maybe at no other time in many years, in fact, have you been in quite so favorable a position to explore paradise right here on Earth.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): As a courtesy to your mental health, I minimize your exposure to meaningless trivia. In fact, I generally try to keep you focused instead on enlightening explorations. But in this horoscope, in accordance with astrological omens, I’m giving you a temporary, short-term license to go slumming. What shenanigans is your ex up to lately, anyway? Would your old friend the bankrupt coke addict like to party with you? Just for laughs, should you revisit the dead-end fantasy that always makes you crazy? There is a good possibility that exposing yourself to bad influences like those I just named could have a tonic effect on you, Sagittarius. You might get so thoroughly disgusted by them that you’ll never again allow them to corrupt your devotion to the righteous groove, to the path with heart.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In the coming months it will be crucial to carefully monitor the effects that you’re having on the world. Your personal actions will rarely be merely personal; they may have consequences for people you don’t know as well as those you’re close to. The ripples you send out in all directions won’t always look dramatic, but you shouldn’t let that delude you about the influence you’re having. If I had to give 2018 a title with you in mind, it might be “The Year of Maximum Social Impact.” And it all starts soon.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The punk ethic is rebellious. It transgresses conventional wisdom through “a cynical absurdity that’s redeemed by being hilarious.” So says author Brian Doherty. In the hippie approach, on the other hand, the prevailing belief is “love is all you need.” It seeks a “manic togetherness and all-encompassing acceptance that are all sweet and no sour—inspiring but also soft and gelatinous.” Ah, but what happens when punk and hippie merge? Doherty says that each moderates the extreme of the other, yielding a tough-minded lust for life that’s both skeptical and celebratory. I bring this to your attention, Aquarius, because the punk-plus-hippie blend is a perfect attitude for you to cultivate in the coming weeks.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I’m falling in love with the way you have been falling in love with exciting possibilities that you once thought were impossible. Oh, baby. Please go further. Thrilling chills surge through me whenever you get that ravenous glint in your mind’s eye. I can almost hear you thinking, “Maybe those dreams aren’t so impossible, after all. Maybe I can heal myself and change myself enough to pursue them in earnest. Maybe I can learn success strategies that were previously beyond my power to imagine.”
Homework: If you could change your astrological sign, what would you change it to and why? Testify at FreeWillAstrology.com.
It’s surprising how the cinema of 2017 has relied on the word ‘wonder:’ Wonderstruck (it’s brilliant), Wonder Woman, Wonder and the new Woody Allen film, Wonder Wheel. But one of the most wonderful things you might see in this year of wonders is ‘Film as Art,’ a one-afternoon stand by the animator and artist Lawrence Jordan on Sunday, November 12 at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center.
Out of a light table and scraps of forgotten paper, Jordan, 83, has woven a career of wondrous animation. The former San Francisco Art Institute teacher’s work can be as ambitious as an adaptation of poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner narrated by Orson Welles. It’s also as small scale as his 1957 Waterlight, scenes taken from the deck of a California Maritime Academy ship, showing the way the sun over water looked 60 years ago.
Selections include the trippy The Sacred Art of Tibet (1970-72) a kind of Tibetan Buddhism for Dummies in jewel-like color. Just as it’s hard to imagine a more perfect version of Rime than the one Jordan made, the animation to Erik Satie’s compositions seems the perfect realization of Gymnopedies, even if the music is worn out by use in luxury car commercials.
“Morning and evening I search for images among the ruins of time.”—a caption in Jordan’s Postcard from San Miguel (1996). Jordan’s hand-crafted collage film turns an entire forgotten library of woodcuts, etchings and engravings into an animated adventure. Meticulously, frame by frame, Jordan hand-makes mysterious, fanciful films about eggs, flasks, acrobats, women with goldfish-bowl heads and spinning compass faces—all floating above tinted backdrops from Gustave Doré and other 19th century illustrators. At times, the images change so quickly that the screen pulses like a strobe light.
‘Film as Art,’ Sunday, Nov. 12, 4:15pm, Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center, 1118 Fourth St., San Rafael; rafaelfilm.cafilm.org.
Bone soup, which cooks and farmers have known about forever, has suddenly become everyone’s favorite steaming health food elixir. Professional athletes have their cooks prepare it for them daily as a recovery drink, to counter the rigors of the game on their aging, battered bodies. In trendy eateries, bone soup can be sold by the cup, the jar, the growler or with your choice of noodles, sauces and protein in a build-your-own “broth bar.” Not only is bone soup good for you, but learning how to make the bone stock from which it’s made will take your cooking to new levels.
To properly appreciate bone soup is to potentially upend how you view meat itself. While most meat-eaters focus on the muscle flesh, a brotharian values the bones even more. Muscle meat has protein, but so does a bowl of rice and beans. Bones contain different things, a diverse cocktail of nutrients that become available in stages, as the bones cook. After a few hours of heat, the tendon, cartilage and other pieces of connective tissue attached to bones begin to melt into collagen, gelatin and other base proteins that are hard to get from non-animal sources. Just ask any vegetarian Jell-O lover.
Those melted connective tissues are good for our own connective tissues, helping them rebuild after a tough session, which is part of why bone soup is considered a great recovery drink for athletes. Many prefer to cook their bones even longer, in order to extract minerals like calcium. A common practice is to add a tablespoon of vinegar to the bones to enhance the mineral leaching.
But not all minerals are desirable. In fact,one fear that’s dogged the bone brothbandwagon has been the idea that if animals are exposed to heavy metals like lead, the bones are where such dangerous metals would concentrate. So if you want to indulge in an ancient nutritional ritual, it’s better to do it in smaller batches with local bones—provided you don’t live in an area where the animals graze on fields poisoned with heavy metals.
The difference between stock and broth is that broth is ready to eat while stock is an ingredient. In fact it’s the primary ingredient in broth.
Stock is low-key, while broth can be colorful and indulgent. Stock is uncommitted and versatile, while broth is just a few added ingredients away from being soup. Unadulterated stock is not something you would want to drink, unless you’ve added salt and some kind of fat. At which point you would be drinking broth.
I love many kinds of animal fat, but not all kinds. And the amount of fat I want to eat in my broth or soup will vary by animal. I like the fat of chicken, duck and beef, but don’t need a thick layer of it atop my steaming bowl. With some wild game animals like deer or elk, the fat is so thick it will congeal on your teeth, and I don’t want a single particle in my food.
Whole birds can be cooked into a broth in much the same way that bones can. So the directions that follow can apply to either, or.
In order to get rid of some fat (and perhaps save it for other uses later), the first step is to roast the bone (or bird) in the oven. This not only melts a lot of fat into the pan, but also adds browned flavor to the bones or bird. I’ll sprinkle them with salt and garlic powder and bake at 350 degrees (300 for the bird), turning when necessary until the pieces (or the chicken or duck skin) develop a nice dry brown all around.
When fat has melted off and everything is brown, allow to cool. Then transfer the bones to your cooking pot. (In the case of bird bone stock, cook until soft, and after it cools fish the bones out of the meat and skin and proceed with the extracted bones, reserving the meat for later). Or do the same with a rotisserie chicken, and proceed.
What happens next can be done on a stovetop over the course of several hours at low to medium heat. I prefer to use the Instant Pot, a multifunction electric cooker thing that has all kinds of functions, even has a yogurt maker setting, but I’ve only used the pressure cooker. And that alone has made the unit well worth the price.
I pressure-cook my bones for 60 minutes of high pressure, and let the unit cool down until the pressure is gone and the lid will open. Alternatively, simmer the bones on the stovetop for about six hours.
For a pho-style broth, along with the bones add a pod of star anise, a three-inch piece of cinnamon, two cloves and three cardamom pods for a two gallon batch, along with some fried ginger coins, a pan-blackened quartered onion and an apple.
Strain the bones (and spices), and let the stock cool slowly to room temperature, then put it in the fridge. After it cools completely, the solid fat can easily be removed.
When making a soup of chicken, duck or beef bones, I will leave an amount of fat that I think will taste good with what I’ll be serving. When in doubt, take it out; you can always add the fat back later when the soup is cooking. If I’m making stock to freeze, I’ll skim all the fat out.
To make a general stock or broth, add aromatic veggies like carrots, celery and onion, and cook at a gentle simmer for an hour or two.
You can dress it up at serving time. Start with salt or soy sauce. If it needs fat, and you don’t have any skimmed fat reserved from earlier, use a good olive oil. Sauces, like hoisin or hot, can be added, along with cilantro, parsley, sliced peppers, raw onions and lemongrass, grated ginger and garlic, and a dusting a black pepper.
Dress it up in different ways, adding noodles, or sopping it up with bread. You have all winter, and the rest of your life, to perfect your bone soup. Once you get the hang of it, all the research becomes quite edible.
Believe it or not, the holiday season is already upon us. And that means nearly two months of holiday fun and cheer are hopefully coming your way. To help you navigate the season and keep your spirits bright, we present our select guide to holiday fun from Thanksgiving to Christmas.
EVENTS
Marin Center’s Pop Up Holiday Craft and Art Fair Original arts and crafts (more than 700 items) including jewelry, woodworks and silk scarves by more than 35 local artists. Nov. 30 to Dec. 8, Marin Center Exhibit Hall (Gallery and Friends of Marin Center Room), Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael. 11am to 7pm. Free. marincounty.org.
Marin Indoor Antique Market 33rd Annual Christmas Show Features vintage and estate jewelry, furniture, collectibles, Native American and Asian art and more. Dec. 9-10, Marin Center Exhibit Hall, 10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael. 10am to 6pm. $8. 415.473.6800.
Point Reyes Open Studios Artists’ studios throughout West Marin are open to the public in a free, self-guided tour. Includes displays and demonstrations. Nov. 24-26, 11am to 5pm. pointreyesart.com.
Sausalito Winterfest Annual event includes 30th Annual Lighted Boat Parade and fireworks, Ho Ho Ho Hollywood Gala with live music, a Jingle Bell 5K Walk/Run, Kids’ Fun Run and Pancake Breakfast and more. Dec. 8-10. oursausalito.com.
Breakfast with Santa at Sausalito Yacht Club Annual family event at Sausalito Yacht Club features breakfast and a visit from Santa. Dec. 2. Sausalito Yacht Club, 100 Humboldt Ave., Sausalito, at the foot of El Portal (next to ferry pier), Two seatings: 8:30am and 9:45am, $8/person, kids under 2 eat free. RSVP to Sausalito Parks and Recreation. 415-289-4152.
Marin Turkey Trot One mile, 5k and 10K Gobble Wobble. Nov. 23. Packet pickup Nov. 21-22. Races start and finish at 1800 Ignacio Blvd., Novato. $28 to $50. marinturkeytrot.com.
Sausalito Woman’s Club Holiday Open House Event features food and drinks, caroling, kids’ craft room and Santa. Dec. 3. Sausalito Women’s Club, 120 Central Ave., Sausalito. 3pm to 5pm. oursausalito.com.
Mill Valley Winterfest Annual celebration includes snow sledding, a visit from Santa, live entertainment, refreshments, children’s activities and a tree lighting ceremony. Dec. 3. Downtown Plaza, Mill Valley. 11am to 5pm. enjoymillvalley.com.
The Great Dickens Christmas Fair The world of Charles Dickens in Victorian London is recreated and features costumed performers, entertainment, food and drinks, arts and crafts and more. Nov. 18 to Dec. 17. Cow Palace Exhibition Halls, 2600 Geneva Ave., Daly City. Tickets: $10 to $105 for a Season Pass. dickensfair.com.
The Mountain Play Association Annual Fall Gala Includes a champagne reception, Santorini Sunset Cocktail Supper Buffet, MAMMA MIA-inspired cocktails and a silent auction. Nov. 11. Osher Marin JCC, 200 N. San Pedro Rd., San Rafael. 5pm. General admission/$100, VIP/$150. mountainplay.org.
Sensitive Santa Holiday event for children with special needs features an online sign-up to eliminate the stress of waiting in a line, a sensory-friendly playground and activities,
The 38th annual San Rafael Parade of Lights and Winter Wonderland will feature snow sledding beginning on Friday, November 24 in downtown San Rafael. Photo courtesy of San Rafael Parade of Lights.
therapy dogs from Marin Humane Society and a professional photographer. Dec. 9. Free/$20 donation includes photo and raffle ticket. Sign up at arnoldadvocacy.com/sensitive-santa-event.
Victorian Holiday Party A Victorian party hosted by characters from the Charles Dickens family includes light refreshments. December 1. Falkirk Cultural Center, 1408 Mission Ave., San Rafael. 6:30pm. $12/adult, $9/child. falkirkculturalcenter.org.
Falkirk CenterMagic Toy Box An old-fashioned afternoon tea features tea sandwiches and sweets, life-sized toys, a raffle and lots of photo opportunities. Dec. 9-10. Falkirk Cultural Center, 1408 Mission Ave., San Rafael. Noon to 3pm. Adult/$28, child/$24, adult and child/$50. falkirkculturalcenter.org.
Gather & Give In the spirit of the season, Bon Air Center continues its long-standing tradition of hosting a holiday food drive with the SF-Marin Food Bank. In addition, the Pronzini Christmas Tree Lot celebrates 50 years at Bon Air with fragrant Christmas trees, wreaths and garlands for sale. Topping off the festivities, Santa arrives at Bon Air on the first three Saturdays of December to visit with kids and get an earful of their Christmas wishes. November 26–December 24 at Bon Air Center, Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Greenbrae. Santa visits Dec. 2, 9 and 16, noon–4pm. Free admission. bonair.com.
Parade of Lights & Winter Wonderland Thirty-eighth annual event in the heart of Marin features a grand parade and tree lighting ceremony, with snow sledding, kids activities, a holiday market and more. Festive window displays light up the scene while live music and holiday entertainment packs in families from around the Bay Area. Nov. 24–Nov. 25. Fourth and B streets, San Rafael. Friday, noon to 8pm; parade begins at 5:30pm; Saturday, 9am to noon. cityofsanrafael.org.
Sausalito Gingerbread House Tour & Competition Eleventh annual citywide event features more than 30 businesses and merchants participating in creating festive and delicious gingerbread houses. Most are on display within walking distance of each other, meaning that this is a family-friendly diversion from the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping. Dec. 1–31. Downtown Sausalito. Maps are available at participating merchants or at sausalitogingerbread.com.
ICB’s Winter Open Studios More than 100 painters, sculptors, fabric artists, jewelers, photographers and other artists under one roof all open their doors for this 49th annual event to let you discover new and unique works of art where they are created. Dec. 1–3. Industrial Center Building, 480 Gate Five Road, Sausalito. 11am–6pm. Free admission and parking. Icb-artists.com.
Osher Marin Festival of Lights Marin’s biggest Hanukkah party includes latkessufganiyot (doughnuts) and other festive food with live music, an artisan crafts marketplace and kids’ activities. All are welcome. Dec. 10. Osher Marin JCC, 200 N. San Pedro Rd., San Rafael. 11:30am-2pm. Free admission. 415.444.8000.
Wine Country Turkey Crawl Taste and pick a wine to pair with your Thanksgiving dinner with this fundraising winery tour. All of the ticket sales will be donated to the Redwood Credit Union North Bay Fire relief fund, and each of the neighboring wineries will show off their best vintages to complement turkey and cranberry sauce. Nov. 12. Dutton Estate, 8757 Green Valley Rd.; Furthermore Wines, 3541 Gravenstein Highway N; Marimar Estate, 11400 Graton Rd., Sebastopol. 11am. $15, tickets include a tasting at all three wineries. duttonestate.com.
Napa on Ice Napa’s outdoor skating rink, located on the grounds of the Napa Expo, is back for another year of holiday fun. Real ice (6,300 square feet) is open daily for recreational skating, with lessons, parties, private ice time and special events offered. Nov. 17–Jan. 7. $13 general admission/$15 VIP admission. napaonice.com.
Winterblast Annual holiday art party turns 13 and takes over the South of A arts district in downtown Santa Rosa. Open studios showcase dozens of artists in their element, an electric sofa parade lights up the streets and live music kicks the holiday spirit into gear. Magic, belly dancing, food trucks, beer and wine and merriment abound. Nov. 18. 312 South A St., Santa Rosa. 5–9:30pm. Free entry. sofasantarosa.com.
Santa Train & Wine Train Thanksgiving The Napa Valley Wine Train welcomes Santa aboard for a season of magical fun in a nostalgic railroad setting. Sip cocoa, enjoy musical entertainment, tour the Napa Valley and get a photo with Santa. Nov. 18–Dec. 29. $49. On Thanksgiving, guests are invited to dine in style and enjoy a traditional feast with all the fixings while riding the train. Nov. 23. $171 and up. 800.427.4124.
Winter Lights Santa Rosa’s downtown Courthouse Square shines with the annual Christmas Tree lighting ceremony that includes activities for all ages. Enjoy local eats, see Santa arrive on a fire truck and partake in the Remembrance Candle Lighting. This year’s Winter Lights theme is “I Believe in Santa Rosa,” to highlight the town’s resilience and strength in the wake of October’s fires. Nov. 24. Third Street and Mendocino Avenue, Santa Rosa. 4pm. Free admission. 707.545.1414.
Heart of Sonoma Valley Holiday Open House Toast the holiday season on a tour of 20 wineries throughout the heart of Sonoma Valley. Weekend includes access to wineries and winemakers, wine cave tours, holiday gifts and wine country holiday cheer. Nov. 25–26. 11am–4pm. $45–$55 per person; designated driver, $10–$15. heartofsonomavalley.com.
Santa’s Riverboat Arrival Santa and Mrs. Claus give the season its start when they arrive by tugboat into the Petaluma River Turning Basin and disembark to hand out candy and take holiday photos with kids while live entertainment from the likes of the Pacific Empire Chorus and Petaluma School of Ballet entertains the crowd. Nov. 25. River Plaza Shopping Center, 72 E. Washington St., Petaluma. 11:30am to 1pm. Free. 707.769.0429.
Napa’s Christmas Parade This long-running, family-friendly evening parade features creative floats built by Napans themselves, focusing on the theme “Twas the Night Before Christmas.” Nov. 25. Second and Third streets in downtown Napa. 5–7pm. Free. donapa.com
Lighting of the Snowmen Annual tradition lights up Cornerstone Sonoma with decorative snowmen coming to life amid live music and entertainment. Get a photo with Santa and enjoy the seasonal spirit in the picturesque setting. Dec. 2. Cornerstone Sonoma, 23667 Hwy 121, Sonoma. 4pm. Free admission. 707.939.3010.
The Reindeer Run Seventh annual run or walk covers Thompson Trail on Wetlands Edge Trailhead and encourages participants to dress in their festive holiday gear. Dec. 2. Eucalyptus Dr., American Canyon. 8am. $37–$45. khopeinternational.org.
Napa B&B Holiday Tour & Taste Event The bed and breakfasts of Napa invite you inside their historical inns, decked out in festive decorations, to savor select wines and tasty
The annual Great Dickens Christmas Fair, featuring dancing, shopping, food and more from Charles Dickens’ Victorian London, returns to Daly City’s Cow Palace for five weekends (Nov. 18-Dec. 17). Photo by Rich Yee.
holiday treats. Transportation and entertainment included. Proceeds benefit local charities. Dec. 2. 3–7pm. $75. napaholidaytour.com.
Luther Burbank Holiday Open House A popular holiday tradition in its 38th year, this open house features Victorian-era finery and a charming tour of Burbank’s historic home and gardens, with free parking at First and D streets and free rides on Rosie the Trolley to and from the Handmade Holiday Crafts Fair held at the Finley Community Center. Dec. 2–3. Luther Burbank Home & Gardens, 204 Santa Rosa Ave., Santa Rosa. 10am to 4pm. $3/ kids 12 and under are free. lutherburbank.org.
Calistoga Winter in the Wineries Winter-long getaway event lets you purchase a passport to visit up to 17 wineries and meet the winemakers in and around the Calistoga area in relaxed tasting tours that you schedule at your convenience. Dec. 2–Feb. 4. 21 and over only. $60. visitcalistoga.com.
Light Up A Life Heartland Hospice honors lives lost with annual candle- and tree-lighting ceremonies. Celebrate the holidays with community, enjoy live music from Michael Brandeurg’s Jazz Trio and create an ornament in honor of your loved one. Dec. 7. Montgomery Village Terrace, 911 Village Court, Santa Rosa. 5-6:30pm. Free. mvshops.com.
Sebastopol Holiday Home Tour & Artisan Boutique Enjoy the holiday lights and décor of several different stylish homes, with cheerful music and festive bites on hand. Then, browse a variety of holiday crafts and decorations for sale at a boutique at Pleasant Hill Christian School, all benefitting the Jacob’s Scholarship Fund. Home Tours, Dec. 8–9; Artisan Boutique, Dec. 8–10. 1782 Pleasant Hill Rd., Sebastopol. Friday, 5–9pm; Saturday, 10am–5pm; Sunday, 10am–4pm. Tours, $10–$35 and up; Boutique, Free admission. sebastopolholidayhometour.com.
Petaluma Holiday Lighted Boat Parade A floating parade of sparkling boats shine on the Petaluma River to ring in the season while downtown shops stay open late for holiday strolling. Dec. 9. Petaluma River Turning Basin, Petaluma. 6pm. Free. visitpetaluma.com.
Napa Lighted Art Festival This festival creates a stunning walking path of artwork as light displays are projected onto a variety of buildings throughout the town every evening. Dec. 9–17. Downtown Napa and the Oxbow district. 5pm–10pm. naparec.com.
Hanukkah Hootenanny Enjoy Judd’s Hill Winery’s 11th annual Hanukkah bash featuring lively entertainment, wine, brisket sliders, latke bar and traditional jelly doughnuts. Guests are encouraged to bring unwrapped new toys and canned (nonperishable) food items for donation to local Napa charities. Dec. 10, Judd’s Hill Winery, 2332 Silverado Trail, Napa. Noon-2:30pm. $55; $25 for Wine Club members. juddshill.com.
SHOPPING
Caledonia Street Holiday Shopping Night Shops stay open late and some will be offering special treats and deals. Dec. 7. Caledonia St., Sausalito. 5pm to 9pm. oursausalito.com.
The Mill Valley 13th Annual Holiday Craft Fair Features more than 55 artists selling handmade arts and crafts, including jewelry, glasswork, fiber arts, ceramics and more. Dec. 2. Mill Valley Community Center, 180 Camino Alto, Mill Valley. 10am to 5pm. Free. millvalleyrecreation.org.
Hardly Strictly Mini: A Biennial Benefit Exhibition Holiday opening reception at Bolinas Museum for new exhibits features more than 70 artists. Nov. 18. 48 Wharf Rd., Bolinas. 2pm to 3pm: gallery talks with artists, 3pm to 5pm: opening reception. Free. bolinasmuseum.org.
Village Crafts Market Find one-of-a-kind handmade holiday gifts for all ages and browse imaginative items ranging from ornaments to jewelry; hosted by the Outdoor Art Club. Nov. 9. One West Blithedale, Mill Valley. 1:30pm–3:30pm. Free Admission. outdoorartclub.org.
St. John’s Christmas Boutique A tradition in the town of Ross, the boutique offers homemade jams, jellies and baked goods, as well as holiday gifts and items such as wrapping paper and holiday cards. Proceeds benefit charitable causes, including supporting the community needs at St. John’s sister parish in Malawi, Africa. Dec. 1–3. St. John’s Episcopal Church, 14 Lagunitas Rd., Ross. Friday, noon–6:30pm; Sat, 10am to 5pm. Free admission. 415.456.1102.
Dance Palace Holiday Crafts Fair The Community & Cultural Center rings in the holiday season for the 47th year with winter holiday sights, sounds and fun. Shop locally and find handmade artisan crafts, clothing, woodwork art and more. Dec. 1–3. Dance Palace, 503 B St., Point Reyes Station. Fri, 4–9pm; Sat, 10am–5pm; Sun, 10am–4pm. Free admission. dancepalace.org.
Holiday Art & Craft Sale The Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society and local artists bring a wide range of gifts and holiday items to the farm-cottage setting of the Landmarks Art Center. There will be jewelry, glass work, knitted items, paintings, spices, rubs and even vintage books and baked goods on hand from North Bay artisans. Dec. 2, Landmarks Art & Garden Center, 841 Tiburon Blvd., Tiburon. 10am to 4pm. Free. 415.435.1853.
San Geronimo Holiday Arts Faire The 48th annual fair features holiday lights, yummy homemade goodies, creative crafts, silent auction, Santa Claus on hand for photos and performances by the Lagunitas School Band and others. Dec. 2. San Geronimo Valley Community Center, 6350 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., San Geronimo. 11am–5:30pm. 415.488.8888.
Muir Beach Holiday Arts Fair Head to the coast for some holiday shopping that boasts unique and handmade fine art, crafts, jewelry, gourmet treats, holiday knick-knacks and more. Dec. 2–3. Muir Beach Community Center, 19 Seacape Dr., Muir Beach. Saturday, 10am–5pm; Sunday, 10am–4pm. Free admission. muirbeachartsfair.com.
Holiday Crafterino Ninth annual art and craft extravaganza features a curated collection of 64 vendors, food trucks and loads of cheer. Proceeds from sales and a raffle support the Committee on the Shelterless. Nov. 12. Petaluma Veteran’s Memorial Building, 1094 Petaluma Blvd. S, Petaluma. 11am-4pm. $1 admission. holidaycrafterino.com.
Handmade Holiday Crafts Fair Festive annual event features 80 local artists selling their quality crafts and gifts, holiday goodies, entertainment, a prize drawing and trolley rides to the Luther Burbank Home & Gardens Holiday Open House. Dec. 2–3, Finley Community Center, 2060 West College Ave., Santa Rosa. Saturday, 9am–5pm; Sunday, 10am–4pm. $3; 12 and under are free. 707.543.3737.
Freya Lodge Holiday Arts & Craft Fair The Norwegian cultural center hosts this classic fair. Enjoy a variety of high-quality handmade items made by Sonoma County artists. There will also be Scandinavian baked goods, Norwegian waffles, coffee and light lunch available to purchase, and a cozy holiday atmosphere. Proceeds from food sales go to children’s charities. Dec. 9, Freya Lodge Sons of Norway Hall, 617 W. Ninth St., Santa Rosa. 9am–3pm. 707.579.1080.
Petaluma Arts Association Holiday Arts & CraftsShow Local artists and artisans show off their handmade wares at an art and crafts show perfect for gift-giving, benefiting Mentor Me. Dec. 9–10. Petaluma Community Center, 320 N. McDowell Blvd., Petaluma. 10am–4pm. petalumaarts.org.
Goddess Crafts Faire Women’s art, music, dance and handmade gifts by local and regional women are all part of this 23rd annual community holiday fair. Dec. 9–10, Sebastopol Community Center, 390 Morris St., Sebastopol. 11am–7pm. $5–$13 suggested donation, kids free. goddesscraftsfaire.com.
PERFORMANCE
Marin Oratorio Boyd Jarrell directs the College of Marin choir’s performance of Franz Josef Haydn’s “The Seasons.” Dec. 16, 7:30pm, Dec. 17, 3pm. James Dunn Theatre, College of Marin, 835 College Ave., Kentfield. $20/general, $15/senior/student. marinoratorio.org. First Presbyterian Church of San Anselmo Chancel Choir Daniel Canosa conducts a performance of Mozart’s “Mass in C Major” (Sparrow Mass) with orchestra. Dec. 10. First Presbyterian Church, 72 Kensington Rd., San Anselmo. 10am. Free. togetherweserve.org. West Marin Choir Winter Music Festival Features folk legend Ramblin’ Jack Elliott along with the new Point Reyes Children’s Choir and a winter singalong. Dec. 10. Dance Palace, 503 B St., Point Reyes Station. 4pm to 6pm. westmarinchoir.org.
Marin Symphony’s Holiday Concerts Spend the most wonderful time of the year with the acclaimed symphony orchestra, who present several concert throughout the season. First, the chamber chorus shares the spotlight with Marin Girls Chorus for a traditional candlelight concert on Dec. 2–3, at Church of Saint Raphael, 1104 Fifth Ave., San Rafael. Saturday, 7:30pm; Sunday, 4pm. $20-$32. Next, the symphony presents its annual Holiday Pops concert, led by musical director Alasdair Neale and featuring beloved classics and contemporary musical treats on Dec. 12, at the Marin Center Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium, 10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael. 7pm. $20-$43. 415.479.8100.
The Christmas Jug Band Annual appearance from the longstanding group of friendly Marin musicians brings a bluesy rock aesthetic to Christmas classics for two skewered nights of folksy scuffle swing, with family night offering discounts to the young and old on Monday, Dec. 18, and an all-ages jam with several special guests on Tuesday, Dec. 19, Sweetwater Music Hall, 19 Corte Madera Ave., Mill Valley. $17–$27. 415.388.1100.
Kitka: Wintersongs The Oakland-based women’s vocal ensemble channels Eastern European melodies with traditional vocal styling. Kitka performs a program of critically acclaimed, winter-inspired music ranging from Slavic folk carols to Eastern Orthodox choral works. Dec. 9, the Kanbar Center for the Performing Arts, Osher Marin JCC, 200 N. San Pedro Rd., San Rafael. 8pm. $10–$35. 415.444.8000.
Stapleton Theatre Company The Theatre Arts division of the Stapleton School of the Performing Arts presents “A Christmas Carol: The Broadway Musical,” an adaptation of the Charles Dickens tale. Dec. 14-17. The Playhouse, 27 Kensington Rd., San Anselmo. Dec. 14-15, 7:30pm, Dec. 16-17, 2pm. $22/general, $16/students and seniors. stapletonschool.org. (See Stapleton Ballet under the Marin Center listing.)
Throckmorton Theatre Michelle Schmitt’s 9th Annual Holiday Concert, Dec. 7. 8pm. $25-$100. Jazzin’ Up Joys of the Season with Deborah Winters and the Peter Welker All Star Band, Dec. 8. 8pm. $25–$40. Second Annual Jingle Balls! with Sarah from Alice 97.3 and Tommy Igoe, Dec. 15. 8pm. Narada Michael Walden Foundation’s 21st Annual Holiday Jam, Dec. 16. 8pm. $100-$175. Snow White: A Holiday Panto directed by Nicole Helfer, Dec. 22–30. Thursdays and Fridays, 7pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 2pm. $15-$35. 142 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley. 415.383.9600.
Ross Valley Players Hijinks and holidays come together in the Christmas-time whodunit, “The Game’s Afoot, or: Holmes for the Holidays.” Written by acclaimed playwright Ken Ludwig and directed by award-winner Christian Haines, this intriguing comedy finds a
From Dec. 14-17 at San Anselmo’s The Playhouse, Stapleton Theatre Company will present ‘A Christmas Carol: The Broadway Musical.’ Photo courtesy of Stapleton Theatre Company.
beloved Broadway star, known for portraying Sherlock Holmes on stage, flung into a real-life mystery. Nov. 16–Dec. 10. Marin Art & Garden Center, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Ross. $15-$27, $12-$22 on Thursdays. 415.456.9555.
Marin Center Just Dance Academy Winter Performance. Nov. 19. 2pm. Adults, $27; seniors and kids $22. Stapleton Ballet: Nutcracker. Dec. 2–3. 1pm and 5pm both days. $38; $26, seniors and youth. Performing Arts Academy of Marin Holiday Spectacular. Dec. 2–3. Saturday, 7pm; Sunday, 2pm. $20. Mayflower Chorus Holiday Concert. Dec. 8–9. Friday, 8pm; Saturday, 2:30pm and 7:30pm. $20; seniors (60 and over) and students, 13–18 are $15; Children 12 and under are $5. Marin Ballet Nutcracker. Dec. 9–10. 1pm and 5pm. $44; seniors and youth are $28; Candy Cane Party following each 1pm performance is $10. Donna De Lory: An Evening of Sacred Song and Devotional Pop Music. Dec. 10. 7pm. $28-$39. Marin Symphony Holiday Pops. Dec. 12. 7pm. $45-$85; youth is $20. Marin Dance Theatre: “Sophie and the Enchanted Toyshop.” Dec. 16. 1pm and 5:30pm. $40, adults; students and seniors are $32; Teddy Bear Tea Party, $10. Brian Copeland’s Jewelry Box. Dec. 17. 7pm. $50. Singers Marin 30th anniversary performance of ‘Tis the Season . . . Peace on Earth’ with Lockwood Barr. Dec. 17. 4pm. $25–$40. 10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael. 415.473.6800.
Sonoma County Philharmonic Music director Norman Gamboa and the local philharmonic present a program titled “Fanfare,” featuring violinist Pam Otsuka and viola player Robby Moales. Pre-concert talks will illuminate the various selections presented in concert and proceeds will support fire relief efforts. Nov. 18–19. SRHS Performing Arts Auditorium, 1235 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa. Saturday, 7:30pm; Sunday, 2pm. $15, student are free. socophil.org.
6th Street Playhouse Two classic holiday tales make their way to the stages at the Railroad Square theater house. In the main GK Hardt Theatre, “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas” dazzles with a beloved songbook score and toe-tapping dance routines. In the smaller Studio Theatre, “Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge” puts a new spin on the classic Christmas Carol with Bob Cratchit’s wife taking center stage. Dec. 1–23. 6th Street Playhouse, 52 W. Sixth St., Santa Rosa. $10–$38. 707.523.3544.
Le Cirque de Boheme Annual winter circus wonderland is based on the wondrous French tradition. This year, a brand-new original production, “Freedom,” tells enchanting tales with an amazing cast of performers who achieve world-class heights. Nov. 24–Dec. 17. Cornerstone Sonoma, 23570 Arnold Dr., Sonoma. Days and times vary. $30–$55; kids under 15 are $22. cirquedeboheme.com.
Sonoma Arts Live “A Christmas Carol” meets “Noises Off” in the hilarious holiday affair, “Inspecting Carol,” coming to Sonoma this season. Set in the ’90s, the story follows a small theater company struggling to survive and facing inspection while trying to get through a production of the Dickens’ classic. Nov. 29–Dec. 10, at Andrews Hall in Sonoma Community Center, 276 E. Napa St., Sonoma. Wednesdays through Fridays, 7:30pm; Sundays, 2pm. $22-$26, $37 VIP (includes dessert and wine). sonomaartslive.org.
Luther Burbank Center for the Arts Mannheim Steamroller Christmas by Chip Davis, Nov. 29. 7:30pm. $59-$75. Transcendence Theatre’s Broadway Holiday Spectacular Dec. 1–3. Friday, 7:30pm, Saturday and Sunday, 2pm and 7:30pm. $39–$139. Left Edge Theatre presents “The Santaland Diaries,” Dec. 1–17. Fridays and Saturdays, 8pm; Sundays, 5pm. $25-$40. Tony Bennett, Dec. 5. 7:30pm. $89-$149. Posada Navideña. Dec. 8. 7pm. $5-$10. Kids 2 and under are $2. Symphony Pops: A Holly Jolly Pops. Dec. 10. 3pm. $37–$80. Under The Streetlamp: Hip to the Holidays, Dec. 14. 7:30pm. $39-$59. Roustabout’s Apprentice Program: White Christmas. Dec. 15–17. Friday, 7:30pm; Saturday, 3pm and 7:30pm; Sunday, 3pm. $16-$26. Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker. Dec. 18. 7pm. $34–$74. 50 Mark West Springs Rd., Santa Rosa. 707.546.3600.
Green Music Center Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale presents Handel’s Messiah, Dec. 10. 3pm. $50 and up. 30th Anniversary of Windham Hill’s Winter Solstice, Dec. 15. 7:30pm. $25 and up. Cherish the Ladies’ Celtic Christmas, Dec. 16. 7:30pm. $25 and up. Sonoma Bach Presents Early Music Christmas: Windows to the Soul, Dec. 16. 8pm. $25. Dave Koz 20th Anniversary Christmas Concert with David Benoit, Rick Braun and Peter White, Dec. 17. 7pm. $50 and up. 1801 E Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park. 866.955.6040.
Blue Note Napa Willie K: A Special Holiday Performance, Dec. 1–2. 7:30pm and 9:30pm. $25-$35. Royal Jelly Jive’s Christmas Special, Dec. 9. 7:30pm and 9:30pm. $15-$30. Kellie Fuller, Sandy Riccardi & Mike Greensill’s Cool Yule Christmas Show, Dec. 14. 7:30pm and 9:30pm. $10-$35. Jessy J: A Special Christmas Performance, Dec. 15–16. 7:30pm and 9:30pm. $15-$35. VOENA: Voices of the Season presents “Wonderland” in the JaM Cellars Ballroom, Dec. 16. 7pm. $30. 1030 Main St., Napa. 603.1258.
An Irish Christmas An exciting celebration of holiday joy, laughter and life returns to the North Bay with the talented dancers of the internationally acclaimed Kerry Dance Troupe performing traditional Irish dances that incorporate folk theatrical arts and music from Christmas classics like “Silent Night” and “Little Drummer Boy.” Nov. 30. Uptown Theatre, 1350 Third St., Napa. 8pm. $35-$55. 707.259.0123.
Napa Valley Performing Arts Center at Lincoln Theater Yountville Holiday Movie Series, with “Polar Express” on Nov. 19, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” on Dec. 1 and “Elf” on Dec. 8. 7pm. $5-$40 (Nov. 19 is Free). VOENA: Voices of the Season presents “Wonderland” Dec. 9. 7pm. $25. Holidays in Buenos Aires with Michael Guttman and JP Jofre, Dec. 10. 3pm. $30-$55. Napa Regional Dance Company’s 17th annual production of “The Nutcracker,” Dec. 16–17. Saturday, 2pm and 7pm; Sunday, 2pm. $35-$45. 100 California Dr., Yountville. 707.944.9900.
Chris Isaak Holiday Tour Known as one of the best live performers of our time, the contemporary crooner brings the spectacle of the holidays to his rock show and performs both his best hits and seasonal classics including “Blue Christmas” and “Hey Santa!” Dec. 7. Uptown Theatre, 1350 Third St., Napa. 8pm. $75-$115. 707.259.0123.
Holiday Choral Concert Join the Silver Singers for a festive concert that includes performances by choral groups from Rohnert Park and Windsor senior centers. Dec. 7. Bennett Valley Senior Center, 704 Bennett Valley Rd., Santa Rosa. 11am. Free. 707.545.8608.
ArtQuest Dance Company Winter Performance The talented students of Santa Rosa High School’s award-winning ArtQuest program communicate the spirit of the holidays through movement. Dec. 8–9. SRHS Performing Arts Auditorium, 1235 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa. 7pm. $5–$15. srhsdance.org.
Reader’s Theatre’s “A Christmas Carol” The classic story will be told with an emphasis on the dramatic art of storytelling. Dec. 14. Person Senior Wing at Finley Center, 2060 W. College Ave., Santa Rosa. 3pm. Free, space is limited. RSVP recommended. 707.543.3745.
A Chanticleer Christmas Holiday favorite from the vocal orchestra tells the Christmas story in Gregorian chant, Renaissance polyphony, traditional carols and a medley of spirituals. Dec. 11, St. Vincent’s Church, 35 Liberty St., Petaluma. 6pm and 8:30pm. $35–$75. chanticleer.org.
James Lee Witt, the Bill Clinton–era Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director, was tapped in October to lead the fire-recovery nonprofit Rebuild NorthBay.
He headed FEMA in the 1990s, but more recentlyfounded a corporation called EB5 Global Management, LLC, which seeks to capitalize on a controversial U.S. law that grants fast-track permanent residence status to foreign nationals in exchange for large investments in American development projects. The company has offices in Washington, D.C., and Little Rock, Arkansas, and was registered in Delaware in August 2015.
According to its website, EB5 Global Management sets out to “form, fund and manage special purpose limited partnerships to loan money to companies creating jobs in the United States. We align the capital requirements of domestic developers and entrepreneurs with the immigration goals of our EB-5 investors.”
Witt’s firm accomplishes this goal by “coordinating the investment of foreign capital into development projects that are located within the United States in conformity with the requirements of the EB-5 Visa Green Card program.”
EB-5 visas are granted to foreigners who make investments of at least $500,000 in areas with high unemployment or at least $1 million everywhere else, in exchange for a guarantee of 10 full-time jobs for every million dollars invested. Since its inception, the EB-5 program has been used to finance hotels, retail space, housing projects and numerous Las Vegas casinos.
Regionally, the $6 billion Treasure Island Development Project now underway in San Francisco was undertaken with EB-5 loans provided to the Lennar Corporation, the nation’s second-largest homebuilder.
Rebuild North Bay is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit initiative launched by Darius Anderson, a prominent Sacramento lobbyist and real estate investor based in Sonoma who is also the managing partner of Sonoma Media Investments, the newspaper group which owns the Press Democrat.
Anderson’s lobbying clients on record with the state of California include Station Casinos, a Las Vegas corporation that manages the Graton Resort & Casino in Rohnert Park. He also lobbies for Tesla, CannaCraft and Robertson’s Ready Mix, one of the nation’s largest concrete firms, which is owned by the Mitsubishi Materials Corporation.
And Anderson’s Kenwood Investments is a key development partner behind the eco-friendly Treasure Island project now underway. According to an August 2017 EB-5 project database compiled by the Center for Real Estate Finance Research at New York University, the Treasure Island development is funded, in part via $155 million in foreign loans provided to the Lennar Corporation to build a new community of 8,000 homes and hundreds of thousands of feet of new retail space.
Will a Treasure Island–style project find purchasers in the fire-scarred North Bay as it begins to rebuild?
According to its website, “Rebuild North Bay will be led by an integrative team of community and business leaders focused on understanding what went right and what went wrong, while developing a comprehensive plan for recovery and rebuilding.” The organization says it will eventually focus on a strategy for rebuilding, but doesn’t yet offer any specifics about what shape that may take.
Witt’s office did not respond to a request for comment about his EB5 Global Management firm and what role it may play in Rebuild North Bay.
In response to a set of questions from the Pacific Sun, Rebuild North Bay’s media liaison Ken Garcia says Witt’s outside business interests won’t play any role in the rebuilding—and that Rebuild North Bay won’t actually be rebuilding anything.
“The organization is currently focused on forming its structure,” Garcia says via email, “putting its executive committee together and identifying its core principles and needs so it can better serve the North Bay’s recovery efforts. So I can’t answer all your questions, but I can tell you this: RNB does not plan to build, or rebuild any structures. As such, there is no role for the EB-5 program, nor for Mr. Witt’s involvement in it. Witt will serve in an advisory capacity to cities, counties and others on how to effectively deal with FEMA and maximize the federal dollars that can be made available to the affected areas.”
According to the IRS, Rebuild North Bay’s 501(c)(4) nonprofit designation allows it “to encourage industrial development and relieve unemployment in an area by making loans to businesses so they will relocate to the area.”
Most EB-5 investment activity is undertaken by Asian nationals. In recent years wealthy Chinese have been the major beneficiaries of the expedited green cards, according to a 2015 study from Savills Studley, a commercial real estate firm.
According to the report, the United States issues about 10,000 of the visas annually, and as recently as 2014, 85 percent of them went to mainland Chinese nationals, who are generally less interested in a big return on their investment than on obtaining the fast-track visa—hence the emergence of low-interest, “cheap capital” loans from Chinese investors to American developers, who of late have included presidential first son Jared Kushner, who used EB-5 loans in a big New Jersey development.
A 2016 report in Forbes noted that the recent construction of the Lucky Dragon casino in Las Vegas was undertaken largely with EB-5 investments from Chinese nationals, and the result was a casino built largely with Chinese money and with the stated goal of attracting Chinese-American gamblers.
Critics of EB-5 visas include California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who called for the program’s elimination earlier this year when it was up for congressional reauthorization. She highlighted the unfairness of letting wealthy foreigners buy their way into the country while immigrants of lesser means have to wait years for a green card, or face deportation if they arrived illegally.
California is the biggest player in the EB-5 economic space, according to the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, with around 200 so-called regional centers licensed by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. One is called New World Regional Center; it’s the center utilized in the Treasure Island project (New World is one of several regional centers operated by the Seattle-based corporation).
The pay-to-stay EB-5 arrangement is an especially sensitive issue in the North Bay and in the state’s agricultural sector where 71 percent of all fieldwork is undertaken by immigrant labor. Around 40 percent of all hospitality workers in the state are also immigrants.
The Press Democrat and its affiliated publications have emphasized Witt’s record at FEMA, but haven’t mentioned EB5. An Oct. 24 story in the Press Democrat noted that Witt has a new company involved in attaining “bridge loans” for major U.S. infrastructure projects. That’s called the Witt Global Partners Infrastructure Fund, which is seeking between $500 and $800 million for an unspecified infrastructure project. The fund was created before the North Bay fires.
Witt’s Wikipedia entry tails off in 2015 when it comes to detailing the for-profit LLCs under his control, most of which were incorporated recently, in Delaware. According to the Delaware Department of State business entity portal, Witt-controlled private-equity investment LLCs include Witt Global Partners, incorporated October 2015; Witt Global Partners Capital, incorporated January 2017; Witt Capital Partners, incorporated July 2016; Witt Global Partners Asset Management, incorporated February 2017; and Witt Global Partners GP-1, incorporated February 2017.
It was an interesting, observable irony: As the North Bay fires burned, tree trimmers under contract with PG&E were noticeably active around the region.
In late October, trucks from the Davey Tree Expert Company (Davey) were spotted hard at work around West Marin and in places like far-flung and fire-sensitive Bolinas, cutting branches away from power lines, while smoke...
Stephen J. Pyne is a regents professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University, and one of America’s foremost experts on fire and fire history. He is the author of more than 30 books, including Between Two Fires: A Fire History of Contemporary America and Fire in America: A Cultural History of Wildland and Rural Fire,...
This week in the Pacific Sun, our cover story, 'Holiday Arts 2017,' is a handy guide to the best North Bay events, shopping opportunities, performances and more this holiday season. On top of that, we've got a story about James Lee Witt, the Bill Clinton–era Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director, being tapped to lead the fire-recovery nonprofit Rebuild NorthBay,...
Hero: Calling all heroes. Volunteers are needed to advocate for assisted living and nursing home residents. By giving your time to the Marin County Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, you’ll help ensure quality of life and quality of care for vulnerable members of our community. It’s an important job, and volunteers will receive training on resident rights, complaint investigation and...
Q: I’m a 32-year-old woman with a really intense job that I love. I work long hours every week, and I often work weekends, too—by choice. I don’t want kids, but I’d love to have a relationship. I just worry that guys will want more of me timewise and energywise than I can give—which is basically some nights (into...
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Adriana Martinez and Octavio Guillen got engaged to be married when they were both 15 years old. But they kept delaying a more complete unification for 67 years. At last, when they were 82, they celebrated their wedding and pledged their vows to each other. Are there comparable situations in your life, Aries? The coming...
It’s surprising how the cinema of 2017 has relied on the word ‘wonder:’ Wonderstruck (it’s brilliant), Wonder Woman, Wonder and the new Woody Allen film, Wonder Wheel. But one of the most wonderful things you might see in this year of wonders is ‘Film as Art,’ a one-afternoon stand by the animator and artist Lawrence Jordan on Sunday, November...
Bone soup, which cooks and farmers have known about forever, has suddenly become everyone’s favorite steaming health food elixir. Professional athletes have their cooks prepare it for them daily as a recovery drink, to counter the rigors of the game on their aging, battered bodies. In trendy eateries, bone soup can be sold by the cup, the jar, the...
Believe it or not, the holiday season is already upon us. And that means nearly two months of holiday fun and cheer are hopefully coming your way. To help you navigate the season and keep your spirits bright, we present our select guide to holiday fun from Thanksgiving to Christmas.
EVENTS
Marin Center’s Pop Up Holiday Craft and Art Fair Original...
James Lee Witt, the Bill Clinton–era Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director, was tapped in October to lead the fire-recovery nonprofit Rebuild NorthBay.
He headed FEMA in the 1990s, but more recently founded a corporation called EB5 Global Management, LLC, which seeks to capitalize on a controversial U.S. law that grants fast-track permanent residence status to foreign nationals in...
